COLLECTING AND SAVING THE SPIRIT OR ALCOHOL GENERATED BY SPONTANEOUS FERMENTA- TION IN RAW SUGAR, CONCRETE, MELADO, AND MOLASSES, AND THROWN OFF PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Reid, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Produce Broker, for the Invention of "COLLECTING AND
SAVING THE SPIRIT OR ALCOHOL GENERATED BY SPONTANEOUS FERMENTA-
TION IN RAW SUGAR, CONCRETE, MELADO, AND MOLASSES, AND THROWN OFF
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Reid at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st October
1863.
I, FRANCIS REID, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Produce
Broker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "COLLECTING
AND SAVING THE SPIRIT OR ALCOHOL GENERATED BY SPONTANEOUS FERMENTATION
IN RAW SUGAR, CONCRETE, MELADO, AND MOLASSES, AND THROWN OFF DURING THE
PROCESS OP BOILING OR REFINING," to be as follows (that is to say):
Raw sugar, concrete, melado, and molasses, are all liable more or less to
spontaneous fermentation, this is especially observable in the last-named
article, which when landed in this country is usually brisk and frothy, proving
partial destruction of saccharine matter and generation of spirit (or alcohol).
The whole of the spirit thus formed has hitherto been entirely lost during
the process of refining or boiling, no means being adopted to save it, the object
5 of this Invention is a plan to effect this desideratum. The plan is simply to

page_text: attach a condensing apparatus of any description to any kind of covered pan,
in which the above articles may be boiled whether the same shall be done in
vacuo or otherwise, the vapour from which being therewith condensed will be
found to be a weak mixture of spirit and water valuable for rectifying,
re-distilling, or other purposes.
The Inventor does not rest his claim on any peculiar mode of boiling or
condensing, but solely in a means of saving such spirit as may be generated
in the articles named by spontaneous fermentation, and which bas heretofore
been lost during the process of refining or boiling.
The Invention may be carried into effect by connecting the ordinary
vacuum pans with a common worm condenser and collecting the products
condensed, and using them for the purposes herein-before specified.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Reid in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st
March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
REID, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Produce Broker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Francis Reid, Her special licence that I, the said Francis Reid, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis
Reid, my 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 "COL-
LECTING AND SAVING THE SPIRIT OR ALCOHOL GENERATED BY SPONTANEOUS FERMEN-
TATION IN RAW SUGAR, CONCRETE, MELADO, AND MOLASSES, AND THROWN OFF
DURING THE PROCESS OF BOILING OR REFINING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Francis Reid, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and

page_text: 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 I, the said Francis Reid, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed. to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
Raw sugar, concrete, melado, and molasses, are all liable more or less to
spontaneous fermentation, this is especially observable in the last-named
article, which when landed in this country is usually brisk and frothy, proving
partial destruction of saccharine matter and generation of spirit (or alcohol).
The whole of the spirit thus formed has hitherto been entirely lost during the
process of refining or boiling, no means having been adopted to save it, now
the object of this my said Invention is a plan to effect this desideratum. The
plan is simply to attach a condensing apparatus of any suitable description to
any kind of covered pan, in which the above articles may be boiled or refined
whether the same he done in vacuo, or otherwise, the vapour from which being
therewith condensed will be found to be a weak mixture of spirit and water
valuable for rectifying, redistilling, or other purposes.
I do not rest my claim on any peculiar mode of boiling or condensing, but
solely in a means of saving such spirit as may be generated in the articles
named by spontaneous fermentation, and which has heretofore been lost during
the process of refining or boiling.
My Invention may be carried into effect by connecting the ordinary
vacuum pans with a common worm condenser, and collecting the products
condensed and using them for the purposes herein-before described.
That the nature of this my said Invention may be the more readily seen
and understood, I have hereto annexed a partial sectional Drawing shewing
the arrangement of one modification of apparatus, which is well calculated to
practically carry out my Invention, like letters and figures marked thereon
being used to denote similar parts.
A is an ordinary vacuum pan, with its fittings, and which is connected by
B, a pipe, to C, small vertical chambers, which are connected to C¹, vertical
chambers on the opposite side of D, a cold water cistern, by a member of E,
horizontal pipes, which by means of the horizontal partitions in the vertical
chambers C and C', cause the vapour from the vacuum pan to take the direc-
tion indicated by the arrows. The products of condensation are drawn off,
from the bottom of the chambers C', through F, the pipe, by G, the air pump
and are discharged through H, the pipe into J, receiving vat, from whence, it

page_text: is elevated by K, a pump into L, a supply vat, placed above M, a "Coffey's
still," by which the spirit or alcohol is extracted from the condensed vapours
from the vacuum pan; N, a cold water supply pipe for surrounding the
vertical chambers C and C', and the horizontal pipes E, within the cistern D;
P, the discharge, or waste pipe on the head of the cistern; Q is a wall sepa-
rating the vacuum pan, and its condensing apparatus from the distilling, or
rectifying department, so that the refining and distilling may be carried on in
separate apartments or buildings.
Having now fully described my Invention, and how, I believe the same may
be best carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details herein-before described and set forth
as these may be considerably varied without departing from the Invention; nor
do I rest my claim on any peculiar mode of boiling, or condensing, or dis-
tilling or peculiar apparatus therefor, but what I claim is, a system or com-
bination of apparatus as herein-before described, for saving such spirit, or
alcohol as may be generated in raw sugar, concrete, melado, and molasses by
spontaneous fermentation, and which has heretofore been entirely lost, during
the process of refining, or boiling raw sugar, concrete, melado, and molasses.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Reid, have hereto set my
hand and affixed my seal, this Twenty-sixth day of Marcb, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER,
Of 44, Castle Street,
Liverpool.
FRANCIS (L.s.) REID.