IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING FRESH WATER FROM SALT
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Hazard Huntly, of No. 50, Upper Baker
Street, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING FRESH WATER FROM SALT AND
Sealed the 15th May 1866, and dated the 17th November 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Hazard Huntly
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th November 1865.
I, SAMUEL HAZARD HUNTLY, of No. 50, Upper Baker Street, Regent's
Park, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING FRESH WATER FROM
SALT AND IMPURE WATER, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR VENTILATING PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
In apparatus heretofore employed for obtaining fresh water from salt water
on board ships, the steam after leaving the boiler or generating apparatus
passes through pipes, against the outer surface of which cold sea water is made
to flow, which has for this purpose to be pumped up from below.

page_text: My present Invention has for its object to simplify and thereby render less
expensive such distilling apparatus, and for this purpose I conduct the steam
after leaving the boiler or generating apparatus through pipes, passages, or
receptacles, the outer surfaces of which are simply cooled by currents of
atmospheric air instead of by water as heretofore. Such pipes, passages, or
receptacles may for this purpose be formed and arranged in any convenient
manner whereby a considerable amount of surface is afforded for the air to
act upon, and by placing them in passages or apertures communicating with
the interior of the ship, the heat imparted by such receptacles to the air in
such passages or apertures causes an upward current, whereby the ventilation
of the interior of the ship is effected at the same time that such current of air
effects the condensation of the steam in the pipes or receptacles. A con-
venient arrangement for this purpose consists in making the condensing
apparatus of an annular form, either cylindrical or otherwise, and in placing
the same in a surrounding tube open at top and communicating at bottom
with the interior of the ship or vessel, and so arranged that the air from the
latter would pass up through the inner space of the annular receptacle, whilst
the external air passes into the ship or vessel through the space between the
external surface of the annular receptacle and the surrounding tube. The
Jower end of such tube is provided with one or more slides or valves, by means
of which, when desired, the communication between the interior of the ship
and the apparatus may be cut off, and the air that enters into the space
between the condensing apparatus and the tube, after passing down in such
space, be made to pass up again through the central space of the apparatus.
The water formed by such surface condensation is conducted from the
apparatus through pipes into tanks for storing the same, and if required, in
order further to cool the water on its way to the tanks, it may be conducted
through a coil of pipes or other receptacle enclosed in a vessel situated below
the surface of the sea, which vessel communicates by means of two pipes with
the sea in such a manner that the latter continually flows through the vessel
and cools the water passing through the coil of pipes or other receptacle in a
manner well understood.
Although I have described my Invention as applied to ships or vessels only,
yet it may obviously also be employed in other localities where it is desired to
obtain fresh water from salt or impure water.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Hazard Huntly in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HAZARD HUNTLY, of No. 50, Upper Baker Street, Regent's Park, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Samuel Hazard Huntly, Her special licence that I, the said
Samuel Hazard Huntly, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Samuel Hazard Huntly, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING FRESH WATER FROM
SALT AND IMPURE WATER, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR VENTILATING PURPOSES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Hazard Huntly,
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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Hazard Huntly, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:--
In apparatus heretofore employed for obtaining fresh water from salt
water on board ships, the steam after leaving the boiler or generating
apparatus passes through pipes, against the outer surface of which cold sea
water is made to flow, which has for this purpose to be pumped up from
below.
My present Invention has for its object to simplify and thereby render less
expensive such distilling apparatus, and for this purpose I conduct the steam

page_text: after leaving the boiler or generating apparatus through pipes, passages, or
receptacles, the outer surfaces of which are simply cooled by currents of
atmospheric air instead of by water as heretofore. Such pipes, passages, or
receptacles may for this purpose be formed and arranged in any convenient
manner whereby a considerable amount of surface is afforded for the air to
act upon, and by placing them in passages or apertures communicating with
the interior of the ship, the heat imparted by such receptacles to the air in
such passages or apertures causes an upward current, whereby the ventilation
of the interior of the ship is effected, at the same time that such current of
air effects the condensation of the steam in the pipes or receptacles. A con-
venient arrangement for this purpose consists in making the condensing
apparatus of an annular form, either cylindrical or otherwise, and in placing
the same in a surrounding tube open at top and communicating at bottom
with the interior of the ship or vessel, and so arranged that the air from the
Jatter would pass up through the inner space of the annular receptacle, whilst
the external air passes into the ship or vessel through the space between the
external surface of the annular receptacle and the surrounding tube. The
lower end of such tube is provided with one or more slides or valves, by
means of which, wben desired, the communication between the interior of
the ship and the apparatus may be cut off, and the air that enters into the
space between the condensing apparatus and the tube, after passing down in
such space, be made to pass up again through the central space of the
apparatus. The water formed by such surface condensation is conducted
from the apparatus through pipes into tanks for storing the same, and if
required, in order further to cool the water on its way to the tanks, it may be
conducted through a coil of pipes or other receptacle enclosed in a vessel
situated below the surface of the sea, which vessel communicates by means
of two pipes with the sea in such a manner that the latter continually flows
through the vessel and cools the water passing through the coil of pipes or
other receptacle in a manner well understood.
Although I have described my Invention as applied to ships or vessels only,
yet it may obviously also be employed in other localities where it is desired to
obtain fresh water from salt or impure water.
On the accompanying Drawing is shown an arrangement of my improved
apparatus, in which the process of condensing the distilled water is made to
assist in ventilating ships' cabins or other localities. Figure 1 shows a sectional
elevation of the same; Figure 2 shows a sectional plan on line X, X,
Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a plan of the valve-for-regulating the passage of
the air.

