IMPROVEMENTS IN VINOUS AND FERMENTED LIQUORS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Peter Piggott, of No. 16, Argyle Street,
Regent Street, London, and Septimus Beardmore, of No. 37, Upper
Berkeley Street, West London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN VINOUS AND FERMENTED LIQUORS."
Sealed the 5th November 1858, and dated the 4th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Peter Piggott and
Septimus Beardmore at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 4th September 1858.
We, WILLIAM PETER PIGGOTT, of No. 16, Argyle Street, Regent Street,
London, and SEPTIMUS BEARDMORE, of No. 37, Upper Berkeley Street, West
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN VINOUS AND FERMENTED LIQUORS," to be as follows:-
Our improvements in vinous and fermented liquors consist in the applica-
tion of galvanic, electric, or electro-magnetic currents to wines, spirits, or
other fermented liquors.
We propose to apply the above currents thus, viz. We insert into the
liquor contained in cask, jar, bottle, or other vessel, or into a series of casks,
jars, bottles, or other vessels, the positive and negative terminals or poles of
[Price Bd.]

page_text: the galvanic, electric, or electro-magnetic apparatus, by which means we
precipitate or evaporate the essential oils or other foreign matters, thereby
improving the quality of the wine, spirit, or fermented liquors so treated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Peter Piggott and Septimus Beardmore in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 16th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
PETER PIGGOTT, of No. 16, Argyle Street, Regent Street, London, and
SEPTIMUS BEARDMORE, of No. 37, Upper Berkeley Street, West London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
William Peter Piggott and Septimus Beardmore, Her special licence, that
we, the said William Peter Piggott and Septimus Beardmore, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Peter
Piggott and Septimus Beardmore, our executors, administrators, and 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN VINOUS AND FERMENTED LIQUORS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said William Peter Piggott and Septimus Beardmore, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of
our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said William Peter Piggott and Septimus
Beardmore, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings:-

page_text: We improve the quality of wines, spirits, beer, and all other liquors
that have undergone fermentation, by the application of currents of electricity
from galvanic, electric, and electro-magnetic batteries, by inserting into the
liquor contained in cask, jar, bottle, or other vessel, the positive and
negative terminals or poles of the electricity-generating apparatus employed.
We prefer to use for this purpose:-
1st. Piggott's atmospheric battery, the character of which is that of
"quantity" rather than "intensity," and we use the same with and without
the helix.
2nd. The use of porous jars or cells containing negative and positive
metals or substances, placed separately in each, as shewn in the Drawings
hereunto aunexed.
In Figure No. 1, A is a cask; B, a porous cell, containing zinc or other
positive metal or substance; C, a porous cell, containing platinum or other
negative metal or substance D, a wire, connecting B and C. These metals
or substances being excited in the manner of existing batteries, as is well
understood, and the cells placed partially or wholly in the cask, a current will
flow through the liquor from the positive to the negative metal or sub-
stance, and the wire D connecting them will complete the circle.
We also place the negative and positive metal or substances in a porous
cell, separated from each other, as in Figure No. 2, where A is a cask; B,
a part of a porous cell, containing a negative substance; C, a part of the
same cell, containing a positive substance; D a part of another cell, con-
taining a negative substance; and E a part of the same cell, containing a
positive substance. When connected together by wires, a current will
flow from C to D, and back through the wire F, and a counter current
will flow from E to B, and back by the wire G; thus, by a simple and
inexpensive form, obtaining all the advantages of electric currents, without
the expense of large batteries.
What we claim for our Invention is:-
1st, the improvement of wines, spirits, and other liquors that have
undergone fermentation, by the application of currents of electricity.
2nd, the use of separate porous cells, containing negative and positive
metals or substances,excited in the usual manner, and connected together by
a wire or wires, so as to form currents and counter currents of electricity
through the wines, spirit, or other liquor.
3rd, the application of electricity to wine in bottle by placing the negative
and positive metals or substances in connection with the cork.

page_text: 4th, the application of electricity to fermented liquors by making the cask,
jar, bottle, or other vessel, partly of positive and partly of negative metals or
substances, so as to create currents whenever the vessel is filled with liquor.
In witness whereof, I, the said Septimus Beardmore, on behalf of
myself and the said William Peter Piggott, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
SEPTIMUS BEARDMORE, C. E. (L.S.)