IMPROVEMENTS IN THE. MANUFACTURE OF SALT,, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Dennis Hall, of Wharton, Cheshire, Salt Manufac-
turer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE. MANUFACTURE OF SALT,,
AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE."
Sealed the 1st June 1866, and dated the 4th December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Dennis Hall at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th December
1865.
I, DENNIS HALL, of Wharton, Cheshire, Salt Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SALT, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention is designed for economizing the working expenses attending
the manufacture of salt, and consists, first, of an improved method of feeding
the fires with small coal; secondly, of an improved method of preventing the
formation of pan scale on the bottoms of salt pans; thirdly, of an improved
method of drawing or removing the salt out of the pans into flats or
waggons.
As regards the first part of these improvements, it consists of a self-acting

page_text: machine composed of an endless revolving chain of buckets which lift the
small coal and discharge it into a hopper communicating with the fire-place,
the fuel thus raised is then pushed down a tube by the action of pushers on
to discs which revolve with great volocity, and thus distribute the fuel on to
the grate-bars; these said discs are moved by a current of air acting on the
fans similar to a smoke-jack, the current of air is drawn through another tube
by the draft of the chimney. When it is desirable to consume the smoke
two pushers and two pairs of discs are employed; the machinery for moving
these pushers is so arranged that when one pair of discs is receiving its fuel the
other pair is not receiving any; by these means each side of the fire is fed
alternately, so that while one side of the fire is bright the other is receiving
the raw fuel, and by these means the smoke is consumed.
As regards the second improvement for preventing the formation of pan
scale on the bottoms of salt pans, this may be accomplished by making the
pans in the form of two circles joined together with an upright shaft fixed in
the centre of each circle, to which is attached two horizontal arms; to these
arms are fixed a number of small cutters or scrapers, which by constantly
scraping the pan bottom prevent the formation of scale, so that the fires are
always acting on pans with clean bottoms, thus economizing fuel.
As regards the third improvement for an improved method of drawing or
removing the salt out of the pans into flats or waggons, I would here remark
that by the present mode the salt is first raked from the centre to the side of
the pan, it is then lifted out with a skimmer and thrown on to the hurdle or
platform, and when it is sufficiently drained it is shovelled into barrows and
wheeled into the storehouse, it is then again put into barrows or hand carts
and wheeled into flats or waggons; the salt thus passes three times through
the hands of the workman. By the improved method it only passes once
through his hands. To carry out these improvements the pans should be
made twice or thrice as deep as the present pans, and would require to be
drawn about every fortnight; when the pans are full of salt the communica-
tion with the iron or fixed pan would be temporaily stopped, the brine would
then be let out into a lower reservoir, from whence it would be again
pumped into the pan, and as soon as the salt was sufficiently drained the
workmen would go into the pan and throw the salt into deep hurdles.
These hurdles would have falling bottoms or sliding doors, railways would be
made underneath them; the waggons would be loaded by simply opening the
slides, thus saving all the labour of filling and wheeling into the storehouse
and out of it into the waggons or flats when, say, No. 1 pan is drawn and

page_text: again filled up with brine; during this time the circulation has been going on
in No. 2; when this pan is drawn the stop is moved in an opposite direction,
by which circulation is changed to No. 1 until No. 2 is drawn and again
filled up with brine, when this is done the stop is taken away and the circular
tion goes on in both pans until they are full of salt, say for 7 or 14 days;
by these means the fires are always at work.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Dennis Hall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th
June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DENNIS
HALL, of Wharton, Cheshire, Salt Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, 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 Dennis Hall, Her special licence that I, the said Dennis Hall, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Dennis
Hall, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SALT, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Dennis Hall, 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 Dennis Hall, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-

page_text: This Invention is designed for economizing the working expenses attending
the manufacture of salt, and consists, first, of an improved method of feeding
the fires with small coal; secondly, of an improved method of preventing the
formation of pan scale on the bottoms of salt pans; thirdly, of an improved
method of drawing or removing the salt out of the pans into flats or waggons.
As regards the first part of these improvements, it consists of a self-acting
machine composed of an endless revolving chain of buckets which lift the
small coal and discharge it into a hopper communicating with the fire-place;
the fuel thus raised is then pushed down a tube by the action of pushers on
to discs which revolve with great velocity, and thus distribute the fuel on to
the grate-bars; these said discs are moved by a current of air acting on the
fans similar to a smoke-jack; the current of air is drawn through another
tube by the draft of the chimney. When it is desirable to consume the smoke
two pushers and two pair of discs are employed; the machinery for moving
these pushers is so arranged that when one pair of discs is receiving its fuel
the other pair is not receiving any; by these means each side of the fire is
fed alternately, so that while one side of the fire is bright the other is receiving
the raw fuel, and by these means the smoke is consumed.
As regards the second improvement for preventing the formation of pan
scale on the bottoms of salt pans, this may be accomplished by making the
pans in the form of two circles joined together with an upright shaft fixed in
the centre of each circle, to which is attached two horizontal arms; to these
arms are fixed a number of small cutters or scrapers, which by constantly
scraping the pan bottom prevent the formation of scale, so that the fires are
always acting on pans with clean bottoms, thus economizing fuel.
As regards the third improvement for an improved method of drawing or
removing the salt out of the pans into flats or waggons, I would here remark
that by the present mode the salt is first raked from the centre to the side of
the pan; it is then lifted out with a skimmer and thrown on to the hurdle or
platform, and when it is sufficiently drained it is shoveled into barrows and
wheeled into the storehouse; it is then again put into barrows or hand carts and
wheeled into flats or waggons; the salt thus passes three times through the hands
of the workman. By the improved method it only passes once through his
hands. To carry out these improvements the pans should be made twice or thrice
as deep as the present pans, and would require to be drawn about once every
fortnight; when the pans are full of salt the communication with the iron or
fixed pan would be temporarily stopped, the brine would then be let out into
a lower reservoir, from whence it would be again pumped into the pan, and

