AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING THE BAD FLAVOR PROM ALCOHOLS DISTILLED FROM GRAIN, BEETROOT, OR OTHER VEGE- TABLES, AND FOR EXTRACTING THE WHOLE OF THE ALCOHOL CONTAINED IN THE FERMENTED JUICE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Emile Jaudeau, No. 1, Guildford Road, Brighton,
of the County of Sussex, Professor of Languages, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING THE BAD
FLAVOR PROM ALCOHOLS DISTILLED FROM GRAIN, BEETROOT, OR OTHER VEGE-
TABLES, AND FOR EXTRACTING THE WHOLE OF THE ALCOHOL CONTAINED IN
THE FERMENTED JUICE."
Sealed the 6th January 1863, and dated the 10th July 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Emile Jaudeau at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th July 1862.
I, EMILE JAUDEAU, 1, Guildford Road, Brighton, of the County of
Sussex, Professor of Languages, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING THE BAD
FLAVOR FROM ALCOHOLS DISTILLED FROM GRAIN, BEETROOT, OR OTHER VEGE-
TABLES, AND FOR EXTRACTING THE WHOLE OF THE ALCOHOL CONTAINED IN THE
FERMENTED JUICE," to be as follows:-
I add two lateral columns to that which already exists, and I proceed
to demonstrate their utility. The different bodies which enter into the
fermented juice of the grain or of the vegetable substance have all a diffe-
rent density, making these bodies to leave separately, the alcohol is produced

page_text: pure and free from any bad taste. This bad taste is in consequence of its
contact with other bodies. The only column which at present exists is open
and communicates directly with the boiler; the steam at once warms the whole
mass of liquid, the molecules mingle together by the power of ebullition, and as
they are not able to disengage themselves from each other they fly off at the
same time. The alcohol at the beginning and end of the operation is of an
inferior quality to that produced in the middle, the cause of which is that the
alcohol first produced contains a large quantity of ether, which is explained by
the difference of density. Alcohol although very volatile is less so than ether.
As the heat increases, the ether disengages itself first, but the difference of
density is not sufficiently great to prevent the alcohol from following, especially
if the passage be short. Now, when the ether has reached the top of the
column it cools in the worm O, and it is at this moment that the alcohol arrives
and mingles with it so that they arrive at the receiver together.
The advantage of my improvement is as follows:-The ether and the alcohol
instead of eaving the apparatus and flowing into the receiver pass into a lateral
column, placed on the left of the former, marked A in my plan. This column
closed at the base is plunged in the boiler one-third of its depth. The alcohol
and ether mingled together arrive in it cold because they have passed through
a separate worm belonging to the second column and marked B.
In this second column the heat is tempered, being only warmed by the liquid
contained in the boiler; there is a moment of rest in the operation; by degrees
the liquid contained in the second column becomes warm, but not being
submitted to the direct action of the steam the heat increases gradually
under the action of heat the molecules being of different density are separated,
and the ether being the lightest body is the first to come to the surface and
escape; it has already passed through two compartments of the column
before the alcohol escapes in its turn; at this moment the operation becomes
continuous, the ether escaping by the heat of the alcohol which follows it
closely, arrives in the third column while the alcohol enters the worm.
There
is not in the third column marked C the stop which occurred in the second
because it has had time to become warm, being plunged in the boiler 'like
the second, and besides the ether being disengaged from the other bodies is
become lighter, and no sooner does it enter the column than it entirely escapes
from the apparatus.
To return to this first operation, I will call the middle column D, the boiler
P, the whole of the liquid contained in P becomes warm'at the same time by
the action of the vapour D, being open, all the different bodies contained in the

page_text: liquid leave together, being drawn by reciprocal attraction; they cool in the
worm O and fall into the column A warmed by the liquid in the boiler, the ether
being the lightest arrives at the compartment X, before the alcohol escapes, and
it preserves this distance and arrives first in the third column C. The use of
the third column is that in case the separation of the alcohol and ether be not
complete it will certainly become so in this column from the increased lightness
of the ether.
To render the alcohol pure it must be separated from the empyreumatic
oil from the alkalies and from the salts contained in the fermented juice.
All these bodies are chemically heavier than alcohol. By the same reason
I have proved that the ether left before the alcohol, I will prove that the
alcohol escapes before these other bodies.
If a large quantity of empyreumatic oil of salts of alkalies be drawn
into the first column by the direct action of steam, it will be easily under-
stood that falling into the second column, and especially into the third column
they will neither be sufficiently volatile nor sufficiently warm to follow the
alcohol.
The liquid produced in the end of the operation is inferior to that produced
in the middle, because the liquid diminishing in the boiler, the most volatile
parts having first escaped, the action of steam becomes much more direct
on that which remains, and to obtain the remaining alcohol we are obliged
to receive the other bodies, for the heat in the lateral columns being only
produced by the liquid in the boiler is not sufficient to cause the molecules
to separate themselves from substances which only escape at a high degree
of temperature.
Such is therefore the object which I attain by this improvement. To
cause the ether to be thrown off before the alcohol, and to throw off the
alcohol without the alkalies, without the empyreumatic oil, without the salts;
the alcohol is therefore free from every extraneous body; it possesses all
its own flavor. Another quality produced by this mild temperature is that
it preserves to the alcohol that rich and unctuous flavour so much desired by
the manufacturers of liquor. In the laboratories of chemistry more strength
is given to alcohol by distilling it over salt of potassium., By this means it
attains the degree of strength which is desired without any artificial means,
and the triple rectification which it undergoes brings it to a degree varying
from 93 to 94° Gay Lussac. I have not described the interior of the column
because the modification which I propose applies indifferently to every apparatus
with columns.
The boiler is furnished with two taps marked R & S for the purpose of con-

