IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ACETIFYING ALCOHOLIC WASH AND MATURING SPIRITS."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Luck, of Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road,
in the County of Surrey, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR ACETIFYING ALCOHOLIC WASH AND MATURING SPIRITS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Luck at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th September 1881.
'
EDWARD LUCK, of Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ACETIFYING ALCOHOLIC WASH AND MATURING
SPIRITS."
My Invention relates chiefly to apparatus employed for acetifying alcoholic wash
in the manufacture of vinegar, and consists in the substitution of the basket work
or birch ordinarily employed of two sets of bars of wood or other suitable material
arranged the one at the upper part of the acetifier, and the other below, which
bars are placed at a suitable distance apart, and are each provided with a longi-
tudinal groove or channel having cross grooves or slots extending therefrom for
the reception of endless strings, tapes, or cords. The grooves are formed at the
upper surface of the upper set of bars, and on the lower surface of the lower set,
so that the strings, tapes, or cords engage or are located in the said grooves.
In operating with the apparatus the wash is introduced into the longitudinal
grooves or channels, and then passes into the cross grooves or slots in both
directions, whence it descends along the surface of the strings, tapes, or cords,
whilst the current of air circulates in the usual manner.
Apparatus of similar construction may also be used for maturing spirits.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Edward Luck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
March 1882.
EDWARD LUCK, of Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ACETIFYING ALCOHOLIC WASH AND MATURING
SPIRITS."
My Invention relates to aparatus employed for acetifying alcoholic wash in the
manufacture of vinegar and for maturing spirits, and consists in the substitution
for the basket work or birch ordinarily employed of bars, rods, or analogous
supports arranged in the acetifying or maturing vessel, and carrying strings, tapes,
cords, calico, or the like, which may be woven, twisted, knitted, or otherwise
.interlaced or not, and which may be of any porous material, either vegetable,
animal, or mineral, down the surface of which the wash or spirit being treated
runs whilst the current of atmospheric or other air or gas circulates in the necessary
manner.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the annexed Sheets of Drawings, the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 represents in transverse vertical section, and Figure 2 in plan an
acetifying vessel, in which are suspended cords or the like according to my
Invention Figures 3 and 4 are respectively elevations and transverse sections
drawn to an enlarged scale of the upper and lower bars carrying the cords or the
like; Figures 5, 6, and 7 represent modifications as hereinafter described.
Supported upon ribs a carried in the upper part of the vessel A are bars B of wood
or other suitable material, each of the said bars having in its upper part a longi-
tudinal groove or channel b, and transverse grooves or channels b. For each bar B
a lower bar C is provided, each of these bars C having in their underside transverso
grooves cstrings, tapes, or cords-d-are-wound-respectively above and below_these.
bars B and C, the said strings, tapes, or cords being located in the transverse
grooves b² and c².
For convenience in winding these strings, tapes, or cords may
be endless, or sufficiently long for the length to be wound through the whole
length of a pair, or bars B and C being first passed over the upper part, then
under the lower bar at one end, and so on till the other end of the bars is reached.
A Barker's mill E or other distributing apparatus is mounted in the vessel A
above the bars B, as shown. F represents the outlet from the vessel A to the
pump. In operating with the apparatus the wash to be acetified or the spirit to
be matured is introduced by the Barker's mill or by other means into the upper
part of the vessel A, and passes mainly into the longitudinal grooves b, and there-
from by the transverse grooves 6 down over the surface of the strings, tapes, or
cords d, and is during its passage presented very effectively to the action of the
atmospheric or other air or gas which circulates in the necessary way into and
through the vessel A.
In Figure 2 the bars are shewn only in one half of the vessel A, but it will be
understood that bars and strings, tapes, cords, or the like are similarly placed in the
other half of the vessel. In place of employing strings, tapes, or cords in their
simple form, they may be employed in a twisted, woven, or equivalently intertwined
form. For example, a woven material such as calico or like material may be
employed. Figures 5 and 6 represent in elevation and transverse section a portion
of the bars B and C shewing a method of attaching a sheet of woven or twisted
material or the like to the said bars B and C, the upper and lower edges of the

page_text: materials 6 are doubled over or otherwise stiffened and strengthened, and along
these edges holes are formed preferably protected by eyelets. Cords or their
equivalents d³ and d' are passed through these holes, and under and over the bars B
and C respectively, as shewn, so that the sheet of material is supported in the vat,
as shewn on one side of Figure 1, where on one side is shewn the series of simple
cords or the like, and on the other side is shewn supported a sheet or piece of
woven, netted, or otherwise twisted or intertwined material, as herein before last
described. Figure 7 represents another mode of fastening the sheet of material to
the bars. The strings d³, d', are dispensed with, and the bars B and C are respect-
ively passed through and between the folded top and bottom edges of the
material d in this case and in other cases if desired the bars B and C are or
may be without the grooves 62, 63, c². In the various Figures, 6s represent distant
pieces projecting from both sides of the bars B in order to retain them in their
place.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First. In apparatus for acetifying alcoholic wash and for maturing spirits, the
employment of strings, cords, tapes, or the like, either in their simple form or in a
woven, twisted, or intertwined or combined form supported or suspended; in the
acetifying or maturing vessels so as to form surfaces down which the wash or spirit
passes whilst being subjected to the action of air or gas, substantially as herein-
before described, with reference to the necessary Drawings.
Second. In apparatus for acetifying alcoholic wash, and for maturing spirits, the
combination with the means claimed in the preceding claiming clause of supports
channelled longitudinally and transversely or equivalently formed to constitute guides
for the liquid treated to the strings, tapes, cords, or other equivalents suspended
from the said supports, substantially as hereiubefore described with reference to
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Luck, have to this my Specification
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and nighter twen
EDWARD LUCK. (L.S.)