IMPROVEMENTS IN DESTRUCTIVE AND VINOUS DISTILLATION
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Lavender and Robert Lavender, of 31,
Bromley Street, Commercial Road. Siepney, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DESTRUCTIVE AND VINOUS
DISTILLATION."
Scaled the 13th November 1860, and dated the 5th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Lavender and
Robert Lavender at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 5th June 1860.
We, EDWARD LAVENDER and ROBERT LAVENDER, of 31, Bromley Street,
Commercial Road, Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DESTRUCTIVE AND VINOUS
DISTILLATION," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in destructive and vinous
distillation, and is peculiarly applicable in distilling coal and other tars and
matters for the production of hydrocarbons; but at the same time the process
is applicable when distilling resin and other substances and fluids.
The Invention consists in simultaneously conducting off the products of dis-
tillation at different heights or elevations in the retorts or stills employed, and
consequently at different temperatures, and in simultaneously condensing the
several products in separate condensers connected with the several outlets of
the retoris or stills used. The form of retort or still which is preferred is
where the matter to be distilled is supplied at the upper end, and is caused to
fall in succession down alternate inclines, there being partitions horizontally to
[Price Sd 1

page_text: divide the vessel into as many compartments as there are outlets, each
partition having in it a passage or hole to allow the descending fluid to flow
through it. It is not, however, new to use inclines, as above explained.
Provision is made for constantly supplying the matter to be distilled, and for
the residue being drawn off, so that not only is there a constant process of
distillation, but the same is accompanied with means of obtaining different
products simultaneously and separately from the same retort or still, and such
products will be of different specific gravities; by such means the several pro-
ducts will also be more advantageously obtained than when resorting to the
process of fractional distillation by causing different products to be passed off
from retorts or stills by heating the contents of the retorts or stills higher and
higher, as has heretofore been the practice when obtaining in succession the
several different products.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Lavender and Robert Lavender in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 5th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWARD
LAVENDER and ROBERT LAVENDER, of 31, Bromley Street, Commercial Road,
Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of June, 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 us, the said
Edward Lavender and Robert Lavender, Her special licence that we, the said
Edward Lavender and Robert Lavender, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Edward Lavender and Robert Lavender,
our 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 DESTRUCTIVE AND VINOUS
DISTILLATION," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Edward
Lavender and Robert Lavender, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-

page_text: formed, 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 Robert Lavender, on behalf of myself
and the said Edward Lavender, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and, by the following statement thereof, that is
to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in destructive and vinous
distillation, and is peculiarly applicable in distilling coal and other tars and
matters for the production of hydrocarbons, but at the same time the process
is applicable when distilling resin and other substances and fluids.
The Invention consists in simultaneously conducting off the products of
distillation at different heights or elevations in the retorts or stills employed,
and consequently at different temperatures, and in simultaneously condensing
the several products in separate condensers connected. with the several outlets
of the retorts or stills used. The form of retort or still which is preferred is
where the matter to be distilled is supplied at the upper end, and is caused to
fall in succession down alternate inclines, there being partitions horizontally
to divide the vessel into as many compartments as there are outlets, each par-.
tition having in it a passage or hole to allow the descending fluid to flow
through it. It is not, however, new to use inclines, as above explained.
Provision is made for constantly supplying the matter to be distilled, and for
the residue being drawn off, so that not only is there a constant process of
distillation, but the same is accompanied with means of obtaining different
products simultaneously and separately from the same retort or still, and such
products will be of different specific gravities; by such means the several
products will also be more advantageously obtained than when resorting to the
process of fractional distillation, by causing different products to be passed off
from retorts or stills by heating the contents of the retorts or stills higher and
higher, as has heretofore been the practice when. obtaining in succession the
several different products.
And in order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a still such as we prefer to employ. a is a
furnace, with an ash-pit b, and a vertical flue c rising from it. In this the

page_text: cast-iron cylinder is placed; it is supported at the bottom on an arch e, and at
the top it drops into a cast-iron plate f. built into the brickwork; g is a
vertical bar passing up the centre of the retort; h, h, are inclined shelves fixed
A plan of one of these shelves is shown at Figure 2, and a vertical
section at Figure 3. The bar g, with the shelves upon it, is readily lifted out
of the still when the shelves require cleaning. ¡ is a cover for the top of the
still it is held in its place by the screw i passing through the bar k, and the
ends of this bar pass under lugs 1, 1, projecting from the plate f; m is a syphon
pipe, by which the liquid to be submitted to destructive or vinous distillation is
run into the still; n, n', n, and n³, are outlets from the still communicating
with separate condensers; o, o¹, 02, 03, are cocks on these pipes. The several
shelves h, h, as shown, do not fit close to the sides of the still. We prefer,
however, to prevent as far as possible the mixing of the several vapours, to
place, as before mentioned, horizontal partitions in the still just below the
several outlets n, n', n², n³, or else to make the shelves h at these points
to fit as close as may be to the side of the still; p is a cock for removing
deposit from the still, and for observing the temperature. In working the still,
the same is first raised to a suitable heat, and the liquid to be submitted to
destructive or vinous distillation is introduced by the pipe m, but gradually, so
that there may be no accumulation of liquid in the still.
"
When it is not desired to volatilize all the liquid introduced into the still,
arrangement is made for receiving separately the liquid running out at the
bottom of the still. If desired, the still may be heated by a steam jacket or
by a gas flame, in place of by a furnace; and for some purposes, where the
liquids to be distilled act upon iron, the still should be constructed of copper.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Lavender, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
ROBERT LAVENDER. (L.s.)