page_text: veying into it (the boiler) at the end of each operation the residue contained
in the lateral columns. With this improvement there is therefore no difference
of quality in the alcohols, there is but one alcohol which is perfectly free from
a bad flavour. This advantage must be immense as an apparatus being charged
with the very worst of residue gave an average of 33 per cent of alcohol,
extra fine, an advantage so much the greater if I state that the apparatus
with one column cannot extract all the alcohol, moreover, that a part of the
alcohol obtained has a bad taste, and that it is sold at a lower price than the
best; alcohol even of the first quality has often a flavour which denotes its
impurity.
My apparatus rectifies three times, and the operation being continuous
it will produce in the same period of time as much as that with one
column, I will remark that after each rectification the alcohol is cooled
by a worm through which it passes, which contributes to give it that mild
flavour which I have mentioned, and which causes the molecules which are not
of kindred nature to separate from each other.
In putting the liquid to distil into the boiler it is reduced by adding a
certain quantity of water according to the degree marked by the alcohol.
The worm E belongs to the column C where the third rectification takes
place; the alcohol passes finilly into the fourth worm K.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Emile Jaudeau, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th January 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EMILE
JAUDEAU, of No. 1, Guildford Road, Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Pro-
fessor of Languages, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Emile Jaudeau, Her special licence that I, the said Emile
Jaudeau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Emile Jaudeau, 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

page_text: IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING THE BAD FLAVOUR FROM
ALCOHOLS DISTILLED FROM GRAIN, BEETROOT, OR OTHER VEGETABLES, AND FOR
EXTRACTING THE WHOLE OF THE ALCOHOL CONTAINED IN THE FERMENTED
JUICE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Emile Jaudeau,
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 Emile Jaudeau, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-.
ing statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
This is only an improvement to the apparatus with columns used at present,
therefore knowing that the alcohol by itself has no bad flavour, we must
conclude that it acquires that bad taste by its direct contact with foreign
bodies. It is mixed with empyreumatic oil, salts, ether. Some of these
bodies are heavier, others lighter than the alcohol.
I will now explain in what manner the alcohol is separated, with my appa-
ratus, from the heavier bodies, as well as from those which are lighter than
itself. First, I observe this new apparatus is based on the difference of
density which exists in the different bodies, and I begin by proving in what
'manner the ether escapes before the alcohol. My apparatus has three columns,
the middle one marked D on my plan is open at the base, and communicates
directly with the boiler, and is heated by the direct action of the steam ; it has
sixteen compartments; the steam at once warms the whole mass of the lequid,
the molecules of the different bodies mingled together not being able to dis-
engage themselves from each other fly off at the same time, we, therefore,
remark that the alcohol produced in the beginning of the operation is mixed
with a large quantity of ether.
I proceed to explain the first step of my improvement, which is to separate
the alcohol from the ether, the lightest of the foreign bodies. If we remember
the density of the ether we shall not be surprised to find so great a quantity
in the beginning of the operation; but the alcohol is not so much heavier
than the ether, but that it runs through the compartments as quick as the
ether itself driven out by the direct action of the steam; there is neither
sufficient time nor space to allow them to disengage themselves from each
other, the difference of density is annihilated by the strength of the heat. To

