IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING SACCHARINE AND SALINE SOLUTIONS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Peek, of the City of Manchester, Manufac-
turing Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
EVAPORATING SACCHARINE AND SALINE SOLUTIONS."
Sealed the 6th April 1863, and dated the 27th October 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Peek at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th October
1862.
I, ALFRED PEEK, of the City of Manchester, Manufacturing Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS FOR EVAPORATING SACCHARINE AND SALINE SOLUTIONS," to be as follows:--
My improvements are particularly beneficial when applied to evaporating
saccharine solutions, but they may be employed for saline solutions.
My improvements consist in applying the heat necessary for evaporating
the solution in such a manner that the temperature of the solution cannot be
raised beyond the boiling point of water, but it may be kept to any required
degree below that temperature. In performing my Invention in situations
where steam is available I make use of a hollow disc or agitator revolving
slowly in the pan containing the solution to be evaporated; the agitator is half
full of water, and it is supported on hollow trunnions, through one of which
steam is admitted by a pipe bent partly into the water, and through the other
the overflow water makes it escape. By regulating the supply of steam to

page_text: the agitator any required temperature not exceeding 212° Fahrenheit can be
maintained, and when the agitator is in motion the evaporation of the solution
proceeds in proportion to the temperature. It is obvious that two, three, or
more agitators may be employed in the same pan or vessel containing the
solution to be evaporated. The apparatus may be modified in the following
manner: Under the pan containing the solution to be evaporated, which is
furnished with revolving agitators as above described, is placed a boiler which
is filled with water, and heated in any convenient manner; a pipe from the
upper part of the boiler communicates with one of the trunnions of the
agitators, and with a cistern above the level of the agitators, and another pipe
passes from the other trunnion of the agitators to the lower part of the boiler;
by this means the agitators are kept supplied with a current of water at any
degree of heat required. The circumferences of the agitators are connected by
horizontal pipes; these pipes and the agitators are made of plain or cor-
rugated sheet metal to increase the surfaces. The circulation is kept up
through the agitators by the pipes above described, and the temperature can
*be ascertained by a thermometer inserted in the ascending pipe, and regulated
by the application of heat to the boiler. The form of the agitators can be
greatly varied, and they may be made of pipes connected by hollow arms to
the hollow axle, or hollow cylinders may be used. The above-described im-
provements in apparatus for evaporating may be used when the solutions to
be evaporated are in open pans, or in covered pans furnished with a chimney
or with a fan to produce a draught, or in vacuum pans.
When the heating surface presented by the revolving agitators is considered
insufficient, an increased heating surface may be obtained by inserting a series
of steam pipes in the vessel containing the solution, such steam pipes to be
surrounded by other pipes containing water, the water pipes being open at
one point at least to the atmosphere.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Peek in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
PEEK, of the City of Manchester, Manufacturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of

page_text: Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Peek, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Peek,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alfred Peek, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING SACCHARINE AND SALINE SOLUTIONS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Peek, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said Alfred Peek, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment (that is to say):
:-
The nature of my Invention consists in certain improved apparatus for
evaporating saccharine and saline solutions, in which apparatus the heat neces-
sary for evaporation cannot be raised beyond the boiling point of water, but
may be kept to any required degree below that temperature.
it
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, and Figure 2 is a side elevation (both in
section) of my improved evaporating apparatus; Figure 3 represents an
elevation of three of my improved apparatus working together or in suc-
cession.
a, a, a, are three hollow discs or agitators, made by preference of sheet
copper, attached by rivets or otherwise to the arms b of the hollow axle c. I
wish to remark that the agitator may be composed of a greater or less number
of hollow discs. The agitator revolves slowly in the pan d, which is placed
within the outer pan e. The steam pipe f passes through the hollow axle c, and
it is supplied at one end with a stuffing box f', and at the other end with two
lock nuts f and a shoulder to prevent the leakage of steam or water through
the outer casing of the apparatus. To the pipe fare connected the three

