CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF ECONOMIZING FUEL IN SHIPS' HEARTHS OR COOKING APPARATUS, AND OF OBTAINING DISTILLED WATER PROM SEA WATER, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS APPLY TO GENERATING STEAM
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCOIS
PEYRE, Junior, of St. Etienne, in the Kingdom of France, Dyer, now residing
at the White Hart Inn, in the Borough of Southwark, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of February, in the sixth year of
His reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Francois Peyre, junior, His especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Francois Peyre, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francois Peyre, my executors,
adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS OF ECONOMIZING FUEL IN SHIPS' HEARTHS OR COOKING APPARATUS,
AND OF OBTAINING DISTILLED WATER PROM SEA WATER, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS APPLY
TO GENERATING STEAM," being a communication made to me by a certain
foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
obliging me, the said Francois Peyre, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Mrancois Peyre, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly ascertained
and described in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of improvements in the means of economizing fuel in ships'
hearths or cooking apparatus, and obtaining distilled water from sea water,
and which also apply to generating steam for other purposes, is principally
designed to promote a very rapid distillation of fresh water from sea or salt
water, and in a better state for drinking than has heretofore been obtained,
and which is effected in a ships' hearth, cabouse, or cooking apparatus
without consuming more fuel than that which is necessary to perform the
ordinary cooking operations. The principal novel feature consists in causing
a volume of heated air to be injected into the salt water contained in
the boiler, from time to time as required, by means of a blower, bellows,
or air injecting pump, or other convenient apparatus, for the purpose of
increasing the ebullition and evaporation of the water; and, further, these
improvements consist in mixing with the sea water in the boiler alum
and sulphuric acid, for the purpose of preventing the crystallization or
incrustation of saline particles on the interior of the boiler, and preventing
any impurities from passing off with the steam or vapour; and also, after the
water has been discharged from the apparatus and mixed with a portion of
sulphuric acid and charcoal, in blowing or forcing cold atmospheric air into
such distilled water, for the purpose of taking away the disagreeable taste or
flavour which distilled water generally has acquired, and restoring what may
be called its aeriated properties, which have been destroyed or removed by the
process of distillation, and rendering the distilled water more like spring or
fresh water in taste or flavor and relish to the palate. The several Figures
in the accompanying Drawings are representations of one construction of a
ships' hearth or cooking apparatus, which will serve to illustrate this Inven-
tion; but I do not intend to confine myself to the precise form or arrangement
there shewn, as the same may be varied to suit different circumstances. At
each time the boiler is filled with sea water, and previous to any evaporation
taking place, sulphuric acid and alum is to be introduced and mixed with the
water, in the proportion of about four ounces of alum and one ounce of sul-

page_text: phuric acid to about twenty-five gallons of salt water; or the alum alone may
be used, if desired, the intention being that the sulphuric acid may arrest any
deleterious vapours or other matters which might otherwise arise and pass off
with the steam, and that the alum may assist in preventing the crystallization
of the salt and its incrustation on the boiler; or the alum and sulphuric acid
may be mixed with the sea water previous to its being introduced into the
boiler..
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the cabouse complete, with the furnace,
cooking apparatus, and condensers; Fig. 2 is a plan or horizontal view of the
same; Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken in the line a, b, shewing the interior
construction of the furnace and its flues, with the boiler and its steam chamber
or separator, and also the condensers or refrigerators; Fig. 4 is a horizontal
section taken in the line c, d; and Fig. 5 is another horizontal section taken
in the line e, f. The ships' hearth or cooking apparatus consists of four
principal parts, viz, the fire-place, the boiler and its steam chamber, the con-
densors, and the bellows. A is the fire-place; B, the boiler or generator,
containing the salt or sea water; C, the steam chamber in which the boiling
or stewing cooking vessels a, a, a, are placed, fitting steam-tight into the top
of the chamber; D, D, are the condensors, one or both of which may be used
at one time; E is the bellows or air pump; b, b, are the ovens for baking
meat or other food, and are placed one on each side of the fire-place, or only
one may be used. The operation is as follows:-The smoke and heated
vapours arising from the combustion of the fuel passes from the fire-place A
along the several tubular flues c, c, intersecting the boiler, and after parting
with the greater portion of caloric to the salt water, makes its exit by the
chimney c; the flues should at all times be covered with salt water, and have
proper apertures and doors for cleaning them out. The steam arising from
the ebullition of the sea water passes up the tube d, through a perforated plate,
and descending by the hood or cap e, enters the steam chamber C, and after
parting with the greater portion of its caloric to the cooking vessels a, a, passes
off in the form of distilled water and steam, by the pipe or passage f into the
worm head g, which is surrounded with the cold water in the condenser D.
The remaining uncondensed steam, vapour, and hot water passing down the
coiled worm h, h, become refrigerated, the distilled water making its exit at
the cock i. The air pumps or bellows for forcing a blast of hot air into the
salt water in the boiler may be of any suitable construction, and placed in any
convenient situation; those I prefer are cylindrical bellows, made of leather
and: wood in the ordinary way, and they may be worked in any convenient
manner. In the arrangement shewn in the Drawing they are worked by a
))

