IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING, EVAPORATING, TORREFYING, DISTILLING. AND REFRIGERATING
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of the firm of
Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING, EVAPORATING,
TORREFYING, DISTILLING. AND REFRIGERATING."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 7th December 1852.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING, EVAPO
RATING, TORREFYING, DISTILLING, AND REFRIGERATING," (communicated to
me from a foreigner,) to be as follows: -
The nature of the Invention consists in obtaining very large
surfaces, and in distributing currents of steam, heated air, the

page_text: products of combustion, hot liquids, or when required for refrige-
rating, cold air, or cold liquids, through them. I obtain these
surfaces from a hollow archimedean screw, whose axis is also
hollow. The screw is composed of plates, or of a series of tubes,
superposed and united. Or, instead of the screw, I provide a shaft
with two sets of projecting arms, cach arm furnished with two
hooks, for the purpose of hooking on pieces of cotton, linen, or other
textile fabric, or even of wire gauze. In every case, I mount my
shaft in a close vessel, and regulate the supply of the matters to be
treated, so as not to be above it.
Sheet 1, Figures 1, 2, and 3, shew my apparatus, with the screw
composed of a series of tubes, which gradually increase in diameter
as they diverge from the axis. In some cases it is desirable to
remove the matters treated, at a given moment; for this purpose I
make the supports of the under part of the main vessel moveable, as
also the lower part of the vessel itself.
Sheet 2, Figures 1, 2, and 3, shew different modifications of my
apparatus. Steam, after passing through the coils in Figure 3, may
be made to traverse the hollow screw, Figure 2; and, by means of
an air pump, may be drawn through the coils in Figure 1.
Sheet 3, shews an apparatus fitted with a shaft carrying the pro-
jecting arms provided with hooks for carrying the cloth before
named. Here air is blown into the interior of a hollow archimedean
screw; or it may be made to traverse tubes heated by the products
of combustion in the furnace, coming in contact therewith on their
passage to the chimney; the hot air comes out at the top of the
screw, and issues through pipes distributed through the vessel, into
the evaporating vessel itself. The rotation of the shaft brings the
cloth on its arms alternately in contact with the matters to be
heated, evaporated, &c., and with the hot air, whereby the desired
effect is greatly accelerated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of Robertson, Brooman,
& Co., of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as 1, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING, EVA-
PORATING, TORREFYING, DISTILLING, AND REFRIGERATING," communicated
to me by a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, by an instru-
ment 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 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 Richard Archibald Brooman,
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 thereof, re-

page_text: ference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed (that is
to say):-
The nature of the Invention consists in obtaining large surfaces,
and in distributing currents of steam, heated air, the products of
combustion, hot liquids, or when the apparatus is required for
refrigerating, cold air or cold liquids, through them. These surfaces
are obtained from a hollow Archimedean screw, the axis or shaft of
which is also hollow. The screw may be composed either of plates,
or of a series of tubes superposed and united together. Or instead
of the plates or tubes, a shaft may be used provided with sets of
projecting arins, cach arm being furnished with hooks for the
purpose of attaching pieces of cotton, linen, or other textile fabrics,
or wire
gauze. In every case the shaft is mounted in a close vessel,
and the matters to be treated are so supplied and regulated as not
to be above the level of the shaft. The Drawings hereunto an-
nexed represent these different forms of apparatus. Figure 1, being
a sectional elevation, and Figure 2, an end view of an apparatus,
in which the screw is composed of a series of tubes, which gradually
increase in diameter as they diverge from the shaft or axis. A, A,
is the outer cylindrical case, supported by the framework B, B. The
case A, is closed in at the two ends by the plates C, C. D, is the
hollow shaft, supported, and turning in the supports or columns E, E'.
F, is the screw, composed of a series of tubes, of a gradually increas-
ing diameter, as they diverge from the shaft D. The steam, hot air,
or other medium for evaporation, or refrigeration, as the case may be,
is passed into the shaft at the end a, as indicated by the arrow in
Figure 1; and by means of the stop b, in the shaft, is directed into
the tubes, and caused to traverse their length, escaping at the part
c of the shaft, which is also provided with a stop, and finally escapes
down the column E¹. The ends of the case A, are provided with
apertures e, e, for the escape of the products of evaporation, &c. G,
is a hopper provided with a cock at g, for introducing the matters
to be evaporated, or otherwise treated; and H, is the gauge. In
some cases it is found desirable to remove the matters under process
of treatment at a particular monent, or when they will not flow

page_text: freely through a discharge pipe, for which purpose the under part
of the vessel A, may be made movable. K, is a cock for drawing
off the matters when they are sufficiently liquid to flow readily
through the same; L, is a strap pulley, for imparting motion to the
shaft D, and screw F.
Figures 3, 4, and 5, shew different modifications of the apparatus ;
Figure 3, being an elevation of an apparatus similar to that repre-
sented in Figures 1, and 2, and herein-before described, in which the
treated matters may be drawn off through the weighted valve M.
This valve also serves the purpose of regulating the quantity of
matters in the apparatus; being so weighted that, as soon as the
liquid shall rise above a certain determined height, the extra
pressure shall open the valve, and allow the liquid to flow out until
it is reduced to the requisite quantity. In Figure 4, is represented.
an apparatus constructed of a series of plates, wound spirally round
a hollow shaft in the form of a hollow Archimedean screw. In this
apparatus, the matters in the vessel A, are evaporated by the
products of combustion from the furnace B. The lower part of the
vessel A, also forms the roof of the furnace; so that the heat is
caused to impinge upon it, and materially aid in the process of
evaporation. The products of combustion pass into the hollow shaft
C, at the point a; and after. passing through the screw, escape into
the chimney. An opening, or openings is or are formed in the
upper part of the vessel communicating with the chimney, for the
escape of the products of evaporation. In Figure 5, evaporation is
effected by means of hot water, heated in the boiler A; the case or
vessel containing the materials to be evaporated being let into the
boiler. The hot water communicates with the hollow shaft of the
screw by the connecting pipes B; and after circulating through the.
screw, returns to the boiler by the pipes C. In Figure 4, steam may
be caused to pass through the screw, after having passed through the
coils represented in Figure 3. Air pumps may be placed in con-
munication with the coils of tubes in Figures 1, 2, and 3, if thought
desirable. Figure 6, represents an apparatus for evaporating by
means of a shaft carrying sets of projecting arms provided with

page_text: hooks, to which pieces of cotton, linen, or other suitable textile
fabric, as before mentioned, are hooked. A, is a furnace, the roof
of which is formed by the evaporating vessel B. C, is the shaft
carrying the projecting arms provided with hooks, a, a. D, is a
hollow Archimedean screw, revolving vertically in the back end of
the furnace, and exposed to the products of combustion in their
passage from the furnace to the chimney. E, is a fan blower for
forcing 'air into the interior of the hollow screw, which, in its
passage, becomes heated before passing out at the orifice b. The
heated air passes along the upper portion of the evaporating vessel,
and finally escapes through the opening c. The revolution of the
shaft brings the cloth attached to the arms alternately in contact
with the matters to be evaporated and with the heated air, whereby
the process of evaporation is greatly facilitated. Or, instead of the
arrangement just described, the air may be made to traverse tubes
heated by the products of combustion in the furnace, and distributed
through the evaporating vessel.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I
claim the several arrangeinents of machinery or apparatus for
heating, evaporating, torrefying, distilling and refrigerating, herein-
before described and represented in the Drawings hereunto an-
nexed.
In witness whereof. I. the said Richard Archibald Brooman.