AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISTIL LATION, EVAPORATION. AND EXSICCATION, AND FOR THE PREPARATION OF COLOURS
Year: 1819

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
THOMAS BARRY, of Plough Court, Lombard Street, in the City of London,
Chemist and Druggist (being one of the people called Quakers), send
greeting.
WHEREAS King George the Third, by His Letters Patent under the Great
Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day
of the fifth month called May, in the year of our Lord One thousand cight
hundred and nineteen, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and
grant unto me, the said John Thomas Barry, His special licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Thomas Barry, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by
my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said
John Thomas Barry, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISTIL
LATION, EVAPORATION. AND EXSICCATION, AND FOR THE PREPARATION OF COLOURS;
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said John Thomas Barry, by an instrument in 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 the King's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months

page_text: next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Thomas Barry, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, by the Plan or
Drawing annexed to these Presents, and, the following description (that is
to say) :-
My improved apparatus consists of a still or evaporator (A) made so as to
bear exhaustion of its air connected by its neck (b) and the conducting
pipe (c) to the condenser (D), which is of larger capacity than the still, and
is also made so as to bear exhaustion of its air., It is placed in a suitable
cistern (E), capable of holding a quantity of cold water or other refrigerating
liquid, sufficient to cover the vent cock (f) and the stopcock (9), which shuts
off the communication between the still or evaporator (A) and the con-
denser (D). (h) is a pipe with its stopcock (1) for discharging the condensed
fluid. (k) is a steam tube with its stopcock (7), thro' which the con-
denser (D) can at pleasure be filled with steam from a steam boiler or
other vessel for supplying steam, which may be placed in any convenient
situation; or, when circumstances admit, the steam may be supplied from the
boiler of a neighbouring steam-engine or other accessible means, it being
suflicient for my purpose that the requisite quantity of steam is attainable.
(N) is another condenser (made likewise so as to bear exhaustion of its air),
connected with the still by means of the neck (u), the pipes (W and X), and
the improved refrigerator (Y) herein-after particularly described. This con-
denser is placed in a suitable cistern (I), capable of holding a quantity of
cold water, or other refrigerating liquid, sufficient to cover the vent cock (V).
It is provided with a discharge cock (Z).
To Distil by the Apparatus.-The still (A) with its included material being
closed air-tight, and the cocks (p), (V), and (Z) shut, and the cistern (1)
being filled with cold water or other refrigerating liquid, and the cistern (E)
being empty of its water, the cocks (f) and (g) are to be shut, and next the
cocks (5) and (1) opened and kept open until the whole of the air contained
in the condenser (D) is driven out by the blowing thro' of the steam; now
shut (), and then constantly shut (1), and allow cold water to flow over the
surface of the condenser until it runs off cold at (m); open the stopcock (g),
and part of the air contained in the still (A) and the condenser (N) will rush
into the vacuum formed in the condenser (D). Shut (g) again, and repeat
the former operations until the floater (S) in the open leg of the mercurial
syphon gage (0), connected with the neck of the still, indicates that the

page_text: required degree of exhaustion is attained. When the exhaustion is carried to
its utmost extent (which I prefer doing), the floater (S) falls thro' a space of
about fourteen or fifteen inches (the distance depending on the pressure of
the atmosphere at the time). The mercurial syphon gage, usually made of
iron, is too well known to require description. The cock (g) is now to be
shut, and heat being now applied to the still (A), the distillation is performed
in a vacuum (more or less perfect), the distilled fluid collecting in the
condenser (N). Some care is necessary to prevent the contents of the still or
evaporator from boiling over into the condenser. For this purpose it is
proper to watch the commencement of the ebullition through the small pieces
of glass which I fix in the upper part of the vessel. These are shown in the
Figure at (r,r), being well bedded in hemp and white lead, with oil, and firmly
screwed down. When evaporation is to be performed the fluid is introduced
into the still or evaporator (A), and the process conducted as above described
in distillation, the vapour condensing in the vessel (N). And in order to
expedite the process, the cistern (E) is to be filled up with cold water, so
that the vessel (D) may assist in the condensation, the cock (g) being opened
for that purpose. The process of exsiccation, being merely that of evaporation
carried to its greatest extent, is performed in the same manner, and continued
until the residuum is reduced to the requisite degree of dryness.
In the preparation of colours my apparatus is applicable to the evaporation
of part or the whole of the water or other fluid in which the colours may be
dissolved or suspended, or with which they may be combined or mixed;
which evaporation, being effected in a vacuum (more or less perfect), prevents
the exposure of the colours to the high temperature necessary for boiling in
the common way, in which some delicate colours are known to suffer injury.
It is essential that not only the still or evaporator and condenser, as above
directed, but that all those parts of my improved apparatus which have to
undergo exhaustion, should be made of sufficient strength to bear the
atmospheric pressure when exhausted; and it is necessary to the advantageous
performance of the different operations to which the apparatus is adapted that
the several parts should be made and connected together perfectly air-tight.
If, therefore, the joints of the still or evaporator are not sufficiently air-tight,
I either immerse the whole vessel in water or other suitable liquid or
substance liquifiable at a low temperature, or I construct the different joints
so as to be readily thus protected, during the operation, from the contact of air,
either by surrounding them with a raised border or case, or, when their
situation will admit, by depressing them below the surface of the surrounding
part. A section of a raised border for this purpose is shewn at (t, t), being so

