IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLING APPARATUS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ralph Lister, of Scotswood, in the County of
Northumberland, Brick Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DISTILLING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 4th July 1854, and dated the 11th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ralph Lister at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
January 1854.
I, RALPH LISTER, of Scotswood, in the County of Northumberland, Brick
Maker, do hereby declare the particulars of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DISTILLING APPARATUS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates more especially to the construction of such stills or
distilling apparatus as are conveniently made of earthenware or other plastic
or fictile materials or glass. Such distilling or operating chambers have in
each case a worm or spiral channel worked or formed in the material forming
the still sides, so that steam or other artificial heat may be passed through such
spiral passage to afford the necessary heating power. The worm or heating
passage may be made of various shapes and materials, and the stills so made
are suitable for various purposes, but more particularly for the manufacture of
what is commercially known as "bleaching powder."

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ralph Lister in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th
July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RALPII
LISTER, of Scotswood, in the County of Northumberland, Brick Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Ralph Lister, Her special license that I, the said Ralph Lister, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ralph Lister, my
executors, administrators, 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 DISTILLING APPARATUS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ralph Lister, 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 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 Ralph Lister, 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 relates more especially to the construction of such stills
or distilling apparatus as are conveniently made of earthenware, or other
plastic or fictile materials, or of glass. Such distilling or operating chambers
are made with an encircling worm or spiral channel in their sides, this channel
or passage being worked or formed in the actual material of the still sides.
By the adoption of this system of construction, steam or other artificial heat
may be passed through the encircling thoroughfare to afford the necessary
heating power for the operations of the still. The channel or encircling
passage may be made of various transverse sections, shapes, and materials, and

page_text: the stills so made are suitable for many varieties of distillation; but I intend
more especially to employ them in the manufacture of what is commercially
known as "bleaching powder."
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
attached.
Figure 1 on my Sheet of Drawings is a transverse vertical section, or a
sectional elevation of one form of my improved still, as made of clay or
earthenware, for the purpose of manufacturing bleaching powder. Figure 2 is
a plan of the same, corresponding. The body A of the still is of the usual
form, with an internal manganese shelf B. On one side near the top is a
branch pipe C, moulded or formed in the mass of the still-body material.
This branch is in communication with a steam pipe leading from a boiler or
steam generator, or other source of heat. The steam or heated current so
supplied passes through the branch C, and enters the winding channel D,
which is moulded in the still sides in such a manner as to encircle the still by
several folds or spiral windings. Hence the steam entering the sides of the
still at the top, gradually winds round until it reaches the end of the last
spiral turn at E at the bottom of the still. In the bottom or base piece of
the still are three passages, F, G, H, through which also the heated current is
directed, so as to convert the base into effective heating surface. This is
accomplished by putting the straight diametrical passage G in communication
with the last fold of the spiral channel at E, the two curvilinear passages
F, H, being also open at each end to the central passage G. Thus the heated
current can traverse the bottom in a complete manner, the waste heat
being finally discharged from the still at the bottom branch I. Various other
forms of encircling passages may be used, but the form which I have herein
delineated is very convenient and effective.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion
to describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of. stills or distilling appa-
ratus for obtaining effective heating surface, as herein-before described.

page_text: Second, the system or mode of constructing stills or distilling apparatus,
wherein encircling steam or heated current thoroughfares are formed in the
thickness of the still sides and bottom..
Third, the application and use in stills or distilling apparatus of heating
spaces or thoroughfares in the thickness of the bodies of the stills.
In witness whereof, I, the said.Ralph Lister, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-first day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four.
RALPH LISTER. (L.S.)