Of the many British patents on aeration taken out in the nineteenth century, the first was granted February 8, 1812, to Robert Dickinson and Henry Maudslay on " a process for sweetening water and other liquids." The process consisted of "simply of forcing a stream or streams of air through the foul or tainted water." A bellows or preferably a pump could be used. In this setup, the air is being forced to the bottom of a water cask through a tube or hose ending in a tube of iron or copper, perforated with small holes "to divide the air into numerous small streams, that the surface of water brought into contact with the air may be greater." The effect of the air is "that the offensive gas held in solution will be expelled from the water in a short time; after which the water should be left at rest for a short time, to allow its insoluble purities to subside. Both the apparatus and process are substantially the same in principle as those described in 1755 by Dr. Hales and patented again and again in England and America during the nineteenth century.
Four other British patents on aerating fresh water, two of which were in general principle anticipations of American patents or practices, included one by Theodore Cotelle (December 1, 1838), and one by Richard Johnson (on September 5, 1857). Cotelle's paper covered details of admitting air to a filter through tubes in the sides of the container. Johnson's paper covered dropping water for some distance in "jets, sheets or streams" upon a filter of broken slate, stone or other material so contact with atmospheric oxygen would cause "mineral particles held in solution by carbonic gas" to precipitate on the surface of the bed.