IMPROVEMENTS IN EVAPORATING
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lawrence Crockett, of West Ham, in the
County of Essex, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
EVAPORATING."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lawrence Crockett
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th July 1856.
I, JAMES LAWRENCE CROCKETT, of West Ham, in the County of Essex,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN EVAPORATING," a communication from abroad, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus for effecting the evaporation of liquids holding salts or other matters
in solution, whereby the deterioration of the pans, arising from the incrustation
of the deposited matter, when the evaporation is conducted on the ordinary
system, is prevented, and a saving of fuel is effected.
According to this Invention, several evaporating pans are arranged side
by side, and covered over by a metallic or fire-brick top, which forms the
floor of the main heating flue, the pans being heated from the top only.
Above this flue is built an arched hot-air chamber, which communicates by
suitable lateral flues or passages on one side with the interior of the evapo-
rating pans, at or near their upper part, with the view of obtaining a more
rapid surface evaporation of the liquid contained in the pans. This hot air,
with the steam arising from the evaporating liquid, is carried off from the pans

page_text: by suitable passages, situate on the side opposite to that of the lateral hot-air
flues, already spoken of, which last-mentioned passages open into a flue com-
municating with the main chimney. Each pan is furnished with a door,
through which the matter deposited by the water is removed by raking it into
a pocket or trough running the entire length of the range of pans. Any one
of the pans may thus be emptied without stopping the working of the others.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Lawrence Crockett in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LAWRENCE CROCKETT, of West Ham, in the County of Essex, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Lawrence Crockett, Her special license that I, the said James
Lawrence Crockett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Lawrence Crockett, 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 EVAPORATING," a communication from abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Lawrence
Crockett, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Lawrence Crockett, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of

page_text: apparatus for effecting the evaporation of liquids holding salts or other matters
in solution, whereby the deterioration of the pans, arising from the incrustation
of the deposited matter, when the evaporation is conducted on the ordinary
system, is prevented, and a saving of fuel is effected.
According to this invention several evaporating pans are arranged side
by side, and covered over by a metallic or fire-brick top, which forms the
floor of the main heating flue, the pans being heated from the top only.
Above this flue is built an arched hot-air chamber, which communicates by
suitable lateral flues or passages on one side with the interior of the evapo-
rating pans, at or near their upper part, with the view of obtaining a more
rapid surface evaporation of the liquid contained in the pans. This hot air,
with the steam arising from the evaporating liquid, is carried off from the pans
by suitable passages situate on the side opposite to that of the lateral hot-air
flues, already spoken of, which last-mentioned passages open into a flue com-
municating with the main chimney. Each pan is furnished with a door,
through which the matter deposited by the water is removed by raking it into
a pocket or trough running the entire length of the range of pans. Any one
of the pans may thus be emptied without stopping the working of the others.
And in order that the said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereto
annexed, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout
both Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a longitudinal vertical section, taken
along the centre of the improved evaporating or concentrating apparatus; and
Figure 2 is a corresponding transverse vertical section of the same, taken
through the middle thereof. A, A, are a number of evaporating pans, arranged
side by side, and enclosed in the brickwork B. These pans are covered over
by a metallic or fire-brick top C, which forms the floor of the main heating
flue D. E is the furnace, which opens direct into the main heating flue, and
serves to impart the desired heat to the pans A, such heat being applied to
the top surface of the pans by radiation from the floor C of the main heating
flue; F is the chimney, which serves also for carrying off the vapors arising
during the process of evaporation, as I shall herein-after fully explain. Above
the main heating flue is built a hot-air chamber G, the floor of which serves as
the roof of the heating flue. This hot-air chamber communicates by means
of the lateral passages II with the interior of the evaporating pans A, at or
near their upper part, with the view of obtaining a more rapid surface evapo-
ration of the liquid contained in the pans, by bringing hot air into direct
contact with the surface of such liquid. This heated air with the steam and

page_text: vapors arising from the liquid pass off by the lateral passages K, K, into the
second flue L, which also opens into the chimney. M, M, are vertical sliding
doors, with which each pan is furnished, for the purpose of enabling the matter
deposited by the liquid to be raked out into the pocket or trough N, which
extends along the entire range of the pans. Any convenient opening may be
used, as shewn in dotted lines at O, for the facility of filling the pans with fresh
liquid. As each pan is separate and distinct from its neighbour, any one or
more of such pans may be filled or emptied without interfering in any way
with the working of the others.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without de-
viating from the principles or main features of the said Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,—
First, the general construction and arrangement of apparatus for evaporating
or concentrating liquids, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of heating the pans from the upper surface only,
as herein-before described.
Third, the application and use of the hot-air chamber, and lateral passages
connected therewith, for the purpose of bringing heated air in direct contact
with the surface of the liquid to be evaporated, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lawrence Crockett, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
J. LAWRENCE CROCKETT. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the
presence of,
J. HENRY JOHNSON,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields.