AN IMPROVED METHOD OF METHODS OF ABSTRACTING OR CARRYING OFF THE CALORIC OR FLUIDITY FROM AND CONGEALING WATER (OR IT MAY BE OTHER LIQUIDS); ALSO, AN IMPROVED METHOD OR METHODS OF PRODUCING INTENSE COLD; ALSO, A METHOD OR METHODS OF APPLYING THIS INVENTION SO AS TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE TO PURPOSES WITH REFERENCE TO WHICH TEMPERATURES ABOUT OR BELOW THE FREEZING POINT MAY BE RENDERED PRODUCTIVE OF ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS, WHETHER MEDICAL, CHEMICAL, OR MECHANICAL
Year: 1824

page_text: VALLANCE'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
VALLANCE, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the fifth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Vallance, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence that I, the said
John Vallance, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Vallance, my exors, admors, and 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, and also in
His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF METHODS OF ABSTRACTING OR CARRYING OFF THE CALORIC
OR FLUIDITY FROM AND CONGEALING WATER (OR IT MAY BE OTHER LIQUIDS);
ALSO, AN IMPROVED METHOD OR METHODS OF PRODUCING INTENSE COLD; ALSO, A
METHOD OR METHODS OF APPLYING THIS INVENTION SO AS TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE
TO PURPOSES WITH REFERENCE TO WHICH TEMPERATURES ABOUT OR BELOW THE
FREEZING POINT MAY BE RENDERED PRODUCTIVE OF ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS,
WHETHER MEDICAL, CHEMICAL, OR MECHANICAL;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Vallance, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Vallance, do hereby declare that the improved method or methods which
I have invented consist in combinations of apparatus as herein-after described,
according to the principles herein-after mentioned (that is to say):―
The congelation of water is a change which takes place in consequence of
the abstraction of a portion of the matter of heat from it. The nature of this
change is the same in all instances, but it is not always brought about in the
same way. In congealing water it is essential that the portion of caloric
which renders it liquid should be taken away from it, but it is not essential
which of the methods whereby this may be done is followed. The caloric
of liquidity, or portion of heat which causes the transition from the solid to the
fluid state, may be abstracted from liquids either by bringing them in contact
with a colder medium, as in the manufacture of ice creams, or by causing
radiation and evaporation to take place from them. The latter is the way that
bodies of water, which the summer's sun has heated to fifty or sixty degrees,
are on the approach of winter cooled to thirty degrees. Between air and
water there exists an affinity which causes the former to be capable of taking
up or holding a portion of the latter in solution even, it would appear, under
very reduced temperatures. In consequence of this affinity, the wind, in
sweeping the surface of a body of water, carries off a portion both of its
heat and of its quantity. It is true that the latter is so very small as to be
generally speaking imperceptible. But, owing to the great capacity of vapour,
the caloric thus carried off is sufficient, when the temperature of the air is
about forty degrees, to convert the water into ico. In the year One thousand
seven hundred and fifty-five Doctor Cullen discovered that by removing
the pressure of the atmosphere, liquids which boil at low temperatures (such
as ether) will evaporate so rapidly, even below the freezing point, as to
convert water into ice, provided the vessels containing them are in contact,
so as to allow of heat being transmitted from the water to the ether; " and it
appears from the researches of Professor Robinson, that in a vacuum all liquids
boil about one hundred and forty-five degrees lower than in the open air." In
operating with the air pumps of those days it had been found that, as the
exhaustion proceeded, the receivors always became filled with vapour that rose
from the ring of wet leather which the imperfect construction of the pumps ren-
dered it necessary to interpose between the pump plate and the edge of the receiver.
In One thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven Mr. Nairne discovered

page_text: that sulphuric acid introduced into the exhausted receiver took up, absorbed,
or condenced the aqueous vapour the rarefied air was thus loaded with, and
rendered it perfectly dry. About One thousand eight hundred and ten Professor
Leslie discovered, first, that the rarefaction of air increased its power of holding
aqueous vapour in solution; and, secondly, that if a vacuum be produced over
water an invisible distillation takes place from it, even at temperature below
thirty-two degrees, and accordingly, by facilitating this kind of distillation, by
placing water in vacuo, and rendering it continuous by condensing the vapour
as it formed by means of sulphuric acid, he not only froze that water, but
rendered quicksilver, the congealing temperature of which is seventy-one degrees
below the freezing point of water, solid also. With the power of producing cold
so intense as this, it seemed an easy thing to freeze water in any quantity that
might be desired, but on putting the principle to proof it was found that the
cause which brings about the congelation would not take effect or carry through
a distance greater than about six inches, and, consequently, that more than
about a pound of water could not be frozen in this way; under these circum-
stances the Professor's principle of artificial congelation has hitherto been useful
only on a small scale. It may, however, be rendered useful on a large scale in
the following manner. It is known to every one that a current of air promotes
evaporation, and that it is increased in a greater or less degree as this current
(or wind) is more or less rapid. Apparatus is accordingly constructed which
causes a current of air, rarefied to a degree that renders it less than one thirtieth
of its usual density, and which has been freed from moisture and made quite
dry, by contact with sulphuric acid, to sweep over the surface of the water to
be frozen at the rate of (suppose) a mile in a minute. The pressure of the
atmosphere being thus removed from the water to a degree which readers
it (in point of effect) in vacuo, invisible distillation takes place from it.
In passing over the surface of the water from which this distillation is
taken place, the current of rarefied air not only sweeps off the vapour
which the removal of the atmospheric pressure causes to rise rapidly from
it, but also does it increase the tendency to vaporize as a wind is known
to do. As fast as this air leaves the surface of the water it is brought
into contact with sulphuric acid in a way that deprives it of the vapour
it carried from the water, and renders it perfectly dry and capable of per-
forming the same office again. In this state of perfect dryness it is caused to
sweep the surface of the water anew, and then passed to the acid and dried
again, and so on during pleasure. In consequence of this it becomes a vehicle
by which vapour, and, consequently heat, is carried off from the water to a
degree that congeals it with rapidity; and as the surface over which congela-

page_text: tion can be caused to take effect depends in this case not (as in Professor
Leslie's method,) on the space through which the expansive principle of ice,-
cold vapour will carry or extend itself, but on the distance which the rarefied
air may be made to convey it, surfaces of water much wider than in Professor
Leslie's apparatus can be frozen. The water also is so disposed as to facilitate
evaporation vastly more than according to Professor Leslie's method. In his
apparatus a cubic inch of water exposes only about two square inches of
surface, but in the process under description every cubic inch will expose
perhaps two hundred square inches of surface, from thus combining (perhaps)
a hundredfold increase of evaporable surface, and that promotive of evapora-
tion, a rapid current of very dry and highly rarefied air-with Doctor Cullen's
method of facilitating vaporization by removing the atmospheric pressure,
effecting at the same time the transmission of the cold invisible vapour by
mechanically rendering the rarefied air the vehicle of transmission, From
this combination surfaces of water may be frozen vastly wider than in Pro-
fessor Leslie's apparatus. The combinations of apparatus by which this may
be done are as follows:-
Fig. 1st of the Drawings annexed is intended to represent a cylinder of
cast iron (or any other convenient metal) about two feet in diameter by eight
high or deep, and strong enough to admit of a vacuum being produced in it.
This cylinder may be kept in the proper position by any means that may
prove convenient. It may be bored throughout on the inside to admit of a
piston working in it, or it may be in two pieces joined at about r, though it
had then better be a little longer. H and J are pipes, attached (in any way that
may be convenient, so at the joints are air-tight) to it, and connecting it with
Figure second. These pipes are to be not less than six inches bore, and of
convenient metal. C, c, C, c, is intended to represent a piece of cast iron or
other convenient metal, which forms the bottom of this cylinder. This pieco
C, C, c, c, is also a cylinder of nearly three feet deep by nearly the same
width, as A, A, A, A; C, C, forming the bottom and c, c, the side. The side
c, c, is turned on the outside to allow it to fit and go easily up into A, A, A, A.
In the middle of the bottom C, C, is a stuffing box D, D, for a rod similar
to that of a piston to work through. The bottom of this piece C, C, is to be
wider than its cylindrical side. c, c, and d, d, are intended to represent a rim or
turning up of it about three inches wide by four deep, so as to form a kind of
trough or cistern all round it, into which the bottom of A, A, A, A, may go, in
order to an air-tight joint being expeditiously formed thus. Into this trough or
cistern d, d, quicksilver is poured in sufficient quantity. On a vacuum being
produced inside A, A, A, A, the pressure of the atmosphere drives the quicksilver

page_text: up
between the outside of c, c, and the inside of A, A, and the height of c, c,
being a little too great for such pressure to raise the quicksilver above it, a joint
completely air-tight is formed directly, and without time being lost in screwing
up, as is usual in making air-tight joints in large vessels, and also without using
white lead, putty or other of the applications usually interposed to adapt the two
surfaces to each other, so as to admit of the screwing (or other pressure made
use of) preventing the air from entering. All therefore that it is necessary to-
do is to raise the piece C, C, c, c, up till the bottom of the side of A, A, A, A.
stops it, and the joint is made or rather makes itself when the vacuum is
produced. How C, C, c, c, is hoisted up no notice is here taken, because
every one will at once perceive it may be done by pullies or other convenient
means, and when it is once up and the vacuum produced, the pressure of the
atmosphere will keep it there, though should any circumstance render it
desirable so to do, it may be kept up by putting moveable supports beneath it,
or by chains fixed to the side of A, A, A, A, with hooks at the bottom of them
to pass through holes made for the purpose in the side of the cistern or
trough d, d. E, E is intended to represent a circular disc or plate or table of
cast iron, about twenty inches wide, on which the water to be frozen is affused.
This plate or disc is fixed to the top of a rod similar to that of a piston'
which moves up and down (air tight) through the stuffing box'D, D. To'the'
bottom of that part of this rod which works in the stuffing box is a handle or
cross, by which the rod and the disc at the top of it may be turned round, and
to the bottom of this rod below the handle is constructed a strong screw, about
thirty inches or three feet long by an inch and a half thick, with a fine thread.
This screw is to lower the piston rod and disc as they are turned round by the
handle, the nut of the screw being for this purpose fixed in a piece of timber
F, F, below, and the screw and rod being so connected that the nut of the ono
and the stuffing box of the other keep them perpendicular. This piece of
timber F, F, is not a fixture, but must be so arranged as to admit of being
unbolted or in any convenient way detached from the pieces f,f, it is borne by,
that it may be taken away when necessary. The connection by which the
screw is attached to the piston rod must also be one that will admit of their
being unconnected at pleasure. In the circumference of A, A, A, A, about a
foot apart, are to be holes about four inches diameter into or on or over which
are round metal rings with pieces of glass in them strong enough, or so shapeil
(as shewn by m, m. ) to bear the pressure of the atmosphere. Thèse'
rings or pieces of metal with glass in them must be so put on as to be
air tight, and the pieces of glass must also be futed, or cemented into
them, so as to be air tight. They are to serve as sight holes to admit

page_text: of what passes inside A, A, A, A, being seen. The upper part of this cylinder
is rendered a pump in the following manner.--The line b, b is intended to
represent a piece of cast iron (or other convenient metal) fixed in the cylinder
so as to form a kind of false bottom to what is above it. e is a pipe of about
six inches diameter, fixed to the centre of this falso bottom so as to allow of
passage from below it to above it. The lines o, o at the bottom of this pipe
are intended to shew the position of a circular piece or plate of sheet iron (or
other convenient metal) connected to the pipe e and by it connected and hung
to the false bottom b, b. This piece o, o is raised (or rendered slightly conical)
in the middle, so as for its centre to be about an inch higher than its edges.
Above the false bottom b, b, is another line g, g,g, which is intended to repre-
sent another piece of iron fixed in the cylinder, and which piece is to serve as
a bottom to the part in which the piston h, h, h works. This piece 9,9, 9 has
in it at i a valve opening upwards. At k there is a pipe fixed to it of about
five inches diameter. This pipe is of drawn brass or copper tube so as to be
cylindrical on the outside. It is about thirty inches high, and at the top of it is
another valve opening upwards. In the piston h, h, h, is a hole concentric
with this pipe k, and just large enough to admit of the piston passing freely
by this pipe as it works up and down. At 1, 1, 1, is another piece of iron (or
other convenient metal) fixed in the cylinder so as to form a top to the part
in which the piston works. The piston rod passes through a hole in the centre
of this piece. In this piece 1, 1, 1, is a valve n opening upward, and to it (the
picce 1, 1, 1) is fixed a pipe p, similar to k, excepting that it proceeds down-
ward instead of upward, a hole, &c. being in the piston, as was stated with
reference to the pipe k, for it to work through. At the top of this pipe p is a
valve, also opening upward. The piston h, h, h, must not work below nor
above the top of the pipe k nor the bottom of the pipe p, and the holes in it, to
admit of its moving up and down these pipes, must be concentric with them.
G, G, is the top of the cylinder. This top is attached to the cylinder so as to
be air-tight. In the centre of it is to be a stuffing box for the piston rod to
work air-tight through. II is a pipe about eight inches in diameter leading
from the cylinder to Figure Second. J is a similar pipe leading from Figure
Second to the cylinder. The use of these parts is to produce the current of
air between the disc E, E, and the circular coned piece or plate o, o, above it,
by which the vapour is carried off as it rises from the water, and which they
do thus: On the piston h, h, h, being raised the valve i admits air into the
cylinder from the space below, while the valve n at the same time allows air
to pass from above the piston. On the piston being depressed the valve at the
top of the pipe p allows air to pass from below it to the space above, while the

