AN IMPROVEMENT IN CERTAIN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING A PORTION OF AQUEOUS VAPOUR FROM THE VAPOUR OF ALCOHOL IN THE PROCESS OF DISTILLING AND RECTIFYING SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSHUA
TAYLOR BEALE, of Church Lane, Whitechapel, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato
at Westminster, the thirtieth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-one, in the first year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Joshua Taylor Beale, His especial licence, that I, the said Joshua Taylor
Beale, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Joshua
Taylor Beale, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in
all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention
of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CERTAIN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING A PORTION OF
AQUEOUS VAPOUR FROM THE VAPOUR OF ALCOHOL IN THE PROCESS OF DISTILLING
AND RECTIFYING SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, that I, the said Joshua Taylor Beale, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Joshua Taylor Beale, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of my Invention is an improved mode of separating a portion of
the aqueous particles from the spirituous vapour arising in the ordinary
process of distillation and rectification so as to produce a spirit of great
strength at one operation, and that without the necessity of continually
watching and regulating the temperature of the condensing bath or baths
which are used with the same intention in other apparatus. This improve-
ment I effect by the use of certain fluids, whose nature and property it is,
when subjected to heat under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, to boil
at temperatures lower than that of boiling water, or otherwise by the use of
water from which the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere is partially
removed, which fluids or some one of them are or is contained in apparatus,
herein-after described, so arranged that the spirituous vapour which arises
from tho still will be brought into contact with such apparatus, and some
portion of the watery particles which the vapour contains will be condensed
by the lower temperaturo of the fluid media, and will return into the still
while the more spirituous portion, which requires a yet lower degree of heat
for its condensation, will pass onward to the worm in the refrigerator. With
respect to the fluids proper to be employed as media for effecting the partial
condensation, I do not pretend to furnish any list of them, but will state
generally that mixtures of alcohol or ardent spirit with water are capable of
boiling at or within a certain range of temperatures, the particular degree of
heat depending upon the greater or less proportion of ardent spirit which the
mixture contains, but all will boil at a lower heat than water and will therefore
be suitable for the accomplishment of my improvement. The fluids known in
commerce and the arts as pyroxylic spirit and pyroacetic spirit have also
this property of boiling at lower temperatures than water, and these fluids aro
consequently qualified for the condensation of a portion of the aqueous vapour.
arising in distillation and rectification. The choice of such fluid, or the pro-
portion wherein alcohol and water are brought together to form the condensing
medium, must depend upon the degree of strength at which it is desired to
procure the spirit which is the subject of distillation or rectification, it being
well known that the lower the degree of heat which, within certain limits, is
given to any condensing surface with which the vapour is brought in contact.

page_text: the greater will be the proportion of watery vapour condensed, and con-
sequently the stronger will be the spirit obtained; other fluids may be made
to answer the purpose by subjecting them to pressure in the vessels wherein
they are contained, and by that means enabling those fluids to indicate degrees
of temperature greater than their natural point of boiling. It is also prac-
ticable to employ water and other fluids boiling at higher temperatures for
the same purpose, causing it to boil at a degree of heat lower than its
customary boiling point by partially removing the pressure of the atmosphere
from the vessels wherein it is contained by means of an air pump or by any
other well known means. But I consider that by a mixture of spirit with
water in various proportions, or by the use of some one of the other fluids
above named, condensing baths may be provided which will answer practically
for the production of spirit of a considerable degree of strength, and it is
evident that by the use of such fluid condensing media uniform temperatures
will be maintained without reference to the management of the operator, and
unless a great degree of carelessness or want of skill were exhibited on his part.
Now the mode in which my said improvement may be carried into effect will
be understood from an inspection of the annexed Drawing, and from the
following description of the same:-A is the body of a still set in brick-
work in the usual manner; B, B, is a vessel placed on and connected with
the top of the still, and containing C, C, C, one, two, three or more pipes,
the number and size of which may be varied according as a greater or less
amount of condensing surface is required. These pipes, which are closed
at their bottoms, open at their upper ends into another chamber D, which
has no communication with the chamber or vessel B, B.
The pipes
C, C, C, are to be filled with some one of the fluid condensing media
before described, and these pipes are so disposed that the vapour rising
from the body of the still will be brought into contact with their exterior sur-
faces, and at first the whole of this vapour will be condensed, and returned
into the still. When, however, by the continued application in this manner
of heated vapour the temperature of the fluid condensing medium shall be
sufficiently raised, the more spirituous portion of the vapour will pass
onward to the worm, and when the condensing medium has attained its
maximum temperature and is brought to boil, its condensing power will be
so regulated and exerted that only such more spirituous portion of the vapour
arising from the still will pass as will retain its vaporous form at a tempera-
ture equal to the boiling point of the fluid condensing medium, while that
weaker portion which requires a higher heat to retain it in the vaporous for:n
will be condeused, and returned to the body of the still. E is the neck of the

page_text: still, issuing from the vessel B, B, and connected in the usual manner with
F, F. an ordinary worm and refrigerator. G is a pipe connecting the cham-
ber D with a condenser H, which may be made of any convenient form or
construction; that here shown is a metal box or chamber into which the
vapour from the pipes and chamber C, C, and D is admitted. I, I, I, &c.
are pipes passing completely through, and occupying part of the area of the
condenser II, being of course rendered water-tight at their points of junction
with the same; and these pipes being open at their ends will allow the access
to their inner surfaces of the water contained in the upper part of the worm
tub, and thus present a very considerable condensing surface. The water
thus brought into contact with the condenser H, and its pipes I, I, should
never in any case be allowed to acquire a higher temperature than one
hundred and forty degrees of Fahrenheit's scale. The office of this part of
the apparatus is to condense the vapour which is given off from the pipes
C, C, C, by the fluid condensing medium, and which vapour being so con-
densed in the condensing chamber II, may be returned again in the liquid
state by the pipe J to the chamber D, and thence again to the pipes C, C;
so that a sufficient supply of the fluid condensing medium may always be
present in those pipes, the pipe J is furnished with a cock K, by means of
which the return of such fluid may be regulated or prevented if required.
1. is an upright pipe to allow of the expulsion of the atmospheric air from the
condenser H; this pipe is also furnished with a cock M, by closing which
the fluid condensing medium in the pipes C, C, may be subjected to a slight
degree of pressure, under which circumstance such medium may be made to
acquire a degree of heat higher than its boiling point under the ordinary
ntmospheric pressure. N is a cock by means of which the fluid medium may
in whole or in part be drawn off from the condenser II, when the cock K is
closed, as in certain cases may be desirable. Now the particular form and
arrangement of the apparatus to be employed are not material, provided they
are such as to allow vapour from the still to come in contact with vessels
containing some one of the fluid condensing media before described; and
provided also, that means are adopted for condensing and returning or other-
wise supplying to such last-mentioned vessels that portion of the fluid con-
densing medium which will be vapourized in the act of condensing a portion
of the aqueous part of the vapour arising from the body of the still in distil-
lation and rectification. I do not claim any exclusive right to the employment
of fluid baths baving regulated degrees of temperature, but I do claim as my
Juvention and improvement the use and application of such fluid media as
have the property of boiling at a temperature lower than water when employed

page_text: for separating a portion of the acqueous from the alcoholic vapours in the distil-
lation and rectification of ardent spirits. And I further claim as my exclusive
right the employment of water and other fluids boiling at a higher tempera-
ture for the same purpose, whenever by the partial removal of the pressure of
the atmosphere from their surfaces the boiling point is reduced so as to give
to those fluids a condensing effect similar to that which may be obtained from
the employment of the fluid condensing media above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Taylor Beale, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one