AN IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING, DISTILLING OR CONCENTRATING LIQUIDS
Year: 1883

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to John Imray of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING, DISTILLING OR CONCENTRATING LIQUIDS
communicated to him from abroad by Hermann Egells of Berlin in the
German Empire
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th December 1883.
JOHN IMRAY of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex "AN IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING, DISTILLING OR
CONCENTRATING LIQUIDS "[communicated to him from abroad by Hermann Egells
of Berlin in the German Empire]
This invention relates to apparatus for evaporating, distilling or concentrating
liquids, so arranged as to present an extended surface for heating, in a compact
form suited for the flow of the liquid under treatment. As the construction is
particularly applicable when the material used is a soft metal, such as lead, for
resisting corrosion, I will describe it as applied to apparatus for concentrating
sulphuric acid. For this purpose, the internal part of the apparatus
made up
of a number of dish like compartments superposed upon one another; each
compartment is open at the top, but closed at the bottom except that there is a
hole through the bottom close to one side, and there is an inclined partition sloping
down to this hole from the opposite upper edge, so that between this partition and
the bottom there is an externally open pocket or space exposing the under surface
of the sloping partition and the upper surface of the level bottom. A pile of these
compartments, placed alternately right and left hand, and each tightly jointed to
the next in order, is enclosed within a casing to which steam is supplied by pipes
having holes so arranged as to direct jets of the steam into the pockets above
mentioned. The uppermost compartment has a cover, from which a pipe leads to
a condenser where a partial vacuum is maintained, and through the cover passes a
pipe supplying the liquid that is to be concentrated. This liquid flows down the
sloping partitions of the successive compartments in a zig-zag course, exposed to
the steam heat, and while the vapour generated from it passes upwards and away
to the condenser, the liquid, becoming more and more concentrated on its way,
finally passes by a pipe from the bottom of the lowest compartment.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Imray in the Patent Office on the 20th June 1884.
JOHN IMRAY of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex "AN IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING, DISTILLING
OR CONCENTRATING LIQUIDS A communication to me from abroad by Hermann
Egells of Berlin in the German Empire
"
This invention relates to apparatus for evaporating, distilling or concentrating
liquids, so arranged as to present an extended surface for heating, in a compact
form suited for the flow of the liquid under treatment. As the construction is
particularly applicable when the material used is a soft metal such as lead, for
resisting corrosion, I will describe it as applied to apparatus for concentrating
sulphuric acid, referring to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section partly in elevation, and fig. 2 is a sectional plan. The
apparatus consists of an upper or supply compartment A, a lower or discharge
compartment B, and between these a number of dish like compartments C arranged
above one another within a casing D, the compartments C being placed so as to
face right and left alternately. The supply compartment A has its neck passing
through a stuffing box, and in this neck there is an outlet a for discharge of vapor,
and a passage a¹ for admission of the liquid that is to be treated. As the bottom
of the passage a¹, there is a groove or gutter a² and an incline a³, so as to spread
out the liquid over the whole width of the compartment. Each of the com-
partments C is made with a double bottom, the upper, c, inclined and the lower, c¹,
level, so that between the two bottoms there is formed a wedge shaped external
pocket c³, in which are several ribs c joining the two bottoms c and c¹. As the
compartments C are arranged alternately right and left, the outlet from each and
the inlet to the next lower communicate at c². The lowest compartment B has a
bottom sloping down to an outlet pipe b. Steam pipes E have orifices e directing
jets into each of the pockets c³. The water of condensation issues by a pipe F.
The vapor outlet a being connected to a condenser in which a partial vacuum is
maintained, and steam being supplied to the pipes E, The liquid to be concentrated
entering the apparatus at a flows down the sloping bottoms of the successive
compartments, in a zig-zag course, exposed to the steam heat, and while the vapour
generated from it passes upwards and away by the outlet a, the liquid becoming
more and more concentrated as it descends, finally passes away by the pipe b.
Having thus described the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I claim,
The construction of apparatus for evaporating, distilling or concentrating liquids,
presenting between its successive compartments externally wedge-shaped pockets
into which jets of steam are directed so as to heat the liquid in its zig-zag descent,
substantially as herein described.
In Witness whereof, I the said John Imray have hereunto set my hand and
seal this Tenth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and eighty four.