AN IMPROVED APPARATUS POR DISTILLING
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
URE, of Finsbury Circus, in the County of Middlesex, M.D., send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster the Thirty-first day of March, in the first year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Andrew Ure, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Andrew Ure, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Andrew Ure, my exors, admors, or, assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention
of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS POR DISTILLING;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, that I, the said Andrew Ure, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there
unto had, will more fully and at largo appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Andrew Ure, do hereby declaro the nature of my said Invention to be an im
proved apparatus for distilling, wherein the wine wash or other fermented
liquor during its passage into the alembic or kettle, is most extensively
exposed in a very thin stream or stratrim on a series of shelves, trays, gutters,
or channels,,placed over each other to the hot vapours ascending from the snid
kettle. By this exposure to the cool wash, the temperature of the vapour is
partly moderated towards the degree most favorable for the production of a
fine spirit, and the wash itself is partly stripped of its finer alkoholic particles
by a steam distillation, before it reaches the alembic. The physical principles
on which the apparatus is intended to act may be stated as follows:-
Fermented liquor contains there ingredients, all volatile by heat, but at
<different successive degrees of temperature, alkohol, essential oil, and water.
If a mixture of these three substances in the vaporous state be passed upwards
through tortuous tubes or channels maintained by any means at a temperature
under 160° Fahrenheit, alkohol vapour alone in any considerable quantity will
retain its tension, or continue to exist so as to pass onwards into the refrige-
ratory; if the said channels acquire a temperature of 180° Fahrenheit, some
essential oil and steam will accompany the alkohol vapour and pass onwards
with it, and if the channels acquire the temperature of 212° Fahrenheit, the
said three volatile matters will all pass freely into the condenser so as to con-
stitute a spirituous liquor, more or less crude, according to the crudity of the
fermented matter. Now it is proposed by the said exposure of the cool wino
or wash on an ample series of surfaces, in the progress of its descent into
the alembic to refrigerate the mixed vapours as much as possible both by the
heating and the evaporating of the wine or wash, and to supply whatever addi-
tional refrigeration may be desired by the application of water at a regulated
temperature to the metallic vessel or cases which contain the said series of
shelves, trays, gutters, or channels; and in further compliance with the said
proviso, I, the said Andrew Ure, do hereby describe the manner in which my
said Invention is to be performed, by the following explanation thereof,
reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, (that is to say) :-
Figures 1 and 2 represent in section two forms of my moveable frame or
system of moveable shelves, trays, or channels that constitute a leading feature
of my improved apparatus for distilling. The vessel of Figure 1 is cylindrical:

page_text: that of Figure 2 is rectangular. In Figure 1, A, A, represents the section of
an exterior cylindric annular space contained between two metallic cylinders;
and B, B, represents the section of an interior cylindric annular space; each of
these spaces is furnished with a series of annular shelves, trays, or channels
standing over one another at a distance of one inch or more, each of which
is perforated with a slit or holes at one spot for the descent of the thin
stream of wash into the subjacent shelf; across the upper surface of each
annular shelf or tray, a vertical ridge is fixed to one side of the slit or
holes, so that the liquor being delivered always on the side of the ridge
opposite to the said slit or holes, must perform a complete revolution on the
shelf before it can descend into the next shelf, and so on in succession.
These annular shelves have their edges turned up, as shewn in the section,
which prevents the liquor from escaping over their edges while it stiffens
the flat metallic ring. The system of shelves for one annular cylindric
space may be conveniently connected by three or four rods passing down
through them so as to bolt or solder them together, and permit them to be
drawn up easily in one body, for the purpose of cleansing or adjusting at any
time. The fermented liquor is admitted in a regulated stream into the top
shelves through the stop-cock C, of which the key may be mounted with a
graduated arch, or the pipe between the stop-cock and the ball D may be
a graduated glass tube the height of the liquid column in which will
determine the rate of efflux through the two orifices below, which are of
different widths, but together much smaller in area than the waterway of the
above stop-cock. The top of each cylindric annular space is covered in by an
annular plate, which is secure with bolts and packing in the usual way. The
bottom of each annular space is also closed either by a special annular plate or
by a circular plate, including both spaces. The pipe E represents the beak of
the alembic, which rising with a gentle slope enters the bottom of each of
the cylindric annular spaces at F, F, whence it diffuses the vapours freely all
round, and upwards among the moveable system of annular shelves.
