IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLING APPARATUS SUITABLE FOR RECTIFYING, SEPARATING, OR COMBINING WITH OTHER SUITABLE MATTERS BENZOL, PETROLEUM, OR OTHER MORE OR LESS VOLATILE HYDROCARBONS OR THEIR DERIVATIVES, CONCENTRATING ACIDS, TREATING ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS, OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jean Joseph Moutié, at the Office.
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
July 1864.
I, JEAN JOSEPH MOUTIÉ, of Paris, France, Manufacturing Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DISTILLING APPARATUS SUITABLE FOR RECTIFYING, SEPARATING, OR COMBINING
WITH OTHER SUITABLE MATTERS BENZOL, PETROLEUM, OR OTHER MORE OR LESS
VOLATILE HYDROCARBONS OR THEIR DERIVATIVES, CONCENTRATING ACIDS, TREATING
ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS, OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in improvements in distilling apparatus suitable for
distilling, or rectifying hydrocarbons, such, for instance, as benzole or coal
naphtha, petroleum; or their equivalents or their derivatives, for the sepa-
ration of their constituent parts according to the degree of volatility of these
latter, for combining hydrocarbons or their derivatives with acids or other
suitable liquids or vapours, for the distilling or rectifying of alcoholic pro-
ducts, the concentration of acids, or other similar purposes.
The apparatus is based on the fact, that when a vapour formed of two or
more volatile products having different boiling points is caused to ascend
from a suitable cucurbite into a zig-zagged conduit, viz., a pipe formed by
means of a series of tubes inclined alternately in opposite directions to each
other, both ends of the said tubes being shut, with the exception of the upper
end of the uppermost tube and the lower end of the lowermost one, each tube
being connected to the next one by a small narrow ajutage or branch pipe,

page_text: a difference in temperature gradually decreasing from the lowermost towards
the uppermost tube will take place, the most volatile part rising in the upper-
most tube, from whence the same may be caused to enter into a refrigerator,
or be conducted in the cucurbite of a similar apparatus, and again submitted
to the same process.
The apparatus is constructed according to this principle, and consists of a
cucurbite for the products or materials to be distilled; to this cucurbite is
connected the lowermost tube of the above said series or system of inclined
tubes, slanting alternately in opposite directions to each other, and connected
by means of small narrow ajutages or branch pipes into one continuous zig-
zag conduit, the lower end of which opens into the cucurbite, and the upper
end either into a refrigerator or into the cucurbite of a second apparatus
similar to the one just described. The apparatus is made of copper, glazed
or enamelled cast iron, or other suitable metal or material according to the
nature of the products to be treated, and is provided with suitable stop-cocks,
branch pipes, and other required appendages.
The apparatus may likewise be made use of for combining together two or
more volatile products, or volatile and liquid ones, or two or more liquid
ones, such, for instance, as benzine and nitric acid for manufacturing nitro-
benzine. In some cases the series of zig-zag tubes may be situated in a
tank provided with cold water or other suitable refrigerating medium..
The apparatus may likewise be used for concentrating acids, for rectifying
hydrocarbons and their derivatives, the distillation of wine, washes, or
alcoholic products, of essential oils, and for other similar purposes.