Year: 1812

page_text: determine, and become void, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto
had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Spencer, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
as follows (that is to say) :-
My improvement upon the mode of making, altering, and setting up of
salt or other pans is, by attaching to any pan one or more boilers either to
the ends or sides of the pan, but the end furthest from the chimney or draft is
the most proper.
The boiler or boilers may be formed of any metal, but cast
iron metal is the most adviseable. These boilers may be formed of any size or
shape, according to the dimensions of the pan they are intended to be attached
to; for a pan of twelve or fourteen feet wide and twenty to thirty feet long, a
boiler of about three feet wide and five foot long, and the bottom of which
will descend about twelve to fourteen inches deeper than the bottom of the
pan, will be sufficient, or a boiler may be placed even with the bottom of the
pan, if thought proper. For a pan of larger dimensions, it will be requisite
to increase the size of the boiler; but in very extensive pans it will be proper
to have two (or more) boilers in order to divide the fire, and which two
boilers may be sufficient for pans of very large dimensions. The boiler should
be an oblong square, and a litter wider at the top than the bottom, in order
that the fire may act with some effect upon the sides as well as the bottom; its
front or side next the pan must be open, except about twelve or fourteen inches
from the bottom which is to descend below the bottom of the pan; a lip or ledge
is to be formed (in the carting of it) with small holes for rivets or other fastenings.
A plate of iron must be fitted to the boiler and the corresponding plates in the
pan bottom, the end of which must open so large as to admit the insertion of
the boiler, which must there be closely rivetted together. The fire bed must be
built underneath, agreeable to the shape of the boiler, with barrs and bearers
similar to any other boiler, and the frames and doors fitted as close as possible.
A back of fire brick or case metal may be placed at the end of the fire bed
occupying about one third of it, and ascending up to the bottom of the pan;
this will divide the body of the fire, and which will thence be carried under
the bottom of the whole pan to the drafts at the far end. Thus, the contents
of the pan and boiler will be boiled in the boiler only, in consequence of
the first effect acting upon the boiler or boilers. For a salt pan a cover or
lid of half inch board or any other proper material must be made to fit the
boiler and suspended floating on the surface of the brine; this will prevent
the salt from forming and falling into the boiler, which should not be per-

page_text: mitted. It would also be prudent to support the bottom of the pan upon iron
pillars instead of brick or other walls.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Spencer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirteen.