IMPROVEMENTS IN EVAPORATING PANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SALT
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Corbett, of Stoke Works, near Bromsgrove, in
the County of Worcester, Salt Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IM-
P119
AD
Sealed the 17th October 1860, and dated the 8th May 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Corbett at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th May
1860.
I, JOHN CORBETT, of Stoke Works, near Bromsgrove, in the County of
Worcester, Salt Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN EVAPORATING PANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE
OF SALT," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in making pans for manufacturing salt, of
plates of cast iron, having flanges, by means of which the said plates are
screwed or bolted together. Salt pans are usually made of plates of wrought
iron rivetted together; by the expansion and contraction of the said plates
the rivets are loosened and the brine escapes. By making salt pans of plates
of cast iron screwed or bolted together by means of flanges, the leaking of the
bottom of the pan is prevented. I prefer to insert cement or other packing
between the flanges.
My Invention consists, secondly, in making a pocket or trough in the
interior of the salt pan into which the salt can be raked, as it falls to the

page_text: bottom of the pan. The said pocket or trough is made by a ridge or convexity
in the bottom of the pan. The said ridge or convexity rises to a height equal
to about one half the depth of the pan, and is situated about a foot from
the sides of the pan. The said ridge runs all round the pan, and forms a
pocket or trough with the sides of the pan. The bottom of the said pocket
or trough communicates by means of holes with the body of the pan, so that
when the salt is raked into the said pocket, the liquid may drain from it back
into the pan.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Corbett, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CORBETT, of Stoke Works, near Bromsgrove, in the County of Worcester, Salt
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing dato the Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Corbett, Her special licence that I, the said John Corbett, my executors
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Corbett, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN EVAPORATING
PANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SALT," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Corbett, 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 John Corbett, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:-

page_text: My Invention consists, firstly, in making evaporating pans, for the manu-
facture of salt, of plates of cast iron, having flanges, planed or otherwise made
smooth, by means of which flanges the said plates are screwed or bolted together
as herein-after described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings. Salt
pans are usually made of plates of wrought iron rivetted together; by the
expansion and contraction of the said plates of wrought iron, the rivets are
loosened and the brine escapes. By making salt pans of plates of cast iron
screwed or bolted together by means of planed flanges according to my Inven-
tion the leaking of the bottom of the pan is prevented.
I will describe and illustrate this part of my Invention, as well as tho
second part of my Invention herein-after explained with reference to the
accompanying Drawings.
Figure 1 represents in end elevation (with the end plates removed) an
evaporating pan with a single bottom made according to my. Invention,
the said pan being heated by the direct action of steam under it, such stcan
being generated in boilers apart from the pans or otherwise; Figure 2
represents a transverse vertical section of the same, taken through the
middle of the pan; Figure 3 represents an end elevation of the same,
and Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the same, or a section taken through
the longest direction of the pan, the said section being taken through tho
middle of the pan. In Figure 4, portions of the pan are omitted as indicated
by the broken lines.
Figuro 5 represents an end elevation (with the end plates removed) of
another evaporating pan having a double bottom, made according to my Inven-
tion; the upper bottom of the said pan being heated by steam, as herein-after
explained, but with tho flame or heated air passing under the lower bottom.
Figure 6 represents a transverse vertical section of the same, taken through
the middle of the pan. Figure 7 represents an end elevation of the same,
and Figure 8 a longitudinal vertical section of the same, taken through the
middle of the pan, portions of the said pan being omitted as indicated by
the broken lines. The same letters indicate the same parts in the several
Figures of the Drawings.
b
a, a, a, are the cast-iron plates, each of the said plates being provided with a
flange marked b; the said flanges 6 being screwed or bolted together by tho
bolts and nuts marked c. Cement or other packing may be inserted between
the flanges to make them water or steam-tight. I prefer to make the cast-
iron plates of one uniform size, but do not limit myself thereto, and the holes
in the flanges for the bolts to pass through may be made during the casting of
the plates, or otherwise. The bottom d of the pan has the bulged figure repre-

page_text: sented; the said bottom gradually rises in every direction, that is to say, from
both ends and sides of the pan to the middle of the pan.
In Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, the steam space or chamber into which steam is
admitted for heating the pan is marked e, tho said steam space or chamber
being formed of the cast-iron plates à in the manner represented in tho
Drawings.
My Invention consists, secondly, in making a pocket or trough in the inte-
rior of the salt pan, into which the salt can be raked as it falls to the bottom
of the pan. The said pocket or trough is made by a ridge, convexity, or bridgo
plate at the bottom of the pan, the said ridge or plate rising nearly to the top
of the pan, and being situated about a foot from the sides of the said pan. The
ridge or bridge plate may run all round the pan, or on two sides only, thereby
forming either a trough or pocket all round the pan or on two sides only
of the pan. In the pans represented in the accompanying Drawings the
pockets or troughs are made on the longer sides only of the pans; f,f, are
the ridges or bridge plates secured in the manner represented to the bottom
of the pan. The vertical or external sides of the said ridges or plates form
Near the
with the vertical sides 9 of the pan, troughs or pockets marked h.
bottom of the said pockets h, perforated plates i (one of which is shewn
separately, in Figure 12) are situated through the perforations in which plates
the brine passes when the salt is raked from the pan over the bridge plates f,
into the said pockets. The brine accumulating at the bottom of the pockets
passes by pipes, not shewn in the Drawings, to the body of the pan to
be evaporated. In order to provide for the expansion and contraction of the
plates forming the bottom of the pan, I join the plates in the middle of the
pan in the manner represented in vertical section on a large scale in
Figure 9 of the Drawings. The ends or flanges of the plates to be joined
together are shaped in the manner represented, so that when placed one upon
the other they lock or engage together, leaving a space between them at k,
which space is filled with india-rubber or other packing l. The under face of the
upper plate m, Figure 9, is represented in Figure 10; and the upper face of the
lower plate n, Figure 9, is represented in Figure 11. The ends of the plates
n and mare bolted together by the pins or bolts p, six or more in number,
the lower ends of which pins work in the slots q, in the lower plate n, and the
upper ends of the said bolts are fixed in the holes q² with cotters or otherwise
in the upper plate m; the lower plate n is secured to the plate m by the
nuts r. The relative position of the plates m and n represented is that of their
most expanded state. By the contraction of the plates m and n the packing l
is compressed, the pins p sliding in the slots q.

page_text: Although I have described and represented the pockets or troughs applied to
evaporating pans made according to the first part of my Invention, namely, by
the use of cast iron plates bolted together by flanges on the said plates, yet the
said pockets or troughs may be applied to evaporating pans made in any other
convenient manner.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention,―
Firstly, the improvement in evaporating pans, for the manufacture of salt,
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say, making the said pans of plates of cast iron instead of wrought iron as
heretofore, the said cast-iron plates having flanges made upon them by which
flanges the said plates are screwed or bolted together.
Secondly, the improvement in evaporating pans for the manufacture of salt
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say, applying to evaporating pans a pocket or trough into which the salt can
be raked as it falls to the bottom of the pan, the said pocket or trough
running all round the pan, or on two sides only of the pan, and having com-
munication with the body of the pan, to convey the hot brine drained from the
salt in such pocket to the body of the said
pan.
Thirdly, the improvement in the bulged bottom of the pan, as shown in the
Drawings, that is to say, the gradual rise in every direction from both ends
and sides to the middle of the pan, and this improvement I claim as applicable
not only to cast-iron pans, but to pans made of wrought iron, or any other
material.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Corbett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
H. H. MURDOCK.
JOHN CORBETT. (L.S.)