Apparatus for the aerobic treatment of liquid waste

In a system for the aerobic treatment of waste materials in a liquid basin, the system including gas distribution lines in an array of continuous lines having a plurality of orifices placed therein for releasing gas, such as air, to the liquid in the basin during operation of the system, and a mixer-aerator device for placement in position over any one of the orifices for enhancing the mixing and aerating of the liquid in the region adjacent that position, the improvement comprising:

• a plurality of brackets capable of being placed within the basin in a pattern corresponding to the array of continuous lines;
• means for attaching the continuous lines to the brackets at spaced locations along the continuous lines without interrupting the continuity of the continuous lines, at least some of the locations corresponding to the placement of the orifices;
• selective means integral with each bracket and the mixer-aerator device for securing the mixer-aerator device upon a selected bracket in a rigid, self-supporting manner, over a line and the orifice placed at the location of the selected bracket, the selective means being capable of ready operation for selectively securing the mixer-aerator device to the selected bracket and selectively removing the mixer-aerator device from the selected bracket, said selective means including:
• at least two rigid legs extending between the mixer-aerator device and the selected bracket, the legs each having opposite ends;
• a foot adjacent at least one of the opposite ends of each leg;
• receptor means for each foot, the location of the receptor means corresponding to the location of each foot when the mixer-aerator device is in place upon the selected bracket;
• and
• fastening means for selectively securing each foot with the corresponding receptor means in such manner as to preclude relative movement between the foot and the receptor means, said fastening means being capable of manual operation to release each foot from the corresponding receptor means without disturbing the attachment of the line to the selected bracket and the continuity of the array whereby selective securement and removal of the mixer-aerator device is accomplished readily without disturbing the operation of the system.