page_text: valve at the top of the pipe k at the same time allows air to pass from the
space below into the cylinder above the piston. The continued working of
the piston rendering these effects continuous, a current is caused between the
disc E, E, and the coned plate o, o, above it. As the air is passed from the
piston by the pipe H to Figure Second, it becomes dessicated in the following
manner-The vessel which Figure Second is intended to represent is a
cylinder of cast iron six feet in diameter and eight feet high or deep. To tho
lower part of it is fixed a conical bottom which terminates in an aperture
about two inches wide, to which a lead pipe is attached. This pipe is about
thirty feet long, though it is not shewn to be so long by the Drawing from
want of room, and turns up at the bottom, as represented by the Figure. The
bottom of this pipe is in a cistern of any convenient size, which cistern is to
be lined throughout with lead, unless it should prove more convenient to have
an earthenware one. The pipe H brings the air which the piston h, h, h, in
Figure First, has operated on, into this Figuro Second. The part of this pipe
which is in the conical bottom of Figure Second is of lead, and is turned
downwards, as shewn by the Figure, in order to prevent anything from falling
into it. The pipe J is to conduct the air back again from Figure Second to
Figure First after it has been dessicated, as will presently be described. The
whole of the joints and parts of this Figure Second must be air-tight, as those
of Figure First must also be, and Figure Second, as well as Figure First, must
be strong enough to bear the pressure of the atmosphere, and admit of a vacuum
being produced in it. This Figure Second must be lined throughout with lead
in order to defend it from the action of sulphuric acid. The lines Z across the
top of the conical bottom of Figure Second are intended to represent a circular
piece or plate of cast iron about an inch and a half thick. This circular plate
of iron is to be cast with holes of about an inch diameter in it as thick as can
be so as not to weaken the plate. On that side of the plate which is to be
uppermost these holes are to be dished, or hollowed, or rounded out for the
depth of about a quarter of an inch. Into each of these holes is to be put
a piece of bad pipe, just large enough to fill it, and two inches long. The top
of each of these pieces of lead pipe is to be beaten down outwards, so as both
to prevent its falling through the hole and to form a kind of brim or flanch
in the recesses round the holes in the plate. Over this plate is now to be laid
a piece of sheet lead large enough to admit of being turned or lapped down all
round it, as an oil-skin cover laps down over the brim of a hat. Through this
piece of sheet lead in the centre of each of the short pieces of lead pipe in
the plate is now to be made a hole or rather puncture, and the sheet lead is
then to be driven or punched down into the pieces of pipe so as to cause it
.

page_text: to form a rim insido them in order to direct the sulphuric acid into those
pieces of pipe and prevent its flowing over them and getting at the iron.
If all these things are properly done sulphuric acid may be admitted to fall on
the plate without injuring it, owing to its being defended by the lead on
which the acid does not act. The space above this plate for about five feet is
now to be filled with spherical shaped bodies three or four inches in diameter,
of any nature on which sulphuric acid (or as it is commonly called oil of
vitriol) will not operate to corrode it. Those flint stones picked up on the sea
shore (in some places called "boulders," and which the attrition caused by the
agitation of the waves has rounded, may perhaps be as convenient and cheap
as anything. In the centre of the cover of this Figure Second is a stuffing
box b, b. Through this stuffing box passes (air tight) a brass pipe or tube of
about three inches diameter, with a hole of about an inch diameter through
its whole length. This piece of brass tube is cast with a collar on it so as to
bear upon the bottom of the stuffing box and prevent its falling through.
In and through this piece of brass tube goes a piece of lead pipe which is
bent to a right angle, as shewn by the Figure, so as to form an horizontal
arm m. The under side of this bent piece of lead pipe or arm is perforated
at about every inch of its length with holes as small as can be made, say
about the twentieth of an inch diameter, and its end is stopped up. At the
top of this lead pipe is a lead tunnel as large as it can be made, to serve as a
receptacle and small reservoir for sulphuric acid. This tunnel must be so
connected to the lead pipe inside the brass tube as to prevent tho acid
from getting at the brass, and the two pipes and the funnel must be so
connected together, that when the wheels n and w cause the brass tube to
turn round the tunnell and lead pipe may revolve with it. One of these
wheels n is fixed to the outside the brass tube on which it moves as a centre.
The other is fixed on the shaft d which is driven in any way that may be con-
venient. On this shaft being moved it is evident that the brass tube tunnell
and lead pipe will move round; and if the tunnell is kept invariably supplied
with sulphuric acid, the motion of the arm m will cause the acid as it runs
through the holes in the under side of it to be affused in continued streams
upon the boulders (or other spherical bodies) in the cylinder beneath, and in a
way which will wet them afresh every time the arm m turns round. The
dotted lines above the horizontal arm m of the lead pipe shew the position
of a triangular piece of iron rod which is fixed on the brass tube in order to
carry the lead pipe m and prevent its sinking, strips of lead being for this
purpose lapped round the pipe (between the holes in the under side of it)
and the piece of iron rod, in order that the weight of the pipe may be borne