The rectifying cylinder, Figure 1, and its shelves may be advantageously made
of tinned copper or of laminse of tin, hardened with a copper alloy, but it is de-
sirable to pass the spirituous vapour at last up through one spiral coil of tin pipe,
as shewn at G, G, immediately before its entrance into the refrigeratory
worm in H. The tub or back I, I, is filled with water which bathes the out-
side of the rectifying cylinder, as well as the interstices between the concentric"
cylinders; as this water tends in the progress of distillation to become too hot.
especially when a strong alkohol is sought for, its temperature is regulated as
:

page_text: follows: By the application of my thermostat or heat governor, Figure 3,
described under several modifications in the Specification of my Patent for that
Invention which was enrolled on the Twentieth of April now last past; the
links a, a, connected with the expanding ends of the thermostatic bars b, b,
act on the stop-cock c of a cold water cistern, so that whenever the tempera-
ture of the surface water of the bath in which the said bars are plunged
exceeds the defined degree, a stream of cold water is admitted into the body of
the bath through the pipe d, d, so as to chill it and cause the hot water to pass
off through the overflow pipe c; the screw nut f serves to adjust the length of
the rod g, so that the stop-cock may be opened more or less at any desired point
in the thermodetric scale by the flexure of the thermostatic bars. Figure 2
represents in a rectangular form a similar moveable series of shelves or trays
for the extensive exposure of a stream of wine or wash to the boiling bot
vapours in its descent into the alembic; A, A, A, A, A, A, are rectangular
cases or hollow parallelopipedons, of which the width is small compared with
the length and height. These cases are open at top and bottom, where they
are soldered or rivetted into a general cavity inclosed by covers secured with
packing and bolts in the usual way. Each case is furnished with a series of
straight shelves or oblong trays turned up at the edges and at one end, but
slightly sloped at the other for the discharge of the wine or wash into the sub-
jacent shelf. The direction of the stream in each shelf is the reverse of that
in the shelf above and below it, as is plainly shewn in Figure 4, where the
turned up end of the one shelf corresponds to the discharge slope of its
neighbour. These shelves are framed together by two or moro vertical
metallic rods which pass down through them, and are fixed to each shelf by a
screw nut, solder, or otherwise. Ilence when the cover is removed, each set
of shelves may be readily lifted out of its compartment and cleaned. The
shelves may be laid in a horizontal position or with a slight declivity in the
direction of the stream. The cellular intervals i, i, i, i, i, between the shelf
cases, allow a free circulation of the water contained in the bath cistern I, I, the
temperature of which is circulated by a heat governor M, M, connected with
the stop-cock or valve of a cold water back, as above described. The wash
descends through the main pipe C into the horizontal pipe h, h, which is
furnished with oqual jets of distribution corresponding to the series of oblong
trays or shelves, as shewn in section at h, h, Figure 2, and in plan at h, h,
Figure 5. Figure 4 is a side view of one shelf compartment to show the
backwards and forwards motion and descent of the current of wash in its
passage to the alembic. The shelf caso may be advantageously made threo

page_text: inches wide for more ample exposure of the wash or wine while the water
cell is only one inch, for this body of water will easily control tho tem-
perature of that body of vapours.. In some cases of distillation I do not
apply the naked heat of a fire to the bottom of the alembic, but immerse it
in a bath of muriate of lime contained in a suitable pan, and regulated by
the thermostat, as is particularly described in the Specification of my Patent
for that Invention above referred to. In other cases I plant in the flat
bottom of a round alembic an upright metallic lamina, twelve inches more
or less high, and of such a length that it may form a helix like the main
spring of a watch, extending with numerous coils from the centre to the
circumference; or the alembic being rectangular or oblong of any shape,
the said metallic lamina or ribbon may be planted upright in a zig-zag
direction from one end of the alembic to the other. Whatever form this open
