AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Pailleron, of Chandon, Loire, France,
Cultivator, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING."
Sealed the 21st December 1860, and dated the 23rd June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Pailleron at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd June 1860.
I, PIERRE PAILLERON, of Chandon, Loire, France, Cultivator, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
DISTILLING," to be as follows:-
I propose to make my distilling apparatus moveable with tubular boiler,
and with thermosyphonic filtering or purifying perforated tables, slabs, or
shelves for continuous distillation, and for rectifying by ordinary slabs or
shelves. The body of the apparatus will be similar in form to that of a loco-
motive railway engine, but will contain several chambers or compartments.
I propose to introduce the liquid to be distilled by means of a funnel into the
receiver which is over the furnace pipes (and forms boiler) until it is filled to
within one-fourth of a level nearest the furnace which (all cocks and taps
being first closed) is then lighted while the liquid is first running in the
refrigerator, and thence to the receiver. I charge the filtering slabs in the
purifying chamber with partially screened and sifted charcoal, to nearly the
level of the steam escape, and I intend to cover this compartment with an

page_text: iron lid, which should be edged with caoutchouc to keep in the steam. I
would here observe that the furnace tubes, smoke box, chimney, and adjacent
parts differ but little in construction from the ordinary locomotive, have plates
to be unscrewed, and plugs to be drawn out when the parts require cleaning.
The liquid in the receiver being near boiling point, the register is to be
partially closed; the steam will then rise and pass in succession through all
the filters until it arrives at the lid or cover, which allowing no escape causes
it to pass to another, compartment, which I term the alcoholic chamber; the
steam having traversed the filters of this chamber passes into the refrigerator
when it will encounter successively the return tubes before reaching the worm
where condensation will be completed, and it will be allowed to escape again
into the alcoholic chamber. When it is judged that all the alcohol has been
exhausted from the receiver, the register is closed, discharge cocks are opened,
and half or three-fourths of the liquid is discharged, then shut off these cocks
and open that of the alcoholic chamber till its contents are entirely withdrawn,
fill the receiver again by the funnel, shut the cock of the alcoholic chamber,
open the register, and commence a new distillation. With certain modifica-
tions, but quite on the same principle, pasty or solid
potatoes, beetroot, grapes, and other may be distilled.
matters, such as grain,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed s
by the said Pierre Pailleron in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
PAILLERON, of Chandon, Loire, France, (Cultivator), send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Pierre Pailleron, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre
Pailleron, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Pierre Pailleron, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IM-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING," upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said Pierre Pailleron, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
| NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Pierre Pailleron, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters of reference marked thereon:-
Figure 1 shews a side elevation of my machine, having the casing removed;
Figure 2, front elevation, shewing the furnace and chimney; Figure 3, section
of the apparatus following the line E, F, seen at Figure 2; Figure 4, a section
taken through Figure 1 at I, J, and in profile at C, D; Figure 5 shows the
apparatus as it appears in its wooden casing; Figure 6 gives a horizontal
section, taken at about fifteen inches high, of the elevation, Figure 1, at G, H;
Figure 7, plan view of a rectifying plate; Figure 8, plan view of the screens,
on which are placed both solid and pastied matters when such are operated
upon, or carbonic or calcareous substances when liquids are operated upon;
and Figure 9, an elevation of same. At Figure 1, a denotes the water level;
o, plate of sheet iron (or cast iron) to serve as man-hole for cleaning the
apparatus; d, emptying taps of case 2; e, emptying cock of the case 5; K,
emptying cock of case 4 in case 2; 1, emptying tap of case 5 in case 4; G,
retrograding pipes in case 5 ; G', tubing to conduct the retrogradation by
means of the cock H', on to the rectifying plates; H, return cocks; H', cock or
tap serving the purpose explained at G¹; F, pipe serving to fill or charge the
apparatus by causing to pass from the refrigerant first into the case 4, and sub-
sequently into case 2, the liquid to be distilled, and this by means of the cock
K; m, cocks or taps putting into successive communication the rectifying
plates; L, the chimney; M, funnel through which the liquid for distillation
is passed to the refrigerant, thence into the apparatus by means of the pipes
F, O, N; N, steam-conducting pipe in the refrigerant; M', pipe conducting
the liquid for continuous distillation into the apparatus; O, discharge cock of
the refrigerator; P, outlet of the alcohol; R, door of smoke-box; S, register
to regulate or extinguish the fire; X, tic to support the chimney. At
Figure 2, the letters a, F, K, L, 1, L, N, N', and X, show the same parts as
they denote in Figure 1. At Figure 3, F, O, denotes the fire-box or furnace;
T, U, tubes conducting the flame and smoke into the smoke chamber, and the