page_text: by this iron; u is a manhole door to give access to the inside on occasion.
Such is the construction of this Figure Second. The whole of its joints are, as
has before been stated, to be made in a way that will render them perfectly air-
tight, it is to be strong enough to admit of a vacuum being produced in it, and
it is to be lined throughout with sheet lead, so as to defend it from and prevent the
sulphuric acid from getting at it, the joints of the pieces of sheet lead being
for this purpose so laid or lopped over each other as to cause the acid to run
from one piece of it on to another, which prevents its touching the iron.
The rubbing or serving or paying these joints with wax will contribute to this.
With things arranged thus, if a vacuum be produced in the vessels, and the
piston h,h,h, in Figure the First be worked, air highly rarefied will be passed
from it to Figure Second. The pipe in the bottom of Figure Second being
stopped (as relates to the passage of this air) by sulphuric acid in tho
curved part of it, the air is obliged to go upward. This it does by passing
through the interstices between the spherical bodies in Figure Second. In
rising between them it is brought into close and intimate contact with the
sulphuric acid that has been affused upon and which is running down between
them. Sulphuric acid has the property of abstracting moisture from and
drying air. In consequence therefore of this air being brought into the
intimate contact with the sulphuric acid which results from its being forced to
rise through the interstices between the spherical bodies in the cylinder,
while the acid is running down among them, it becomes desiccatel and deprived
of moisture to a degree which renders it fit for the purpose of taking up and
carrying off vapour. The line w close above one side of the coned plate o, o,
in Figure First, is intended to shew the position of a pipe which brings the
water to be frozen from the reservoir Figuro Third into Figure First. This
pipe may introduced through a small stuffing box, 'or in any way that will
be air tight. At t in the sides of the cylinder may be a manhole-door kind of
aperture to admit of this pipe being got at, &c. &c. In the coned plate o, o,
under this pipe, are holes for short branches or adjutages to go through.
These short branches or adjutages proceed downwards from the pipe t and
are for the purpose of affusing the water in small streams upon the plate, or
disc E, E. They are about an inch apart in the pipe w, and long enough to go
just through the plate or disc o, o, being made of brass so as to screw into the
pipe w, and with the holes at the ends similar to that of the pipe in the
pneumatic apparatus for exhibiting the fountain in vacuo, i. e. as small as
possible, in order to affuse the water upon E, E, in the finest possible streams.
This water it is best should be previously freed from air in any way that may be
convenient, whether by boiling or by exposure and agitation in vácuo. With

page_text: things thus arranged the congelation of water is effected thus:-a vacuum is
(by any means that are convenient, and will be effectual to exhausting to a
degree that will lower a barometer exposed to it to less than an inch, air
pumps for instance, though their construction and the method of using them
is too well understood to render it necessary for them to be shown) produced
in both Figures First and Second. When the guage is lowered to about, or
perhaps less than an inch, the piston h, h, h in Figure First is worked by any
means that may be convenient. Suppose a small steam engine. By the
action of the piston the rarefied air is drawn between the plates or discs E, E
and o, o at a rate proportioned to the space between them and the velocity and
area of the piston. If the space between the peripheries of the two plates or
discs be the quarter of an inch, and the rate at which the piston is moved two
hundred and twenty feet per minute, the rarefied air will pass between the two
plates or discs at a rate well on for a mile a minute, and a rapid current or
wind of it would be in consequence produced. If a cock (situated in any
convenient part of the pipe w to regulate the passage of water from the
reservoir) be now cautiously turned so as to admit water from the reservoir
Figure Third to enter Figure First, it will be affused in several very fino
streams upon the plate E, E, from being thus affused it will become
spread on this plate in perhaps as thin a stratum or film as water can
run in, and in consequence expose as much surface as it is perhaps possible
for it to expose, the plate E, E, being, to conduce to this, turned round
by the handle or cross beneath, in order that the water may not continue
to run on one part of it, but successively fall on and lie spread over its
whole surface. From being caused thus to expose surface in vacuo, this water
vaporizes rapidly. As fast as the vapour rises it is swept off, and carried away
by the current of rarefied dessicated air passing between the plates E, E, and
o, o. Indeed this current itself conduces to increase the evaporation in addition
to carrying off the vapour. As the rarefied air which forms this current
becomes loaded with vapour, the action of the piston h, h, h, passes it from
Figure First to Figure Second, where the contact which takes place with the
sulphuric acid dessiccates and dries it, and in this dried state the continued
action of the piston causes it again to pass between the plates E, E, and o, o,
where it again becomes a vehiclo by which vapour is carried off. In conse
quence of this process, vapour, and consequently caloric, is abstracted and
carried off from the water to a degree which causes it to congeal upon tho
plate E, E. As it congeals, the screw at the bottom of the rod is worked so
as to lower it, and cause the space between the upper plate o, o, and the ice to
continue about the same as it was before the lower plate E, E, was let down,

page_text: that the current of rarefied air which passes between the plates may move at
the same rate. From thus causing water to expose much surface in vacuo, by
affusing it in very fine streams upon a plate, which, owing to being constantly
turning round, conduces to render the surface exposed as great perhaps as can
be, owing to causing the water to form as thin a film or stratrum as it perhaps
can form, evaporation takes place to a degree which, when favoured and
assisted by the vapour being carried off by the current of rarefied air, soon
congeals it. Care must be taken that the cock in the pipe wis not opened
wide enough to let the water run upon the plate E, E, faster than it congeals,
and care must also be taken that as fast as it does congeal the screw below is
worked so as to lower it at the same rate as ice forms upon it. It is for these.
purposes that the sight holes m, m, are provided; and after a little experience
the person who directs the process will be able to cause him who moves the
handle by which the piston rod and plate E, E, are turned round, and who
also may
work the screw, to do both, so as to keep the ice as it forms on E, E,
at a proper distance from the plate. o, o, above. It has been said that it is
best for the water to be deprived of air before it is frozen. Unless this is done
the air liberated from it in freezing prevents it from being a solid homogenious:
mass, and renders it honeycombed, so that it forms on the plate E, E, with an
irregular surface when the processs has been continued till the plate is lowered
as much as the screw or the bottom of the cylinder will let it (which many
times cannot be done owing to its forming irregularly, so that what is mado:
must be taken off the plate E, E, and the process begun again): When thỏ
process has been continued thus far the pumps, &c., must be stopped, and air-
being admitted into the cylinder, the bottom piece C, C, c, c, will come off, and
admit of the ice being got at and taken off the plate E, E, in any way that
may be convenient. The temperature of the water is supposed to be that.ät
which deep well water may always be obtained in our climate (50° or 52°.i.c.);
and if after the first parcel of ice is obtained a little of it be thrown into the
reservoir, Figure Third, so as to cool the water to 32° before it is admitted into
the apparatus, the process will be expedited. In operating it is advisable to
cause a small stream or streams of cold well water to fall on the top of the appa--
ratus and run down the sides, in order to keep it about 52°, and the sulphuric
acid must be cooled to the same degree by being passed through a lead worm or
other refrigerator exposed to the same water prior to being put into the lead
tunnel, in order to run down upon the spherical bodies in the cylinder Figure-
Second.
'
The most convenient way to get the acid up from the bottom of the pipe in.
the bottom of Figure Second may be as follows:-This pipe is made so long:

