IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
JACQUES SAINTMARC, of Belmont Distillery, Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, in
the Parish of Saint Mary, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Distiller, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by Iis Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Butain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-five in the sixth year of His reign, did, for Himself, is heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Jean Jacques Saintmaic, His
especial licence, that 1, the said Jean Jaeques Saintmac, my exors, adiñois, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Jean Jacques Saintmaic, my exors, adiñors,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING;" in which said Letters Patent
15 contained a proviso obliging me, the said Jean Jaeques Saintmarc, by an
instrument m writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's ligh
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at largo appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jean Jacques Saintmarc, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which my said improvements are to be performed
and carried into effect, are shewn in the sheet of Diawings hereunto annexed
and by the description thereof which follows herein, in which said Drawings
and descriptions the same or corresponding parts and things, when they occur
in more than one of the Figures, are marked or designated by the same letters
of reference, that is to say
First, the nature and peculiar advantages of my improved process and
apparatus are, that by means of one fireplace or furnace, and the succession of
coppers or vessels herein-after descubed, the distillation from the wash to the
alcohol is effected by one operation, and the successive and repeated con-
densations that take place in the manner herein stated deprive the spit of
the phlegms or watery parts, and of the injurious qualities that it generally
contains when distilled in the way usually practised. The purity in the quality
of spirit and its retaining its natural flavour proceeds chiefly from these
repeated condensations, and likewise from a considerable portion of the spirit
which is obtained proceeding from the coppers or vessels where the wash is not
brought into direct contact with the fire. The wash in its passage downwards
through the several coppers assists in the process of condensing the rising vapour,
and by the consequent absorption of caloric or heat by tho wash, the same is
brought into more prompt distillation when arrived in the lowest copper or
boiler in contact with the fine, and fuel is thereby economised and saved.
Second, with the like advantages of using only one file, and with expedition
and economy of fuel, my said improved apparatus effects the spirituous distil-
lation or rectification of raw or feint spirit, and produces at one operation
alcohol of the purest quality.
Figure 1 represents a sectional view of a cylindrical apparatus for distil-
ling, consisting of ten coppers, boilers, or vessels, surmounting or being
joined close upon each other, marked respectively A, and numbered 1 to 10,
by means of which coppers the distillation of spirit from fermented wash
is performed. These said coppers may be put together by means of livet-
ing or of brazing, or in any other way usually employed by manufac-
turers of stills or coppers. They have no communication with each other
except by the tubes or pipes herein-after described. The whole apparatus
is fixed above a fireplace or furnace X. In the sides of the several coppers
from No. 1 to No. 9, both inclusive, are manholes or openings, respectively
marked B, tightly closed by screw boxes or other usual means, calculated
to occasionally admit a person into the several coppers for the purpose

page_text: of cleaning or repairing them. The wash or fermented fluid intended for
distillation is introduced into the top of the apparatus by the supply pipe E,
which is furnished with a cock for the purpose of turning on the wash. The
upper extremity of this pipe is fixed in the vat or vessel (not shewn in the
Drawing) containing the wash to be distilled, and the lower extremity of this
supply pipe delivers the wash into the copper No. 8, being the lughest of the
coppers which is to be charged with the wash. In order to convey the wash
from No. 8 successively down into the seven coppers below it there are seven
curved pipes and cocks marked respectively D, which communicate from one
copper to that next below it, so that the wash introduced as aforesaid by the
supply pipe (E) into the copper No. 8 may be conveyed at pleasure through
the several curved pipes D into all the coppers below until they are sufficiently
filled. At the lower extremity of the copper or boiler A, No 1, is a pipe C, with
a discharge cock to carry off the spent wash from that copper when the spirit
has distilled from it. Near the upper part of the several coppers A, from
No. 1 to No. 8, both inclusive, are eight small pipes m furnished with trial
cocks, which on being turned will indicate respectively when the several coppers
A are charged with wash to the proper heights, as marked by dotted lines
therein. In the upper part of the copper or boiler A, No. 1, above the level
of the wash, is a small proof cock n, which on being turned determines, by the
application of a lighted taper or candle, whether or not there remains any
portion of alcohol in this copper or boiler. The wash in this copper o
boiler A, No. 1, being exposed to the acuon of the fire, commences distilling,
and the vapour produced passes up through the five double tubes or pipes fixed
on the roof of this copper, each marked a, b, 'b, by 11sing up the inner tubes a,
passing therefrom through the vertical slits or openings c, c, at the upper part
thereof, and descending down the outer tubes b, such vapour so discharging
itself into the liquid in the lower part of the copper No 2. Fig 2 shews one
of these double tubes or pipes on a larger scale, where d, d, represents part of
the roof of the copper No. 1, on which the double tube is fixed. a is the
inner tube through which the vapour rises from the copper below, bis the
outer tube closed at the upper end, to the interior of which tube is soldered or
brazed the upper end of the inner tube a; and c, c, are slits or openings made
vertically in the upper part of the inner tube a, close to the soldered or braze.l
Joint of that tube with the interior of the end of the outer tube b. Through these
slits the vapour that rises up the inner tube a enters the outer one b, and
passing down that pipe, discharges itself into the bottom of the liquid, which it
heats, and there partly disengages itself from the phlegms or watery parts
which it may contain. The positions of the five double tubes or pipes a, b,

