CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOILING DOWN SALINE SOLUTIONS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Elliot and William Russell, both of
St. Helens, Lancashire, Manufacturing Chemists, for the Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOILING DOWN SALINE SOLUTIONS."
Sealed the 12th February 1853, and dated the 15th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Elliot and
William Russell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 15th December 1852.
WC, GEORGE ELLIOT and WILLIAM RUSSELL, both of St. Helens,
Lancashire, Manufacturing Chemists, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOILING DOWN SALINE
SOLUTIONS" to be as follows:-
Our Invention is especially applicable to the boiling down of such
saline solutions as let the salt fall when boiling, instead of requiring
it to be obtained by crystallization after the process of evaporation ;
and the means by which the object of our Invention is carried into
effect consists in a peculiar arrangement and construction of the
boiling apparatus, by which the heat passing from the fire or fires
is carried round the pans containing the solutions, which pans,

page_text: being connected with one general receptacle below them, the salt
boiled out of the solutions falls into the said receptaclc.
The pans containing the saline solutions, and the flues of the
boiling apparatus, are constructed of such form and so arranged
respectively, as to cause a large amount of surface of solution to be
exposed to the heat in the flues.
By the above arrangement the salt is extracted from the solutions,
and collected in the general receptacle, without the liability to in-
crustation from the heat.being applied underneath, the pan in which
it is contained, and also without deterioration from contact with the
flames and matter passing over the surface of the saline solution
from a fire
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said George Elliot and William Russell in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
GEORGE ELLIOT and WILLIAM RUSSELL, both of St. Helens, Lancashire,
Manufacturing Chemists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said George Elliot and
William Russell, Her special license that we, the said George
Elliot and William Russell, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said George Elliot and William Russell, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOILING DOWN SALINE SOLUTIONS" upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said George Elliot and

page_text: William Russell, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Elliot and William
Russell, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly de-
scribed and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
Our Invention of "Certain Improvements in Boiling down Saline
Solutions" is especially applicable to the boiling down of such saline
solutions as let the salt fall when boiling, instead of requiring it to be
obtained by crystallization after evaporation, and has for its object
the application of the heat, in a lateral direction, to the pans con-
taining the material under operation; the salt thereby boiled out of
the solutions falling down into a receptacle below, or at a lower
level than the flues of the furnace.
In the ordinary process the salt is boiled out of a solution by the
application of the heat either underneath the saline solution, or over
the surface of the said saline solution, and the salt raked together
and taken out of the pan, or raked into an adjoining pan; but in our
Invention the heat is carried round the pan, and applied in a lateral
direction, and the salt is allowed to fall into a receptacle occupying
a position removed from the influence of the heat applied through
the flues. And the manner in which our Invention is carried into
effect consists in arranging and constructing the boiling apparatus,
so that the heat is made to pass round the pans containing the
solutions, and is directed upon them laterally; such pans being ex-
tended downwards beyond the flues, and having working within
them apparatus for collecting the salt from the lower part or
receptacle of the pans, and depositing it in a trough or pipe, to be
suitably conveyed away.

page_text: It may be here remarked, that the expression of a lateral direction,
relative to the application of the heat under our Invention, is meant
to refer to the formation of the pans, so that the sides thereof shall
not diverge from the perpendicular beyond the distance of about
twenty-five degrees.
In order, however, that our Invention may be more fully under-
stood, we proceed to describe the accompanying Drawings, containing
several figures shewing the general arrangement and construction of
the apparatus which we have found most useful for the purpose.
Fig. 1, is a longitudinal elevation of the apparatus; Fig. 2, is a
front elevation; Fig. 3, is a longitudinal vertical section; Fig. 4, is
a transverse vertical section; Fig. 5, is a plan or horizontal view;
and Fig.
is a horizontal section of the same. In this latter figure
the section is taken irregularly, in order to shew the parts more
clearly; the section being taken through the brickwork so as to pass
through the flues, and the pans being represented merely with their
covers removed. In all these figures the same letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts. a, a, is the brickwork in which the
apparatus is set; b, b, are semicircular pans of cast or wrought
iron, having vertical sides, and extended so as to form receptacles
for the salt at 6*; c, c, are semicircular covers for the same. These
semicircular covers are somewhat greater in diameter than the pans
underneath them, and are formed with an internal flange, curved
so as to receive any condensed water that may fall therein from the
inside of the cover, the water being carried off by means of a small
swan neck pipe or inverted syphon. 61, is a door, by which to
get access to the apparatus within the pans; d, is the furnace for
generating the heat required; e, c, are the flues for carrying the
heat round the pans, b, b. These flues are divided by a wall or par-
tition f, by which the heat and flames from the furnace are directed
laterally against the pans b, b. The general course of the heat from
the furnace, round the pans, and the draft out to the chimney, is
shewn by the arrows in Fig. 6. g, is a shaft, turning in suitable
bearings h, on the brickwork, and driven by pullies, as shewn, or
otherwise, to which shaft are keyed arms i, i, which carry the side

page_text: scrapers k, k, the end scrapers 1, 1, and the collecting buckets m; m.
The feed pipes, for supplying the pans b, b, with solutions, are shewn
at n, n, and the means of discharging the salt, as it is brought up
from the receptacles 6*, are shewn at o, and p; o, being an enlarge-
ment of the semicircular pan covers c, c, and p, being a trough or
pipe at the lower part of o, with a screw in it, to carry off the salt.
The mode of working the apparatus is as follows:-The saline
solutions to be evaporated are run it at the feed pipes n, n, up to
about the level of the dotted line z, in Fig. 3, and the fire lighted in
the furnace d. It may, however, be remarked, that in some cases,
a sufficient quantity of heat for the purpose may be made to pass
into the flues e, e, as waste heat from other sources, so as to dispense
with the use of the furnace d. The solution is brought to boil by
the application, in a lateral direction, of the heat in the flues, and
the steam arising therefrom escapes at an opening in the upper part
of each of the pan covers c, c, whence it may be carried by steain
pipes 9, 9, and used for the evaporation of other portions of saline
fluids, or for other purposes. As soon as the salt begins to fall, the
shaft 9₁ is set in motion, which causes the side scrapers or collectors
, k, and end scrapers or collectors l, l, to collect the salt, and carry
or deposit it into the receptacles 6*, which, it will be seen, are below
the level of the flues e, e. As the salt is collected in these receptacles,
it is raised therefrom by the buckets m, m, in the course of their
revolution with the shaft g, and discharged by means of a spring
striker or liberator down the enlarged part o, of the pan covers
c, c, into the trough p, fitted with a screw r, to be turned by any
convenient machinery; such screw being of suitable length to convey
the salt away as required. This trough p, after extending a short
distance, takes the form of a pipe. At one part of the pipe p, the
screw r, is discontinued, so as to allow a mass of salt always to
remain there, which prevents the steam from passing out that way.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we would have it under-
stood that we do not mean or intend to confine ourselves to the
precise forms and arrangements of apparatus shewn and described;

page_text: neither do we claim, as essential to our said Invention, the apparatus
above described, but we have described it as constituting the best
mode with which we are acquainted of carrying our Invention into
effect; but what we do claim as of our Invention is, the boiling down
of saline solutions by means of an application, in a lateral direction,
of the heat to the pans, and the subsequent collection or deposition
of the salt into a receptacle placed below the level of the flues, as
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Elliot and William
Russell, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
JOHN MOORE.
GEORGE ELLIOT. (L.S.)
WILLIAM RUSSELL. (L.S.)