IMPROVEMENTS IN MASHING APPARATUSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Barlow, of Shirley, in the County of Hants
Brewer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MASHING APPARATUSES.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Barlow at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
November 1856.
I, ANDREW BARLOW, of Shirley, in the County of Hants, Brewer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MASHING
APPARATUSES," to be as follows:-
My improvements comprise the agitators to agitate the malt or other grain,
the means of keeping up and circulating a regular temperature throughout
the mashing vessel, and the false bottom thereto. In the mashing tuns or
apparatuses as now used the agitators work vertically, or rotate in a vertical
direction, whereby part of the contents of the tun is exposed to the atmosphere,
which acts prejudicially thereon.
Now, this part of my Invention consists in causing the agitators to rotate
horizontally; and it also consists in forming the agitator blade heads with a.
broad or enlarged surface, to cause a better circulation of heat through the
tun. In order to maintain a proper temperature in the tun, I form it entirely
or partly with a jacket or case, place water or other liquid therein, and heat it

page_text: by steam, introduced and caused to circulate therein in pipes. Instead of
steam, hot air or gases may be employed; or hot water or other liquid or
steam may be made to circulate directly in and through the jacket or case. I
form my false bottom of a series of cones or pieces circular at top and tapering
off to the bottom thereof; each cone is perforated, and the cones or circles are
so placed that each perforation or aperturo is about half an inch distant from
that next to it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andrew Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th May 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
BARLOW, of Shirley, in the County of Hants, Brewer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Andrew Barlow, Her special licence that I, the said Andrew Barlow, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew
Barlow, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MASHING APPARATUSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Andrew Barlow, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describo 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 Offico within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Andrew Barlow, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Iuvention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:
.. My improvements comprise the agitators to agitate the malt or other grain,

page_text: the means of keeping up and circulating a regular temperature throughout the
mashing vessel, and the false bottom thereto.
In the mashing tuns or apparatuses as now used the agitators work
vertically, or rotate in a vertical direction, whereby part of the contents of the
tun is exposed to the atmosphere, which acts prejudicially thereon. Now, this
part of my Invention consists in causing the agitators to rotate horizontally,
and it also consists in forming the agitator blade heads with a broad or
enlarged surface to cause a better circulation of heat through the tun. In
order to maintain the proper temperature in the tun, I form it entirely or
partly with a jacket or case to place water or other liquid therein, and heat it
by steam, introduced and caused to circulate therein in pipes. Instead of
steam, hot air or gases may be employed to heat the liquid.
I form my false bottom of a series of cones or pieces circular at top and
tapering off to the bottom thereof; each cone is perforated, and the cones or
circles are so placed that each perforation or aperture is about half an inch
distant from that next to it.
In the Drawings annexed, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a mash tun
constructed and fitted with agitators according to my Invention; Fig. 2 is a
plan, partly in section, of Figure 1. A, A, is the outer case of the tun;
B, B, lining or inner case, which extends all round the tun, and between it
and the outer case there is a water-space C, C, and steam pipes D, D. The
curb or ring a closes the water space at top and at bottom; the plates forming
the inner case are so secured to the bottom of the tun as to make this portion
also water-tight. A', A', is a perforated false bottom; E, E', are the agitators,
fitted with blades b, b, formed with broad or enlarged heads or ends, for the
purpose of better and more equally diffusing the heat throughout the contents
of the tun.
Although I have shewn the heads of the blades of the agitators in each.
set at a distance from each other, I intend in some cases to make them
work within each other, or interlock, providing, of course, sufficient room for
their working clear of each other when rotating. Also in some cases, instead
of fixing the blades horizontally on the agitator shafts, I intend to fix them at
a slight inclination or angle with a horizontal line. The agitators are supported
in top and bottom frames F, G, seen in plan at Figure 2, and in the detached
view, Figure 3, and are free to rotate in bearings therein. These frames are
connected by collars to a hollow pillar H, which passes through the centre of
the tun. Tie bars I, I¹, seen in the detached end view of frames, Figure 4,
connect the top and bottom frames at their outer ends and preserve their
parallelism. The collars carry flanges c, c, on the side opposite to that from

