IMPROVEMENTS IN EVAPORATING LIQUIDS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hosack, of Montpelier, in the Colony
of Jamaica, but at present residing in Edinburgh, in the County of
Mid Lothian, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN EVAPORATING LIQUIDS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREFOR."
Sealed the 11th January 1870, and dated the 16th July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hosack at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th July 1869.
I, WILLIAM HOSACK, of Montpelier, in the Colony of Jamaica, but
at present residing in Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN EVAPORATING LIQUIDS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention, which relates to the effecting of a more rapid evapo-
ration of liquids with less loss of heat than is obtained by existing
methods, is applicable for the evaporation of liquids in general, but one

page_text: of the applications for which it is specially adapted is the evaporation
of the liquor from which sugar is manufactured.
In place of evaporating the liquid in bulk, as hitherto employed under
the present Invention, the evaporation is effected when the liquid is in a
finely divided state of drops, jets, or spray.
Several mechanical arrangements may be employed for dividing the
liquid to be evaporated, but it is preferred to place a cylindrical or other
shaped casing over the pan or vessel in which the liquid is contained,
and through which a current of heated air is caused to ascend. By
means of a pump, chain of buckets, or other means for elevating a
liquid, the liquid to be evaporated is raised to the upper part of the
cylindrical or other shaped casing and poured into a pan or tray having
a perforated bottom, and though the perforations in which it falls
through the cylindrical casing into the vessel below, so that during
the time of falling it is acted upon by the ascending heated air, and
the more volatile portions are thus driven off, so that by continuing the
operations herein-before set forth for a sufficient length of time the
liquid may be concentrated to the desired extent. The air may be
heated by forcing it through a coil of pipe, or passing it through a
heated vessel or chamber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Hosack in the Great Seal Patent Office
"on the 13th January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HOSACK, of Montpelier, in the Colony of Jamaica, but at present residing
in Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the 33nd
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Hosack, Her special license that I,
the said William Hosack, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such, others as I, the said William Hosack, my exccutors, adminis-

page_text: trators, or 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 EVAPORATING
LIQUIDS, AND
IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Hosack, by an
instrument in writing, under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Hosack, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention, which relates to the effecting of a more rapid
evaporation of liquids with less loss of heat than is obtained by existing
methods, is applicable for the evaporation of liquids in general, but one.
of the applications for which it is specially adapted is the evaporation of
the liquor from which sugar is manufactured.
In place of evaporating the liquid in bulk, as hitherto, under the.
present Invention, the evaporation is effected when the liquid is in a
finely divided state of drops, jets, or spray.
Several mechanical arrangements may be employed for so dividing the
liquid to be evaporated, but it is preferred to place a cylindrical or other
shaped casing over the pan or vessel in which the liquid is contained,
and through which casing a current of heated air is caused to ascend.
By means of a pump, chain of buckets, or other means for elevating a
liquid, the liquid to be evaporated is raised to the upper part of the
cylindrical or other shaped casing and poured into a pan or tray having
a perforated bottom, and through the perforations in which it falls
down through the cylindrical casing into the vessel below, so that
during the time of falling it is acted upon by the ascending heated air,
and the more volatile portions are thus driven off, therefore by con-
tinuing the operations herein-before set forth for a sufficient length of
time the liquid may be concentrated to the desired extent. The air

page_text: may be heated by forcing it through a coil of heated pipe; or passing.
it through a heated vessel or chamber...
Aud in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, E
now proceed more particularly to set forth some systems or modes in or
under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, reference being had to the several Figures upon the explanatory
Sheets of Drawings which I have hereunto appended, and in which
similar parts are indicated by corresponding letters of reference, that
is to say:
On Sheet 1, Figure 1 is an elevation of one arrangement of my
improved apparatus for evaporating liquids; Figure 2. is a vertical
section of the same on the line a, a, of the plan, Figure 3.; and
Figure 4 is a horizontal section on the line b, b, Figure 2.
In this arrangement the apparatus consists of a tall cylindrical
vessel A, which is situated above the ordinary evaporating copper or
boiler B, and it is shown affixed thereto by bolts, but it may be other-
wise fixed, or may not be fixed thereto, in which latter case it is capable
of being employed independently of the ordinary copper or boiler, being
constructed with a bottom, which may be heated or not from below
with fire, hot air, or steam, as desired. Around the cylindrical casing A
à jacket or passage O is formed, and this communicates to one or more
chambers or coils of pipe by the branch D, shown at Figures 3 and 4.
The chambers or pipes are acted upon by the heat of a furnace, or by
steam, and atmospheric air is blown into them by a fan, blowing cylinder,
or by other means for forcing or producing a blast of air, so that a
heated blast of air is caused to circulate through the chambers or pipes,
and passing into the jacket C escapes into the cylindrical casing A
through the perforations a, a, a, so arranged that liquor cannot enter
into them. In the inside of the casing A vertical guide bars E are
fixed, as shown at Figures 2, 3, and 4, and on these motion or guide
blocks c, c, attached to the dipper F bear as the dipper F is alternately
raised and lowered by means of a crank or beam attached by links,
chains, or other suitable connections to the rod G. The dipper F
consists of a perforated bottom f, which may be of the form shown at
" or
Figure 2, or it may be flat, or otherwise shaped, with "nipples
conic tubes on the under side of the perforations, more effectually to
keep the descending jets, drops, or spray of liquor separate. This is
connected to the upper part g, and this again to the rod G by the

