CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF APPLYING HEAT FOR THE PURPOSES OF HEATING, COOKING, AND EVAPORATING, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BRITTEN, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under, the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the twenty-fifth day of February, in the ninth year of Her reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Britten, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the
said John Britten, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF APPLYING HEAT
FOR THE PURPOSES OF HEATING, COOKING, AND EVAPORATING, AND IN THE APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said John Britten, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Britten do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawing hereto annexed, and the following explana-
tion thereof (that is to say):-
My Improvements in the Method of Applying Heat for the Purpose of
Heating, Cooking, and Evaporating, and in the Apparatus connected therewith,
are principally applicable, firstly, to the heating or evaporation of solutions of
common salt or sugar; and, secondly, to the heating, cooking, or warming
articles of food.
66
The first part of my Invention, which I shall specify under the head of
evaporation," is applicable principally to the evaporation of solution of
common salt or sugar, and is to be effected in the following manner, reference
being had to the Drawing attached to these Presents :-
Figure 1 represents a vertical section taken through about the middle of
the apparatus, and Figure 2 a horizontal section taken thro' the line a, b, in
Figure 1. c, c, c, is an iron vessel of about ten feet diameter and seventeen
feet high, of sufficient strength to admit of its being rendered nearly vacuous
without danger of collapsing; this I call a brine pan. d, d,.d, is a vessel of
copper or other suitable metal, consisting of a number of tubes placed per-
pendicularly, and surrounded and inclosed by one large cylinder or a number
of segments of smaller cylinders, as shewn in Figure 2; and this internal part
of the apparatus I call the "heater." Steam from a boiling salt pan is admitted
into the "heater" through the pipe f, and filling the spaces 9, 9, g, between
the tubes, imparts its heat to the brine in contact, and creates an ascending
and a descending current in the direction of the arrows. The air from the
brine pan being exhausted so as to create a vacuum of about fourteen inches,
ebullition will take place in the brine when the temperature rises to about 180°.
The steam generated in this salt pan is to be conducted to a second apparatus,
similar in every respect, but which must be worked at a vacuum of about
twenty-four inches, when ebullition will take place at about 140°. The steam
from this pan may be condensed by the ordinary injection, or may be employed
for heating other brine to be exposed to ordinary surface'evaporation. In the
ordinary method of using the steam generated in one salt pan to impart its
heat to a second, it is found to be impossible to regulate the supply to the
demand, the consequence of which is, that at one time hot air and uncondensed
steam are escaping through the eduction passage for the water of condensation,
and at another time the supply is so deficient that a vacuum is partially formed
beneath the steam pan, and a quantity of cold air is admitted through the same_

page_text: passage; which air is expelled in a heated state when the supply of steam is
increased. again. To diminish: the waste: occasioned by this cause I employ an
apparatus similar to the "heater" described as d, d, d, Figures 1 and 2, but
made with smaller tubes, so as to occupy less: space.; and when: used::for .this
purpose! I denominate its the "equaliser." This apparatus being surrounded:
and covered with brine,.is: connected with the reduction passage,.so. that any a
escaping steam or hot air must pass through it; and impart the greater portion
of its heat to the surrounding brine, which heat will contribute to. warm thes
cold air which, from causes explained above, will be occasionally entering the
chamber beneath the steam pan. An arrangement should be made by which,
in case the brine which surrounds: the "equaliser should: become too much
heated, a portion may be discharged into the evaporating-pan.;.
My improvement, as applicable in the manufacture of sugar, consists in
condensing the steam generated in the ordinary vacuum pan, by. using it to.
concentrate the weaker solution of sugar: before it enters the vacuum:pan,.
which weaker solution must be kept at a sufficiently low, temperature by anya
ordinary method: of exposing a large and continually changing surface.to. the
air. For the purpose of heating. such: solution. I prefer an arrangement, of
tubes similar to those represented in Figures 1:and.:2, but I do not confine
myself to such particular method or apparatus.
My improvements; as applicable to heating or cooking, consist in the
employment or use of an apparatus, as represented in section.:at Figure. 3,
which may be called an "inverted kettle.". The ouly: way. in which.it: differs is
in having a hole in its lid, with a.tube projecting inwards to an extent equal to
the depth of the lid.. "This.tube receives a tube.projecting from the cover of
the boiler, and rising about one inch and a half above the level of the hob
(underneath which, the boiler is supposed to be situated, but as neither the
boiler nor hob constitute part of the Invention, they are not represented).
When anything is to be warmed for cooked .it is. placed on the strainer.d, the
kettle 6 inverted over it; and the aperture c.placed over the tube in connection.
with the. boiler, when the steam will; by its inferior specific gravity, rise .and.
fill the whole of the vessel, and entirely surround the article to be cooked:
before any can escape at the joints: The advantages to be derived. from this.
arrangement of apparatus are simplicity of construction, there being no: long.
tubes to be cleaned, no close-joints required, and. the apparatus .in every way
available for the ordinary purposes of a kettle. In large culinary establish-
ments the steam pipes can be ranged along the one side of a slate or metal
table, the articles to be cooked placed near them, and separate covers placed
over each.

page_text: Having now particularly described the nature and object of my Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood,-
First, in using the steam of one salt pan to heat a second or third pan,
I claim the right, of using a partial. vacuum in the pan to be so heated. I claim,
also the method of heating brine by causing it to circulate through a system of
tubes or other shaped chambers, which are surrounded by steam, whether such
tubes or chambers be employed to heat brine, as herein represented, or to heat
brine which may be exposed to surface evaporation for the production of coarse
salt. I also claim the right of adapting an apparatus, consisting of a number
of small tubes or. chambers, to. such evaporating pans as are heated by a
variable supply of steam, and using it for the purpose or purposes above.
described; but I do not confine myself to any particular form or construction
of such apparatus.
Secondly, in making or refining sugar, I claim the right of condensing the
steam of a vacuum pan by using it to heat the weaker solutions of sugar,
which solution is to be kept of sufficiently low temperature by any ordinary
method, whereby a large and continually changing surface may be exposed;
but I do not claim. any method of agitating or exposing a large surface as
my Invention.
And lastly, in cooking or warming food, I claim the method of admitting
the steam so that all joints may be at or near the bottom of the apparatus;
but I do not claim the form of the apparatus as represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Britten, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and forty cir