page_text: obviate this inconvenience I erect the lateral column, marked A on my plan,
which is closed at the base. Instead of passing out of the apparatus when
it leaves the first column the lequid falls into this second column, which is
plunged into the boiler one-third of its depth. The alcohol and the ether arrive in
it cold, they have passed through a separate worm belonging to the first column,
and marked on my plan, with which the first column communicates by the
pipe marked F. It is very important to remark that the lequid is not submitted
to the direct action of the steam in this second column, but only warmed by
the heat of the lequid contained in the boiler. Under these circumstances
the ether, which is volatile at an ordinary temperature, escapes directly, while
the alcohol remains until the heat is sufficient great to enable it to pass off.
This second column A being closed does not permit the liquid escaping from
the boiler marked P, to trouble the regular course; the ether therefore, which
'was in the first column mixed with other bodies, absolutely by the direct
action of the steam, has time in this second column to disengage itself, and
flies off first by the power of its own lightness, and passing through the pipe G,
on my plan, it falls into the third column marked on my plan C. Suppose
some drops of alcohol are not quite free and mingled with the ether when it
enters the third column, it will be easily understood that the separation will be
entirely complete, for the ether is becoming lighter and lighter, and the tem-
perature is diminishing. I repeat the temperature is decreasing, and wich I
will explain-The two lateral columns are warmed by the heat of the lequid
contained into the boiler, the farther the lequid is from the base of the columns
the lower is the degree of heat. When the lequid distilled arrived first in the
second column, that contained in the boiler was nearer to the second column
than it is now from the third. The temperature for this reason is not so great
in the third column as it was in the second. I desire this point to be per-
fectly understood, because if the third column does not seem so important as
the second for the first part of the operation it is very useful for separating the
alcohol from the heavier bodies. No doubt the low temperature in the third
column is quite sufficient for the ether since it is volatilised at the ordinary
temperature. I conclude this first part of the operation by saying that the
alcohol is free from ether, for when they leave the middle column they pass
into the worm O and fall cold in the second column. The alcohol stops there
until the heat be sufficient to expel it; but the eather leaves first because it
does not require heat; it has reached some compartments when the alcohol
begins to rise. If any drops of alcohol are mingled with it they are separated
into the third column, which is built alike to the second column, and works
in the same way. In the apparatus existing at present, the lequid produced

page_text: at the close of the operation has a very bad taste, but it is a different flavour
from that produced in the beginning, because the nature of foreign bodies
is not the same. In the beginning it was ether, in the end it is the salts'
empyreumatic oil, from which we must extract the alcohol to have it without
any bad flavour. In the apparatus existing at present, the more the lequid
diminishes into the boiler the more the heat increases for the rest of this
lequid; therefore some bodies which are not volatile by nature are driven off
by the direct action of the heat, and fly off mingled with alcohol, to which
they communicate such a bad flavour; but let them fall into the second
column warmed by the low temperature of the lequid contained in the boiler.
Suppose some of them are yet sufficiently warmed to escape and fall into the
third column what will happen? The temperature is just sufficient there to
volatilise a body volatile by its nature, but those which are driven off by the
strength of the heat will remain there, and the only one volatile, that is to
say, the alcohol, will escape, for the ether has gone first. My improvement is
really based on the difference of density of the different bodies, and a suitable
temperature to the laws of their own density. With the apparatus now used,
all the different bodies contained into the boiler are warmed by the same tem-
perature, that it is the reason ether and alcohol fly off together; but instead of
passing out, with mine they fall into two lateral columns where a low tempera-
ture gives them time to obey the laws of their own density, and the ether, which
is so light as it escapes at the ordinary temperature, passes first, and after it
the alcohol. The remainder of the bodies contained in the boiler is not
volatile by nature, but driven off from the boiler by the strength of the heat,
it stops in the lateral columns where it does not find a heat sufficiently
powerful to force it off. I have proved the alcohol is quite free from foreign
bodies, I will now show how I extract the whole of the alcohol contained in
the boiler. The Excise admits four gallons per cent. lost of alcohol in the
remaining matter, no doubt it is a desideratum to obtain this alcohol without
any bad taste. For that purpose I put with the matter to be distilled such a
quantity of water estimated at one-tenth of the whole of the lequid. The
addition of this water has the double object of washing the matter to be
distilled, because, chemically speaking, the alcohol has a greater affinity for
water than for the foreign bodies with which it is mingled; and also this
addition is very useful, because without it there would not be enough lequid in
the boiler at the end of the operation to warm the lateral columns, which
work always by a water bath, that is to say, by the heat of the lequid con-
tained in the boiler, and not by the direct action of the steam, and this
addition therefore is calculated to cover the pipe of the steam till the whole

page_text: of spirit is escaped. Each of the two lateral columns has twelve compart-
ments alike to those of the middle column. I have not described the interior
of the compartments, because the modification which I propose applies
indifferently to every apparatus with columns. I notice that the three columns
communicate with each other; the middle one with the lateral one marked A,
through the pipe F and the worm O, and this second with the third one
marked C through the pipe G, and the worm B, which communicates with
two last worms marked E, K, from which the alcohol is received. The three
columns are built in such a proportion as to contain altogether the tenth part
of the boiler, and to work five thousands gallons in a period of twelve or
thirteen hours, and produce an alcohol of 93 or 94 degrees, Gay Lussac's
proof. Let us suppose some alcohol remains in the two lateral columns,
which are both plunged into the boiler one-third of its depth, and closed at
their base. A tap fixed to the lower end of each of the two columns
forms a communication between the columns and the boiler, and these taps,
designated on my plan R, S, are turned at the end of the operation to allow
.the remainder of the lequid to fall into the boiler, which is to be again distilled
-at a new operation. In my plans I retain as it is the middle column which
exists in the apparatus now used, for this reason the two lateral columns, as
-well as their own worms of my improvement, are represented smaller to form
:with the middle column such a proportion as to contain the tenth part of the
:lequid in the boiler.
In witness whereof, I, the said Emile Jaudeau, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
E. JAUDEAU. (L.S.)