IMPROVEMENTS IN VESSELS KNOWN AS DISTILLING COLUMNS OR STILLS FOR TREATING BEET AND OTHER ROOTS AND VEGETABLE BODIES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Platt at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th September
1871.
I, JAMES PLATT, of the Firm of Fielding and Platt, of the City and
County of Gloucester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VESSELS KNOWN AS DISTILLING COLUMNS
OR STILLS FOR TREATING BEET AND OTHER ROOTS AND VEGETABLE BODIES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has mainly for its object an improved construction of
vessels known as distilling columns or stills, in which saccharine roots or
other vegetable bodies reduced or cut into slices are placed on trays or
diaphragms for the extraction of the saccharine and other matter from
the solid portions thereof; the said improved construction of such
vessels ensuring, as far as I believe is possible, that the whole of the
steam or vapour used in the said process or treatment of the roots or
other vegetable bodies shall be caused to permeate therethrough to
extract the saccharine juices therefrom, and thus to avoid a considerable
waste of steam and loss of "saccharine" in such vessels as hitherto
constructed.

page_text: In carrying out my said Invention I proceed as follows:-Each of the
diaphragms or trays on which the material to be treated is placed is
simply a circular perforated plate without any intermediate supports
and carried on a hoop or shallow cylindrical belt flanged at the top and
bottom; the extreme diameter of each of the said hoops or cylindrical
belts being rather less than that of the external casing of the still. In
the face of each of the before-mentioned flanges is formed a groove, into
which is inserted an elastic ring or packing piece. A series of these
shallow cylinders are superimposed one on the top of the other with a
perforated diaphragm or tray between each. The bottom cylinder with
its diaphragm or tray rests on the table or platform at the base of the
still, and the total number of the said shallow cylinders with a diaphragm
or tray between each being sufficient to make up the height of the still,
thus forming when the whole are in place a perfect cylinder from top
to bottom, "flush" inside or free from any internal projections or parts.
whatever, within the external casing or body of the still. A top cover
enclosing and bearing upon the internal and external casing is then
secured to a flange on the top of the latter, and upon pressure being put
upon the table or platform before referred to (say by the ram of a
hydraulic press, where such is already used for elevating the series of
trays in distilling columns, to allow of their contents being dis-
charged) the series of shallow cylinders with diaphragms between each
are kept perfectly tight and pressed against the top cover of the vessel,
the said cover being readily removeable so as to allow of the hoops or
shallow cylinders with their diaphragms or trays being clevated up
successively to the top of the still for the purpose of being emptied of
the spent or solid contents, and afterwards to be lowered down as they
are filled with a fresh supply of the sliced material to be treated.
By my Invention, a perfectly clear space being secured between each
of the perforated diaphragms or trays, the steam is thus compelled to
pass through, amongst, and to be utilized solely in acting upon the
materials under treatment. The space intervening between the inner
and outer cylinders serves also with advantage as a steam "jacket'
"skin" to keep up the temperature and prevent much of the con-
densation which would otherwise take place.
or
In some cases where it is desirable to keep the juices or saccharine
fluid extracts resulting from the roots while being operated upon by the
steam separate and distinct from the water of condensation which results

page_text: from the outer casing of the still and other parts thereof, I propose
to make the elevating and lowering table into a cistern or receiver, so
that when it is pressed against the hoops, with the trays or diaphragms
interposed there between, there is a distinct cylinder within the outer
one, the drain pipe from it passing through a stuffing box and thence
through the bottom of the still. A higher pressure, and consequently
also temperature of steam, could thus be maintained in the outer case
and pass through a reducing valve placed in the table so as to maintain
a reduced pressure in the inner cylinder, or a pipe could pass through a
stuffing box in the bottom of the still similar to the drain pipe and
reducing valve outside. This higher pressure would also keep the table
tightly pressed against the hoops, so that the pressure need not be kept
upon the ram while the materials are being kept under treatment or
subjected to the action of the steam.
I wish it to be distinctly understood that it is not indispensable to the
construction of stills or distilling columns according to my Invention
that there should be the outer casing hercin-before described, as this
latter may be dispensed with, though not with such economical results
as in the previously described arrangement; and the series of hoops,
rings or cylinders, with a tray or diaphragm interposed between each,
may form the complete still, and may be supported at the bottom on the
table or platform herein-before referred to. The top in that case might
be formed of a fixed head carried on side pillars or supports, similarly to
a hydraulic press.
In both of the before described arrangements the distinctive feature of.
my said Invention remains the same, namely, an arrangement of still
within which the material under treatment are exposed to the full action
of the steam, instead of any of the same being uselessly expended, as has
hitherto been the case when such vessels as those herein-before referred
to have a central stalk or guide, and the diaphragms or trays have
ribs or bosses and bit loosely within the still, all of which serve as
obstacles and to conduct away the steam from the material to be acted
upon by it.