IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING AERATED LIQUORS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
PURT, of Saint Mary-at-Hill, in the City of London, Soda Water Manufac-
turer, and WILLIAM HALE, of Woolwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of December, in the sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
George Purt and William Hale, Her especial licence, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that we, the said George Purt and William Hale our
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Purt and
William Hale, our 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING AERATED LIQUORS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said George Purt and William
Hale, or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner 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
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the
said George Purt and William Hale, do hereby declare that the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to improvements in arranging machinery for pro-
ducing aerated liquors, by combining the operations of exhausting the air
from the liquors, and from the vessel containing them, and then introducing
the gas to be employed under pressure into the liquors contained in such
exhausted vessels; and, secondly, our Invention relates to improvements in
machinery or apparatus for producing aerated liquors in bottle by causing
the atmospheric air to be driven out of the bottles by the gas used for
aerating the liquors, and then admitting the liquor with the gas into the
bottles and closing the bottles. And in order that our Invention may be
most fully understood and readily carried into effect, we will proceed to de-
scribe the machinery and processes used by us in carrying out our Invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of the machinery of the apparatus,
arranged and combined according to our improvements, by which aerated
liquors may be produced, and when produced retained in bottles or other
vessels for use. a, a, are two vessels in which the liquors are introduced
in order to have atmospheric air removed therefrom, and wherein the gas
to be employed for aerating the liquors is to be brought to combine with
the liquors.
Figure 2 is an end view of the vessels a, a, and Figure 3 a transverse
section of the vessels a, a. These vessels I prefer to construct of slabs of
slate, as is shown, and the ends are affixed by bolts and screws, and the whole
hooped together, as will readily be understood on examining the Drawing.
b, b, are glass liquor guages, by which the level of the liquor in the vessels a, a,
may be seen. In the vessels a, a, are placed revolving agitators, each
consisting of a revolving shaft or axis, working through a stuffing box, and
driven by a steam engine or other power by a strap or band acting on the
drum c. On each of the axes d are affixed a series of arms carrying scoops
or vessels e, e, which revolving in the liquor in a vessel a and in the gas
therein above the liquor, causes the same to be mixed and brought together
so that the liquor becomes impregnated therewith. On each of the vessels
a, a, is applied a pipef, which communicates with a mercurial pressure guage,

page_text: JC
by which the pressure in the vessels a,a, may at any time be ascertained. g is a
pipe or tube to each vessel a,a, which is in connection with air pumps or other
suitable means for obtaining a withdrawal of the air from the vesselsa,a; and
it will be seen that on these pipes g. 9, there are stopcocks, by which the
connection with the exhausting apparatus may be closed or opened as occasion
may require. i is a pipe to each vessel a,a,each having a stopcock, as shown,
and these pipes are for maintaining a constant and uniform pressure in each
of the vessels a whilst the liquor is being drawn off into the bottles or other
vessels, and are also connected to what we call the low-pressure vessel, and
into this vessel the gas used for aerating the liquor under process is pumped,
so as to maintain it filled at a pressure equal to that at which we wish to
produce the aerated liquors in the bottles. We generally work at a pressure of
ten pounds on the square inch over the atmosphere; and it will be seen that
the pipes i,,open into the lower part of the vessel j,consequently the pressure
in those pipes will be equal to that in the vesselj, and gas is supplied to the
vessel during the time of drawing off the liquor into bottles by a pipe i¹,
From the lower part of the vessel; descends a pipe k into the vessel l, so that
any froth or "fob " rising from the bottles (when the liquor is run therein)
which will as it settles flow down into the vessel l, from whence the settled
liquor can be withdrawn from time to time by opening the cock in the
pipe m, when the pressure in the vessel will force the liquor out of the vessell.
The gas employed in aerating the liquors when in the vessels a, a, is first
pumped or forced in the vessel n, which is a strong vessel, by preference of
iron,and the gas in this vessel is kept up to a considerable pressure, which is
regulated by the weight on the valve o. The gas is forced through the pipe p
into the vessel n, and q, q, are four pipes from the upper part of the vessel n,
two to each vessel a, a. These pipes are perforated with numerous small
holes from end to end of the vessels a, a. so that the gas used in passing
from the vessel n into the vessels a, a, is divided into small streams, which
pass amongst the liquor in the vessels a, a, and the agitators before
described further facilitate the impregnation of the liquor under process
with the gas admitted into the vessel. In working we cause the pressure
of the gas in the vessel n to be equal to 50 pounds on the square inch, but
this may be varied; but it is desirable to have the pressure of the gas in the
vessel n considerable, as it facilitates the operations of producing aerated
liquors in the vessels a,a,and subsequently in producing aerated liquors to the
extent of pressure desired, in bottles, by the apparatus hereafter explained.
At the lower part of each vessel a, a, is affixed a pipe r, r, which is connected
with the pipe's,from which several branch pipes t, t, proceed to the apparatus