page_text: smoke into the chimney; G, H, smoke-box or chamber; 2, compartment or
case, which should be kept constantly filled with water; 3, compartment in
which the screens are placed; 4, compartment into which the alcoholic
vapours arrive after having passed through the various screens;.5, rectifying
compartment; 6, retrogradator and refrigerant; h, worm; P, passage for the
vapour from case 3 to case 4, and thence to case 5; M, M', as at Figure 1; U,
discharge cock from upper to lower rectifying plates; u, foot of rectifying appa-
ratus; v, discharge pipe from last rectifying plate; a, cap of rectifying
apparatus; plate under u for its support; 9, space for admitting steam to
heat the compartment 5; y, screens of cases 3 and 4; o, box into which the
overflow of distilled water from the refrigerant arrives by means of the pipe
N', which enters into the apparatus (by means of small plunge pipes thrust at
their extremities into the charcoal, their ends being pierced with holes; ;
plunge pipes disposed in quincunx at the bottom of the box o¹, and serving for
the introduction into the case 3 of the liquids to be distilled. It is by means
of these plunge pipes that instantaneous condensation is procured. ¹, ser-
pentine for return of the steam. Figuro 4, this section serves to shew the
disposition of the pipes or tubes for heating, and the passages P of the steam.
In Figure 5, the same lettering denotes the same parts as given in Figure 1.
9, 9, 9, are pieces of timber or oak plank serving to secure the casing of the
apparatus by means of an iron curbing and cover of wood; the jointure is
covered with caoutchouc, on which is placed, first, a covering of sheet iron, and
on this a casing of wood. The wooden covering serves to maintain the heat
in the interior of the apparatus; the refrigerant alone has no casing; it is sup-
ported upon the smoke chamber by two traverses of wood, which serve to
isolate it. The bottom of the refrigerant has also a wooden support, in order
the better to isolate it from the heat. Figure 6, this section serves to denote
the disposition of the fire-place, the tubes, and the smoke chamber. Figure 7
shews plan of refrigerating plate. Figure 8, plan of the screens, which are
constructed with a framing of iron, furnished with wire arches of about one-third
of an inch curve, the whole being covered with wire gause. There is an extra
framing serving to lift the screen easily. Figure 9 is an elevation of Figure 8.
The apparatus when put together, as at Figure 5 in the Drawing, is loco-
motive, and can be taken from one farm to another.
Working of the machine or apparatus:-The solid or pasty substances are
placed upon the screens successively in such wise that the layer of material may
be thinner or deeper according to its density. The casing 2 being full of
water, distillation is carried to exhaustion, care being taken to keep the cock
closed. The steam from the water traverses successively the various casings or

page_text: compartments, drawing therewith the alcoholic vapours. At each successive
screen partial condensation takes place, the more watery vapours are pre-
cipitated at each screen, the alcoholic vapour passing through. This process
has much advantage over ordinary modes, giving infinitely better flavour, and
never a burnt one. The empyreumatic flavor, if not entirely subjugated, is
extremely diminished in the process of distillation from the mass. In dis-
tilling solid matters (the working of the apparatus is stopped) when the
alcoholometer gives but a low degree. All the retrograding cocks being open,
it may be considered that the matters operated upon are exhausted, and that
which remains will be found to have passed into compartment 5, say, the rec-
tifying compartment. The planking is then taken off, and the apparatus
uncovered, and the rectifying plates are successively removed, which are suc-
cessively charged until the exhaustion of the substances to be distilled.
Working of the apparatus in distilling liquids:-The liquid to be distilled is
introduced by the funnel M, and rises in the refrigerant as high as the pipe F,
which is kept open, as well as the cock K, until the level of the water nearest
the chimney marks two-thirds of its height; then the supply is stopped, and
the cock K and pipe F are closed, the refrigerating plates being charged with
charcoal (a space of about one inch being left between) broken to the size of a
pea; the fire is lighted. The upper plate of case 3 should be charged with
finer charcoal, with a proportion from one-tenth to a twentieth of chalky sub-
stance the size of a grain of corn intermingled with the charcoal. Charcoal
still finer is placed in case 4, the proportional charge being less as the charcoal
is more like powder. As the alcohol runs out the liquid to be distilled is
poured in in the same proportion, and the latter causes the escape of the hot
liquid from the refrigerant by condensation. The former liquid passing
through the pipe M', falls by means of the plunge pipes like fine rain on the
upper plate of case 3, causing partial condensation of the steam filling this
case. In fact, this liquor condenses the watery steam which falls from
screen to screen until it reaches case 2, the alcoholic vapour, notwithstanding,
continuing to ascend.
The alcoholic vapours having passed through p of
case 3 to case 4, finds numerous points of contact against the screens, and
becomes thereby purified; they then pass through the second passage p to
case 5, and after passing all the plates in the refrigerant, pass by five pipes
which conduct the watery parts into case 5. When it is perceived that the
water level in cases 3, 4, or 5 is higher than one-third of their height, the
cocks d, K or 1, are opened to empty the apparatus or cause the liquid to pass
from one case to the other where the level is lower. By means of the retro-
grading cocks the desired degree is obtained. After a long-continued operation

page_text: it is desirable to open the cocks m to discharge the lees which gather thereon,
care being taken to commence by the upper cock. This operation slackens
momentarily the jet, but directly afterwards it is renewed with greater force.
I reserve the right of constructing (apparatus) in part only like the one I
have described, even one with a single screen compartment; and also one still
more elaborate, if I find it advantageous.
The great advantage of my apparatus is, that it offers a very large surface
to caloric action. It requires no special construction in establishing a dis-
tillery. It may be moved with ease from place to place, and its cost of
construction is cheap, while its consumption of fuel is moderate.
In. witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Pailleron, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
S. CASTELA,
96, Rue de Bondy.
P. PAILLERON. (L.B.)