A. CERTAIN IMPROVED FORM OF APPA- RATUS FOR THE DISTILLATION AND RECTIFICATION OF SPIRITS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,. MELCHER
GARNER TODD, of the Island of Saint Lucia, send greeting.
WHEREAS-Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
ninster, the Fourteenth day of January, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant- unto me, the said
Melcher Garner Todd, Her special licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, -the said Melcher Garner Todd, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Melcher Garner Todd, ny exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and -no others, from- time to- time
and at all times during the term of. years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations. abroad, my Invention of "A. CERTAIN IMPROVED FORM OF APPA-
RATUS FOR THE DISTILLATION AND RECTIFICATION OF SPIRITS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Melcher Garner Todd,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next. and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Melcher Garner Todd, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, 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 Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Improved Form of Apparatus for the Distilling and Rectification of
Spirits consists in so disposing of the distillatory apparatus that two distinct and
separate distillations are effected at one time, and by the agency of one fire.
Figure 1 is an elevation of one side of my improved still, and Figure 2 an
elevation of the other side. Figure 3 is an end elevation, and Figure 4 a plan.
The same letters of reference are used in all these Figures to denote the same
parts. a is the body of the still; b, its neck, passing through a large reservoir c,
in which the wash is contained before it is admitted into the still a; d is the
neck of the still from which the spirituous vapour is conveyed through the pipe
f(shewn in the Figure in dotted lines) into the rectifier e, formed by a partition
x, out of the reservoir c; 9 is the neck of this rectifier through which the
vapour passes into the worm h; y is a cock for drawing off the lees after each
distillation; and k is a cock for the purpose of admitting fresh wash into the
still; q is a cock to the rectifier e; j is a plughole in the reservoir c; and l, a
man-hole surmounted by a neck z, which conducts the vapour from the vessel c
through the pipe n into the rectifier m. From this rectifier m proceeds a
neck o, conducting the uncondensed vapour into the worm p. By the action
of the fire upon the bottom of the still a its contents become heated, and the
evaporated portion passing through the neck of the still 6 becomes, partly con-
densed and runs back into the still a, affecting by its condensation the heating
of the wash in, the reservoir c. The condensed vapour is conducted through
the neck d and the pipe finto the rectifier e, where another. portion of its
aqueous vapour is abstracted, and a spirit of great purity is obtained in the
worm h.. It has been already remarked that the wash in, the reservoir c
becomes heated by the passage through it of the neck of the still 6; it also
receives an accession of heat from the condensation which takes place in the
rectifier e. This gentle heat causes a very pure and alcholic spirit to rise
from the wash in the reservoir, which is conveyed through the parts z, n,
into the rectifier m, and thence through the neck o to the worm p. The fire
chamber under the still a is provided with lateral openings furnished with
dampers, to enable the distiller to allow a portion of the heat of the furnace to

page_text: play upon the projecting bottom of the reservoir c. In this case it is advisable
to shut off this heat immediately distillation commences, as it will be supplied.
in sufficient quantity by the still and rectifiers during the remainder of the
process. The reservoir c is calculated to contain, after deducting the space.
occupied by the vessels therein, two hundred and sixty gallons, old wine.
The still a contains two hundred gallons, the rectifier m fifty-four.
gallons, and the rectifier e forty-eight gallons. The proportion of the vessels
here given are those which I find convenient in practice.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect; I desire it to be understood that what I claim.
under this Patent,-
First, the arrangement and disposition of the still and wash reservoir, by;
which the naked fire may be applied to those vessels in their combined state,
or to the still alone.
Secondly, the peculiar combination of vessels described, by which two
distinct distillations and rectifications are conducted with one fire, and their
separate products obtained.
In witness that this is a true Specification of my aforesaid Invention,
I, the said Melcher Garner Todd, have hereunto set my haud seal,
this Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-one.

page_text: Her Majesty's Chief Justice of the Island of Saint Lucia, in the West Indies;
and this Deponent further saith, that the name or signature "John Reddie,".
with the addition of "Chief Justice," set, subscribed, and written upon or
endorsed 'in the margin of the Specification.marked A, hereunto annexed, and
dated the Seventeenth day of March now last past, and purporting to be
acknowledged by Melcher Garnier Todd, of the said Island of Saint Lucia,
before the said John Reddie, on the said 'Seventeenth day of March, at
Castries, in the said Island of Saint Lucia, is of the proper handwriting of the
said John Reddie; and that the said. John Reddie, at the time of setting and
subscribing his name to the said Specification, in manner above stated, was and
now is, to the best of the knowledge and belief of this Deponent, the Chief
Justice acting in and for the said Island of Saint Lucia.