MAKING. AND ALTERING SALT PANS ON AN IMPROVED PRINCIPLE
Year: 1815

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
РUGH, of Over, in the Parish of Whitegate, in the County of Chester, Salt.
Proprietor, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of May,
in the fifty-fifth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said John Pugh,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Pugh, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention for "MAKING.
AND ALTERING SALT PANS ON AN IMPROVED PRINCIPLE;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said John Pugh, shall not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void,
as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and
at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the above proviso, I, the said
John Pugh, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in which manner the same is to be performed, are particularly described
as follows (that is to say):-
The rims of the salt pans are to be made in the usual manner; those parts
of the pan bottoms which are immediately above or over the centre of the fires,
are to be lowered and sunk about a foot more or less from the front rim in an
oval, circular, oblong, square, or any other form as I think proper to be so
lowered, that the lowest part be twelve inches, more or less, according to the
size of the pans, deeper than the general level of the bottoms of the pans, and
the bottom of the lowered part to be either flat or rounded. The whole of the
before-mentioned sunk or lowered parts are to be made of cast-iron, wrought-
iron, copper, or any other metal as I think proper, or the sides may be made of
one kind of metal, and the bottoms of another kind. If cast-iron or copper be
used, the sides and bottoms should in that case be cast seperately, the upper
and lower part of the sides to have flanges of about six inches broad, more or less,
with holes either cast or drilled to admit screws or rivets, by which they are to
be joined or fastened to the adjacent level parts of the pans when the oblong
square form with rounded bottoms is adopted, (which is the best form) for
a pan of one thousand feet measurement, with four fires! The following
dimensions of the lowered or sunk parts as before described will be sufficient
length, or conjugate diameter five feet, breadth or transverse:diameter two feet
and a half depth of the centre one foot, and so fin proportion't forka: panor
pans of greater or lesser size; and also in proportion to: the number of fires
used under them, and according to the kind of salt to be manufactured. The
fore part of the pan or pans should have lids or covers' made of wood oryother
light materials, more or less in:-number, according to the width of the? pån
which are to cover the surface of the brine from one side of the pan to the
other. As far as the before-mentioned sunk or lowered parts extend, these
lids or covers should-be hung by hinges-on-a strong rod of iron, reaching entirely
across the fore part of the pan and resting on the side rims, the front part of
the lids or covers resting upon the front rim, which lids or covers should be made
to draw up. and down by means of ropes and pullies fastened to the timbers-in
the panhouse roof; or they may be suspended by means of ropes and pullies
fastened to the roof of the panhouse, so that they maybe raised up or let
⚫ down upon the rims of the pan and the transverse iron rod before mentioned:
A drop board of thin wood or other-light materials should also be affixed to the
back part of the lids or covers with hinges or otherwise, so as to admit of it
being moved up or down according as it is found necessary to confine the-heat

page_text: pans
in the brine over the fires; and to accelerate the boiling pans made on this
principle and construction, will allow of the fire grates being made considerably
shorter and narrower than those in ordinary use, and by the parts of the
over the fires being sunk lower than the rest of the pan bottom, a sufficient
quantity of brine will be contained when little or none is left to cover the other
parts; thus a much greater and more permanent degree of heat can be applied
with considerable less fuel, and without the risk of burning the pan bottoms,
an occurrence very frequent in the common way of making pans; of course
there will be a very considerable saving of expence in the articles of coals, iron,
and labour, as less coals, less iron, and repairs will be wanted by the adop-
tion of my Invention. The advantages arising from the lids or covers are as
follow:-By preventing evaporation over the fires, a much greater or more
intense degree of heat is caused to accumulate in the adjacent brine, which
producing a current, propels the salt forward into the pan, and prevents the
deposition of it over the fires, which would soon prove destructive to the pan
bottom. The heat also by being confined and becoming more intense, will con-
sequently be more rapidly and more equally diffused throughout the whole
contents of the pan, by which means greater quantities of salt and of a
superior crystalization and quality will be made than in pans of the ordinary
construction.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Pugh, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One