page_text: branch pipes g, which are open at their ends to convey the steam from the
, pipe to the hollow discs a. This steam, as it condenses into water, overflows
into the passages h at each end of the hollow axle c, which convey the water
into the space between the pan d and outer pan e; the overflow is carried off
through the orifice i and through a syphon pipe or trap; the small orifices j, j,
in the partitions k, k, are to allow the water to overflow freely into the space
between the pans & and e. The saccharine or saline solution to be evaporated
having been run into the pan d through the supply pipe d³, see Figure 1, a
.slow rotatory motion is given to the agitators by means of the shaft l, see
Figure 3, which is supposed to be driven by the steam engine m, to the crank
shaft of which is fixed a pinion n gearing into the wheel on the shaft ; tò
this shaft are fixed the bevel wheels gearing into the wheels o, fixed outside
a small shaft revolving in bearings in the casing of the evaporating apparatus;
on these short shafts are also fixed spur pinions o' gearing into the wheels c',
.keyed on the hollow axle c; or the agitators may be driven in any other
convenient manner. The exhaust steam from the engine m is conveyed by
the pipe p to the pipes f and g, placed, as before described, within the agitators;
this exhaust steam supplies the heat required for the evaporation. In Figures
1 and 2 the branch pipes 9 are shewn vertical, but they may be set to any
angle by the attendant acting on the handle f3 fixed to the pipe f; the orifices
of the branch pipes g may thus be brought nearer to or above the surface of
the water in the agitator for the purpose of heating more rapidly at the
commencement of an operation. The vapour rising from the saccharine or
saline solution in the pans d is carried off by the pipes g, which are in com-
munication with the pipe r and fan s; this fan is driven by the fly wheel n'
and strap n², or the pipe r may communicate with a condenser to produce
the requisite partial vacuum in the pans d. When the requisite degree of
evaporation has been obtained the saccharine or saline solution is run off out
of the pans d by the pipe d', see Figure 1; and where two or more of these
apparatus are worked in combination with each other, as shewn in Figure 3,
the solution, after having been concentrated or partially evaporated in the
first pan, is conveyed to the second by the pipe d², and from the second to the
third. The apparatus, instead of being placed on the same level, as shewn in
Figure 3, may be placed on different levels to facilitate the running of the
solution from one pan to the other. The pipes d², p, and q are furnished with
taps or valves to enable any one of the apparatus to be shut off from the others
when they are combined.
:
Figure 4 represents a modification of my improved apparatus for evaporating
saccharine or saline solutions. Under the pan d, containing the solution to be

page_text: evaporated, is placed the boiler t, which is filled with water and heated in any
convenient manner by a furnace, or flues or tubes, of the usual construction.
To the upper part of the boiler t is attached the pipe t', which conveys the
heated water to the pipe f, passing, as before described, through the hollow
axle c of the agitator, but closed at the end c³; the pipes 9 connected to the
pipe f radiate therefrom and distribute the hot water in the hollow discs a;
the pipe t¹ is carried upwards to the cistern u, which is placed above the level
of the agitator. To the end of the hollow axle c is connected the pipe v,
which is carried downwards to the lower part of the boiler t. By this means
the agitators are supplied with a current of water heated to any degree
required not exceeding two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit. The
circulation of water is kept up through the agitators by the pipes above
described, and the temperature can be ascertained by a thermometer inserted
att in the ascending pipe t'. The temperature is regulated by the application
of heat to the boiler t. The form of the agitators can be greatly varied. The
above-described improvements in apparatus for evaporating may be used when
the solutions to be evaporated are in open pans, or in covered pans furnished
with a chimney or with a fan to produce a draught, or in vacuum pans.
When the heating surface presented by the revolving agitators is considered
insufficient an increased heating surface may be obtained by inserting a series
of steam pipes in the vessel containing the solution, such steam pipes to be
surrounded by other pipes containing water, the water pipes being open at one
point at least to the atmosphere.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that revolving and other
agitators heated by steam have been used before the date of this Patent, I
therefore limit my claim to the use of revolving or other agitators heated in
the manner described, or in a similar manner, so as to prevent the temperature
applied exceeding the boiling point of water.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Peek, have hereto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
ALFRED PEEK. (L.S.)