page_text: as soon as the salt was sufficiently drained the workman would go into the
pan and throw the salt into deep hurdles. These hurdles would have falling
bottoms or sliding doors, railways would be made underneath them; the
waggons would be loaded by simply opening the slides, thus saving all the
labour of filling and wheeling into the storehouse and out of it into the
waggons or flats when, say, No. 1 pan is drawn and again filled up with
brine; during this time the circulation has been going on in No. 2; when
this pan is drawn the stop is moved in an opposite direction, by which cir-
culation is changed to No. 1 until No. 2 is drawn and again filled up with
brine; when this is done the stop is taken away, and the circulation goes on
in both pans until they are full of salt, say for 7 or 14 days; by these means
the fires are always at work.
And in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheets of
Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the numeral figures and letters
of reference marked thereon respectively as follows:—
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
.
At Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a top plan view, and Figure 2 a longitudinal and
vertical section through the line A, B, at Figure 1 of my improved method
of feeding the fires of furnaces used in the manufacture of salt with small
coal.
At Sheet 2, Figure 8 is a top plan view, and Figure 4 a transverse and
vertical section through the line C, D, at Figure 3 of my improved method of
preventing the formation of pan scale on the bottoms of salt pans.
At each of the Figures of the above-mentioned Sheets of Drawings
similar letters of reference are employed to denote corresponding parts in
so far as such parts appear or can be seen at each of such said Figures
respectively.
As regards Sheet 1, A represents the furnace; B, brickwork ; C, C,
revolving discs of metal; D, slack pushers; E, tubes for conveying the slack
or small coal on to the aforesaid discs; G, fans for driving the discs by means
of air forced through the tube H by any convenient means; I, throttle valve
to regulate the speed of the discs; K, position of mechanism for forcing the
pushers D forward; L, hopper at which the slack is introduced.
The operations of this arrangement are as follows:-The fuel in the
hopper L is pushed forward by the pushers D down the pipe E on to the

page_text: discs C, C, which, as they revolve by the action of the fans G fixed on to the
upright shafts M, will distribute the fuel uniformly or nearly so over the
surface of the fire in the furnace.
In practise I have found the following a convenient method of driving the
fans G-I connect the tubes H with a chimney shaft, the draft of which will
induce a current of air to pass through it, and this I employ for driving the
fans. When it is desirable to consume the smoke I employ two pushers and
two pairs of discs, the machinery for actuating the said pushers being so
arranged that when one pair of discs are receiving fuel the other pair is not
receiving any; by these means each side of the fire is fed alternately, so
that while one side of the fire is bright the other side is receiving the raw
fuel, and by these means the smoke is consumed or nearly so.
I now proceed to describe the arrangement represented at Sheet 2 of the
accompanying Drawings for preventing the formation of pan scale as
follows:-A, A, iron pans; B, B, scale pockets; C, C, C, C, connection
between these pans and wood circulating pans D, D; E, E, lines of rails for
the transport of the salt from the pans; F, chimney communicating with furnace
under A ; I, letting out valves; J, J, circulating pumps; K, K, brine
wells; L, L, spaces for deep hurdles or tipping boxes M; N, N, scale cutters
mounted upon arms fixed to revolving shafts, which may be driven by any
suitable prime mover. The salt is removed from the pans by the means and
in the manner before stated, and the pockets B, into which the pan scale is
continually passing, may be emptied from time to time by hand, or recievers
may be placed under the pockets.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for " Improvements in the Manufacture of Salt, and in Machinery
or Apparatus for that Purpose," together with the best means I am acquainted
with for carrying the same into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion,
that what I claim. as my Invention intended to be secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is as follows:-
I claim, first, the method above described with reference to the accompany-
ing Drawings of feeding the fires of salt pans with small coal.
Secondly, the method above described with reference to the accompanying
Drawings of preventing the formation of pan scale in salt pans.
Thirdly, the method above described with reference to the accompanying
Drawings of drawing or removing the salt out of the pans.
Fourthly, and lastly, I claim the general combination and arrangement of
the mechanism employed and the manner of conducting the processes of

page_text: manufacturing salt and of manipulating thereon during and after its manufac-
ture, as constituting improvements in the manufacture of salt.
In witness whereof, I, the said Dennis Hall, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
DENNIS HALL. (L.S.)