page_text: in order to allow of a column of sulphuric acid being in it higher than the
pressure of the atmosphere will raise, that it may overcome that pressure, and
(during the vacuum in Figure Second) run out of the curved bottom of the
pipe into the reservoir it stands in, as it falls down from the spherical bodies in
the cylinder above. The height of this pipe, added to that of a refrigerator by
by which it is to be cooled and the cylinder, will render it necessary to raise
the acid forty or fifty feet, and the best way of doing this may be by making
use of apparatus on the principle of the hydraulic machine called "Archimedes
scrow." The construction of this machine it would be so supererogatory to
describe, that no more will be said than that the materials of which it is
composed must be so covered and defended by lead as to prevent the acid
from getting at and operating on them. The acid may, to be sure, be carried
up in lead or glass or earthen vessels, but the other will be the least laborious
process.
The supply of acid to the tunnell at the top of Figure Second must be
sufficient to keep enough in it to prevent air from passing into Figure Second
through the pipe, though if the acid bo raised (by the machine Archimedes
screw referred to, for instance) regularly, exactly as fast as it runs down, this will
take place. Should any circumstanco render it desirable so to do, I make use of
the other substances by which air may be desiccated and deprived of moisture,
varying the apparatus as their natures may render necessary; but I decidedly
prefer sulphuric acid, and it is my belief that its being a liquid desiccative, and
the consequent facility of applying it, will render muriate of lime, parched
oatmeal, dried pulverised whinstone, and indeed any other than liquid desic-
catives less advantageous than itself.
It must be observed, that owing to the rarity and extreme levity of the
air, the two valves n, i, and those on the pipes k and p, by which the operation
of the piston h, h, h, Figure First, is rendered effective, must be as light as
possible. The pressure on these valves being scarcely anything, oiled silk (in
some cases doubled or trebled perhaps) strained over a very tight wire (like a
drun head), and connected by a hinge that will admit of its moving with the
slightest pressure, will do for them. The piston h, h, h, also need not bo
packed. If it be turned just to the size of the cylinder, so as to move freely
in it, friction will be avoided, and the little air that may pass it will not signify;
neither is it necessary there should be any stuffing box in the cover or false
top 1, 1, 1, of the cylinder for the piston rod to work through; a hole just its
size will be sufficient. The dotted lines r, r, are intended to represent the
situation of a flanch, by which the two parts of the cylinder may be joined
together should it prove more convenient to bave it in two pieces.

page_text: The improved methods of producing intense cold (by which term I mean
temperatures below the freezing point) are as follows:-It is known that
evaporation takes place even from ice; and by causing it to take place in vacuo
and rendering it more rapid by the absorbunt action of sulphuric acid,
Professor Leslie produced cold intense enough to congeal mercury. But the
scale on which he did this was that of experiment only; nor has the principle
hitherto been rendered practicable on a scale of magnitude sufficient to render
it applicable to purposes of manufacture or every day life. Now, the improve-
ments I have invented enable us to put the principle in practice on a much
larger scale than by Professor Leslie's method, and to render it applicable
to purposes with reference to which intense cold on the large scale may
be advantageous as follows:-Figure Fourth is intended to represent a
variation in the lower part of the cylinder, Figure First, to adapt it to the
purpose of producing intense cold, and of exposing things to its action.
A, A, are the sides of the cylinder, which, instead of being the same at the
bottom as in Figure First, has a flanch b, b, all round it similar to the
top, which (the top flanch i. e.) corresponds with that supposed to be repre-
sented by the dotted lines at r, r, Figure First. d, d, are intended to repre-
sent pipes of about five inches diameter, which are to serve the purpose of the
pipe J in Figure First, and through which the rarified air is to come back
from Figure Second after it has been there desiccated. There are to be four of
these pipes at right angles to each other, though only two are shewn, and they
are all to be connected to the pipe J in the top of Figure Second, so as to
receive the rarified air after it has been there desiccated. B is a kind of
cylinder or hollow vessel which goes into the bottom of Figure Fourth, and
which is to be, with reference to refrigeration, what the culinary cupboard
termed a "hot closet" is to hot victuals, i. e. a." cold closet." At the bottom
of this hollow vessel (and which may, for distinction's sake, be termed the
refrigeratory) is a flanch p, p, by which it is connected to the bottom of
Figure Fourth. On the top of this refrigeratory water is affused, though fast
enough for some to run closer the sides of it occasionally, so that the side may
be always covered either with water or ice. On the piston (h, h, h, Figure
First) being worked, as has been stated with reference to Figure First, a
current of rarified desiccated air is produced from the pipes d, d, up the sides
as well as on the top of the refrigeratory. In consequence of this current the
water on the top and side of it becomes congealed. When it is even through
the sight holes t, t, t, t, t, t, in the outer cylinder A, A, that the top and sides
of the inner vessel are covered with ice, the supply of water may be stopped_
for awhile. The action of the piston h, h, h, is, however, continued, and in

page_text: consequence of it evaporation takes place from the ice to a degree which
reduces the temperature of the interior of the refrigeratory below the freezing
point, so that if lemonades or liquids it may be wished to ice are put inside it
they will in time be rendered ice cold. After the action of the piston h, h, h, has
been continued some little time it will be necessary to affuse more water upon
the top and side of the refrigeratory, as the evaporation, otherwise, converting
the ice on it first to water and then to vapour, will soon render it dry, when
no further refrigeration will take place. If, however, a good thick coat of ice
is produced on it at first this recoating it may not be necessary for some time,
though it can at all times be seen through the sight holes when it is necessary.
This refrigeratory is here shewn as made of cast iron, but its purpose is better
answered if it be made of copper as thin as can be to bear the pressure of the
atmosphere, the temperature being then more readily communicated to tho
interior. It will be understood that the whole of the joints and connections
are to be air-tight. It will be perceived also that a temporary bottom or
cover can be adapted to B, Figuro Fourth, for anything it is misled to place
in it to stand on, and that whatever is so placed may be raised near the top
by stands or blocks beneath. As this refrigeratory is fixed, and cannot be
turned round to admit of the water falling on all its parts, as in the cases of
the plate E, E, Figure First, this defect must be remedied by the small pipe
which brings the water in it to be frozen being caused to move on its centre,
that its motion may cover the whole top of the refrigeratory. For this
purpose the pipe (w, Figure First) must be brought to the centre of the
pipo e, Figure Fourth, by which the air passes from between the top of
the refrigeratory and the plate o above to the piston, where it must have
a joint similar to those of the gas pipes in butchers' and other shops,
where it is wished to direct the light, sometimes to one part and sometimes
to another. On this joint the arm or branch which is to affuse the water
must move as a centre, and this joint must be low enough for the arm or
branch to turn round under the plate o above and between it and the top of
the refrigeratory. This arm or revolving branch of the pipe must be as
small as can be, and work as closely as can be to the plate o, in order that the
top of the refrigeratory may come as near to it as possible; sinall holes for the
water to pass through must be must be in the under side. This arm motion
may be given to this arm and it be caused to revolve on its centre by a clock
wheel being soldered on it, which wheel may receive its motion from another
fixed on a strong wire or small rod passing through a hole in the side of the
pipe e, up which the purified air passes. This small rod must pass through a
stuffing box, so as to work air-tight in the side of the cylinder between the