page_text: which the frames F and G project; arms d, d, carry a plain agitator or stirrer e,
which is parallel with and close to the inner case B, B. A platform or ledge K
extends round the top of the tun, and a toothed rack is formed on the inside of
the metal rim L. M is a shaft, to which is keyed at bottom a bevilled toothed
wheel to communicate rotary motion to the shaft from a steam engine or other
prime mover; or rotary motion may be communicated to this shaft. by other
suitable means. On the top of the shaft is keyed a toothed pinion N, which
gears into a toothed wheel O on the top of the shaft of the agitator E, and
this again drives a similar wheel O' in the shaft of the agitator E'. O² is: a
toothed pinion, keyed on the shaft. of the agitator E', which gears, into and
drives a toothed wheel P, free to turn upon an axis supported in bearings in
the cross arm f of the upper frame F. This wheel P takes into the. rack on
the inside of the metal rim L. g. 9, are friction rollers, shown in dotted lines
at Figure 2, which rest upon the platform K, and form a bearing for the outer
end of the top frame F and gear: Upon the shaft M being made to rotate, the
agitators E, E', revolve in contrary directions to each other; and these agitators
and frames are simultaneously carried together with the plain agitator e round
the tun, by the wheel P gearing into the fixed toothed rack on the rim L. It
will be observed, that while a stirring agitation is being kept up by the rotation
of the agitator blades at one part of the tun, the plain agitator e is shifting
the goods from the heated inner case at the opposite part of the tun h is a
scraper, which may be bolted to the tie bar I, Figure 4; i is a funnel and tap
for filling the jacket or water chamber C; k, thermometer, with its bulb
entering the water in the chamber, and-indicating upon a scale, outside the tun
the temperature in the chamber; Q is a steam inlet, and R. a steam outlet
pipe. The steam enters directly into a steam box, which conveys the steam
into the pipes D, D, which surround the tun, and from these pipes the steam
enters a similar box from which it escapes into the outflow pipe R. These
steam boxes are shewn detached and on an enlarged scale at Figures 5, 6,
and 7. By regulating the admission of steam through the inlet pipe by a. tap
therein, the temperature of the water in the water space C can at all times be
regulated and maintained at the heat desired, and through the revolution of
the agitators in the manner before described, the heat is carried to the centre
and distributed through the contents of the tun. It will be obvious, that there
are many different means whereby the agitators may be caused to revolve
round their own centres, and whereby they may be caused at the same time to
travel round the tun. I do not intend, therefore, to restrict myself to the
method of producing these rotary motions described, nor to the precise
arrangements of the detail of the various parts..

page_text: At Figures 8 and 9 I shew respectively, in plan, the under side and the top
surface;
sand at Figure 10, in section, the manner in which I construct the false
bottom of mash tuns, which differs from ordinary false bottoms by there being
a greater number of perforations in a given space for drawing off the worts;
this is accomplished by making the countersinks 1, 1, 1, at the under side touch
each other, as shewn. In some cases I unite every alternate pair of perforations
by a narrow slit formed in the metal, as shewn at m, m.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improvements
in mashing apparatuses,―
First, the construction of agitators fitted with broad-headed blades or ends
working horizontally, or nearly so.
Second, the construction of agitators made to revolve simultaneously round
their axes and round the tun in which they are fitted.
Third, the constructing of mash tuns with jackets or double sides for con-
taining water or other liquid heated and maintained at the temperature desired
by means of steam, hot air, or heated gases introduced in pipes into or through
the same.
And, fourth, the constructing of the false bottoms of mash tuns in the
manner herein-before described, and represented in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Barlow, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven.
ANDREW BARLOW. (L8.)