AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PRODUCTION OF SPIRITS OF WINE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Papineau, of Harrow Bridge, Stratford,
Manufacturing Chymist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
PRODUCTION OF SPIRITS OF WINE,"
Sealed the 30th October 1856, and dated the 19th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Papineau, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th July 1856.
I, WILLIAM PAPINEAU, of Harrow Bridge, Stratford, Manufacturing Chymist,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
PRODUCTION OF SPIRITS OF WINE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in the production of
spirits of wine; for this purpose the starch of rice, or of grain, or of other
matters containing starch is first converted into sugar, as is well understood;
and my improvement consists of distilling spirits of wine from fermented
solutions of such sugar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Papineau in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PAPINEAU, of Harrow Bridge, Stratford, Manufacturing Chymist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters-
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One

page_text: 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 Papineau, Her special license that I, the said William Papineau, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Papineau, 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 Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PRODUCTION
OF SPIRITS OF WINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Papineau, 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 William Papineau, 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 following
statement thereof, that is to say:―
This Invention has for its object an improvement in the production of
spirits of wine; for this purpose the starch of rice, or of grain, or of other
matters containing starch is first converted into sugar, as is well understood;
and my improvement consists of distilling spirits of wine from fermented
solutions of such sugar.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the process which I
employ.
Heretofore in the manufacture of oxalic acid from rice, grain, and other
matters containing starch it has been common to convert the starch contained
in these matters into sugar, and then to act on the sugar so obtained with
nitric acid, so as to produce oxalic acid. And in order to effect this conversion
of the starch into sugar, the rice, grain, or other matter is, without grinding,
crushing, or other previous preparation, digested with dilute sulphuric acid,
until the desired change is effected; and it is the employment of this process
in the manufacture of spirits of wine which is the essential feature of my
Invention. The process is conducted in the following manner :-The grain,
rice, sago, fecula, potato starch, or other matters to be operated upon are
introduced gradually into a vat, lined with lead, or into a copper vessel

page_text: containing a mixture of water and sulphuric acid, in the proportion of 300 or
500 gallons of water and 60 to 100 lbs. of acid to every ton of rice, sago, or
potato starch, or a proportional less quantity of acid if cereals, roots, or other
matters containing starch be used in relation to the quantity of starch they
contain; the acid solution being rapidly boiled and agitated during the
operation by a steam blow-pipe, with or without mechanical means. The
rice, starch, and fecula will be rapidly dissolved, and after the whole is intro-
duced and the solution completed, the vessels should be covered up, and the
steam boiling continued for 24 hours, or until the saccharine property is fully
developed. A quantity of fresh burnt animal charcoal is then to be introduced,
and the whole boiled together for 2 or 3 hours longer, when a sufficient
quantity of carbonate of lime (whiting) is to be added to neutralize the acid,
and the whole drawn off-on-to-a filter, so arranged that the filtration shall run
into proper tanks; fresh portions of boiling water are to be run on the filter
till the saccharine matter is extracted, and the washings added to the first
runnings. The whole may then be run into the mash tun (at a proper tem-
perature), and used to mash a quantity of malt or grain equal to 4th or th
of the starch or starch yielding matter used (which I prefer); or the saccharine
solution may be diluted and cooled to the proper temperature, and fermented
at once, per se, in the usual way; and I prefer to use a Coffey's still, in both
cases, for the distillation.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Papineau have hereunto set my
I
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
W PAPINEAU. (L.S.).