AN IMPROVED CHARCOAL FILTER, FOR RECTIFYING AND CLEANSING SPIRITS, AND WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR FILTERING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hood, of Edgbaston, in the County of
Warwick, of the firm of Watts, Kerr, and Hood, Spirit Merchants, of
Liverpool, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CHARCOAL FILTER, FOR
RECTIFYING AND CLEANSING SPIRITS, AND WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR
FILTERING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS."
Sealed the 6th November 1857, and dated the 6th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
May 1857.
I, WILLIAM HOOD, of Edgbaston, in the County of Warwick, of the
firm of Watts, Kerr, and Hood, Spirit Merchants, of Liverpool, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CHARCOAL FILTER,
FOR RECTIFYING AND CLEANSING SPIRITS, AND WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR FILTER-
ING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS," to be as follows, (that is to say):-
My improvements consist in using an air-tight vessel or vessels, divided into
a suitable number of compartments, and by the use of a suitable pump I am
enabled to force in the requisite quantity of spirit or other fluid that may
require to be filtered into the nearest vessel or upper compartment, in which
I place common charcoal in an unground state; and by aid of the same pump
that enables me to charge this compartment with spirit or other fluid, I am
also enabled (by using a stop-cock) to force in atmospheric air on the top of
the spirit or fluid, using a gauge at the top of this air-tight vessel to indicate

page_text: its pressure. This compartment or vessel is fitted with a perforated false
bottom, through which the spirit or fluid is forced by the pressure of the air
introduced above, and is conducted into another compartment or vessel which
is fitted with two perforated false bottoms, between which powdered charcoal
is placed, and the spirit or fluid being forced through this chamber or com-
partment (by means of the compressed air) descends into the compartment
below in a pure and rectified condition to be drawn off, when the first com-
partment may be again charged with spirit or other fluid, and the operation
repeated.
I do not restrict myself to the number of charcoal beds through which I
cause the spirit or other fluid to pass, as it may be convenient to use more
than one of them, and the same or a less quantity of charcoal in each, as
the pressure of air can always be increased so as to filter or force the spirit
or other fluid through any number of them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HOOD, of Edgbaston, in the County of Warwick, late of the firm of Watts,
Kerr, and Hood, Spirit Merchant, of Liverpool, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Hood, Her special license that I, the said William Hood, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Hood
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 "AN IMPROVED CHARCOAL FILTER,
FOR RECTIFYING AND CLEANSING SPIRITS, AND WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR
FILTERING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Hood, 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

page_text: 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 Hood, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
The object of my Invention is to facilitate the process of rectifying or
cleansing spirits or other fluids by means of compressed air, in connection with
the use of prepared charcoal. The way in which I proceed will be understood
by the following description:-I place in any suitable elevated position an
air-tight vessel, made of any suitable material, and of sufficient size according
to the quantity of spirit or other fluids I may wish to rectify. At the bottom
of this air-tight vessel is fitted a filterer, made with a strong perforated
plate, covered with chamois or other leather, woven fabric, woven hair, fine
wire gauze, or other suitable material, over which I place a layer of sea or
other sand, of about one inch in depth, more or less, according to the nature
and condition of the fluid I may wish to rectify or cleanse, and over this a
quantity of ground vegetable or animal charcoal; and into this air-tight vessel,
so prepared; I place the spirits or other fluids intended to be rectified or
cleansed by means of a pump so arranged that by the aid of a stop-cock I
am enabled to pump in the spirit or other fluid intended to be cleansed, or air
as required; and at the bottom of the filterer, before described, I apply a
drawing-off or flow pipe, through which the spirit passes to another closed
vessel or vessels, in which is placed one or more beds or layers of charcoal
confined between perforated plates of any suitable material; and below the bed
or beds of charcoal a tap or taps are placed for drawing off the pure and
rectified spirit or other fluid that may be under operation, which is forced
through the filterer and bed or beds of charcoal in the following way:-After
the air-tight chamber first described has been nearly filled with spirit, the
supply or stop-cock below the pump may be turned off, and anothe tap, also
placed at the bottom or below the pump, opens to the atmosphere, so that by
continuing the action of the pump atmospheric air is pumped or forced into
the air-tight vessel upon the spirit or fluid until the air so compressed is
capable of forcing down the fluid through the filterer and charcoal purifier
or purifiers, to be delivered in a pure state from the delivery tap.
But in order that I may be thoroughly understood as to the nature and
character of my Invention, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed, which will amply explain the various details connected with my
Invention.