page_text: situated as to contain sufficient fluid to cover all the joints in the upper part
of the still or evaporator (A). When the whole or greater part of the still or
evaporator is thus immersed, it is most convenient to make the surrounding
liquid the medium for heating the vessel; in which case it will be advisable to
have a discharge pipe and cock to the still or evaporator. Every part of the
apparatus herein described may be made of such forms, dimensions, and
materials as are best adapted to the nature and extent of the operations for
which it is required. The still or evaporator may be made of the same
materials as if it were to be employed in the ordinary processes of distillation
or evaporation, the circumstance of its having to undergo exhaustion requiring
no other difference than that it be made perfectly air-tight, and sufficiently
strong to bear the atmospheric pressure when exhausted; and the same
observation applies to the construction of the condensers, which by preference
I have made of tinned copper. In some instances it will be most convenient
that the still or evaporator should be made with a man-hole or other aperture
of considerable size, by which it may be charged and emptied; in other cases
it will be found preferable to charge it after the exhaustion has been
made by means of a syphon or other pipe, which, opening. into the still
at one end, and being made to dip at the other end into the fluid material
with which the still is to be charged, that fluid will, by the pressure of the
atmosphere on its surface, be driven into the exhausted still or evaporator
on opening the syphon stopcock (p), and by this method the vessel may
be repeatedly charged without rendering it necessary on that account to
suspend the operation for the purpose of again exhausting the apparatus.
Theimproved refrigerator, to which I have herein-before referred, may be made
of various materials, dimensions, and forms; its relative situation is shewn in
Fig. 1 (Y) in the simplest form; it is constructed as follows:-A plate of
tinned sheet copper, of such thickness that the square foot weighs twenty-
four ounces, has one of its surfaces studded with solid knobs of metal
arranged in lines, as represented in Fig. 3, at the distance ofone inch from the
centre of one knob to that of the next. These kuobs are attached by soft solder
to the plate, and are each of them slightly flatted, as shewn at (a) of Figure 2,
being of about three eighths of an inch in diameter and one quarter of an
inch in thickness; upon these knobs is placed another plate of the same
thickness and dimensions, and the edges of the two plates are brought together
by a seam, as shewn at (6) of Fig. 1, after which the seam is made air-tight
by soft solder. The formation of this vessel is such, that when it is exhausted
of air, its two sides rest upon each other by the intermediate knobs preventing
any further collapse. If it is thought desirable to make use of fewer knobs,

