IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR EVAPORATING AND COOLING LIQUIDS APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Severn at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
March 1866.
I, GEORGE SEVERN, of Hampstead Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Brewer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR EVAPORATING AND
COOLING LIQUIDS APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the means employed for with-
drawing the heat and vapours as they rise from the upper surface of evaporating
pans or vessels, in order to accelerate the process of evaporation carried in
such pans or vessels, similar means being also employed for withdrawing the
heat and vapours as they rise from the surface of liquids placed in shallow
vats or vessels for the purpose of cooling the same, this part of my Invention
being particularly applicable for cooling worts and liquids in breweries and
distilleries, or for other similar purposes.
In carrying out my improvements in evaporating liquids for the concentra-
tion of saline solutions, or for other similar purposes, I place a cover over the
evaporating pan or vessel, leaving a narrow space between the under side of
the cover and the upper surface of the liquid or solution contained in the pan
or vessel, and I prefer that the cover should be capable of adjustment, in order
to vary and regulate the distanco it is placed above the surface of the liquid

page_text: One end or side of the cover and space below is left open, or, by preference,
is placed in communication with the outer atmosphere, the opposite end or
side of the cover and space below being connected with an air pipe or passage,
the other end of which passes into the closed ash-pit or other suitable part of
the fire-place or furnace of the evaporating pan, or of a steam boiler. By
this arrangement a continuous supply of air is drawn from the outer
atmosphere over the surface of the liquid in the evaporating pan or vessel,
and through the air pipe or passage, to support combustion in the furnace, the
continuous withdrawal of the heat and steam from the surface of the liquid
thereby accelerating the process of evaporation.
In order to accelerate the process of cooling liquids according to my
Invention, the vats or cooling vessels have covers capable of adjustment
placed over them so as to leave a narrow space between the under side of the
cover and the surface of the liquid to be cooled. One end of such space is
left open, or is placed in communication with the outer atmosphere, the other
end of such space being connected with a pipe or passage leading to the
closed ash-pit or other suitable part of a fire-place or furnace (by preference
that of a steam boiler). Continuous streams of air are thus drawn over the
surface of the liquid to be cooled for the support of combustion in the
furnace, which may be regulated by dampers, or by the admission of air as
required. The air passage from an evaporating pan or from a cooling vat may
be formed with branch pipes or passages communicating with several fire-
places or furnaces if desired.
In the application of my Invention to the cooling of worts or liquids in
breweries or distilleries, it is not essential that the cooling vat should be placed
in the upper part of the building, as is usually the case, as it may be advan-
tageously placed in the lower part of the building, thus avoiding the necessity
of raising the liquid by pumps or otherwise. In warm weather the tem-
perature of the air may be lowered before it enters between the cover and
the liquid to be cooled by causing it to pass through a chamber containing a
mixture of pounded ice and salt or other suitable refrigerator.
Other means of exhausting the space between the cover and the surface
of the liquid for causing a draught (such as a fan or a jet of steam) may
be employed either alone or in combination with the means previously
described.