page_text: sight holes, and may have motion communicated to it on the outside, in any
way that may be convenient. This is one of the methods by which intense
cold may be produced, and if it be used in hot climates, and beverages or
liquids which it may be wished to administer or apply very cold in cases of
fever or other diseases, are exposed to the action of it, advantageous effects
which would then be of a medical nature will result. A variation with
reference to it, is as follows:-Instead of leaving this refrigeratory shaped at
the bottom as has been stated, I put to it a bottom, the form of which is
represented by the dotted lines m, so as for it to be close, excepting at the
aperture. To this aperture may be connected one pipe leading to apparatus,
by which a vacuum may be. produced in the refrigerator; and if when the
vacuum is produced that communication is shut off by a cock and another.be
opened, so, as to allow the vapour of a liquid such as muriatic ether, which
even when exposed to the atmospheric pressure vaporises at a temperature
somewhat above: 50°, free communication with the inside the refrigeratory, so
as to fit, and experience pressure equal to that it would experience if
exposed to the atmosphere, it will condense and pass from the gaseous; to
the liquid state;, in consequence of this, diminution of volume will take place
to a degree which may admit of power being produced and motion given to
machinery; thus, muriatic ether is known to boil at about 50°, and nitric
ether at about 70°. If these ethers, therefore, be exposed to the temperaturo
of boiling water, their vapours will have imparted to them expansive energy
similar to that of steam in high-pressure engines. To work an engine with
ether, as high-pressure engines are worked by steam, would be ruinous, owing
to the cost of ether rendering it impossible to bear the loss which would arise
from the vapour being wasted, as is the case with steam after it has operated
on the piston. But if means of condencing and saving the ether so as to use
it again after operating, on the piston can be devised, it may be that the
economy which will result from the low temperatures at which ether vaporises,
and the expansive energy which those temperatures impart to it, may, under
some circumstances, render it adviseable to use it as a mechanical agent. It
appears that the vapour of sulphuric ether, the boiling point of which is
twice as high as that of muriatic ether, will when, heated to 210° exert a
pressure equal to eighty pounds per square inch. Even were sulphuric ether
made use of, saving might therefore result; and if this may be expected from
sulphuric ether how much more may it be so from muriatic ether, which boils
at half. the temperature of the other, and the specific heat of the vapour of
which may, if specific gravity be any criterion, conduce to expansive energy
even more than with reference to sulphuric ether. By therefore beating

page_text: muriatic ether to, suppose, 100°, suffering its vapour to operate on a piston, and
then condensing it by the apparatus which has been described, power will bo
obtained; and as it may be that the saving which may result from the smaller
quantity of heat required to make ether boil may, when that ether can be con-
densed and used again, perhaps ad infinitum, prove such as to render its being
made use of economical, notwithstanding its great expence, whenever circum-
stances render it desirable so to do, I operate with it as has been stated; and
the method or methods by which cold sufficient for its condensation, as
has been described, may be produced, I consider as my improved method or
methods of producing intense cold, and of rendering temperatures below the
freezing point productive of advantageous mechanical effects, should circum-
stances render it desirable so to do. I also operate in this way with such other
fluids which vaporise at low temperatures as may be condensed by the process,
though I do not yet know the extent to which reduction of temperature may
thus be carried, nor how much below the freezing point the limit of the cold
which may thus be produced is, nor do I say that using ether as a mechanical
agent in the way I have stated will certainly be economical, condensed by
the process ether certainly may be, provided it is not decomposed or changed
in its nature by the process, but can be used over and over again very many
times, it may prove an economical mean of power. But although I claim the
right of thus condensing the vapour either of ether or other fluids which require
temperatures below the freezing point for the condensation of their vapours,
yet do I not state positively that it will prove economical so to do, though my
belief is that it will.
Another method by which I produce intense cold consists in an improvement
on or an improved application of "An Improved Method or Methods of
Freezing Water," for which His Majesty was graciously pleased to grant me a
Patent on the First of January, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four,
which improvement is as follows:-The vessel which has (for distinction's sake
solely) been termed the refrigeratory and the part of the cylinder it is in, are
constructed the same as Figure Fourth; but the top of the cylinder, insteadl
of being constructed similarly to Figure First, is constructed as shewn by
Figure Fifth, in which m represents the top of the cylinder and p the pipe, up
which the rarefied air passes after it has swept the side and top of the refrige-
ratory. This pipe, it will be observed, instead of leading to a cylinder similar
to that in which the piston h, h, h, works in the upper part of Figure First,
branches away. What it leads to is not shewn, because it will be enough that
it leads to large air pumps similar to those mentioned in the Specification of
the aforesaid Patent, about two feet diameter by five feet long. These pumps

page_text: being worked by sufficient power steam engine equal to twenty horses, for
instance), cause air to sweep the surface of the refrigeratory as follows:-
The four pipes at the bottom of the cylinder containing it, by which the rarefied
air comes into the vessel from the other vessel in which it has been desiccated,
are the same; but the pipe (J, Figure First) by which the air comes from the
desiccating vessel is rarefied thus:-It is, in the first place, much smaller, and,
secondly, there is a cock in it by which it can be partially or wholly closed.
The pipe also which leads to the bottom of the dessiccating vessel (Figure Second,
from Figure-First) is also done away with, and a hole is left in its place. With
things thus arranged, if the air pumps to which the pipe p in the top of
Figure Fifth leads be worked, air will be pumped first through the hole left
in the place of the pipe in the coined bottom of Figure Second. Secondly, up
that vessel through the spaces between the spherical bodies on which the
sulpheric acid is affixed.. Third, through the pipe which leads the desiccated
air from the desiccating vessel to the vessel in which it is to take up and carry
off moisture. Fourth, through the pipes d, d, as shewn in Figure Fourth; and,
fifth, up the inside of that Figure and around and over the refrigeratory in it to
the air pumps, by which it will be again forced into the atmosphere. In going
this course it is operated upon and operates thus:-In rising through the
bodies on which sulphuric and is affused in the desiccating vessel, it becomes
desiccated and deprived of moisture. When it reaches the cock in the pipe,
between the top of the desiccating vessel and the four pipes leading to the
Bottom of the cylinder containing the refrigeratory (to which four pipes the
pipe with the cock in it is connected), it becomes operated on thus:-This cock,
instead of being open when the air pumps are set going, is shut, and kept shut
till the cylinder in which the refrigeratory is becomes exhausted to a degree
which will support only about an inch of mercury. This cock is then opened
a little way, so as to let air pass through it just fast enough to prevent the
guage sinking lower. From being thus opened, the air passes through it in
very limited quantity. As it passes through it expands to the density, or
rather to the rarity, of that in the cylinder, and to about thirty times its natural
volume. From becoming thus expanded its capacity of taking up moisture is
increased, while its température becomes decreased, as is the case when air is
greatly rarefied. In this state of diminished temperature and increased capacity
for moisture it sweeps the sides and top of the refrigeratory (on which water
is affused, as in the case of Figure Fourth) in its passage to the pumps, and in
consequence of it evaporation takes place from the water on and around it to
a degree which congeals it, and (after awhile) reduces the inside of the
refrigeratory to below the freezing point. But although I follow this method

