AN INVENTION OF AN IMPROVED APPARATUS POR THE PURPOSE OF EVAPORATING LIQUIDS
Year: 1822

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM CLELAND, of Glasgow, in that part of Great Britain called
Scotland, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent, bearing date at Carlton House, the
Seventeenth day of August, in the third year of His said Majesty's
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Cleland, my heirs, executors, and assigns, His
special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said William Cleland, my heirs, executors,. and assigns, by myself, or
by my deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, my
heirs, executors, or assigns, at any time should agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make use of or
exercise an Invention of "AN INVENTION OF AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
POR THE PURPOSE OF EVAPORATING LIQUIDS," within that part of His
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain called England, and His
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and alsc
within His Colonies and Plantations abroad; in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William
Cleland, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to
describe and ascertain the nature of my 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 four calendar:

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same Letters Patent, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso I, the
said William Cleland, do by these Presents particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed and executed, as follows, that is to say:
I declare my said Invention to consist in certain apparatus or
machinery, by means of which an extensive surface of liquid is exposed
or submitted to the united action of heat and air. The apparatus may
be constructed of different sizes and proportions according to the
specific purpose or -scale of work for which it may be intended, but for
general use I do in preference adopt and recommend the following;
namely, a square box or case made of metal or other suitable sub-
stance is filled as completely as possible with steam pipes laying paralel
to each other, and equidistant. These pipes are kept constantly filled
with steam from a boiler in the usual manner, and they are kept uni-
formly and very regularly wet with the liquid under the process of eva-
poration by the means of a pump in constant action. A vessel like the
rose of a garden pot or other suitable figure, thickly perforated with
small holes, is placed, at a foot or other suitable distance above the
upper row of steam pipes. This vessel receives the liquid from the
discharge pipe of the pump, and serves to distribute it in showers.or
streamlets upon the, pipes, which are by this means kept uniformly
covered and wet with a succession of fresh liquid from the receiver; the
liquid by its own gravity falling or dropping from one horizontal row of
pipes to another wets the whole in succession; and being arrived at the
bottom is discharged into the receiver outside, from whence it is again
lifted by the pump, and thus no more liquid remains at any time inside
of the evaporator than what is sufficient to moisten the pipes. A strong
ascending current of heated air continually rushes into the evaporator
near the bottom of the case, and passing with great rapidity over the
wet surface of the steam pipes, carries the aqueous vapour along with it,
and that in a ratio proportioned to the heat or pressure of the steam, to
the heat of the air, and to the rapidity of its current. The evaporator
has two apertures below, one of which is of such a size only as to permit

page_text: -
the liquid to flow out into the receiver as fast as it is delivered from the
pump into the perforated vessel above; the aperture is placed upon one
of the sides of the case where the steam is admitted, and upon the
bottom. The other aperture, being for the admission of heated air, may
be of such diameter as shall best suit the object in view, but in general
ten or twelve inches will answer the purpose; it is placed in one of the
sides of the evaporator near the bottom, where the air may enter in a
line perpendicular to the direction of the steam pipes. Various methods
of supplying the tubes with steam according to circumstances will
occur to the intelligent mechanic, but the following is adopted by me
in preference, as embracing the two main objects of oeconomy and sim-
plicity Figure 1st on the Plan or Drawing hereunto attached represents
my apparatus as at work twelve feet in depth, and the mouth is three
feet by three feet. A, body of the evaporator; B, perforated vessel for
receiving the liquid from the pump and distributing it over the steam
pipes; C, pump; D, receiver containing the liquor under the process
of evaporation; E, discharge pipe; F, pipe for admission of the
steam; G, pipe for discharging the waste steam and condensed water r;
H, aperture for admitting the pipe which conveys the heated air.
Figure 2, perpendicular section, giving a side view of the steam pipes
and the method of causing the steam to prolong its course by passing
along each horizontal row of pipes in succession from the entrance
pipe A, at the top of the discharge pipe B, at the bottom; the arrows
shew the course of the steam, and the semi-circles represent caps or
arches soldered or otherwise fitted on so as to divide the steam pipes.
into pairs of horizontal rows, and then cause the steam to pass along
the upper row and return through the under row alternately till it
reaches the discharge pipe B at the bottom. Figure 3rd, perpendicular
section, giving an end view of the apertures of the steam pipes, and a side
view of the air pipe passing through a fire-place, the pipes being soldered
at both ends to the box or case, as here represented. The aparatus such as
I have here described I would recommend for the evaporation of syrups
or other liquids to which a high temperature is prejudicial; but in such
cases as may admit of the application of heat above the boiling point of
water (see water, for instance) the use of steam may be dispensed with
altogether, as the heating medium and the temperature of the air may

page_text: be elevated at pleasure and employed alone. In the latter case; instead
of steam pipes, the box or case may be filled with solid metallic rods or
bars, circular, quadrangular, or such other figure as may be found to
present the greatest surface in the smallest space; these rods or bars
may be detached pieces of equal length, but if they are of cast iron,
in that case each horizontal row may be cast in one piece something
resembling a gridiron having square ends, so that when piled upon one
another to the height required they may be equidistant in both the
perpendicular and the horizontal rows, and the distance or free space
for the passage of the air should be half an inch or more according to
circumstances, that is to say, each individual steam pipe or rod or bar
should have around it a free passage for the air of half an inch at least.
Figure 4 represents one row of bars or rods cast in a manner some-
thing resembling a gridiron, and being piled upon one another it is
evident that the outer bars, represented by the strong black lines, must
be so much thicker than the inner bars as the free space for the passage
of the air may be wanted between them.
And I declare that this my said Invention may be applied to the
refregeration of liquids as well as their concentration, evaporation being
the most powerful method of producing cold. And I finally declare
that it essentially consists in a vessel fitted with steam pipes, rods, bars,
tubes, or other suitable surface, with a perforated vessel in the shape of
an inverted cone, pyramid, flat, scave, or other suitable figure, by which
liquids may be dispersed through a heated medium in showers or
streamlets.
In witness whereof I, the said William Cleland, have hereunto.
set my hand and affixed my seal, at Glasgow aforesaid, this
Thirteenth day of December, One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-two years.
WILLIAM CLELAND. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being first duly
stamped) before and in presence of
GEO. CUNNINGHAM, Writer in Glasgow,

page_text: Peter Mackenzie, Writer in Glasgow, maketh oath and saith, that
he was present with George Cunningham, also Writer in Glasgow, and
did see William Cleland, the party named in the Deed Poll hereunto
annexed, sign, seal, and as his act and deed deliver the said Deed Poll
in presence of this deponent and the said George Cunningham; and
that the name William Cleland, set and subscribed thereto as the
party executing the same, is of the proper handwriting of the said
William Cleland, and that the signatures and descriptions "George
Cunningham, Writer in Glasgow, Witness," and "Peter Mackenzie,
Writer in Glasgow, Witness," are of the proper hands writing of
the said George Cunningham and this deponent respectively.