IMPROVEMENTS IN DIS- TILLING APPARATUS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Tait, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DIS-
TILLING APPARATUS."-A communication from abroad by Thomas Forrester
the Colon of Dutch C
Sealed the 10th July 1860, and dated the 31st January 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Tait at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st
January 1860.
I, WILLIAM TAIT, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DISTILLING APPARATUS," Communicated to me from abroad by Thomas
Forrester McFarlane, of Demerara, in the Colony. of British Guiana, to be
as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction and general
arrangement of distilling apparatus, and has principally for object to. simplify
various parts, so as to render the apparatus easily constructed, fitted, and
repaired. The apparatus constructed with these improvements comprises a
vertical rectangular chamber of wood standing upon a substantial cast-iron base
plate, and covered by a cast-iron cap plate, the wood sides, or walls being firmly
bound together by tie bolts extending between these two plates. In the upper
two-thirds or three-fourths of this chamber there are fitted a series of wooden
shelves, which are perforated for the passage downwards in a series of showers
of the wash undergoing. distillation, whilst the mixed aqueous and alcholie
vapours have free passage upwards to the rectifier situated above the chamber.
The wash is heated by means of steam which is introduced by a coil of per-
forated pipe at the bottom of the chamber, and blows through the spent or

page_text: nearly spent wash lying there. The rectifier is a strong copper vessel of a
cylindrical or other simple form, and is placed directly above and communicates
with the evaporating chamber. On entering the rectifier, the vapours first
strike upon a spreading plate and then pass up through tubes surrounded by
the cold wash; this wash is introduced at the lower part of the rectifier,
and rising up overflows down a central pipe to the uppermost of the perforated
shelves in the evaporating vessel. Leaving the upper ends of the rectifier tubes
the alcholic vapour strikes against a second spreading or check plate and passes
off to the condenser, a simple oblong coil of copper piping contained in a
wooden box or cistern kept continually supplied with cold water. In this
apparatus the distilling operation is kept up continuously, the cold wash being
supplied at the rectifier and descending by the system of shelves in the evapo-
rating vessel, from the bottom of which last the spent wash is discharged at a
rate proportionate to the supply of wash, whilst the spirit separated in the
process is conveyed to the storage vessels by a pipe leading from the condensing
worm.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Tait in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
- July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
TAIT, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, send
geeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Tait, Her special licence that I, the said William Tait, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Tait, 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 DISTILLING
APPARATUS," communicated to me by Thomas Forrester McFarlane, residing
in Demerara, in the Colony of British Guiana, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Tait, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,

page_text: 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 William Tait, 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
in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to improvements in the construction and general
arrangement of distilling apparatus, and has principally for object to simplify
various parts so as to render the apparatus easily constructed, fitted, and
repaired.
And in order that the said Invention may be properly understood and carried
into effect, there is hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory Drawings repre-
senting the improved apparatus, to which reference will be made in particularly
describing the same, as follows:-
Figure 1 of the said Drawings is a vertical section, and Figure 2 is a plan
of the apparatus, the same reference letters marking the same parts in both
Figures. The apparatus comprises a vertical rectangular chamber A, termed
the analyser; it is constructed of wood, and stands upon a substantial cast-iron
base plate B, being capped by a similar cast-iron cover plate C, whilst the
whole is firmly bound together by tie bolts D, extending between the two
plates B, C. In the upper two-thirds or three-fourths of the analysing
chamber A, there are fitted or arranged a number of perforated wooden
shelves or diaphragms E, contrived for the passage of the wash downwards
from shelf to shelf, in a series of broken showers, so as to expose the largest
possible surface for evaporation, and at the same time permit the free ascent
of the mixed aqueous and alcoholic vapours to the upper end of the chamber,
and thence by the communication F into the rectifier G placed directly above
the analyser A. The wash is heated by means of steam which is introduced
by a coil of perforated pipe H, at the bottom of the analysing chamber A., and
blows through the spent or nearly spent wash lying there. The rectifier G is a
strong copper vessel of a cylindrical or other simple form, and contains two tube
plates or diaphragms I, with tubes J, extending between them. On entering
the rectifier, the vapours first strike upon a spreading plate K, and then pass
up through the tubes J, which are surrounded by the cold wash; this being
introduced by the pipe L into the lower part of the space between the
diaphragms I, and overflowing by the central pipe M down to the uppermost

page_text: shelf of the analyser A; leaving. the upper ends of the rectifier tubes J,
the alcoholic vapour strikes against a second spreading or check plate N,
and passes off thence by the pipe O, either directly to the condenser or, when
a spirit of the purest and strongest character is required; to. a second
rectifier P; this rectifier is similar in construction to the first, having
a space partitioned off by two tube plates or diaphragms i, with tubes j
extending between them. The pipe O entering the top of the rectifier
passes down through both tube plates i, and the alcoholic vapours rise from
the lower part of the rectifier through the tubes j, and finally pass off by
the pipe Q to the condenser R; the tubes j are surrounded by water which is
kept at the proper temperature for the separation of a pure and very strong
spirit, the supply of water being regulated by means of the inlet and outlet
pipes S, T. The comparatively low proof spirit which becomes condensed in
the second rectifier P is returned by the pipe U to one of the upper chambers
of the analyser A to be re-distilled. The condenser K is a simple oblong coil
of copper piping contained in a wooden box or cistern V, which is kept con-
tinually supplied with cold water. In this apparatus the distilling is kept up
continuously, the cold wash being supplied to the first rectifier G by a pump,
and overflowing down the central pipe M, meeting in its descent from shelf to
shelf of the analyser A with the hot vapour rising from the spent wash at the
bottom. The spent or nearly spent wash is kept boiling by the steam intro-
duced by the perforated coil H, and is allowed to run off by the pipe W, when
deprived of all its spirit, at a rate proportionate to that of the supply of the
fresh wash.
Having thus particularly described the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state that
I do not restrict myself to the precise details hercin described or delineated;
but that what I consider to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
general arrangement and construction of distilling apparatus, substantially as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Tait, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.