page_text: whenever it may prove desirable so to do, yet do I not recommend it in prefe
rence to the other, as it is both more laborious and less effective than that is.
As the Specification of the Patent entitled "An Improved Method or Methods
of Freezing Water," which has been referred to, treats more fully and at largo
of this method of causing congelation, reference to it, as inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery on the Thirtieth of June, One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-four, may be made.
Another method by which I produce intense cold is as follows:-I construct
the apparatus as shewn by Figure Sixth, the upper part of which is shewn similar
to the part of Figure First in which the piston h, h, h, works. The parts between
are thus:-A, A, A, A, A, A, are the sides of the cylinder. b, b, the pipes by
which the rarified air comes back into it after it has been exposed to the action
of the sulphuric acid and desiccated. m, m, the flanch at the bottom of the
cylinder. w, w, the flanch and bottom of the vessel within it, in which the
reduced temperature is produced. B, the interior of the vessel itself. The
bottom of this vessel is bolted, &c., to the bottom flanch of the other it is in,
and the joint so made as to be air-tight. a, a, a, a, are two of a number of
pieces or slips of plate glass (lead may be made use of, though not so con-
veniently), of any length they can be got (suppose three feet), by three or six
or more or fewer inches wide, as it may prove convenient to get them. These
slips rest at bottom on a circular lead trough about six or eight inches wide, as
shewn by the angular lines c, c. This trough goes round the inclosed vessel.
At any convenient part of the bottom of it is a pipe z, passing downward
through the flanch for about thirty feet and then terminating, as in the
case of the lead pipe, in the conical bottom of Figure Second. These
slips or pieces of glass are so placed in the trough c, c, as to leave about
the tenth of an inch vacancy between them, and they are so numeror
as to go quite round and inclose the inner vessel in a kind of cage, their
edges being towards it. They are kept in this position by the circular
lead hoops which the three black marks on the top of them are intended
to represent. These circular lead hoops are shaped thus:-The two angular
ones are made of lead, about a quarter of an inch thick, with the top or
flat side nearly half the width of the glass slips, and are at rights angles in
opposite directions, thus r and thus г. The one between is a plain hoop
resting on the tops of the glass slips, nearly as wide as the space between the
angular lead hoops on the top of the glass slips. This hoop is slightly con-
nected in some convenient way to the bottom of the circular lead cistern or
trough e, e, above, so as just to keep the glass slips a, a, beneath from tumbling
aside from their position. The circular trough e, e, has in its bottom holes

page_text: about the tenth of an inch wide and the tenth of an inch apart, to admit the
acid brought into it running on all the glass slips beneath. d is a small pipe
by which the acid is brought in. At f is a joint on which this pipe moves
round as a centre. This pipe may be of lead, but owing to the softness of.
lead it may be better to have the joint ƒ of platina or glass, or any convenient
substance that will stand the action of the acid. This pipe may be supplied
with sulphuric acid from the outside in any way that may be convenient; a
glass or platina cock, for instance, to regulate the admission of the acid. 9 is
a lead pipe to bring in and affuse water upon the top of the inner vessel. The
dotted lines n, n, n, n, are intended to shew the position of two wide hoops of
lead connected to the top and bottom of the inclosing cylinder. Their use is
merely to cause the rarified and desiccated air to move in the proper direction.
The whole of the joints are to be air tight, and the parts liable to be corroded.
by the action of the acid must be defended from it by lead. There must also
be strength of material sufficient to admit of a vacuum being produced in.
it. With things thus arranged, if air (in a rarified expanded state) be caused
to enter the pipes b, b, in the side of the Figure near the bottom, it will occupy
the space between the inside of the vessel and the glass slips a, a. The lead.
hoops n, n, n, n, over and under these slips preventing this air from finding.
any other passage, it is obliged to go through the tenth of an inch spaces.
between them. On these slips sulphuric acid is affused from the trough e, s.
above, so as to cause it to be constantly running down them. From being
exposed to the desiccating action of this acid as it passes the air is dried, and
as it then, in its way to the place of exit above, sweeps the surface of the
inclosed vessel B, down the outside of which water is slowly running from the
pipe 9 just over it, congelation takes place, and a temperature below the
freezing point is produced inside this vessel, to which things may be exposed.
as before stated. In parts of the outer cylinder must be sight holes, to admit.
of its being looked into. The branch of the pipe d, by which the acid is
brought into the trough e, e, must have, on it at about fa clock wheel, to
admit of its being turned round and affusing the acid in all parts of the trough..
To this clock wheel motion may be given by another on a stout wire or small.
rod, working air-tight through the side of the outer vessel A, in such another
way as was adverted to in reference to the water-affusing pipe, Figure Fourth..
This is another of the methods by which I produce intense cold, though as it is.
neither so efficient nor so well seen, to through the sight holes as the other
methods, I cannot but decidedly recommend them in preference to it. Shoul
any circumstance render it (temporarily) desirable so to do, I dispense with
the motion of the air in this method, merely producing a vacuum in the outer.

