AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR THE PURIFICATION OF ARDENT SPIRITS, BY WHICH A PURE NEUTRAL SPIRIT IS OBTAINED WITHOUT RECTIFICATION OR THE AID OF FIRE
Year: 1811

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLAUDE
CELESTIN MONNOYEUR, of York Street, in the Parish of Saint Luke, Chelsea, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second of July, in the fifty-first year
of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Claude Celestin Monnoyeur,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority that I, the said Claude Celestin Monnoyeur, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of
Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick.
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR THE PURIFICATION
OF ARDENT SPIRITS, BY WHICH A PURE NEUTRAL SPIRIT IS OBTAINED WITHOUT
RECTIFICATION OR THE AID OF FIRE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, obliging me, the said Claude Celestin Monnoyeur, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High

page_text: Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the said Letters Patent,
reference being thereunto had, may more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Claude Celestin Monnoyeur, do hereby declare that my said Invention is
described in the manner following, that is to say:-
I purify spirits by separating all the scorched empyreumatic oils, or grosser
parts, which give such spirits an impalatable flavour, by filtering the said
spirits through a machine or apparatus herein-after described, instead of sepa-
rating such empyreumatic oils or grosser parts by distillation, as at present
practised. My machine consists of a number of vessels or receptacles, placed
one above another, each having an aperture in the bottom, over which is tied a
coarse linen cloth, and upon this a layer or bed of charcoal, coarsely pulverized,
in depth about one inch, is deposited; then the spirit, being admitted into
the uppermost of these vessels, percolates through the interstices between the
fragments of charcoal; but the impurities being of a more dense and less fluid
nature, are detained in the charcoal, the spirit drips from the upper receptacle
into that which is immediately beneath it, and, being filtered through this, it
falls into a third, and so on, till, by repeated filtration, all the empyreumatic
oils, or grosser parts, are separated as effectially as by the process of rectifica-
tion in the still; but without its attendant expense of fuel or labour. The
nature of the machine is more particularly explained by the Drawings hereunto
annexed, wherein -
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the whole apparatus. In this, A represents
a cask, vat, or other reservoir containing the spirits to be purified. It has a
pipe B, furnished with a cock' conducting it into the machine, which is all
contained in the box C, C. In the top of this is a square cistern or reservoir
D, to receive the spirit; it has in the bottom of it four cylinders, two of them
are shewn in Figure 1, and marked E, E.
.
Figure 2 is an enlarged plan of D, shews all the four cylinders, and Figure 3,
which is an elevation of D, shews the depth of them, one being represented
in section and the other in elevation. Each cylinder has a coarse linen
cloth stretched over the bottom of it, and secured by tying it round the outside
at a, a, in 'two places, lest one should fail. These cloths support the beds of
charcoal. Immediately beneath each of the cylinders. E a square vessel F is
placed, being supported upon others F, F, F, all exactly similar to each other.
The construction is shewn in Figure 4, which is an enlarged plan of one of
them, and Figure 5 a perspective view, and two are shewn enlarged at F, G,

page_text: in Figure 3, F being in section and G in elevation. They are square dishes
or pans f, f, having a circular ring or hoop g, g, in the bottom, across which is
stretched the cloth for the bed of charcoal, similar to that before described for
the cylinders E. The lowest of the squares F are supported on a shelf or board
d, d, Figure 1, fixed across the box C, C; beneath this is a cistern or reservoir
H, to receive the pure spirit which has descended through the different beds of
charcoal in the bottoms of the cylinders E, E, and squares H. The pure
spirit may be drawn off from the reservoir H through the cock h into a cask,
vat, or any other receptacle I. The receiver D, see also Figure 2, has in the
centre of it at the bottom a concavity, marked k, into which the spirit drops
from the pipe B. From this concavity are four small gutters or channels
leading to the four cylinders E. The intention of this is that at first filling
the vessels E,-E, the spirit may be admitted gradually, so that it does..not
disturb or make holes through the bed of charcoal in the bottom, -as it might
do if suffered to rush in violently, and the spirit would then, pass through
without being filtered. To prevent the danger of this a coarse linen cloth is
to be spread over the bed of charcoal in the vessels E, E; the receiver D has
two handles at 1, 1, Figure 2, to remove it. The whole is supported by pieces
of wood at b, Figure 1, fixed up round three sides of the box, and a similar
piece is put up on the fourth side after the receiver is put in its place. The
squares F are larger at the top than the bottom, and each have inclined pieces
fixed in the angles at m, m, m, m, Figures 4 and 5, to lead regularly down to
the circular ring in the bottom. Each square, except the upper one, has four
bars n, n, n, n, fixed across its angles to support the square above it, as shewn
in Figure 1. The position of the four piles of squares, and the manner they
are arranged beneath the receiver D, is shewn by the dotted lines o, o, p, p,
Figure 2; they are of such size as to fill up the case C, which is furnished
with a door in front, shutting very closely to prevent any loss of spirit from
evaporation. The top also opens upon hinges at q, Figure 1, to get at the
receiver. The four bottom squares F have each a piece of blotting or filtering
paper spread upon the linen before the bed of charcoal is deposited thereon.
The spirit, already filtered by passing through the various beds of charcoal, is,
by passing through the paper, clarified, and any slight tinge of colour it may
have imbibed from the charcoal, is separated, and it drips into the receptacle H
in a purified state.
My apparatus may in many of its parts be constructed in a different
manner to what is above described and its effect remain the same. The
receiver D may have six or any other number of filters E, E, instead of
four, proceeding from it, each having a set of pans F beneath it; and these

page_text: may be made of any other figure than squares, as is most convenient. The
number of the vessels F placed one upon the other may be varied according to
the impurity of the spirit and the degree of purification required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Claude Celestin Monnoyeur, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twelve.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twentieth day of January,
in the year last above mentioned, the aforesaid Claude Celestin Monnoyeur
came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Innalled the come Twentieth day of January in the year shove written
Inrelled the same Twentieth day of January in the year shove written