AN IMPROVED STEAM BREWING COPPER
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Jeremiah Murphy, of Lady's Well
Brewery, Cork, in the County of Cork, Ireland, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED STEAM BREWING COPPER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Jeremiah Murphy
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on.
the 14th January 1864.
I, WILLIAM JEREMIAH MURPHY, of Lady's Well Brewery, Cork, in the
County of Cork, Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED STEAM BREWING COPPER," to be as follows:-
This improved vessel combines the cleanliness and freedom from acidity of
the old fire copper with the advantages and safety of the steam boiling "back"
without its tendency to decay and to hold acid.
Copper has been heretofore used for brewing vessels only in two ways,
the first being the fire copper, which being made entirely of copper was
necessarily very heavy and consequently expensive, and in the second (for
steam brewing) the sheet copper was nailed or fastened to the bottom and
sides of the interior of wooden vessels, but a great objection to this plan was
that the unequal expansion of the copper and the wood under the influence of
heat had a tendency to draw the nails out of the wood.
My improved steam brewing copper, which obviates both these disadvantages,
is constructed as follows:-In a wooden vessel or "back" I place a smaller

page_text: vessel of copper (the two vessels being entirely separate from and independent
of each other), and between these vessels, both at the bottom and round the
sides, I interpose a layer of hair felt, the inner vessel is made of copper about
one-eighth of an inch in thickness, or about six pounds weight to the square
foot, the whole weight of a copper vessel to contain about two hundred and
ninety barrels being less than two tons exclusive of the boiling pipes, whereas
a fire copper of similar capacity would weigh about ten tons. At or
near the bottom of the vessel is a coiled copper pipe fastened to the bottom
of the copper vessel by legs, bolts, and holding down bars, hand holes
being cut in the bottom of the wooden vessel to allow of the nuts being
screwed up from the outside. The waste or condensed water is taken off by
pipes as usual (one at each end of the coiled pipe) the copper bottom having
a trunk or jacket at each outlet to protect the waste pipe and flanges. The
steam pipe is divided into two branches which join the coiled pipe near the
centre so that the steam passes from the centre of the coiled boiling pipes in
opposite directions to the outlets, whereby an evener and stronger boil than
usual is produced. It will be evident that a boiling copper thus constructed
will contract and expand quite independent of the wooden vessel or exterior
support or its non-radiating sheathing. The top of the vessel is dome-shaped,
and if advisible it may have a pan as in the old fire copper, or it can be made
for use open without a dome.
The principal advantages sought to be obtained, are,-
1. Economy of weight and expence in the copper vessel and facility for
expansion and contraction thereof.
2. The equal expansion of the pipes and bottom and perfect freedom from
leakage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuanco of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Jeremiah Murphy in the Great Seal' Patent Office
on the 14th July 1864."
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JEREMIAH MURPHY, of Lady's Well Brewery, Cork, in the County of Cork,
Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lords
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Jeremiah Murphy, Her special license that I; the said
William Jeremiah Murphy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Jeremiah Murphy, 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 STEAM BREWING COPPER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, tho said William Jeremiah Murphy, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or
under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 William Jeremiah Murphy, 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 in writing, and on reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :-
"
This improved vessel combines the cleanliness and freedom from acidity of
the old fire copper with the advantages and safety of the steam boiling "back"
without its tendency to decay and to hold acid.
Copper has been heretofore used for brewing vessels only in two ways, the
first being the fire copper which being made entirely of copper was necessarily
very heavy, and consequently expensive, and in the second (for steam brewing)
the sheet copper was nailed or fastened to the bottom and sides of the interior
of wooden vessels; but a great objection to this plan was that the unequal
expansion of the copper and the wood under the influence of heat had a
tendency to draw the nails out of the wood.
'
My improved steam brewing copper, which obviates both these disadvantages,
is constructed as follows:-In a wooden vessel or "back" I place a smaller
vessel of copper, the two vessels being entirely separate from and independent
of each other, and between these vessels, both at the bottom and round the
sides, I interpose a layer of hair felt, the inner vessel is made of copper
about one-eighth of an inch in thickness or about six pounds weight to the
square foot, the whole weight of a copper vessel to contain about two hundred.
and ninety.barrels being less than two tons, exclusive of the boiling pipes;

page_text: whereas a fire copper of similar capacity would weigh about ten tons.
At or
near the bottom of the vessel is a coiled copper pipe fastened to the bottom of
the copper vessel by legs, bolts, and holding down bars, hand holes being cut
in the bottom of the wooden vessel to allow of the nuts being screwed up
from the outside. The waste or condensed steam is taken off by pipes as
usual (one at each end of the coil of pipe) the copper bottom having a trunk
or jacket at each outlet to protect the waste pipe and flanges. The steam
pipe is divided into two branches which join the coiled pipe near the centre, so
that the steam passes from the centre of the coiled boiling pipes in opposite
directions to the outlets, whereby an evener and stronger boil than usual is
produced. It will be evident that a boiling copper thus constructed will
contract and expand quite independently of the wooden vessel or exterior
support, or its non-radiating sheathing. The top of the vessel is dome-shaped,
and if advisable it may have a pan as in the old fire copper, or it can be made
for use open without a dome.
The principal advantages sought to be obtained, are,—
1. Economy of weight and expence in the copper vessel and facility for
expansion and contraction thereof.
2. The equal expansion of the pipes and bottom and perfect freedom from
leakage.
3. An even and strong boil from the centre of the copper.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "An Improved
Steam Brewing Copper," I will now proceed to describe more in detail the
manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, and in order that the same may be distinctly understood, I
have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have
marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with
those in the following explanation thereof, that is to say.
In the annexed Drawing Figure 1 is a vertical section of my improved
steam brewing copper, and Figure 2 is a plan view of the same.
a, a, is the wooden vessel or "back," and b, b, the inner or copper vessel, a
layer of felt being placed between the two as above described; c, c, c, c*, is
a coiled copper pipe fastened to the bottom of the vessel by bolts and holding
down bars d, d; e, e, is the steam pipe which is divided (inside the copper)
into two branches, one of which communicates with the part c, c, of the coil of
pipe, and the other with the part c*,*, of the same, so that the steam admitted
by the pipe e, e, enters the coiled pipe c, c, c, c, at the centre and passes
outwards in opposite directions towards the outlet pipes f, f*, which carry off
the waste or condensed steam and are united outside the vessel, being

page_text: protected where they pass through the bottom of the vessel by the trunks or
jackets g, g; h, h, is the man hole; i, i, is the evaporating; pipe j, j, the
pipe for supplying the wort or liquor to be boiled, and k, k, is the discharge
cock for drawing off the same.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for "An
Improved Steam Brewing Copper," together with the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I would
remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention.
Firstly, constructing such vessels of thin sheet copper, placed (without
nailing) inside a wooden vessel, felt being interposed substantially in the
manner and for the purposes above described.
And, secondly, the peculiar arrangement of the coiled boiling pipe and
steam pipe, whereby a strong boil from the centre of the vessel is
obtained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Jeremiah Murphy, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
W. J. MURPHY. (L.S.)