page_text: vessel A, A, A, A, A, A, and leaving the vapour of the water to expand and
find its own way to the acid as it runs down the glass slips. This variation of
the process is, however, very much less effective than the other; indeed, it may
sometimes prove inefficient. Motion may be given to the rarified air in this
method either as in the case of Figure First, or as referred to by Figure Fifth,
though the former is by far least laborious. Should it be desired to congeal
surfaces of water wider than two feet, or should any circumstanco (the
temperature of the weather, for one instance) prevent surfaces of water
about two feet wide from being properly frozen, I vary the process, or rather
the construction of the apparatus, in the following manner; indeed, it will
be best to construct it so in the first instance:-As there is a limit to the
quantity of vapour which air will take up, so must there be a limit to the
space which the rarified desiccated air made use of to carry the vapour off
from the surface to be congealed will pass over before it becomes saturated or
fully loaded with vapour, and when causing it to sweep additional surface will
tend but to surcharge it. Now, as this space varies according as the tem-
perature of the weather varies, and as the rarified air is more or less
completely desiccated in the vessel where it is exposed to the action of the
sulphuric acid as that acid is more or less concentrated, I guard against these
counteractive circumstances in the following manner:-Instead of having the
conical-shaped disc or circular plate o, o, (Figure First) which is over the
surface to be congealed, and the contre of which forms the pipe up which the
rarified air goes after it has become charged with vapour, in one piece or ono
place, I have in its stead a number of small ones, each of which has in its
centre a pipe opening into the space between the long false bottom b, b, of the
cylinder, Figure First, and the bottom 9, 9, 9, above it. These smaller plates
have between them spaces, as shewn by Figure Seventh, in which the three-
sided segment-bounded spaces around the largest inner circle are vacancies
which the rarified air goes down to get at the water on the top of the
plate E, E (Figure First). The larger central circle is a circular plate
similar in construction to the plate o, o, in Figure First, but only eight inches
in diameter. The circle within it is the pipe up which the rarified air is to
pass after it has gone down the spaces around this central circle, swept part of
the surface of the plate beneath on which the water is affused, and becomo
charged with vapour. The other six larger circles are similar plates. All
these plates are slightly raised or coned in the middle, as the plate o, o, in
Figure First. The pipes in the centres of them all open, and are connected
to the space between b, b, and 9, 9, 9, Figure First, and which may be termed
the "air chest." Figure Eighth is intended to give an edge view of this Figure

page_text: Seventh; c, c, c, shewing the three plates which are in sight (with their pipes)
when standing before it; e, e, e, a, the bottom of the air chest; g, g, g, the
bottom of the part of the cylinder above in which the piston works. The half
circles 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, in Figure Seventh (the centres of which are in the dotted
line circumscribing the Figure) are semicircular plates attached in any con-
venient way to the six outer circles or plates so as to be on the same level with
them. The use of these semicircular plates is merely to prevent too great a
vacancy between those six outer plates, and to cause the rarified air to sweep
more rapidly over the parts of the plate beneath them than. it otherwise do.
With this Figure Seventh substituted for the plate o, o, in Figure First, the
rarified air, on coming from the vessel in which it is desiccated, spreads itself
(on their outsides) among the pipes i, i, i, Figure Eighth. As the operation
of the piston above causes this air to move toward it, it descends by the spaces
between and around the seven small conical discs or plates, and sweeping over.
the surface of the plate beneath, carries off the vapour which rises from the
water affused on that plate, as in the first instance, though with this differ-
ence:-In Figure First the air had to sweep over a space equal to the whole
radiers of the plate E, E, but when apparatus on the principle of this. Figure
Seventh is substituted for the plate o, o, Figure First, the air has to sweep over
spaces equal only to the radii of the smaller plates which compose it. Owing to
its thus passing over a much shorter surface-of the water. from which vapour
is rising, it is less liable to become surcharged with moisture, and the obstaclo
which would arise from the plate o, o, Figure First, being so wide as for the
air to become overloaded with moisture before it had passed from the outside
to the centre, and consequently leaving a part of the central portion of the
water uncongealed, is obviated. This principle can of course be operated on
to any extent that may be desirable, and surfaces of water of any width, to
which the plate E, E, Figure First, can be made consequently be frozen,
though when more than seven of these small plates are thus disposed around
each other, the outer ones do not fit or adapt themselves so well to each other
as in Figure Seventh. The desiccating process and method of producing
intimate contact between the air and the acid I vary in any way that
circumstances may render desirable, as by having glass slips inside Figure
Second instead of spherical bodies, and causing the acid constantly to run
down them by affusion on their tops; I also use any other.slips that will stand
the action of the acid. As the term "intense cold" is vague, I state that by it
mean temperatures below the freezing point. The size of the apparatus. I-vary
as circumstances may render desirable. Neither the Drawings nor the
written part of this Specification are encumbered with representations and

page_text: descriptions of the methods by which the apparatus referred to is carried or
supported, both because these must differ with every different situation, and
also because every competent person will perceive the various ways by
which it may be done and select that which appears to him most convenient.
For the same reason the flanches, manhole doors, &c. are merely shewn as
surfaces fitting each other, as it would be, supposing an engineer very ignorant
of his business particularly to state to him, that joints which are to be air
tight must be screwed together by bolts and nuts, which is to be the case with
all the joints that have been referred to, except as excepted. Such are the
improved methods by which I abstract and carry off the caloric of fluidity
from and congeal water, by which I also produce intense cold, and by which
I apply this Invention to the production of advantageous effects, which effects
are medical, chemical, or mechanical, according to their nature, and these
methods are improved methods for the following reasons:-
First, owing to the mobility of the rarified medium by which the vapour is
carried off (Figure First) less labour is required to produce ice on the large
scale.
Second, owing to the way in which the water to be congealed is affused
upon the plate, or which the congelation is effected, it exposes more surface,
and is consequently better disposed as relates to evaporation.
S
Third, owing to the air being prevented from becoming surcharged with
vapour when the surface beneath which it passes to sweep that vapour off, as
it rises from the plate beneath it, is constructed according to Figures Seventh
and Eighth, the extent or width of surface that may be congealed is greater.
Fourth, owing to the construction of the apparatus represented by Figures
Fourth, substances it may be wished to expose to the action of temperatures
below the freezing point can be so exposed more conveniently and on a larger
scale, and effects which will be medical or chemical according to the nature
and uses of the substances so exposed, may be produced.
Fifth, owing to the variation of the apparatus represented by Figure s
Fourth, ethers (and perhaps other fluids) which vaporise at low temperatures
may be condensed when the heat of the weather is above their boiling points
(or temperatures at which they vaporise) and means of power and consequently
of producing mechanical effects may be obtained.
Sixth, because the water, being in motion, conduces to the revolution 3
of its particles among themselves, and consequent increased exposition of
surface.
Seventh, the surface exposed by the water is greatly increased, owing to its
being affused in small separate streams upon a level surface instead of being

page_text: JOHN (L.B.) VALLANCE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1825, the aforesaid John Vallance came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
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.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.