page_text: A, A, is the condensing apparatus, consisting of a number of concentric.
annular closed metal vessels communicating at top by means of a pipe B with
the boiler in which the salt or impure water is distilled. This apparatus is
surrounded by a casing C, extending upwards and terminating in a trumpet-
mouthed opening C³, as shown, and which is again surrounded by another
casing D, terminating in the trumpet-mouthed opening D'. The trumpet
mouths C and D¹ are moveable, so that either C¹ or D¹ can be turned
towards the wind, while the other is turned from the wind. The casings C
and D are fixed in an aperture formed on the deck or roof E of the cabin or
other locality requiring to be ventilated, with which locality the interior of the
casings are made to communicate by means of the valve F in the following
manner: The valve is provided, firstly, with fixed and moveable apertures
at a, by which the interior of the casing can communicate with or be shut off
from the cabin or other locality; secondly, it has apertures 6 by which the
interior of the casing C can communicate with or be shut off from the annular
space in the casing D; and, thirdly, the valve has apertures at C by which
the annular space in the casing D can communicate with or be shut off from
the interior of the cabin or other locality. The fixed and moveable apertures
of the valve are so arranged that while the apertures at a and c are open the
apertures at b, through which the two casings intercommunicate, are closed,
and vice versa.
From this arrangement it will be seen that if the valve is placed in the
first-named position so as to effect the ventilation of the cabin or other
locality, and the trumpet mouths are placed so that D¹ is towards the wind,
the fresh air will enter the cabin through the annular casing D and valve
openings c, while the air from the cabin will pass away through the valve
openings a into the casing C, where, after taking up heat from the condensing
apparatus A, and thereby effecting the condensation of the distilled water
therein, it escapes through the opening C¹. Or, if the opening C¹ is turned
to the wind, the cold external air will enter the casing C, and after taking up
heat from the condensing apparatus will pass into the cabin, while the air
from the latter will escape through the casing D. If, on the other hand, it
is not desired to cause the air to enter into and pass out from the cabin or
other locality by this apparatus, then by closing the apertures a and c, and
opening those at b, the cold air is made to enter the casing D, to pass from
the bottom of the same into the casing C, where it takes up heat from the
condenser A, and escapes through the opening C¹; or if C¹ is turned to the
wind the air enters C, and passes out through D. The water as it becomes
condensed by contact with the cold air passes away at bottom through the

page_text: pipe G, either directly into the tank I, or if it is required to cool the water
still further before entering the tanks it is made first to flow through a coil of
pipes G¹, or other suitably formed receptacle enclosed in a casing H, situated
below the level of the sea, and through which the sea water is caused to flow
continually by means of the pipes h, h.
:
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I am
aware it is not new to condense steam or vapour of water by causing the same
to pass into receptacles the outer surfaces of which are in contact with the
atmosphere, so as to condense the steam or vapour of water thereby, and I in
no way claim this generally; but what I claim is,―
First, constructing apparatus for obtaining fresh water from salt or impure
water, in which the distilled vapour of water is caused to pass from the dis-
tilling apparatus into receptacles the outer surfaces of which are cooled by
currents of atmospheric air so as to condense the water therein.
Second, I claim the arrangement of apparatus for obtaining fresh water
from salt or impure water, whereby such apparatus is also made to effect the
ventilation of ships' cabins and other localities, substantially as herein-before
described with reference to the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Hazard Huntly, have hereunto g
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
SAMUEL HAZARD HUNTLY. (L.S.)