IMPROVED MEANS OF OR APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING AND PURIFYING A communication from WHISKEY AND OTHER SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marshall Mason Harris, of 21, Cockspur Street,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MEANS OF OR APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING AND PURIFYING
A communication from
WHISKEY AND OTHER SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS."–
-
abroad by John Stephen Oliver and Edward Harris, both of the
City of New York, in the County and State of New York, United
States of America.
Sealed the 9th June 1871, and dated the 21st April 1871.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Marshall Mason Harris
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 21st April 1871, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARSHALL
MASON HARRIS, of 21, Cockspur Street, Westminster, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
OF OR APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING AND PURIFYING WHISKEY AND OTHER SPIRITUOUS
LIQUORS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for

page_text: the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it has been com-
municated to me from abroad by John Stephen Oliver and Edward
Harris, both of the City of New York, in the County and State of
New York, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Marshall Mason Harris, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
scal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the
following statement :-
The presence of fusil oils or of vapours holding in suspension such
oils is that which imparts to whiskeys and other spirituous liquors all
or nearly all of their objectionable features, and hence the elimination
of these deleterious elements, without further change of the liquor or
in any way altering its puro and wholesome quality, is necessary in
order to improve it, as well as to render it innocuous as to its effects on
the human system. It is well known that in the mash as well as in high
wines as at present distilled there are certain baneful elements which
vapourize only at a high temperature of such degree as is attained in
the ordinary process of distilling. To effect in a practically available
manner the distillation of whiskeys and other spirituous liquors at a
low temperature, so as to avoid the vaporization of these baneful
elements, and to extract from the distilled liquor the noxious vapours
or gases, at the same time preserving the beneficial properties and
flavours of the cereals and liquors or materials operated upon, are the
objects of this Invention.
The Invention consists in the distilling of whiskey and other
spirituous liquors in a vacuum by means of a still or vacuum pan
which it is preferred to heat by steam (though it may be heated by
a fire or other means), such still or vacuum pan being provided with
a goose neck (which by preference is passed through a supply tank
for supplying the still so that the heat from the liquor which passes
through the goose neck may heat the contents of the supply tank and
thus feed the still with partially heated liquor or material). This goose
neck has a worm condenser connected with it, and is provided with a
tube (which should be of glass, though it might possibly bo made of
other material) through which communication is established with a
principal vacuum receiving chamber fitted with concavo-convex plates,
(which it is preferred should be corrugated), or instead of these

page_text: concavo-convex plates a number of inclined shelves may be used, the
object being to effectually and completely accomplish the disengage-
ment from the distilled liquor of any noxious vapours or gases, which
perchance may have been before vapourized and passed over with the
pure spirit, in such manner that the liquid will run down each onc
successively, and thus be spread over a considerable surface so that
the
gases, if any have been distilled over, may more readily disengage
themselves. This principal vacuum receiving chamber is heated when
required, and this may be accomplished cither by a steam jacket, or,
as is more generally preferred and as shown in the Drawings, by a
steam worm pipe passing through it or by a central steam pipe or
chamber contained therein. The principal vacuum receiving chamber
communicates with a secondary vacuum receiving chamber, from
whence the pure liquor is drawn off at any time without disturbing
the vacuum in the rest of the apparatus. For working the apparatus
a liquor pump, an air pump, tanks for distilled water and impurities,
steam boiler and fittings are provided. The above is a description
of the nature and general construction of the said Invention, and in
order to particularly describe in what manner the said Invention is
to be performed or put in practice, I will now proceed to describe
the construction of my apparatus by reference to the Drawings which
accompany these presents by the words, figures, and letters placed
thereon and herein referred to, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
A is a still or vacuum pan; B is a heater or supply tank; C is a
condenser or worm tub; D is the principal receiver; E is a secondary
receiver communicating with D and from whence the liquor is drawn
off at cock g; F is the steam chamber; G is a steam boiler; H is an
air or vacuum pump; J is a heater to feed boiler with bot water; K is
a tank for distilled water; L is a tank for the impurities; « are ther-
mometers; is a vacuum guage; c are liquor guages; d is a steam
guage; e arc globe valves; ƒ is a supply cock; g* are faucets; h is
a safety valve; i is the air pipe through which the air is drawn from
the apparatus by means of the pump I; k is a steam pipe; is the
exhaust steam pipe; m denotes pipes conveying steam from boiler to
heat the liquor in the still or vacuum pan to supply the worm passing
round the receiver D and also to drive the liquor pump J; n is a pipe
by which the liquor is conveyed into the heater or supply tank; o is