page_text: employed in conducting the liquor and gas from the vessels a into bottles, so
that aerated liquors may be produced and stopped therein. v,v, are two pipes
placed in a slanting direction towards the vessel l, and they enter into that
vessel. The object of these pipes v, v, is to receive any froth or "fob" which
may arise in the bottles in producing the aerated liquors therein, and conduct
it into the vessel l.
On the pipes v, v, are affixed pipes u, u, which at their
upper ends are affixed to the pipe w, which is closed at the upper end by a
weighted valve weighted to ten pounds on the square inch above the atmo-
sphere,or at such other pressure as it is desired to produce an aerated liquor in
bcttles, the other end of the pipe being closed. On the pipes u are branches x,
which are connected with the apparatus used for facilitating the production of
the aerated liquors in bottles, and for stopping the bottles when aerated liquors
have been produced therein at the degree of pressure desired, the pressure
being regulated, as above stated, by the weight placed over the upper end of
the pipe w, and the atmospheric air from the bottles will go off into the
atmosphere by the pipe w. On each of the branch pipes t, t, and x, x, are
stopcocks, which we prefer to have so arranged that they may be opened and
closed together, the cocks on the branch pipes x,, having slightly the lead
in opening, in order that gas may rush into the bottles and drive out the
atmospheric air therein before the liquor and gas from one of the vessels a are
admitted by the branch pipes t, t, into the bottles, and when the bottles are
full they are closed with corks. In Figure 1 only part of the apparatus for
producing aerated liquors in bottles is shewn; and in order to this part of
the Invention being more readily understood we have in the other Drawings
shewed various views of this part of the apparatus on a larger scale; the nature
of the various Figures shewn in these Drawings being written thereon, it will
not be necessary to repeat them here. y is a cylinder into which the branch
tubes t, t, and x, x, enter, the openings t,x, into this cylinder being slanted
downwards. The lower part of the cylinder is made conical, and lined with
leather or other soft surface, there being a conical-mouthed end screwed on
to the lower end of each of the cylinders y, as is shewn in the Drawings. The
upper end of each of the cylinders y is formed into a stuffing box by being
stuffed with leather or other suitable material, so that the ram z, at the
thicker part, enters through the upper end of the cylinder, the cylinder will be
closed and prevent the liquor or gas passing in that direction, and before the
ram z is introduced a cork for closing the bottle is placed into each of the
cylinders y. The ram slides in suitable bearings at 1, 21, and the ram is
caused to descend into the cylinder by the handle 22; and when the bottle
placed and held below the cylinder is full the rain is further pressed down by

page_text: its handle so as to force the cock into the neck of the bottle. The plugs
of the cocks on the pipes t and r of each apparatus are connected by a
connecting rod and worked by a handle as is shewn, so that both the plugs
will be moved together as before stated, the plug on the pipe x for admit-
ting gas into the bottle having slightly the lead of the other plug,
In order to facilitate the process of producing areated liquors in bottles
it is desirable to use bottles all cast to one guage, otherwise the surface on
which the bottom of the bottle is placed is to be made adjustable for
different lengths. The bottles to be filled are placed into the frames or
cradles A, the nature of which is shown in the Drawings. These cradles or
frames slide on the inclined framings B, there being small necks or pivots C
on the sides of each of the cradles or frames which respectively slide in a
slot formed in each of the side guiding plates D affixed to the inclined
framings B, as is shown. Under the lower end of each of the frames or
cradles A is a rod E affixed, which being connected with a lever F by a
connecting rod and pin joints as shewn, and this lever is acted on by a
treadle G, the lever F being connected to the treadle by a connecting rod
with pin joints as shown. The machinery and apparatus being thus
arranged the same are to be worked in the following manner :-
The vessels a, a, are to be alternately used, the one being exhausted
of air and supplied with gas whilst the other is having its contents with-
drawn ; and in working with the vessels a, a, the liquor desired to be areated
is run or pumped into those vessels to about two thirds full; the air is then
to be well exhausted from the vessel, by which means any air which might
be in the liquor will be removed, or the liquor will rise into the vessels a, a,
as the same are exhausted if the pipe (1) be conducted into a vat containing
the liquor, and we prefer this mode where the arrangement of the works
will allow of it. The gas to be employed for aerating the liquor is then to
be admitted as before explained, and the agitators kept at work. When
withdrawing the contents of either of the vessels a, a, into bottles, and pro-
ducing therein an aerated liquor at the pressure desired, the flow of gas
from the vessel n into that vessel a is to be stopped, and the cocks (2) and
(3) opened, so as to allow the liquor and gas to pass into the pipes t, x,
through the pipes before described. By this arrangement any excess of
of
pressure
will
gas pass off by the pipe w, and any froth or "fob" will pass
into the vessel; and the workman will successively place bottles to be
filled by pressing them up to the cylinders y, as before described.
We would remark, that if it be desired to produce aerated liquors in casks,
then the lower ends of the cylinders y are to be made suitable for closing the

page_text: bungholes, and the casks are to be pressed up against the under side of the
cylinders y, the cylinders being made large enough to allow of bungs to be
forced through. In thus producing aerated liquors in casks the pressure
will be greatly reduced from what is used when in bottles; about one pound
on the square inch will be sufficient.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the best means
we are acquainted with for performing the same, we would have it under-
stood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details shown, pro-
vided the peculiar character of either part of our Invention be retained.
But what we claim is,-
First, the mode of treating liquors in the process of obtaining aerated liquors
by causing the atmospheric air to be withdrawn from the vessel containing
such liquors, and from the liquors contained therein, as above described.
And we also claim the constructing of vessels for such purposes of slate.
And, secondly, we claim the mode of producing aerated liquors in bottles'
and other vessels, by so arranging the apparatus that the gas to be used
may first be admitted into the bottles or other vessels and drive off the air
in the manner above described, and then to admit the liquor with gas from
vessels in which they have been combined, as above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Purt and William Hale,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
WILLIAM (L.S.) HALE.
year
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of June, in the
of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid George Purt and William Hale came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, 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.
led the Tighth do of Tune in the roo
Per of