page_text: fixed on the roofs of each of the coppers No. 1 and 2, are shown in
Figure 3, where A is the plan of the coppers, and the five double circles
marked respectively a and b are the double tubes or pipes before described.
The spuituous vapour having thus ascended from the copper or boiler No. 1
through the five double tubes a and b into the copper No. 2, the same then
passes in like manner through the five double tubes marked a and b fixed on
the roof of that copper into the copper No. 3. The vapour then passes
through a double tube or pipe I and q, tightly fixed in the centre of the roof of
the copper No. 3, into a cap or semicircular vessel (calotte, in French) K, which
encloses the tube I. Of these central double tubes I and g there are seven,
which are cach constructed on the same principle as those marked a and b
(and shown at large in Fig 2), and are tightly fixed in the centres of the roofs
of the coppers Nos. 3 to 9, respectively. These seven double double tubes
(I and q convey the vapour successively into each of the seven caps or semi-
circular vessels (K) which enclose them. These caps K are also constructed
upon and tightly jointed to the centres of the roofs of the several coppers, Nos. 3
to 9, both inclusive; from the top of each of these caps one of the double tubes
or pipes I and 7 rises as a hooded funnel or chimney to convey the vapour into
the cap or vessel K next above, and so in succession to the cap or vessel K. on
the 100f of the copper No. 9, whence the vapour finally passes off into the
large pipe L, L, L, which convey it by a worm or coil of pipe through the
worm-tub or icfiigerator G (of which an elevation or outside view is given in
the Drawing) and runs it off as alcohol at the bottom thereof by the spirit
pipe M. The several caps or vessels K, K, K, &c are close or tight jointed,
having internal communications only with each other, but they are surrounded
in the several coppers, from No. 4 up to No. 8 inclusive, with wash, which,
acting in a less or greater degree as a cold medium, constitutes so many
stages where the ascending vapour becomes partially condensed. The seven
reversed or descending double tubes or pipes marked respectively e, are con-
structed on the same principle as the ascending double tubes or pipes a and b,
and also I and q already described herein, but are of smaller diameters, and
are suspended reversed from the roofs of the several coppers from No. 9 down
to No. 3, both inclusive. Of these double tubes (e) the six uppermost pass
through the domes of the caps or vessels K, and they serve to return to the
lower caps or vessels the phlegms of such results of the vapour in a liquid form
as may have been condensed in its passage upwards through the caps or vessels K.
These phlegms or condensed liquids falling back into the caps or vessels K,
descend by means of the reversed double tubes (e) from cap to cap, being
partially redistilled in their progress, until at length, thro' the seventh or

page_text: lowest of these double tubes, such parts of the liquid as have not been
iedistilled in their decent fall from the cap or vessel K within the copper
No 4 down into the copper No. 3, where, being mixed with the wash con-
tained therein and exposed to the action of a greater degice of heat than in
the upper caps or vessels. these phlegms are again distilled in common with
the body of wash with which they become mixed.
Figure 4 represents a plan of the several coppers A, Nos 4 to 10, where
K is the cap or semicucular vessel fixed in the centre, enclosing the double
ascending tubes or pipes I and q, and the double descending tube or pipe e, and
K is the safety pipe herein-after described. The coppers Nos. 9 and 10, into
which the wash never enters, are made to condense the vapour which passes
through the caps or vessels K by the aid of cold water, which is introduced
by the supply pipe F into the copper No. 10, from whence it falls into the
copper No. 9 through the cncular openings h in the 100f of that copper. Theso
openings (h) also seive for the escape of whatever steam may be generated
when the surface of the water is lower than the 100f of the copper No. 9.
The manhole or openings i, i, in the summit of the apparatus is never closed,
it serves for the purpose of clearing the upper part of the apparatus, and for
the free escape of the steam generated by the water admitted into the two
coppers Nos 9 and 10. By means of the pipe and cock ta stream of clean
water can occasionally be let down thro' the several coppers in order to cleanse
them from impurities The small cock and pipef placed near the top of the
uppermost copper No. 10 serves to cany off the heated water from the
surface, in proportion as the water pipe F furnishes cold water
9 is a small
cock and pipe of the same description (as f) placed near the top of the copper
No 9 for carrying off the heated water when it is found expedient to limit
the supply of water to that copper (No. 9) and to exclude it from the
highest copper (No 10). Those two pipes f and y fall into the pipe l,
which with its cock is placed at the bottom of the copper No. 9, for the
purpose of diawing off the water from the coppers Nos. 9 & 10 at pleasure.
The safety pipes (L) herein-before mentioned are fixed in the roofs of the
several coppers (A), Nos. 4, 5, 6, & 7, and are intended to carry off the
vapour that may use from the wash in those coppers, and conduct it to
the pipe N, N, N, by which the said vapour passes through a seperate woim in
the woim tub or refigerator (G), and runs off at the bottom thereof by the
spirit pipe O.
I will now proceed to describe the apparatus for and process of spirituous
distillation or rectifying. Figure 5 is a sectional view of an apparatus or still,
consisting of the several parts herein-after described, which may be severally