page_text: a pipe by which the still is charged from the supply tank; p is a pipo
to convey away water as it condenses in the worm; g
is a goose neck
and pipe through which the steam of the liquor passes from the still
or vacuum pan into the condenser C; r is a pipe through which the
impuritics pass from the still into the tank L; s is a tube of glass
attached to the worm so that the liquor may be seen running into the
receiver D; t, t, t, (Fig 2) are concavo-convex plates (corrugated) over
which the condensed liquor flows in a thin steam; ", u, u, represents the
worm by which the receiver is heated to any required temperature;.
v, t, t, represents barrels of liquor ready for pumping into the supply
tank B.
A modus operandi of this apparatus as illustrated in the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings is as follows:-Get up the steam in the
boiler G, and when the steam guage d shows the pressure of 40 pounds
start the liquor pump J and pump the liquor from the barrels o, u, v,
into the supply tank B, then open the supply cock and let the
liquor flow into the still or vacuum; pan A, then shut off your supply
cock and refill your heater or supply tank B with more liquor if
it be desired to make a second run; then let steam gradually into the
steam chamber F and into the worm in the principal vacuum receiver
D, graduating the steam entering into the worm in the receiver D
so that the required temperature is maintained, which thermometer a
in receiver D will show the temperature required is variable according
to the liquor you may be treating or re-distilling. Now set your
vacuum pump H in motion, and in a few minutes you will have reduced
the pressure of the atmosphere within the entire apparatus proper
from 15 pounds to the square inch to about 1 pound to the square
inch as the vacuum guage will show, namely, from still A, the goose
neck and pipe 9, 4, 7, the worm in the condenser C, the glass tubes, and
the receivers D and E. The heater and supply tank B is at no time
under vacuo, the pipe q as shown in the Drawing merely passing
through it, the object of which is to partially heat the liquor in B by
means of the spirit vapour as it passes on its way into the condenser C,
and thereby save time in bringing the second charge to the boiling
point. When the thermometer a in the still A rises to about 90 degress
Fahrenheit vapourization commences, and the distilled liquor is seen
running down through the glass tube 8, and thence flows over a series
of concavo-convex plates (corrugated) t, t, t, running over each in a
thiu stream, until it roaches the bottom of the receiver D, and is from
+

page_text: time to time drawn off at the cock g in the small receiver E, which is
connected by a pipe with the principal receiver D. When all the
spirit is distilled over, which you ascertain by means of an hydrometer,
you shut off your steam, stop the pump, and admit the atmosphere
into the apparatus, and all the impurities left behind in the still A are
drawn off through the piper into the tank L. If the pure spirit when
drawn off from receiver E shows by the hydrometer too high a degree
it can be reduced by the addition of distilled water, a plentiful supply
of which can always be procured from the tank K which receives
the condensed steam used for heating the charge under treatment in the
still A.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed
or put in practice, I hereby declare that I claim as the Invention
secured by the said Letters Patent,―
1. The means and apparatus for distilling and purifying whiskeys
and other spirituous liquors in vacuo herein-before set forth.
2. And specially the combination of apparatus comprising as
important constituents the still or vacuum pan with the goose neck
arrangements and tube (which should be of glass) communicating
with the principal vacuum receiver with its concavo-convex plates
which should be corrugated or the shelves substituted for the same
and the secondary vacuum receiver as herein-before mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marshall Mason Harris, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twentieth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
Witness,
MARSHALL M. HARRIS. (L.S.)
THOMAS MORGAN,
Secretary,
Inventors' Patent Right Association, Limited,
21, Cockspur Street,
Charing Cross.