IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN CONDENSING Distilled aND OTHER VAPOURS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas William Duffy, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, and Thomas Lawrence Makin, of the same City, Law
Stationer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN
CONDENSING Distilled aND OTHER VAPOURS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas William Duffy and
Thomas Lawrence Makin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on
the 27th September 1880.
THOMAS WILLIAM DUFFY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
and THOMAS LAWRENCE MAKIN, of the same City, Law Stationer. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS USED IN CONDENSING DISTILLED AND OTHER VAPOURS."
The said Invention relates to apparatus in which vapours produced by distil-
lation or otherwise are condensed and liquified by passing in contact with cooled
surfaces. The object is to so construct such condensing apparatus that the surfaces
over which the vapours pass and against which they are cooled and liquified shall
be clean, incorrodible, and incapable of imparting any objectionable qualities to the
liquids condensed thereon, a further object being to provido condensers which
shall be readily cleaned and freed from any objectionable matter lodging therein.
The said Invention consists:-First. In constructing the said condensers of
glass surrounded by a containing metal or other strong casing. A form of con-
denser under this part of my Invention consists of a barrel shaped glass envelope
having glass tubes passing therethrough, the whole being surrounded by a cast iron
casing. The necessary connections for the passage of the vapours and water or
cooling medium are provided.
Second. I combine together in condensing apparatus tube plates of metal or
other suitable material with glass tubes connected or joined to the said tube plates
in any convenient or desired manner.
Third. I secure glass tubes in tube plates under the above second head by means
of india-rubber washers and caps or glands held in position by screws or equivalent
means.
Fourth. In condensing apparatus constructed of metal or other suitable material,
combined with glass tubes, I enamel the surface of the metal or like substance.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas William Duffy and Thomas Lawrence Makin in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 25th March 1881.
THOMAS WILLIAM DUFFY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
and THOMAS LAWRENCE MAKIN, of the same City, Law Stationer. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS USED IN CONDENSING DISTILLED AND OTHER VAPOURS."
The said Invention relates to apparatus in which vapours produced by distil-
lation or otherwise are condensed and liquified by passing in contact with cooled
surfaces. The object is to so construct such condensing apparatus that the surfaces
over which the vapours pass and against which they are cooled and liquified shall
be clean, incorrodable, and incapable of imparting any objectionable qualities to
the liquids condensed thereon, a further object being to produce condensers
which shall be readily cleaned and freed from any objectionable matter lodging
therein.
The following is a description of our said Invention in such full, clear, concise,
and exact terms as to enable any one skilled in the art or science to which it
appertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings making a part of this
Specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon.
Our said Invention consists,-
(1.) In constructing the said condensers of glass surrounded by a containing
metal or other strong casing. A form of condenser under this part of our Invention
consists of a barrel shaped glass envelope having glass tubes passing therethrough,
the whole being surrounded by a cast iron casing. The necessary connections for
the passage of the vapours and water or cooling medium are provided.
(2.) We combine together in condensing apparatus tube plates of metal or other
suitable material with glass tubes connected or joined to the said tube plates in
any convenient or desired manner.
(3.) We secure glass tubes in tube plates under the above second head by means
of india rubber washers and caps or glands held in position by screws or equivalent
means.
(4.) In condensing apparatus constructed of metal or other suitable material,
combined with glass tubes, we enamel the surface of the metal or like substance,
and attach a fan or blower for the purposes of injecting air or other material, by
means of which the condensed vapour is aërated, and also affix a carbon or other
description of filter, through which the condensed vapour passes for its
clarification.
The Drawings illustrate an example of our Invention constructed under the
second, third, and fourth heads.
A is a nest or cluster of glass tubes contained between the inlet chamber B and
the outlet chamber C; D is an outer casing within which the tube cluster A and
the chambers B, C, are located; E is the steam inlet pipe to the chamber B, and F
is the distilled or condensed water outlet from the chamber C to the filter H which
forms the base or bed of the condenser; J is the circulating water inlet to the

page_text: casing D; K is the circulating water outlet from the casing D; L is a pipe leading
from: a fan, blower, or other aerating appliance into the chamber C. The chamber B
is provided with a rose M placed underneath the steam inlet pipe E so as to dis-
tribute the inlet steain over the surface of the chamber B and prevent it from
directly impinging on the tube cluster A.
Figure 1 shows the condenser in sectional elevation.
Figure 2 is a section of the condenser through X, X, Figure 1, and
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation on an enlarged scale of the connection of the
tubes A with the chambers B and C.
Upon reference to Figure 3 it will be seen that the glass tube is dropped into a
recessed hole in the upper plate of the chamber C. A washer (of india rubber or
other material a) is provided to make joint as shown. The upper portion of the
tube A passes through the lower plate of the chamber B, and is provided with a
packing washer (of india rubber or other material) b and a screwed gland e, which
gland e keeps the tube A down onto the washer a at its lower end.
In the filter H, N represents the filtering material, which may be of carbon,
spongy iron, or other suitable substance. The arrows indicate the direction of the
condensed water to the outlet P from which it is drawn for use.
The filter H is provided with the ring diaphragms h, by which by which the
distilled or condensed water is caused to pass twice through the filtering medium.
By removing the bottom of the filter access can be had for cleaning and renewing
the filtering substance.
In operation steam generated in any suitable boiler or otherwise is allowed to
pass through the pipe E and the rose M into the chamber B, and is condensed by
passage through the glass tubes A, which are contained within a body of cold
circulating water passing into the chainber D through the inlet J, and from the
chamber D through the outlet K. The distilled or condensed water passes from the
tubes A into the chamber C, where it is subjected to an aërating process by air
being forced into the chamber C through the pipe L. This injection of air not only
serves to aërate the water, but also assists in condensing the steam in the tubes A.
From the chamber C the distilled and aerated water passes through the filter H,
from whence it can be drawn off for use.
In constructing the condenser under head (1) of this our Invention a cluster or
nest of glass tubes, such as A, are placed within a glass barrel, the ends of the tubes
passing through the ends of the barrel, joint being made by a suitable packing.
The barrel with its nest or cluster of tubes is provided with a suitable steam inlet
and condensed water outlet pipe, and is located within a metal casing through
which a stream of circulating cold water passes. The operation of this example is,
the steam is condensed and the water distilled by contact with the outside of the
tubes A and the inside of the containing barrel. The circulating, cooling, or con-
densing water passes through the insides of the glass tubes and on the outside of
the containing barrel, as will be understood.
Having now described our Invention, and shown how the same may be put into
practical operation, we claim,
Under the first head,--
Constructing an apparatus to be used in condensing distilled and other vapours, of
a nest of or cluster of glass tubes contained within a glass barrel and an outer
casing, as herein described and set forth, and for the purposes specified.
Under the second, third, and fourth heads we claim,-
Constructing an apparatus to be used in condensing distilled and other vapours,
of a nest or cluster of glass tubes positioned between an inlet and an outlet chamber,
and located within an outer casing, substantially as herein described and shown in
the Drawings hereto annexed.
Finally, we claim,―
The construction and arrangement of apparatus to be used in condensing distilled

page_text: and other vapours, substantially as herein described and shown in the Drawings
hereto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Lawrence Makin, on behalf of the
said Thomas William Duffy and, myself, have to this Specification set
my hand and seal, this Twenty fourth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
THOMAS LAWRENCE (L.S.) MAKIN.