page_text: made of copper, and put together in either of the manners already mentioned
in the description of the first Figure, or in any other usual manner. The
lowest copper or boiler A, No. 1, is next above the fireplace or furnace (not
shewn in this Figure), and is surmounted by the copper A, No 2. The man-
holes or openings B, B, into these two coppers are secured by screw boxes or
otherwise, and are calculated for and used to admit a person occasionally into
these coppers for the purpose of cleaning or repairing them. The curved pipe
and cock D are used for conveying the liquid from the copper A, No. 2, down
into A, No 1, and the discharge pipe and cock C at the bottom of the lowest
copper or boiler (A, No. 1,) are for the purpose of carrying off at pleasure
whatever liquid may be therein. The small pipes m, m, and trial cocks on
being turned indicate or shew when the coppers A, No. 1 & No. 2 are
charged to the proper heights, the dotted lines denoting the level of the liquid.
The small pipe n and proof cock fixed in the upper part of the copper or boiler
(A, No 1,) above the level of the liquid determines by the application of a
light to the cock when turned, if there remains any portion of alcohol in this
copper. At p, p, in the neck of the copper A, No. 2, is the junction or
joining of this copper with the upper part of this apparatus. H is a flattened
spheroidal vessel fixed next above the copper A, No. 2, in which vessel (II) are
collected the phlegms or liquids that are produced by the condensation of part
of the vapour in its passage upwards from the copper A, No. 2, to the summit
of the apparatus through the ascending double tubes or pipes a & b, and
I and 9, which phlegms descend again by the reversed double tubes e, from the
highest compartment K, No. 11, of the cylindrical inner column K, (which is
inclosed in another column or outer case P, P,) to the several compartments
K, No. 4, to No. 11 inclusive, which constitutes the principal part of this
apparatus. The ten ascending double tubes or pipes, that is to say, the two
marked a & b affixed upon the roofs of the coppers A, No. 1, and A, No. 2,
also one affixed in the roof of the spheroidal vessel H, and seven others affixed
on the roofs of the several compartments K, of the apparatus fiom No. 4 to
No. 10, both inclusive, the latter eight of these pipes being marked 1 & q
These several double tubes or pipes are constructed on the same principle and
serve for the same purposes as the several double tubes a & b, & I& q, in Figures
1 & 2, herein-before described. In like manner the eight reversed double tubes e
suspended from the 100fs of the several compartments from No. 10 down to No. 4
of the inner column K, and from the roof of the spheroidal vessel H are con-
structed on the same principle, and are used for the same purpose as the
tubes 6 of the first Figure. The raw spirit or feint intended to be rectified or
concentrated is introduced by the pipe and cock Q into the copper A, No. 2,

