MORE THOROUGHLY AND EFFECTUALLY CLEANSING, EXTRACTING, AND SEPA- RATING OR FINING ALE, BEER, PORTER, BITTER BEER, INDIA PALE ALE, AND OTHER MALT LIQUORS, FROM THE YEAST, BOTTOMS, BARM, SEDIMENT, AND OTHER EXTRANEOUS MATTERS AND IMPURITIES WITH WHICH IT MAY BE IN COMBINATION.
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Plimsoll, of Fullwood, in the Township
of Upper Hallam, in the Parish of Sheffield, in the West Riding
of the County of York, Gentleman, for the Invention of **MORE
THOROUGHLY AND EFFECTUALLY CLEANSING, EXTRACTING, AND SEPA-
RATING OR FINING ALE, BEER, PORTER, BITTER BEER, INDIA PALE
ALE, AND OTHER MALT LIQUORS, FROM THE YEAST, BOTTOMS, BARM,
SEDIMENT, AND OTHER EXTRANEOUS MATTERS AND IMPURITIES WITH
WHICH IT MAY BE IN COMBINATION.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Samuel Plimsoll at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 27th April 1853, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
I, SAMUEL PLIMSOLL, of Fullwood, in the Township of Upper Hal-
lam, in the Parish of Sheffield, in the West Riding of the County of
York, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "MORE THOROUGHLY AND EFFECTUALLY CLEANSING, EXTRACTING, AND

page_text: SEPARATING OR FINING ALE, BEER, PORTER, BITTER BEER, INDIA PALE ALE,
AND OTHER MALT LIQUORS, FROM THE YEAST, BOTTOMS, BARM, SEDIMENT,
AND OTHER EXTRANEOUS MATTERS AND IMPURITIES WITH WHICH IT MAY BE
IN COMBINATION," to be as follows, viz.
Whereas there is commonly a considerable deposit of sediment or
barm in the vats, squares, rounds, barrells, and other vessels in which
malt liquors are fermented, which is useless and waste: And whereas
there is also a like deposit in the vats, in, which the fermented liquors
are stored, as also a deposit in the barrells in which such liquors have
been sold and delivered, which is also useless and waste. I, Samuel
Plimsoll, proceeding upon the hypothesis that the fluid part of such
waste is as good malt liquor as that already used from above the said
sediment, endeavoured for a considerable time to devise or contrive some
press or plan for extracting by mechanical means only, (and not
chemical, as by isinglass or moss,) the said liquid part in such a state,
and so clean, as to be available for ordinary consumption. I found
flannell, cloth, or any woollen fabric, useless, as is also cotton, the farina-
ceous matter held in solution being too subtle to be retained by these
fabrics. Finally, this is the result of my experiments and labour, and it
is entirely successful.
Place the malt liquor or sediment, or other matter or thing to be fined
or pressed, into bags made of flaxen thread, bleached or unbleached,
dyed or undyed; then carefully bind together the aperture of the said
sack or bag, and lay the same upon a table or bench, in the surface of
which are holes, or upon which are laid lath frames, so that the bag,
though supported thereon, may still have part of its surface exposed
to permit leakage; then place such and so many vessels below as are
necessary to catch the exuding liquor; cover over or lay upon the
upper surface of the said sacks or bags, or wooden or metal grate, upon
which rest a lever; and as one uniform pressure upon the bags would (if
light enough to press the liquor clear when it is first put into the press
quite thin) be wholly inadequate after, by reason of the continued leakage,
the consistence of the contents was thickened or increased, suspend
a bucket or other vessel to the end of the lever, into which water may
be allowed to drop in such quantities as that, whilst the empty vessell is

page_text: sufficient to press the liquor fine, whilst the contents of the bag are very
fluid, the gradually increasing weight of the filling water vessells, and the
consequently gradually accumulating pressure upon the bags, keeps up
a steady flow of clear liquor as long as any remains in the sediment,
malt liquor, bottoms, barm, grounds, or other matter with which the
sack or bag was filled. The process will ordinarily occupy from twelve
hours to fifty, according to circumstances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Plimsoll, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
SAMUEL PLIMSOLL. (L.S.)