page_text: Which represents a front elevation of my arrangement for rectifying spirits.
A is an air-tight vessel, which may be made in any suitable way, and of any
suitable material, but I have found sheet iron rivetted together in the manner
This vessel may be gal-
Around the top edge is
in which steam boilers are made to answer well.
venized after being put together or in the sheets.
formed a projecting flange, on which the cover B rests, and is secured by
screws or rivets passing through the rim of the cover and through the flange
before referred to at a, a. The double dotted line at the bottom of this vessel
represents the position of the false or inner bottom, which is made also of
sheet iron slightly convexed, around the edge of which a rim or flange is
formed, by which means it is rivetted and tightly secured to the plates forming
the vessel, the rivets by which this bottom is secured being shown at b, b. Over
the surface of this false bottom a piece of chamois leather or other suitable
material is layed, and over this a layer of sea or other sand, and next a deep
bed of prepared charcoal is placed. The true bottom of this vessel is secured
like the cover by means of screws or rivets passing through a flange, as at
d, d. C is simply a stand, represented as been built of bricks, for this air-
tight vessel to rest on, but any other mode of sustaining it may be used,
or it may be placed on an upper floor if more desirable. And in order to
show with what facility my further operations of filtering may be carried on,
I have exhibited two compound vessels marked D and E, each vessel been
divided into three parts, marked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, each part being fitted with
a seperate bed of charcoal and seperate supply and drawing-off pipe, the whole
of which may be used seperately or conjointly, when required. These vessels
I prefer also making of sheet iron, and galvenizing them, fastening on the tops
with screws or rivets, as in the air-tight vessel before described; and each
division is made with a fixed permanent false perforated bottom, placed about
Over those
the position indicated by the dotted line or lines marked f, f, &c.
perforated false bottoms, chamois leather or other suitable material is placed,
tight compact mass
that a deep bed of prepared charcoal held in a
by perforated plates, the position of which is indicated by the dotted line
marked c, c, &c., and which plates are confined by bolts and screw nuts, also
represented in dotted lines marked i, i, &c., by which means the charcoal is
held in a compact mass, as before stated, the depth or quantity of charcoal
being varied according to circumstances. The vessels D and E, like the one
before described, is also represented as resting on brickwork, but of course
any other supports may be adopted convenient for drawing off the rectified
and
upon

page_text: spirit or other fluid that may have been submitted to its operation, and which
operation I will now describe. The vessel A may now be charged with raw
spirit by means of a common force or other pump, as exhibited at F; and
when nearly full the supply tap 9 may be turned off and the tap h opened,
so that by continuing the action of the pump air will be drawn in through
this tap and pumped into the vessel A above the spirit, the elastic pressure
of which will exert its force in pressing the fluid through the filterer at the
bottom of this vessel, from whence it is conducted by the escape and induction
pipe h¹ to be again passed through the compact layer or bed of charcoal in
the vessel marked 1, which after passing through the charcoal bed is drawn
off by the escape pipe and tap marked .k; and in order that the fluid shall
pass through this bed freely, air may be pressed upon its surface by being
allowed to descend through the pipe and tap marked m, in connection with
the top of the vessel A. All the other compartments marked 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6,
may be brought into operation by turning on the taps in connection with the
ingress pipes, and turning off the taps regulates the egress, which concentrates
itself into the little vessel marked N, which is fitted with a cover composed of
plate glass or other material. The pure and rectified spirit descends from this
vessel through the small pipe marked o, from whence it may be conducted
into a cask or other receiver.
It must be evident from this description that this mode of rectifying or
purifying fluids may be carried on to a much greater extent than is here ex-
hibited by simply making the air-tight vessel A larger, or by keeping the
pump in actice operation, the simple or compound vessels marked D and E
5 being also increased to any desirable number or capacity. At the top of the
air-tight vessel A is placed a valve, that may be be weighted so as to regulate
the pressure within, which by practice I have found about 5 lbs. to the inch to
answer well, but of course this must depend greatly on the state of the char-
coal, leather, and other materials used, as well as the nature of the fluid under
0 operation, as, for instance, some description of oils from its more glutinous
nature may require more pressure. I have also exhibited in front of this
vessel a glass tube, which may be supported by being inserted in a brass one,
open in front, and this tube being connected at top and bottom with the
interior of the vessel, it is evident that as the vessel is charged with fluid it
5 will flow up the tube, and at all times exhibit the quantity it contains.
Ilaving thus described the nature and character of my Invention, I wish it
understood that I do not propose to confine myself to the particular size, shape,
or portion herein exhibited and described, as the whole is capable of consider-
able modification without departing from the general principle of my Invention;

page_text: .but what I claim as new, and being of my Invention is, the rectifying of
spirits, and the cleansing and purifying of any other fluid that may require
cleansing or purifying, by means of compressed air, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of November in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
WILLIAM HOOD. (L.S.)
Witness,
JAMES TRINDER,
Clerk to J. S. Cockings, Patent Agent,
26, Ann Street, Birmingham.