IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE PURPOSES OP DISTILLATION
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hadfield Bowers, of Gorton, in the Parish
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE
PURPOSES OP DISTILLATION,"
Sealed the 5th May 1857, and dated the 6th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hadfield Bowers
nt the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th December 185.
I, WILLIAM HADFIELD BOWERS, of Gorton, in the Parish of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED
FOR THE PURPOSES OF DISTILLATION," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in the employment of vessels or retorts having in
them an endless chain or endless chains, to which are attached bars or scrapers
moving in the inside, so as to travel along in the vessels or retorts, and thus
gradually and regularly carry the substances to be distilled over a heated
surface, and also render the apparatus both self-feeding and self-discharging.
The vessels or retorts are heated by suitable flues on the outside, and the
volatile products of the distillation can be conveyed by pipes to condensing
apparatus.

page_text: The matters to be operated on may consist of coals or other minerals,
pieces of wood, shavings, sawdust, spent dye wood, tanners' bark, peat, or any
animal anhatevere
ad to be distilled
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hadfield Bowers in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HADFIELD BOWERS, of Gorton, in the Parish of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Hadfield Bowers, Her special licence that I, the said
William Hadfield Bowers, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
sich others as I. the said William Hadfield Bowers, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS то BE USED FOR THE
PURPOSES OF DISTILLATION," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Hadfield Bowers, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 1, the said William Hadfield Bowers, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be perforined, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:—
My improvements in apparatus to be used for the purposes of distillation
consist in the arrangement of apparatus, in combination with a retortor vessel,
for the distillation of sawdust, wood turnings, sinall chips, spent dye wood,
spent tauners' bark,peat, and such like ligueous and carbonaceous substances,
for the purpose of propelling such substances through the retort or vessel, and

page_text: discharging the charcoal from the same after carbonization in a more uniform
and efficient manner than heretofore.
To a retort or vessol of a rectangular or other convenient shape, which
I prefer to be inclined at about one foot in four, having two cylindrical drums
of iron placed at the two ends of the retort or vessel, on each of which drums
are attached two toothed wheels which work two endless chains, having iron
cruss bars or scrapers affixed to them for the purpose of moving the substances
to be distilled gradually, and exposing them effectually to the action of the
heated surfaces of the retort or vessel; and, secondly, in the application of
motion to the druins and chains, with cross bars or scrapers affixed to them, to
propel the substances to be distilled through the retort or vessel and keep
them in constant motion; thus constituting a self-acting retortorvessel capable
of feeding and discharging itself, without the necessity of removing the mouth.
piece or opening of the retort or vessel and exposing its interior to the action
of the atmosphere. This combination of apparatus will be found to effect the
most perfect distillation of sawdust, wood turnings, small chips, spent dye
wood, spent tanners' bark, peat, and such like ligneous and carbonaceous
substances, and improve the quantity and quality of the pyroligneous acid
produced, as it will be evident that the motion of the cross bars or scrapers
along the bottom of the heated retort or vessel conveying the sawdust and
other substances above named under operation, and at the same time working
or advancing them from one end of the retort or vessel to the other, will effect
a inost perfect and rapid distillation, while the gas or vapour ovolved will be
speedily removed from the heated surface, and effect its passage to the
exit pipes at the top of the retort or vessel.
Another considerable improvement is effected by the motion of the cross
bars or scrapers, as they will prevent the bottom of the retert or vessel from
becoming incrusted with charcoal, and they will always insure an uniform
regularity in the supply of sawdust and other substances, above named, to be
acted on simultaneously with the discharge of the charcoal, and also that no
charcoal will remain in the retort or vessel after it has been carbonized.
There may be attached to these improvements an apparatus to crush or
grind the wood or peat prior to its introduction into the improved retort
or vessel.
In order that my improvements may be more definitely explained, I have
exhibited in the Drawings accompanying these Presents such representations
as are necessary to illustrate their application.
In Figure 1 is a side elevation of a retort or vessel with my improvements
attached; Figure 2, a longitudinal section, taken through the middle of the

page_text: retort or vessel; Figure 3, a front elevation of the same; Figure 4, a back
elevation; Figure 5, a plan of the apparatus; Figure 6, a portion of the
chain and scrapers or cross bars; Figure 7 is the cross bar or scraper;
Figure 8 is a portion of the chain. In all these Figures it will be observed
that similar letters of reference are marked upon corresponding parts of the
apparatus.
a, a, is the retort or vessel, made of cast iron or other suitable plates rivetted
or fitted together, and having a moveable top, which may be varied in length
and other dimensions according to the judgment of the opertor. This retort
or vessel is furnished with two cast-iron drums b,b,having two toothed wheels
c, c, at each end working in bearings d,d, which moves two endless chains e,e,
having cross bars or scrapers f,f,f, affixed. g,g,are two exit pipes to carry off
the gas or vapour and conduct it to the main leading to condensers; h is the
hopper, having two rollers i, i;j is the fire-place:k, k, are the flues conveying
the hot air under the retort or vessel; and 7, 7, the return flues communicating
with the chimney; m is the trough filled with water for receiving the
charcoal; and n, the bearers for supporting the chains.
Sawdust, wood turnings, small chips, spent dye wood, spent tanners' bark,
peat, and such like ligneous and carbonaceous substances, being sufficiently
small or broken to pass from the hopper through the rollers, are deposited on
the bottom of the retort between the cross bars or scrapers. On motion being
applied to the drums by the shaft connected with the ordinary lineshafting, the
sawdust and other substances above named lying on the bottom of the retort
or vessel between the cross bars or scrapers, is brought under the process
of carbonization gradually along the retort or vessel, and thus exposes every
portion of it to the action of heat. It is evident that the carbonization can
be carried on slowly or quickly as you diminish or increase the speed of the
chain and cross bars or scrapers. It will also be seen that a constant and
regular supply of sawdust and other substances above named is kept up
by the rollers being made to revolve by the toothed wheels, and thus to deliver
the sawdust into the first compartment of the chain and scrapers or cross bars
and the bottom of the retort or vessel, while the last compartment is dis-
charging the charcoal bulk for bulk at every motion into the trough m, which
is filled with water in order to seal the joints and prevent the escape of gas or
vapour. In order to moderate the heat under that part of the retort or vessel
which is nearest the fire-place, I cover the outside of it with fire bricks for the
distance of about eight feet.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in apparatus to bo
used for the purposes of distillation, and the manner in which the same is to

page_text: be performed, I wish it to be distinctly understood, in conclusion, that I
am aware that it has been proposed in the manufacture of pyroligneous acid to
cause the substances to pass continuously through heated vessels, and that
I do not claim as of my Invention the motion of such substances, or the
exclusive use of any of the parts of which such apparatus may be composed
when taken separately, neither do I intend to confine myself to any of the
dimensions or peculiar forms of such apparatus as are shewn in the Drawings
annexed, as I have therein represented such views of an apparatus constructed
in the manner above proposed as are best calculated to carry my Invention
into effect; but I claim the adaptation of the drums, endless chains, and
scrapers or cross bars to retorts or vessels for distilling sawdust, wood turnings,
small chips, spent dye wood, and tanners' bark, peat, and such like ligneous
and carbonaceous substances for the purposes and in the manner above
described, whether the retorts or vessels shall be of iron, fire-clay, bricks, or
other material.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hadfield Bowers, have heretofore
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our
W. H. BOWERS. (L.S.)