IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STILLS, FURNACES, CHIMNIES, AND OTHER APPARATUS CONNECTED WITH THE ART OF DISTILLATION
Year: 1815

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, JAMES MILLER,
late of Craigend, in the County of Stirling, now of Liverpool, Distiller, sends
greeting.
WHEREAS the King's most Excellent Majesty by Letters Patent under
the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the Twenty-eighth
day of January, in the fifty-fifth year of his reign, gave and granted unto the
said James Miller, his executors, administrators, and assigns, His Majesty's
special licence, full power; sole priviledge, and authority, that he, the said
James Miller, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them,
by himself and themselves, or by his or their deputy or deputies, servants
or agents, or such as he, the said James Miller, his 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 of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend his said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STILLS, FURNACES, CHIMNIES, AND OTHER
APPARATUS CONNECTED WITH THE ART OF DISTILLATION," within that part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all. His Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, in such manner as to him, the said James
Miller, his executors, administrators, and assigns, or any of them, should in
his or their discretion seem meet; in which Letters Patent is contained

page_text: a proviso, that if the said James Miller should not particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of his said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by and instrument in writing under his hand and seal, and
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and
become void, anything therein contained to the contrary thereof in any wise
nothwithstanding.
NOW KNOW YE, that the said James Miller doth by this instrument in
writing under his hand and seal duly executed, describe and ascertain the
nature of his said Invention, and the method by which the same may be
performed, that is to say:-
First, as to the chimney (Figure 1): The flue of this may be either circular
or square, and should be four feet in diameter or width from top to bottom,
and not less than forty-eight feet in height.
Second, as to the furnace: The ash-pit, Figure 4, should be four feet wide,
and the bearers for carrying the grate bars should go right across it, and should
be placed about three feet above the ground. There should be two lengths
of grate bars twenty-one inches each length, and they should be so placed as
to project nine inches or thereabouts beyond the front of bottom edge of the
still. The brick part of the furnace should be twenty-eight inches wider than
the greatest diameter of the still, so as to project fourteen inches on each side
thereof. The fire-place, or height of the furnace between the bars and edge
of the bottom of the still, should not exceed thirteen inches. The flue round
the still should be carried out opposite the furnace door, and would be set off
at twenty-four inches distance from the bottom rivets of the still, and should
be in height within six inches of the shoulder rivets of the still where it is
covered in, and there should be eight feet between the still (B, Figure 1,) and
the outer brickwork of the chimney (K), against which outer brickwork the
first heater is placed at the end of the furnace bars nearest the door of the
furnace, and between them and it, and level with the bars, is placed a solid
plate of iron (Figure 5, g, g), one inch thick, and about twenty inches wide, to
the front of which is placed the furnace door and frame, which should rest
upon a bearer placed six inches below the surface of the plate. The frame
may be fixed in the brickwork by four screw pins with crooked tails, and is
plain frame of iron about an inch thick, with a rim of about six inches
broad; the opening for the door may be twenty-seven inches by twelve, and
the door itself a plain plate, sliding in groves, at each end by means of a
a

page_text: chain fixed to the upper edge of this door, and fastened to a lever, and
counterbalanced at the other end; the door may be moved up and down with
facility.
Third, as to the still: The best possible proportions of this is exhibited
in the Drawing in the margin (Figure 1, B), and it may be made either
with or without the cleaning engine, as may be wished.
It
Fourth, as to the heaters, (D and E, Figure 2, 5, 6, and 7), and damper
(r, Figure 1, 3, and 5: The heaters may be made of copper, iron, tin, or
wood, and of any shape so as to contain the necessary dimensions. Those of
the following description will be found most convenient for ordinary purposes,
viz, a round copper vessel six feet in diameter, and four feet in depth for the
first heater, and five feet in diameter and three feet and a half in depth for a
second heater. In the first heater (D, Figure 1 and 7,) is introduced about
a foot from the top of it a large curved pipe (m), which communicates with
the still at (d). This pipe should be nine or ten inches in diameter at (d),
and tapering to eight inches at the other end, and it should describe nearly a
circle within a few inches of the inside of the heater, and then twist off to the
center of the heater, where it joins another pipe called the labyrinth. The
situation of this should be about a foot above the bottom of the heater.
is a square or other shaped pipe, and may be eight inches by six, tapering
from the one extremity to the other to six inches by four. This pipe is
carried in circles round and round the place, where it communicates with the
other pipe in this heater, until the diameter of the outer circle has become
four feet, there being left a space between each circle for the passage of the
steam and liquor in the heater of from one to two inches, or other dimensions;
this labyrinth may be formed without these spaces if thought proper. The
outward circle of this pipe communicates with the second heater by a con-
tinuation of a pipe of the same kind to the outside of this first heater at f
Figure 7, where it joins a round pipe (marked o), and passes through the
second heater (placed between the first and the worntub) near the bottom
into a worm. The pipes (p, p, Figures 6 and 7) may be made about the
same dimensions as the pipe in the first heater, and the other which passes
through the second heater. The pipe (p) in the second heater should make a
turn and a half, as described in the Figures 6 and 7, and then pass onwards
and join another worm; the worms from both the heaters can be placed in
one tub, and they need not be above half the size that the still would require
without the labyrinth and heaters. The particular object of the second
heater, it will be seen, is to heat the wash or low wines with which to charge
the still, and for this purpose must have a stop-cock communicating or other

page_text: communication with the still, and the first heater must, also have a communi-
cation with the still by a cock of the same kind, or otherwise. Both heaters
should have discharge cocks (a), and the still may be wrought with both or
either of these heaters at pleasure, and from the liquor being heated by means
of these heaters, or one of them, if one only be used, arises principally the
saving in fuel. The stills should be charged from the heaters about-six inches
above the flue when the furnace may be lighted, and the heater again filled to
the guage cock. The still in the first instance requires about one quarter of
an inch before it will boil, but when the apparatus gets into work it will not
require more than two or three minutes, and when this becomes the case the
damper (r, Figure 1, 3, and 5,) should be drawn up and the fire allowed to
escape through the flue there, and the flame will then pass immediately from
the bottom of the still to the bottom of the heater without making a circuit
round the sides of the still. When the first charge of the still is wrought off,
the furnace door should be opened, and the fire, if strong, drawn forward to the
dead plate, the still discharge-cock opened, and the cleaning engine, of one
is used, turned round, when the whole is discharged; shut this cock, and-open
the one which lets in another charge from the heaters or either of them, using
the cleaning engine of the heater at the same time, in the meanwhile throw
back the fire, and again shut the damper and the furnace door. No danger
can arise from any vacuum caused in either vessel, or from the loss of steam,
as the valves will open and shut of themselves.
In witness whereof, the said James Miller hath hereunto set his
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifteen.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being first
duly stamped) in the presence of
JAMES BOOTH,
THOS. HARVEY,
JAMES MILLER. (L.S.)
Clarks to Love & Milnor Salinitam Lionel

page_text: "James Booth" set and subscribed to the said Deed Poll as witnesses
attesting the same, are of the respective handwriting of the said James Miller,
Thomas Harvey, and this deponent.