IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING SEA AND OTHER WATER
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Amable de Saint Simon Sicard, of Paris,
Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING SEA AND OTHER
WATER."
Sealed the 17th August 1854, and dated the 6th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Amable de Saint
Simon Sicard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th March 1854.
I, PIERRE AMABLE DE SAINT SIMON SICARD, of Paris, Chemist, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING SEA AND
OTHER WATER" to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to cause sea or other water to be evaporated
at so low a temperature that the organic impurities shall not be decomposed
by the heat. For this purpose, the water is caused to be filtered through
stone or other suitable filters into a vessel which is rendered vacuous, such vessel
being constructed with a view to offer as much extent of surface in contact
with water as possible, in order to obtain as much cooling or condensing
surface as may be, and this may be aided by an injection of cold pure water.
In order to obtain the requisite heating and filtering apparatus, although the
form may be varied, it is preferred to employ hollow cylindrical filters to admit
of the heating apparatus being within them, yet leaving a space between the

page_text: interior of the filters and the exterior of the heating apparatus, which are made
of a corresponding form, and so as to be placed interior of the filters. By
these means, the sea or other water to be purified will, by reason of the
vacuum within the apparatus, be constantly pressed by the outer atmosphere
through the filter or filters and thence into the vacuous vessel; the water
meeting with heat as it comes through the filter or filters becomes vaporized
at a very low temperature by reason of the vacuum, and the vapour will be
condensed by means of the cooling surfaces of the vacuous vessel, or by passing
from that vessel to another.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Amable de Saint Simon Sicard in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 5th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
AMABLE DE SAINT SIMON SICARD, of Paris, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Pierre Amable de Saint Simon Sicard, Her special licence that I, the said
Pierre Amable de Saint Simon Sicard, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Pierre Amable de Saint Simon Sicard,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING SEA
AND OTHER WATER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre
Amable de Saint Simon Sicard, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain 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 Pierre Amable de Saint Simon Sicard
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof (that is to say):-

page_text: The object of this Invention is to cause sea or other water to be evaporated
at so low a temperature that the organic impurities shall not be decomposed
by the heat. For this purpose, the water is caused to be filtered through
stone or other suitable filters into a vessel which is rendered vacuous, such
vessel being constructed with a view to offer as much extent of surface in
contact with water as possible, in order to obtain as much cooling or con-
densing surface as may be, and this may be aided by an injection of cold pure
water. In order to obtain the requisite heating and filtering apparatus,
although the form may be varied, it is preferred to employ hollow cylindrical
filters to admit of the heating -apparatus being within them, yet leaving a
space between the interior of the filters and the exterior of the heating
apparatus, which are made of corresponding forms, and so as to be placed
interior of the filters. By these means, the sea or other water to be purified
will, by reason of the vacuum within the apparatus, be constantly pressed by
the outer atmosphere through the filter or filters, and thence into the vacuous
vessel; the water meeting with heat as it comes through the filter or filters
becomes vaporized at a very low temperature, by reason of the vacuum, and
the vapour will be condensed by means of the cooling surfaces of the vacuous
vessel, or by passing from that vessel to another.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section; Figure 2, a cross section of the
apparatus which I prefer to employ for purifying water. A is a vessel, con-
structed of sheet iron or copper, through which passes a number of tubes b.
Through this vessel A is an aperture C, in which is placed cylinders of porous
stone D, closed at their lower ends, and fixed at their upper ends in a water-
tight manner into the top plate of their aperture C. Into the porous cylinder D
is placed a stove, consisting of three tubes; a central one e, containing the
ignited fuel, which rests on the grating f, and of two side tubes g, g, by which air
is supplied to support combustion. All these tubes are inserted into a cover h,
which fits water-tight into the top-of the vessel A. When this apparatus is in
action it is plunged into the water to be purified, but leaving the tops of the
tubes e and g uncovered. The water enters the tubes 6 and the aperture C,
and then percolates through the filters D into the interior of the vessel A,
from which the air is exhausted by an air-pump in connection with the stop
cock i. This film of water on the interior of the filter D is immediately

page_text: evaporated by the heat radiated from the stove; and this heat should be
regulated so as never to exceed two hundred degrees, for which purpose a
thermometer is fixed in the cover h; the steam thus formed comes in contact
with the sides of the vessel A and with the tubes b, and circulates in the
tubes k, which are all in contact with water, and is thus rapidly condensed.
The water runs down to the bottom of the vessel and is drawn off by the
cock 7. M is a screw plug, which is removed when the interior of the vessel A
requires cleansing.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to
the exact details described, and especially it may sometimes be found con-
venient to substitute other heated means, such as by steam, for instance, for
the stoves already described; but this may be done without departing from
the essential character of my Invention, which consists in causing the water to
be purified to enter the evaporating vessel by percolation through a porous
material, and to be evaporated in vacuum from the surface of such porous
material at such a temperature that the animal and vegetable contents of the
water may not be charred.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Amable de Saint Simon Sicard,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
DE ST. SIMON SICARD. (L.S.)