page_text: У
winch handle k, which by means of the crank and connecting rod actuates
the cross shaft m, which gives motion by means of the short lever n and its
connecting rod to the cylindrical bellows in the case E. The blast of air
passes from the bellows by the pipe o into the hollow grating or fire bars p of
the furnace, and after being heated in its passage by the iguited fuel on the
bars, goes off by the pipe q, and is discharged into the sea water near its end,
the bore or apertures being pluged up or closed, and the end of the pipe is
pierced with small holes, the better to distribute the air into the water. The
tube is carried upwards into the pipe d, to prevent the escape of the sea
water out of the boiler by the pipe o when the bellows are not at work; the
hot air thus blown into the water rises through it in the form of bubbles with
the steam, and greatly increases the ebullition and evaporation, the steam, air,
and condensed water passing together into the refrigerator, as before stated.
is a reservoir for supplying the condenser with cold water for refrigeration;
but they may be filled through a funnel placed at the top part, or by a pipo
connected with pumps, or in any other convenient manner. The cold water
enters the lower part of the condenser by the pipe 2, and rises up to the top
part where it becomes warm, and is drawn off by the pipe s, to supply the
boiler B, as required. When the water in the condensers becomes too hot for
refrigeration, it can be drawn off by the pipe t, and fresh supplied from the
reservoir, or a continuous stream of cold water may be made to pass through.
the condensers if desirable. I would here remark that the boiler or steam
generator need not to be divided into two parts A and B, as shewn in the
Drawing, but that the boiling water may be allowed to touch or surround the
cooking vessel a, a, the steam and vapour being collected in a still head or
hood with its exit pipe connected to the worm head g, as shewn by the red
lines in Fig. 3 of the Drawings. The distilled water as it comes from the
apparatus is collected in barrels or suitable vessels, and to each twenty-five
gallons of the distilled water a small quantity of sulphuric acid (say about a
quarter of an ounce) is added, and with it about eight or ten ounces of
broken charcoal, which is to be left in the water twenty-four hours, and
during that time cold atmospheric air is to be blown or forced into it by
bellows or other convenient means, the intention being that the charcoal shall
remove the disagreeable flavour, or what may be called the vapid or dead taste
which distilled water generally has, and the air impart more oxygen to the
water, and the sulphuric acid give it a more agreeable flavour, and make it
taste to the palate more like fresh spring water, the process restoring what
may be called its aeriated or vital qualities, which it has lost in the operation
of distillation.

page_text: In conclusion, I would remark that the blowing or forcing hot air into the
water greatly increases the evaporation thereof, and produces steam more
rapidly, and therefore economizes the consumption of fuel, and is applicable to
generating steam, for working engines, for exerting power, warming buildings,
drying goods, and various other purposes to which it may be applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francois Peyre, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
FRANCOIS (L.S.) PEYRE, FILS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of August, in
the seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Francois Peyre, junior, came before our said Lord the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every-
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made
in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-six.