page_text: suspension frame H. The dipper F is of less diameter than the interior
of the casing A, so that an annular space I is left between the two,
which allows the heated air blowing in through the perforations a, a, a,
and the vapour arising from the liquid to freely escape. The bottom of
the dipper F is provided with valves i, i, which open inwards, the valves
being shown open in Figure 2, where the position of the dipper when
lowered to receive the liquor is shown in red lines, the arrows indicating
the manner in which the liquor enters the dipper as the valves are
lifted.
Having now set forth in detail the several parts of this first arrange-
ment of apparatus under which my Invention may be carried out in
practice, I now proceed more particularly to show the operation of the
same to be as follows, namely, when the dipper F is lowered into the
copper, boiler, or other vessel, as shown in red lines at Figure 2, the liquor
contained therein flows into the dipper F, and as soon as the dipper F
has received all that can pass into it it is raised to the upper part of
the casing A, as also shown at Figure 2, in which position the liquor
falls in drops, jets, or spray through the perforations in the dipper's
bottom, and during its descent from the dipper to the vessel B below it
is acted upon in this divided state by the ascending currents of heated
air, which are forced into the casing in the manner herein-before set
forth. When the dipper F becomes emptied of the liquor it is again
lowered into the vessel B, and the same action occurs as is herein-before
set forth, so that by lifting the liquor a sufficient number of times and
allowing it to be acted upon by the ascending currents of heated air, the
more volatile portions are rapidly evaporated, and the fluid or liquor
itself speedily concentrated to any required extent. In the side of the.
casing A a door K, shown at Figure 1, is placed, and by opening which
the sugar, liquor, or other fluid being treated may be examined and
skipped" by the attendant with a suitable pump, ladle, or other
suitable appliance, and the boiler B may be charged from the same
door from time to time.
"
On Sheet 2 are shown two other arrangements of apparatus by which
my improved process of evaporating liquids may be put into practice.
The casing A of the apparatus and the copper or vessel B are in this
case similar to that herein-before set forth in reference to Sheet 1 of the
Drawings, and therefore need not be further referred to, and the essential
differences in these two latter arrangements from the preceding consist

page_text: in the means employed for lifting the liquor from the copper or boiler B
up on to the perforated diaphragm C. In the vertical section, Figure 1,
a travelling chain of buckets D is shown; this is carried upon top and
bottom tumblers E and F, the upper one E being coupled to a driving
shaft, by which the motion for actuating the chain of buckets is trans-
mitted. The lower part of the chain of buckets being immersed in the
liquor in the vessel B a portion of it is lifted by each bucket - as it
ascends, and on arriving at the top tumbler E each bucket discharges its
contents into the upper division of the casing A, from which it falls
through the perforated plate or tray, and the divided drops are acted
upon by the heated air ascending from the perforations a, as in the
preceding modification. The heated air and volatile matters driven off
from the fluid escape from the casing A through the openings P thercin.
On Figure 2, Sheet 2, a pump R is shown for raising the fluid from the
copper or vessel B into the upper chamber S, from which it falls through
the perforated plate T, as in the preceding arrangement..
On Sheet 3 of the accompanying Drawings is represented a fourth
modification of my said Invention. In this case the general arrangement
is much the same as that shown in the herein-before described first
modification with reference to the Figures on Sheet 1, with the exception
that in lieu of having the copper B placed directly over a furnace, it is
in this example carried upon a framework and columns Z, and an outer
asing L of a similar form is used, but somewhat larger than the
copper B, and attached thereto by its flanch to that of the copper, and
chus leaving a space between the casing L and the copper B, so as
to enable steam or heated air to, circulate between them, thus heating
the liquor contained in the copper B to the required extent for sugar,
concrete, or other purpose. The copper B. is provided with a draw-off
pipe V, which is supplied with a cock v; these are fixed at the lower
end of the copper B, and pass out through the steam casing L, by which
means the charge can be withdrawn after it has been sufficiently heated.
The supply of steam.or heated air is admitted under the copper B from,
a receiver or boiler by the pipe X fixed near the top of the casing L..
The mode of operating with this last shown arrangement being
obvious from the Drawing, Figure 2, Sheet 2, need not be herein
further specified.
In using apparatus of the nature herein-before set forth for evapo-
rating saccharine liquors it may be convenient to have the cylinder A

page_text: moveable when erected over such coppers as are at present employed,
in order that the sugar may be treated and taken out in the usual way
when ready, and in place of using the casing A it may be dispensed
with, as the process of evaporation or concentration of fluid may be
accelerated by merely using a dipper or other apparatus for raising it
into a perforated tray above the boiler or vessel, thus allowing the liquor
to fall back into an ordinary boiler, which may be heated from below.
By this means the evaporative power of a set or series of ordinary boilers
is considerably increased, while the present system of managing them
could also be carried on if desired.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the mode
or manner in or under which the same may be carried into effect, I
would observe in conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The process of accelerating the evaporation and concentration
of liquids by acting upon the fluid in a finely divided state of jets, spray,
or drops, substantially as herein-before set forth.
Second. The arrangement and construction of apparatus for accele-
rating the evaporation and concentration of liquids, substantially as
herein-before described and shown in the annexed Sheets of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hosack, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 2nd day of November One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-nine.