AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Wallace, of No. 20, College Square East,
Belfast, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS
FOR DISTILLING ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS,"
Sealed the 22nd December 1869, and dated the 8th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Wallace at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th October 1869.
I, JOSEPH WALLACE, of No. 20, College Square East, Belfast, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS," to
follows:-
The object of my Invention is to economize fuel by using the waste
heat, arising with the distilled vapour in stills, to heat the wash in its
passage to the still. To this end 1 cause the wash to pass in a circuitous
direction through pipes or hollow discs or narrow hollow partitions placed
in the still head or in the condenser. The hot vapour evolved from the
wash in the still will come in contact with the cool sides of the tubes,
discs, or hollow chambers, and will heat the wash that is passing through
[Price 8.1

page_text: so that instead of supplying this wash to the still in a nearly cold state
it may be brought nearly to the boiling point before it reaches the still.
It will of course be understood that the hollow discs or partitions must
be connected together by pipes, so that there will be a continuous flow
of liquid through them. When the nearly boiling wash is discharged
from the exit aperture of the heating discs it will fall on to a corrugated
and perforated plate with a hollow well in the centre. By this means
the heated wash will be subdivided and dispersed before reaching the
bottom of the still, which is to be kept with only a thin layer of wash
at the bottom, the spent wash being carried off by a self-regulating ball
and cock, a syphon cock or other equivalent device, so that the distilling
operation will be continuous. Instead of conducting the wash through
hollow discs, partitions, or serpentine tubes, it may be passed through
a jacket made to surround the still head.
Various other devices for utilizing the waste heat from the heated
vapours by bringing them in contact with the cool surfaces of the wash
passages will readily suggest themselves; for instance, the passages (of
whatever form they may be) for the conveyance of the wash to the still
may be placed in a separate vessel distinct from the still, or they may be
placed in the body of the still itself.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Wallace in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WALLACE, of No. 20, College Square East, Belfast, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Joseph Wallace, Her special licence that I,
the said Joseph Wallace, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Joseph Wallace, 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,

page_text: 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 IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS
FOR DISTILLING ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Joseph Wallace, 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 Joseph Wallace, 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
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say)-
The object of my Invention of an improved method of and apparatus
for distilling alcoholic liquors is to economize fuel by using the waste heat.
(arising with the distilled vapours in stills) to heat the wash in its
passage to the still. To this end I cause the wash to pass in a circuitous
direction through pipes or hollow discs or narrow hollow partitions
placed in the still head, or in the condenser, or in an intermediate
vessel.
In the accompanying Drawings I have shewn various arrangements
of apparatus for effecting this object.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of an apparatus in which the wash in
passing to the still is conducted through a series of pipes or tubes
arranged in the still head. a is the reservoir containing the cold wash,
which is conducted to a chamber b in the condenser c. From this chamber
6 the wash rises through a valve o' (which is governed by a float) and
enters the upper chamber of the condenser in which is the condensing
worm c. When the wash has risen in the condenser so as to cover the
worm c³ it will run off through a pipe d into a coil of pipes d' in the still
head, shewn also in sectional plan view at Fig. 1a. The hot vapour
evolved from the wash in the still e will come in contact with the cool
sides of these tubes and will heat the wash that is passing through them,
so that instead of supplying the wash to the still e in a nearly cold state

page_text: It may be brought nearly to the boiling point berore it reaches the still.
The cold wash in its passage through the condenser will cool and
condense the alcoholic vapour in the worm in the condenser, and the
alcoholic spirit thus obtained will be drawn off by the cock c³, or it may
be carried through another worm c' which is surrounded by cold water
in the lower part of the condenser. When the nearly boiling wash is
discharged from the exit aperture of the heating pipes d it will fall on to
a corrugated and perforated plate f with a hollow well or depression in
the centre.
From this plate f the wash will fall on to a shelf g, and by
this means the heated wash will be subdivided and dispersed before
reaching the bottom of the still, which is to be kept with only a thin
layer of wash at the bottom. The spent wash will be carried off by a
self-regulating apparatus contained in the vessel h, or by a ball and
cock, or a syphon cock, or other equivalent device, so that the distilling
operation will be continuous. Instead of conducting the wash through
serpentine tubes d', as shown in Fig. 1, it may be conducted to hollow
discs or partitions, as shewn in the sectional views, Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5,
or the cold wash may be passed through a jacket made to surround the
still head, as shewn at Figures 6 and 7.
Various other devices for utilizing the waste heat from the heated
vapours by bringing them in contact with the cool surfaces of the wash
passages will readily suggest themselves, for instance, the passages (of what-
ever form they may be) for the conveyance of the wash to the still may
be placed in a separate vessel distinct from the still, or they may be
placed in the body of the still itselt.
In order more effectually to bring the heated alcoholic vapours in
contact with the cooler surfaces of the tubes hollow discs or partitions
containing the wash the discs or partitions are arranged in such a
manner as to oblige the alcoholic vapours to pass up in a zig-zag or
serpentine direction, as indicated by the arrows in the Drawing. I have
found this operation of bringing the alcoholic vapours into contact
with cooling surfaces in the manner above explained (and thereby
causing them to pass in a zig-zag or serpentine course in contradistinction
to a direct or nearly straight course to the condenser) has a very bene-
ficial effect on the spirit, as it improves its quality by causing it to deposit
in the still head the fusel or empyreumatic oil which comes over with
the alcohol, and is in fact a noxious and deleterious, if not absolutely
poisonous, substance. In Figures 1 and 5 the vapour will impinge

page_text: against the under sides of the discs where the fusel oil and other dele-
terious matters will be condensed and will drop on to the shelves below
and will be drawn off through the pipes i, i, leaving the pure alcoholic
vapour to pass off to the condenser.
Having now described my Invention of "An Improved Method of and
Apparatus for Distilling Alcoholic Liquors," and having explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured
to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the apparatus herein set forth, or
any mere modification thereof, in which the alcoholic vapours arising from
the still are caused to pass in a zig-zag, serpentine, or circuitous direction
to the condenser, and in so doing are brought into contact with or caused
to impinge against the cooling surfaces of horizontal discs, or tubes, or
hollow partitions, or against the sides of vertical partitions, or an
enveloping jacket, as herein set forth, which hollow discs, tubes, or
partitions, or enveloping jacket form the passage or passages for the
wash from the reservoir to the still, the whole being so arranged that
the heated alcoholic vapours will in their passage to the condenser heat
the wash and thereby economize the waste heat, while the cooler surfaces
of the discs, tubes, or partitions will cause the alcoholic vapours to
deposit some of the condensable noxious matters contained therein,
and which will be thereby separated from the alcohol, as herein set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Wallace, have hereunto set
hand and seal, the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
my
One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
JOSEPH WALLACE. (L.S.)