page_text: and is conveyed by the curved pipe and cock D down into the copper or
boiler A, No. 1; when these two coppers are filled to the proper heights, as
denoted by the small trial cocks m, m, the spirituous distillation or rectifying
commences, and the vapour passing successively up the ten several double
tubes (a and b, & I, & q) already described herein to the summit of the appa-
ratus, the said vapour goes off by the pipe L through a worm in a refrigerator, and
is discharged by a spirit pipo (which are not repeated in this Figure, but may
be seen in Fig. 1) in a rectified state. The rectification by the condensing of
part of the vapour in the upper part of the copper A, No. 2, and in the
spheroidal vessel II, is partly accomplished or assisted by two external reser-
voirs of cold water S, S, and T, T, in Figure 5, which are tightly attached to
and surround the upper parts of those two vessels. The red-ink lines and
letters of reference in Fig. 5 (here referred to in blank ink) represent these
two external reservoirs. The upper one of such reservoirs T, T, surrounding
the upper part of the spheroidal vessel II, is supplied with cold water by
the pipe and cock U. The water may be drawn off from the surface of this
reservoir (T) by the pipe and cock V, or from the bottom by the pipe and
cock W, or by the pipe and cock Y, Y. The said water may be conveyed
down into the lower reservoir S, S, which encloses in like manner a consider-
able pait of the dome of the copper A, No. 2, and this water may be carried
off either from the surface by the pipe and cock z, or from the bottom by the
pipe and cock r.
The pipe t, which (on the turning of its cock) discharges
into the upper compartment of the inner column of compartments K, is used
to furnish an occasional supply of clean water for the purpose of cleansing the
several compartments of this inner column when necessary. In the process
by this rectifying apparatus (Fig. 5) the condensation is partly effected by the
aid of cold water, which the pipe and cock F at the top of the apparatus serve
to convey into the outer case or column P, the coolness of which water acting
upon the vapour in the inner column K, rectifios and condenses a portion of
it in its passage upwards. The liquid thus obtained is again partially redis-
tilled in its descent (through the reversed double tubes e), and the residue
falls into the spheroidal vessel II, from whence it is diawn off at pleasure by
the
pipe and cock D into the copper A, No. 2, where it mixes with the raw or
feint spint contained in that copper, and is redistilled with it. In proportion
as the cold water is admitted into the outer case or column P
it may be drawn off by the pipe and cock at the bottom of the outer case or
column, or by the pipe and cock f at the top, or such water may be conveyed
down by the pipe and cock s, s, into the copper A, No. 2, to be used as occasion
may require. The height of the liquid in the outer case or-column P is
by the pipe F

page_text: determined and may be seen in the glass tube R, R, which communicates
with the interior of the said outer case near its bottom, and is open at top.
Whatever steam may be generated in the said outer case (P) is carried off by
the safety pipe N through a worm in a refrigerator and discharged by a spirit
pipe that are not repeated in this Figure, but may be seen in Fig 1. I will
here observe, that the description I have given of this apparatus (Figure 5),
and the process described in using the same, is applicable to the rectifying
of spirits where the condensing power or medium is water, but the same
apparatus may be employed for distilling from fermented wash, requiring for
such purpose that the outer case or column P shall be filled with wash
(instead of water) by the supply pipe and its cock E, from whence such wash
is to be drawn off by the pipe & cock s, s, to feed the copper A, No 2, & thence
to be let down by the curved pipe D into the copper or boiler A, No. 1. In
other respects the distilling process by this apparatus (Fig. 5) is similar to
that herein-before described for the purpose of rectification, and also similar to
the distilling process herein-before described with reference to the first Figure
of the Drawings hereunto annexed. In the foregoing description I have
mentioned and described the particular numbers of coppers, compartments, or
vessels composing my said apparatus, which are shewn in the Diawings here-
unto annexed, yet I do not intend to confine myself in these particulars, but to
use any less or greater number of the said vessels in either of my said apparatus
(Fig. 1 or Fig. 5,) which convenience and particular occasions may require ;
and occasionally I intend to make the said vessels either on a round, elliptical,
rectangular, or any other convenient plan; also to construct such vessels and
their several appendages either of copper or any other fit metal or material,
and of such particular proportions and dimensions as occasion may requie.
Instead of the cocks mentioned herein, I may occasionally introduce valves or
any other fit and known contrivances; and instead of the slits or openings c, c,
in Fig. 2, connecting together the inner and outer ones of my double tubes,
I intend occasionally to use a sufficient number of holes.
The separate and distinct parts of my said apparatus being in general
alieady known and in use I lay no claim of invention or exclusive use to any
of these parts in their separate and distinct state, but only as such paits are or
may be combined in the manner I have herein described for carrying my said
improvements into effect. And I do hereby expressly ascertain and limit my
claims under the herein-before in part iccited Patent to the following
particulars, that is to say :-
First, to the apparatus and to the process of using the same for the distilla-
tion of spirits from fermented wash, with their several modifications, which are

page_text: shewn in Figures 1 and 5 of the Drawings hereunto anLexed or are herein-
before described or mentioned. And,
Second, to the apparatus shown in Fig. 5 of the Drawings hereunto annexed,
including the external reservoirs for cold water, drawn therein in red ink, and
to the process of using the same for the spirituous distillation or rectification
of law or feint spirits, with their several modifications, which are herein-beforo
descubed or mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Jacques Saintmarc, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.