AN IMPROVED FALSE BOTTOM FOR BREWERS', DISTILLERS', AND VINEGAR MAKERS' MASH TUBS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Riley, of No. 12, Portland Place North,
Clapham Road, in the County of Surry, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED FALSE BOTTOM FOR BREWERS', DISTILLERS', AND VINEGAR MAKERS'
MASH TUBS."
Sealed the 10th July 1855, and dated the 15th January 1855.
PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by the said George Riley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
January 1855.
I, GEORGE RILEY, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED FALSE BOTTOM FOR BREWERS', DISTILLERS', AND VINEGAR MAKERS
MASH TUBS," to be as follows:- ...
The principle of this improvement is the construction and use of a false
bottom which will give a larger draining surface than given by the false bottom
now in use, & this end I attain by making the false bottom of cast or wrought
metal, the openings or apertures for drainage in which are made longitudinal,
being as close together as the strength of the material will allow; or by
making a metal frame or frames with cross pieces for bearings of not more
than eight or ten inches apart, covering & securing down upon the same

page_text: a surface of closely wove wire, by either of which means I obtain a much
larger and more perfect draining surface than by the use of the false bottom
as at present constructed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Riley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th
July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
RILEY, of No. 12, Portland Place North, Clapham Road, in the County of
Surry, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Riley, Her special licence that I, the said George
Riley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Riley, 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVED FALSE BOTTOM FOR BREWERS', DISTILLERS', AND VINEGAR MAKERS'
MASH TUBS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Riley, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-
larly 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 George Riley, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and the following
statement:
The object of my Invention is to obtain larger and more perfectly saccha-
rine extracts from the malt used in brewing, distilling, and vinegar making.
The usual mode of preparing the grist for brewing, as at present conducted,
is to crush the malt between roolers, or coarsely grind it. This crushing or

page_text: coarse grinding has been adoptded for two reasons; the first, because before
my Invention no false bottom had been made that would suffer the wort to
run off from fine ground malt sufficiently fast to prevent spoiling by acidity;
and, secondly, the general impression among brewers is, that if the malt is
merely cracked or crushed in such a way that the water can act on the
inside of the husk, the whole of the malt of any value will be disolved, much
more credit being generally given by them to the malting process for convert-
ing the barley into sugar than in reality is due to it; but although the
malting is not so productive of sugar as is generaly supposed, it produces
a substance termed diastase, which acts with great energy in the mash tub,
when the mash is at a proper heat, in converting the starch contained in
the malt into sugar; but to effect this conversion perfectly, it is absolutly
necessary that the malt should be cut up into particles as fine as ordinary
sporting gunpowder, so that the solvent powers of the water and the action
of the diastase should be rapidly brought to bear upon every part of the
grist, when the whole of it except the husk and the acrospire will in from
two to three hours be dissolved and converted into a solution of glucose
nearly free from gum or mucilage. But now arrises the difficulty in getting
the wort to run or drain from the goods with the ordinary means. To over-
come this difficulty, I construct the false bottom with the openings for drainage
therein in longitudinal slits in lieu of round holes, as here-before made, the
slits or openings being as close together as the strength of the material of
which the bottom is made will allow, the apertures being as narrow as it is in
practize possible to make them. I prefer to make the bottom of cast iron,
but do not confine myself to that material.
The construction is as follows, referance being had to the accompanying
Drawing, in which Fig. 1st is a plan of the false bottom; and Fig. 2nd; a
vertical section of the small end of one of the segments, full size, cut through
across the bars or ribs composing the bottom, in order to show the form of the
same; the line cut through is shown by x, x, in Fig. 1.
I take the diameter of the tub for which the false bottom is intended, and
divide the surface of the bottom into equal segments of circles, leaving a piece
in the center of about sixteen inches, if the tub does not contain a mashing
machine; if it does, the step of the mashing machine becomes the center of the
false bottom. I now proceed to construct a pattern of one of each of the seg-
ments and of the center piece when required, as follows:-I take a sufficient
number of strips of dry pine wood, and bring them, by planing, to a square of
nineteen-twentieths of an inch. I now plane down one of the angles untill the

page_text: face made by doing so becomes of the same size as the square." The strip or
bar has now the form of a pentagon, three faces of which A, B, C, (Fig. 2,)
are each nineteen-twentieths of an inch, and the other two, D, E, (Fig. 2,)
about one-tenth of an inch each.
.
I now provide a board, plane on the surface, and (with the necessary
allowance for shrinkage in casting) of the exact size and shape of the intended
segment; and now, parallel with each side, I place, one of the prepaired bars
with its face (C) downwards, securing it slightly in its place with fine brads;
I then place other ribs parrallel with these, secured down in the same way,
leaving a space the thickness of a silver fourpeny piece between each bar,
and thus continue untill the whole space is filled; where they meet in the
center, they are beveled and glued together. I secure and join the bars
together in the position they now are by means of pieces of the same bars,
*three-quarters of an inch long, or thereabouts, cut with a sufficient bevel at each
end from the face C to allow of their drawing freely from the sand in mould-
ing; these I glue between the bars or ribs forming the segment in parallel
rows of about six inches apart, similar faces of the bars and of the pieces
comming in contact; the ends of the pattern are filled in the same way, but of
course following the arc of the circle thereof. When the glue is dry the brads
are taken out, the projecting parts of the small pieces are planed down, and a
sufficient number of feet of the required depth (varying from three-fourths of
an inch to two inches and a half, acording to the fancy of the brewer,) are
secured on the places filled up; these are for allowing space between the false
and real bottom for the wort which drains through the apertures to flow to
the exit pipe of the mash tub. The pattern is now taken up, and the face
will be found to be formed of the faces of the bars C, D, & E, (Fig. 2); C
being the principal or level face; D & E being each at an angle of 45°,
forming a trough or inclination towards the aperture or slit between the bars,
thus giving greater facilities for draining. It is now cleaned and varnished,
and is ready for moulding. The necessary quantity of castings from these
pattens constitute the false bottom of the mash into which I fit them. I
now prepair the grist by cutting up the malt into particles as fine as common
sporting gunpowder; this I effect by grinding with the mill I call Riley's
malt mill, (provisional proctection for which I have made application, dated
July 10th, 1855,) or by any other mill which will effect the same end. With
the grist thus prepaired I mash and brew in the usual way.
What I claim as my Invention, and desire to secure by Her Majesty's
Royal Letters Patent; is, the construction & use of a cast-iron false bottom

page_text: for brewers', distillers', & vinegar makers' mash tubs, the openings for drain-
age in which are longitudinal, with a draft or incline on the face thereof
towards the opening or aperture for drainage, substantially as herein-before
described.
I also claim the use of any false bottom made of any material in which the
openings for drainage are longitudinal, in brewing with a grist ground or cut
into particles with the mill which I call Riley's malt mill, (provisional proc-
tection for which I have made application, dated July 10th, 1855,) or with any
other mill which will produce a similar effect in contrary distinction to grinding
or crushing the malt with roolers.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Riley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of July, A.D. 1855.