winding channel may bave its object is the same, videlicet, to enable the wash
already stripped in a great measure of its spirit by the steam distillation in the
rectifyer vessel I, I, Figure 1 and 2, to throw off the remainder of its alkohol
in its tortuous journey of ebullition over the bottom of the alembic. A syphon
pipe, furnished with a swivel stop-cock, regulates the depth of liquor on the
bottom of the still and the level of discharge; should any appreciable spirit bo
found in the discharged or spent wash, the rate of influx of the fresh wash
into the shelf cases may be moderated. When this continuous plan of dis-
tillation by a perpetual ingress and egress of the wash till the whole be worked
off, is not adopted, I recommend the distiller to use my apparatus in the
following way: Let him introduce into the alembic just enough of his fer-
mented liquor to protect the copper from injury by the fire, reserving the main
body of the said liquor in the charging back; as soon as the ebullition in the
alembic conducted with the usual precautions has raised the temperature of
the rectifying bath I, I, to the desired pitch, let him open the communications
with the charging back, turning the index of the graduated stop-cock, so as to
admit the wash in a regulated stream. Towards the end of the operation, after
all the wash has run into the still, he may, for the sake of dispatch, permit
the rectifying bath to take a higher temperature and draw off the cruder and
weaker spirits into a separate cistern, from which they may be pumped into
the still, as the starting or preparatory liquor of a second charge. For the
rectifying of spirits the said distilling apparatus may be worked in the same
way, that is, some weaker spirits being introduced into the still, to generate
steam and heat, the shelf apparatus, the relatively stronger spirits in the
charging back may then be admitted through the cock C and pipe in a regu-

page_text: lated stream, while the thermostatic apparatus is so adjusted as to maintain a
proper temperaturo in the water bath rectifier. The above plan of water bath,
combined with the thermostatic apparatus, may also be used simply as a
rectifying cistern without transmitting the spirit or wash through it, since the
series of shelves will cause the vapours froin the still to impingo against a
most extensive system of metallic surfaces maintained at a regulated tempe-
rature, whereby their watery and crudo constituents will be condensed and
precipitated while their fiuer alkoholic particles will proceed forwards to the
refrigeratory.
A similar system of compartments furnished with shelves, especially the
construction shown in Figure 2, being immersed in the refrigeratory tub or
back II, will afford an elegant substitute for the serpentine usually employed.
For this purpose the cases A, A, A, A, A, A, are best made of laminated tin
hardened with a little copper alloy, and they should be narrower compared to
the water cells. The spirituous vapours must of course be admitted into the
upper pipe K, and the liquid spirit drawn off from the pipo L; such a cold
condenser presents the great advantage of permitting its interior passages to
be readily inspected and cleansed.
I claim as my Invention the aforesaid applications of a horizontal or inclined
moveable system of shelves, trays, chaunels, or gutters, either straight or
curved, and enclosed in metallic cases separated by water, for the purpose of
exposing on an ample surface, during their descent into the alembic, fermented
or alkoholic liquors to the action of the hot vapours rising from that alembic.
I secondly claim the combination of this moveable system of shelf cases
with my thermostatic apparatus for regulating the temperature of the water
bath in which these cases aro immersed.
I thirdly claim the application of the moveable system of shelf compart-
ments to the purpose of a condensing refrigeratory for converting the alkoholic
vapours into a cool liquid.
I finally claim the application of a muriate of lime bath, regulated by the
thermostat, to the heating of the alembic, whereby empyreuma in the dis-
tillation of wash from malt, grains, &c., may be entirely prevented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Ure, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.
ANDREW (L.S.) URE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the the Thirtieth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1831, the aforesaid Andrew Ure came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforc-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.