IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING BRANDIES AND OTHER SPIRITUOUS LIQUIDS FOR IMPROVING THEIR A
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Armand Gilbee, of No. 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING BRANDIES AND OTHER SPIRITUOUS LIQUIDS FOR IMPROVING THEIR
A communication
Sealed the 25th May 1858, and dated the 29th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Armand Gilbee
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th March 1858.
I, WILLIAM ARMAND GILBEE, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING BRANDIES AND OTHER SPIRITUOUS LIQUIDS FOR IMPROVING
THEIR QUALITY," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in rendering brandies and other
spirituous liquids; anhydrous so as to improve their quality by hygrometric
substances, especially by a concentrated solution of carbonate of potass.
All mineral or fixed organic substances having a great affinity for water,.
and which do not affect the quality of alcohol may be employed, such as caustic
lime, carbonate and acetate of potass, nitrate of lime, chloride of calcium,
dried deliquescent salts or efflorescent salts, such as dry sulphate of soda.

page_text: Carbonate of potass, however, is preferred on account of its nature and its
insolubility in alcohol. A concentrated solution of the carbonate of potass
(from 54° to 63° Beaumé) is mixed in a boiling state with the alcohol. The
principal part of the water contained in the alcohol combines with the solu-
tion, and which will only require to be volatilised once, and this may be
effected by exposure to the open air, or by heat. The water of distillation
may be purified, first, by operating on the vapours, either in stills or in a
rectifying apparatus; secondly, by agitation and decantation when the vapours
are condensed in a liquid state.
In order to carry out the first process any apparatus may be employed that
will enable the vapours to come into contact with the hygrometric substance.
When the vapours are concentrated they may be mixed with the chemical
agent in the boiler of the rectifying apparatus if the object is to eliminate the
volatile and odoriferous matters. Any alcohol retained in the purifying agent
may be expelled by boiling, and all traces of water may be removed from the
alcohol by exposing the latter to the air or redistilling it. To operate on
brandies or spirits in a liquid state all that is necessary to remove the water is
to agitate the spirit with a strong solution of carbonate of potass in any suit-
able vessel. The anhydrous or purified alcohol, which swims on the top, is
separated by decantation. If it is very pure it is not necessary to rectify it by
volatilisation; but the saline solution before being evaporated in the open air
should be raised to ebullition in a still to free it from the small quantity of
alcohol which it contains.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Armand Gilbee in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARMAND GILBEE, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succéssors, give and grant' unto me, the
said William Armand Gilbee, Her special licence that I, the said William
Armand Gilbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Armand Gilbeė, my executors, administrators, 'and

page_text: 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
5 of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING BRANDIES AND OTHER SPIRITUOUS LIQUIDS FOR
IMPROVING THEIR QUALITY," communicated to me by a foreigner residing
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Armand
Gilbee, 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 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 William. Armand Gilbee, 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, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in retaining the water com-
bined with alcohol in brandies and other spirituous liquids by the employment
of hygrometric substances and by preference of a concentrated solution of
carbonate of potass. Up to the present time the separation of water and
alcohol, the combination of which forms brandy and spirits, has been com-
mercially effected by distilling apparatus having for object the volatilisation
and condensation of the two bodies at different temperatures.
The ordinary rectifying apparatuses have the defect of necessitating the
employment of a considerable quantity of fuel, and greater the required degree
of strength of the alcohol greater the difficulties and expense of obtaining it...
The improving of alcohol is more easily and economically effected by employ-.
ing, on a commercial scale, the principle by which chymists have been led to
the preparation of anhydrous or. absolute alcohol, in retaining the water by an
hygrometric substance. The process employed in the laboratory for extracting
from alcohol the last particles of water is applicable to weak alcohols and to.
the faints. Any mineral or fixed organic substance having a great affinity
for water and incapable of changing alcohol may be successfully employed
for this operation, such as quicklime, carbonate of potass, nitrate of lime,.
chloride of calcium, dry deliquescent salts and efflorescent salts, such as dry.
sulphate of Boda. Carbonate of potass, however, is preferable, on, account of
its insolubility in alcohol; this property permits of its employment direct in.
a state of solution and of its separation by decanting. The most economical.

page_text: means I know of is to operate with a concentrated solution at from fifty-four
degrees to sixty-three degrees Baumé, and by means of which the greater
part of the water combined with the alcohol being taken up by the solution
it requires to be volatilised only once, and this may be effected in the open air
or with a naked fire and scarcely requires any labor. This process may be car-
ried out in various ways. The faints may be strengthened, first, by operating
on the vapours, either in a still or in a rectifying apparatus; secondly, by
agitation and decantation when the faints are condensed to a liquid state.
For the first mode it is evident that any form of apparatus may be employed
that will put the vapours in contact with a sufficient quantity of hygrometric
substance, whether the vapours move in an inverse direction to the concen-
trated solution running cascade-wise or whether they pass with or without
pressure into a vessel containing the chemical agent. The receiving vessel
may be the boiler of the rectifying apparatus, if it is desired to eliminate the
volatile and odoriferous principles. The strength of the spirituous product
depends on the quantity, degree of concentration, and temperature of the
solutions, whatever may be the proportion of water contained in the brandy.
The facility with which alcohol separates from, a saline solution (the point of
ebullition of which is very high) permits of removing from the latter all traces
of alcohol which it may retain by boiling it during a few minutes. The
solution being exhausted, may be freed in the open air from the whole of the
water which it has taken up from the alcohol, and be re-employed in the sub-
sequent distilling operations immediately after its regeneration. When it is
required to operate on brandies or condensed spirits in a liquid state, it is not
necessary to employ a special recipient as by simple contact, assisted by agitation
the solution of carbonate of potass will fix the water. The improved alcohol,
which will swim on the top, is separated by decantation. If it is at a high
degree of strength it will retain so little alkali that it is not necessary to rectify
it by volatilisation, but the saline solution before being evaporated in the open
air should be raised to ebullition in a still to free it from the small portion of
alcohol which it retains in admixture. The above described mode of treating
brandies possesses advantages of which distillers may avail themselves without
changing their plant. It allows of the employment of smaller rectifying
apparatus, or of producing with the same plant a larger product. It is
applicable with convenience and economy to the regeneration of alcohol.
employed in certain manufactures which do not change its nature.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention communicated to me
and the manner of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details herein described, provided the prin-

page_text: ciple of the Invention be retained; but what I claim as new and desire to be
secured by Letters Patent is, the employment of hygrometric substances,
and by preference of a concentrated solution of carbonate of potass, for
abstracting the water combined with alcohol in brandies and other distilled
spirits for the improvement of the same, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Armand Gilbee, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
W. A. GILBEE. (L.S.)