IMPROVEMENTS IN CONDENSATION AND REFRIGERATION OF VAPOURS AND FLUIDS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Harman Barth, of No. 6, Highfield Villas,
York Road, Parish of St. Pancras, County of Middlesex, Operative
Chymist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONDENSATION AND
REFRIGERATION OF VAPOURS AND FLUIDS,"
Sealed the 25th August 1865, and dated the 1st March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Harman Barth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st March 1865.
I, GEORGE HARMAN BARTH, of No. 6, Highfield Villas, York Road, Parish
of St. Pancras, County of Middlesex, Operative Chymist, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONDENSATION AND
REFRIGERATION OF VAPOURS AND FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
The object of the Invention is to enable air to be employed instead of
water for condensing vapour in the process of distillation, and also for the
refrigeration or cooling of fluids. The method of accomplishing this is by
making a chamber into which the vapour or fluid is admitted and caused to
[Price 8d.]

page_text: traverse a series of platforms betwixt which are rows of tubes which are
kept cooled by rapid currents of air passing through them fron a wind chest,
into which it is forced by a blowing fan, machine, or bellows, or other adequate
apparatus. Any form of condensing chamber and tubes, and any method of
forcing currents of air through the tubes may be employed, but it is important
especially that the chamber be narrow and the tubes short that the air may
pass through the tubes rapidly. When very rapid cooling is required the
refrigerating power of the air may be increased by inoistening it, moist air
being a better conductor of heat than dry air; this may be done by allowing
small drops of water to fall from a perforated tube within the wind chest
across or in a perpendicular line with the orifices of the air tubes; the water
is dispersed by being blown through the tubes in a state of minute division,
and thus moistens the air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Harman Barth, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 31st August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HARMAN BARTH, of No. 6, Highfield Villas, York Road, Parish of St. Pancras,
County of Middlesex, Operative Chymist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Harman Barth, Herspecial licence that I, the said George Harinau
Barth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Harman Barth, 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, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CONDENSATION AND REFRIGERATION OF VAPOURS AND FLUIDS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Harman Barth, 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

page_text: 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 George Harman Barth, 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 state:ment :-
The object of the Invention is to enable air to be employed instead of
water for the condensation of vapours and refrigeration of fluids in dis-
tillation and other processes, and I accomplish this by making a chamber into
which the vapour or fluid is admitted and caused to traverse a series of plat-
forms betwixt which are rows of tubes which are kept cooled by rapid
currents of air passing through them from a wind chest, into which it is forced
by a blowing fan, machine, or bellows, or other adequate apparatus. By this
method atmospheric air, or other air, gases, or vapours, howsoever treated,
can be employed for condensing and cooling vapours or fluids by causing the
vapour or fluid to pass backwards and forwards through a series of insterstitial
spaces formed in a suitable chamber by dividing it by platforms or partitions,
these insterstitial spaces being cooled by being intersected by rows of short
horizontal tubes through which currents of air, gases, or vapours are forced,
either in a dry state or moistened, as herein-after is described. The two sides
of the chamber may be of any convenientsize as to heighth and width, but it is
especially important that there be not much space between the interior sur-
faces of the said two sides, as the tubes must be sufficiently short to allow the
air which enters the tubes to pass out before it becomes so much heated as to
lose i's cooling power. The shape of the chamber may be suited to fit the
place where it is to be worked, always maintaining the principle of partitions
and cooling tubes as above set forth, but the number of platforms or partitions
and number of air tubes may be determined by the quantity of vapour or
fluid required to be condensed or cooled in a given time. The material of
which the chamber, platforms, and tubes are made may be of metal, wood,
glass, slate, earthenware, or other suitable substance as required. If rapid
cooling is required the refrigerating power is increased by causing moistened
air to pass through the tubes, moist air being a better conductor of heat than
dry air in this process; this can be accomplished by causing water to fall in
small drops across the openings of the tubes in the wind chest, and by other
inethods. I do not confine myself to any particular method.

page_text: A modification of my Invention consists of the use of a combination of sepa-
rate chambers, each having an entrance and exit pipe, with platform or plat-
forins, and intersecting rows of cooling tubes supplied with air, which may be
arranged in any form convenient for the required purpose.
The necessary
supply of air through the tubes may be obtained by exhausting the air from
the chamber or wind chest, instead of forcing it into the same, or, if desired,
pressure of air may be used at one set of the ends of the cooling tubes and
exhaustion at the other. I apply my Invention wheresoever the condensing of
vapours or the refrigeration of fluids is required.
In the annexed Sheet of Drawings, Figure I. is a Diagram that by means
of the arrows marked thereon in blue shews the passage of the vapour or fluid
to be condensed or cooled from the upper or entrance tube PI to the lower or
exit pipe P2; Figure 11. is a sectional elevation of the condenser shewing the
platforms, shorthorizontal tubes, andentrance and exit pipes (the section is made
through the line A, B, in Figures III, and IV.) Figure III. is a sectional
plan through the line C, D, in Figures II. and IV.; Figure IV. is a side
elevation of the wind chest and condenser, shown in section through the
line E, F, in Figures II. and III. The same letter refers to the same thing
in each Figure.
The entrance pipe for the vapour or fluid to be cooled is P1, and P2
is the exit pipe for the same; c is the condensing chamber; t, t, t,......
are the short horizontal tubes; p, p, p,......are the platforms or partitions;
W is the wind chest ; V is a safety valve; d, Figure IV., is a dropping
tube with funnel and stop-cock to furnish water to the air blast when moisture
is employed.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
using the same, I do not restrict myself absolutely to the precise details
herein-before set forth, but I claim as my Invention,
First, a method of causing vapour or fluid to traverse a successive or con-
tinuous series of spaces formed in a narrow chamber by inclined platforms or
partitions, (which in effect is similar to making vapour or fluid traverse a worm
as in the ordinary process of distillation,) and cooling the vapour or fluid by
contact or contiguity with short tubes which are kept cooled by iny method,
as herein-before described, with air, gases, or vapours.
Second, employing moisture with air, or gas, or vapour, in the manuer
herein-before set forth, to increase the power of cooling or conducting away
heat, or any other suitable method of employing moisture for this purpose,
employed in this my apparatus.

page_text: Third, the apparatus for condensing vapours and fluids, and refrigerating
vapours and fluids, which is herein-before described and shewn in the Drawings
which are annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Harman Barth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
GEORGE HARMAN BARTH. (L.S.)
Witness,
W. H. WALENN,
19, Talbot Road,
Holloway,
London.