IMPROVE MENTS IN DISTILLING
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Young, of Limefield, in the County of
Mid Lothian, North Britain, Gentleman, for the. Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN DISTILLING."
Sealed the 22nd September 1866, and dated the 6th April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Young at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th April. 1866.
I, JAMES YOUNG, of Limefield, in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLING," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in using a revolving retort or still containing a
spiral made of iron or other suitable material, which I place either in a
horizontal or inclined position and cause to revolve. The substance to be
distilled may be a solid or a liquid, the whole or part of which is volatile
being introduced into the retort or still at the one-end, and being guided by
the spiral is conveyed toward the other end, where the portion not volatilized
is discharged, the volatile portion being driven off while passing through the
heated rétort.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
YOUNG, of Limefield, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, 'for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Young, Her special license that I, the said James
Young, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Young, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said James Young, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 James Young, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and: by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
Jetters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists in using a revolving retort or still containing a
spiral made of iron or other suitable material, which I place either in a bori
zontal or incline position and cause to revolve. The substance to be distilled
may be a solid or a liquid, the whole or part of which is volatile being intro-
duced into the retort or still at the one end, and being guided by the spiral is
conveyed towards the other end, where the portion not volatilized is discharged;
the volatile portion being driven off while passing through the heated retort.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the system, mode, or manner in

page_text: or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect,
reference being bad to the Figure on the Sheet of Drawings which I have!
hereunto appended, that is to say, the Figure on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings represents a longitudinal section along the major axis of one form
of apparatus which I employ for distilling certain solid and liquid substances.
At the feeding end the apparatus on the annexed Sheet of Drawings is shown
provided with an arrangement for admitting fluid substances. The pipe A
leads to a cistern containing the liquid substance about to be distilled, which
passes thence through the pipe and the stop-cock B into the feeding or front
end of the retort. The retort C has a revolving or rotatory motion imparted
to it by means of the tangent screw D gearing into a correspondingly toothed
rack on the periphery of the stuffing box E, and on the substance to be dis-
tilled; arriving at this feeding end of the retort in the manner herein-before
described it is propelled forward by means of the spiral blade F as the retort
revolves to the further or discharging end of the retort.
On the passage
through the retort in the manner above described, the more volatile portions
of the substance are driven off and escape through the exit pipe G, by which
they are conducted to a condenser, whilst those parts of the substance which
have not been distilled over are discharged into the mouth-piece H, which is
contracted at its lower end, and thence conducted by a pipe continued there-
from to a suitable receptacle. It is obvious that by means of this apparatus
a continuous process for distilling liquid substances is obtained. The retort is
heated by means of a fire on the grate I, the heat from which is closed
around the retort by means of the brick casing K, and the products of com-
bustion pass off through the flue L. The feed pipe A passes through a
stuffing box at the point beyond the stop-cock where it passes into the retort,
so as to secure a sufficiently close joint between these portions as the retort
revolves, and the discharge end of the retort is similarly entered into a stuffing
box in the discharge piece H. The other parts of the apparatus comprised
under the Letters Patent to which this Specification relates being similar to
those shown and referred to in the Specification and Drawings pertaining to
my previous Letters Patent, No. 625, dated the First day of March Oue
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, need not be herein further specified.
It is obvious that the temperature and rate of revolution must both be
varied to suit the different natures and volatilizing temperatures of different
substances.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect,
I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original,

page_text: and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is,--
First, the arrangement, and construction of apparatus to be used for
distilling liquid substances substantially in the manner herein-before described.
Second, the causing to advance through the retort of the liquid substance
under treatment, so as to obtain the less volatile and more volatile portions in
separate states, and the use of a revolving vessel for distilling liquid substances,
as herein-before described, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Young, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of October, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six.
JAMES YOUNG. (L.B.)