Mr. E. Chenot, who is occupied in the manufacture of wine from dry
grapes, has been led to devise a new style of filter, which by reason of
its mode of action and its construction, he calls the "Economic Filter
Press."
The apparatus, which is shown in the accompanying cut, consists of flat
bags whose mouth may be at the top, as usual, or at the side. Through
this orifice there is introduced a flat piece of wood or metal, which,
like the bag, has an aperture through the center. The whole is suspended
from a distributing pipe that is fixed at one end to the frame and is
free at the other. This pipe is slotted beneath, and the pieces of wood
or metal contain, opposite the slot, a number of small apertures that
put the distributer in communication with the interior of the bags.
Between these latter there are placed wire cloth frames which hold them
in position and facilitate the flow of the filtered liquid. The cut
shows the filter provided with a portion of its bags and frames. When
all the frames are in place they are locked by causing the movable plate
to move forward by means of two screws connected with an endless chain
and actuated by a hand wheel. The pressure of this plate closes up the
bags hermetically. Then, the feed cock being opened, the liquid flows
into all the bags, deposits therein what it holds in suspension, and the
clarified product flows to the inclined bottom of the filter and from
thence to the exterior.
[Illustration: CHENOT'S ECONOMIC FILTER PRESS.]
The apparatus may be supplied either through an upper reservoir, a juice
elevator, or a pump. The discharge is proportional to the square root
of the pressure. When the bags are full of residuum, the feed cock is
closed, the filter is unscrewed, and the bags and frames are taken out.
With fresh bags and the same frames, it is possible to at once set the
apparatus in operation again.
Before the filter is taken apart, the residuum may be exhausted by
washing it either with water or steam, or by pressure. To effect the
operation by pressure, the pieces of wood or metal are removed, the
mouths are closed by making a fold in the top of the bags, and the
latter are then put back into the apparatus or into an ordinary press
and submitted to another squeezing.
To render the maneuvering of it easier, the apparatus has been given a
horizontal position.--_Revue Industrielle_.
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[American Engineer]