page_text: the thickness of the plates must be proportionably increased. Near one of
its extremities is an opening (f) of Figure 3, one inch in diameter, for the
entrance of the vapour coming from the still, and at the opposite extremity
(g), another opening for its passage out when condensed. The manner in
which these openings are connected to the still and to the receiver are shewn
at (c, c, c,) of the longitudinal section, Figure 2, wherein (d) shews the con-
cavity opposite the opening (e). If the plate is of two feet length and one
foot breadth, as shewn in Figure1, one opening at each extremity will be suffi
cient; but one or more extra openings will be required for the entrance of the
vapour,
if the dimensions of the plate are much larger. Instead of attaching
solid knobs as above described, the same projections may be produced by care-
fully indenting one of the plates, in which case the knobs thus formed should
measure about half an inch in diameter at the base, and project little more
than one eighth of an inch, allowing therefore a nearer approach of the two
plates than was described above; or in lieu of these methods the same
number of points of support may be given by slips of tin'd sheet copper, each
slip being formed into semicircles with intermediate feet (r, 1, 1, r, r,) by
which it is firmly soldered to one of the plates, as represented in Figure 4, in
which (m) shews the natural size of the semicircles when the slip of copper
is three eighths of an inch wide, and the substance of the metal such that
the square foot weighs twenty-four ounces. These slips are disposed in lines"
at distances of five eighths of an inch. If it is deemed preferable, ridges of
metal, one quarter of an inch in breadth, may be attached to the inner surface
of one of the plates, taking care that the intermediate spaces do not exceed
three quarters of an inch in breadth; or these ridges may be created by fluting
the outside of the two plates, those of the one plate crossing and resting on
those of the opposite plate. If it be thought better to have the intervening
supports not fastened to the plates, they may be composed of a separate frame
of square wires, crossing and being soldered to each other at distances of three
fourths of an inch; this framework is made of as large a size as can be
admitted between the two plates; the wires should be at least one quarter of
an inch in width; or instead of this framework, the same support may be given.
by bending a sheet of tin'd copper, of the thickness already mentioned, in the
manner represented by the Figure 5 (which is a transverse section of part of the
sheet of its natural size), and introducing it between the two plates of the
refrigerator, making one or more notches at its upper and lower extremities,
for the passage of the distilled vapour. Other means of supporting as well as
of connecting the plates may be provided at the discretion of the workman,
my Invention consisting not in the means pointed out, but in the principle of

page_text: letting the two sides of the refrigerator rest against each other at numerous
parts, either immediately or by the medium of one or more interposed bodies,
so that they shall not collapse entirely when the refrigerator is exhausted of
air and has to sustain the atmospheric pressure of fifteen pounds on every
square inch; several of these refrigerators may be placed in the same cold
water cistern, and being all connected at top to one pipe or conductor leading
from the still or evaporator, and at bottom to another pipe leading downwards
to one or more exhausted receivers of sufficient capacity, a large quantity of
vapour may be rapidly condensed without collecting in the refrigerators. As
the numerous bearings which the sides of one of these refrigerators have upon
cach other add great strength to the vessel, it may be made to possess a very
extensive surface of thin metal, at the same time that its cubic contents are
small, hence its expense is diminished. It may be easily exbausted of its air,
and it will produce rapid condensation of the vapour in the process of distilla-
tion and evaporation conducted in exhausted vessels.
I do not claim as of my Invention the process of distilling or evaporating
or exsiccating in vessels exhausted of air, nor the method of expelling air
from vessels by the blowing through of steam without the use of an air-pump;
nor the condensation of steam with or without injection; nor the preservation
of a vacuum by covering the whole or any part of exhausted vessels from the
access of air by the intervention of a liquid, as herein-before described; nor
the method of heating vessels by the medium of a liquid surrounding them,
cach of which separately considered is not new; nor do I claim as of my
Invention any of the separate parts of the apparatus herein-before described,
except the improved refrigerator, nor any particular form of those parts; but
what I do claim as of my Invention, and as constituting the first part of
my improvements, is, the combination of the principal parts of still or evapo-
rator, condenser, and steam vessel, so arranged as to possess at once the three
following properties:-First, the apparatus can be sufficientlyexhausted ofitsair
by steam, without the use of an air-pump or any similar machinery. Secondly,
the steam is condensed by the application of cold without the use of injection.
Thirdly, distillation and evaporation can be effected with ebullition without
exposing the matter to a higher temperature than is required by boiling it in
a vacuum.
And I further claim as of my Invention, and as constituting the second part
of my improvements,the combination in apparatusfordistillation or evaporating
or exsiccating of immersion of the whole or any part of the still or evaporator
with exhaustion, by means of steam unaided by the air-pump or any similar
machinery, whether in such combination the steam used for this purpose be

page_text: raised in the still or evaporator or elsewhere, and whether its condensation be
effected with or without the use of injection.
And lastly, I claim as of my Invention, and as constituting the third part
of my improvements, the refrigerator herein-before particularly described.
In witness whereof, I have here set my hand and seal, the Twenty-
fourth day of the eleventh month, called November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and nineteen.
JOHN THOMAS BARRY. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of Novem-
ber, in the sixtieth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third,
the said John Thomas Barry came before our said Lord the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and alland every thing
therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the In-
strument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made
in the fifty-fifth year of His said Majesty's reign.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of November, One thousand eight