IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF VINOUS FERMENTATION
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
HARVIE, of Wilmington Square, in the County of Middlesex,
send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of November, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Arthur Harvie, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Arthur Harvie, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Arthur Harvie, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon and
also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF VINOUS FERMENTATION," communicated
to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Arthur Harvie, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Arthur Harvie, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say) -
The Invention consists in the method of conducting vinous fermentation in
close vessels in such manner that the gas evolved may be conducted under
and into liquids undergoing fermentation; and the gas may further be usefully
employed by being conducted under and into liquids requiring to be saturated
with carbonic acid.
The Drawings hereunto annexed, on which three fermenting tuns or vats
are arranged, will enable me fully to explain the process. Nos. 1, 2, 3, are
fermenting tuns or vats. No. 4 contains water, solution of potash, solution of
sub-acetate of lead, or any other fluid which the operator may wish to charge
with carbonic acid. a, b, c, are holes in the tops of the tuns or vats, made as
large as convenient, to admit the fluid which is to be fermented. These
apertures are to be so constructed that they may be shut air-tight, and large
enough to admit of cleansing the vessels conveniently. d, e, are pipes to
conduct the carbonic acid gas as it is evolved from one tun or van to another;
each of these pipes commences at the top of one tun or vat, and descends into
the fluid contained in another tun or vat. f is also a pipe which reconducts
the gas from No. 1 vessel into the fluid of vessel No. 3. g, a pipe which
discharges the surplus gas into tub No. 4, containing any fluid to be charged
with carbonic acid. This tub may be open or closed, as the case requires.
This pipe descends into the fluid contained in the vessel deeper than in the
other vessels, by which the pressure is so much increased that the carbonic
acid gas will freely pass and repass from one fermenting tun or vat to the
other, and consequently again into the fluid which is undergoing fermentation,
before it escapes and is absorbed by the contents of the tub No. 4, thereby
producing the entire decomposition of the matter subject to vinous fermentation,
by which a larger product of spirit will be obtained than when the process
of fermentation is conducted in the ordinary mode. The pipes are made of
copper or other proper material, and, of course, must be inserted air-tight, and
so fixed that they may be readily taken apart and cleaned when necessary. The
tuns or vats, after the process of fermentation is finished (which will be about
the time ordinarily taken), may be emptied by holes in the bottoms placed
at h, i, k, or by other convenient means. The tuns are to be filled to within
about eighteen inches of the top, care being taken that the fluid does not
pass from one vessel to the other by their being filled too much. The number
of tuns or vats working together may be varied, but the arrangement shown in

page_text: the Drawing is the apparatus used by me. I would remark, that, in working
according to the Invention, it is desirable to evolve the carbonic acid gas as
slowly as possible, for which reason the fermentation should be carried on at as
low a temperature as possible. The advantages arising from conducting vinous
fermentation in close vessels, by causing the gas to be again conducted into
fluids which are being fermented, as above described and shewn in the Drawing
annexed, consist in producing a more full and complete decomposition of
matter made subject to vinous fermentation; the carbonic acid gas, par-
ticularly towards the latter stage of the process, being returned again and
compelled to pass and repass into and from the fluids under process before it
escapes, which produces a very beneficial agent in fully fermenting the fluids
in addition to the employment of the gas, as herein described.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the best means I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that
I. do not confine myself to the details shewn, provided the peculiar character
of the Invention be retained; but what I claim as the Invention, and desire
to secure by the present Letters Patent, is, the method or process of conducting
vinous fermentation in close vessels by conveying the gas evolved in fluids
which are undergoing fermentation, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Harvie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.