IMPROVEMENTS IN CONVERTING SALT OR OTHER WATER INTO PURE OR FRESH WATER
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
WESTRUP and WILLIAM GIBBINS, both of Bromley, Middlesex, Gentlemen,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the first year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Thomas Westrup and William Gibbins, His especial licence, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said Thomas Westrup and William Gibbins, our'
exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Westrup
and William Gibbins, our exors, adûiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONVERTING SALT OR OTHER WATER INTO PURE
OR FRESH WATER;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that
we, the said Thomas Westrup and William Gibbins, or one of us, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by tho
saine, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Thomas Westrup and William Gibbins, do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, arc
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
It is well known that by distillation water may be separated from impurities
held in solution or otherwise mixed therewith, and many attempts have been
made to distil sea water with a view to make the same suitable for cooking
and other purposes, but there has always been found considerable attention
necessary for supplying the condensing water to the condenser. Now, the
object of our Invention or improvements is to construct the apparatus used in
condensing the steam arising from sea or other impure water in such manner
that the condensation shall at all times be going on without attention from any
person, and thus, whenever there is a fire in the ship's hearth and water sup-
plied to the boiler, there will always be a continued distillation going on. But
in order that our Invention may be fully understood and carried into effect we
will describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, first observing that our Inven-
tion consists in placing the condenser below the water line in ships or vessels,
and permitting the water in which such vessels float to have free and full action
on the outer surfaces of the pipes or other apparatus used for condensing the
steam arising from sea or other impure water.
In the Drawing, Fig. 1 represents the section, and Figure 2 a front view, of
a ship's hearth, constructed in the manner in which we consider best adapted
to the object of our Invention; but such ship's hearth forms no part of our
Invention, and is only shown with a view clearly to explain the nature and
action of our improvements; yet as this ship's hearth differs in some degree
in the arrangement from those in common use we will proceed to describe the
same more fully:-In Figs. 1, A is the boiler for cooking purposes, heated by
a separate fire-place B, the flue C of which fire-place passes round the boiler A
and thence into the chimney of flue D of the fire-place or grate E. F is a
boiler surrounding the boiler A, and which boiler F we call the purifying
boiler, it being used only for the purpose of evaporating sea or other impuro
water for the purpose of distilling the same and rendering it suitable for cook-
ing and other purposes. G is another boiler, placed at the back of the fire in
the grate E, in order to apply as much as possible of the heat from that fire,
which would otherwise pass off up the flue or chimney. On the top of the
boilers F and G there is a branch steam pipe H leading to a condenser, bere-
after fully described. It will be seen by this arrangement that when the fire

page_text: a fire be
at B is lighted, the flame, heated air, and smoke will pass through the flue C
and give off heat to the water contained in the boiler F, and steam will be
continually forming therein and passing off to the condenser; and if
lighted in the grate E the heated air, flame, and smoke will give off heat to
the boiler G, and continue to convert the water therein into steam, which will
also pass off by the pipe H into the condenser. Cocks are to be placed in
any
convenient positions in the boilers A, F, G, for the purpose of drawing off the
water contained therein. The steam pipe. H turns down and passes through
the deck or decks, according to the description of vessel in which the apparatus
is placed; and such steam pipe is connected with the condenser I, which is a
cylindrical vessel containing the coiled pipe J, into which the steam passes from
the pipe H and becomes condensed. K and L are two pipes connected with the
vessel I, and passing through the ship or vessel, and thus form an inlet and
outlet for the water (in which the ship or vessel floats) to pass into and out of
the condenser I; and such is the nature and action of water that as it becomes
heated it rises towards the surface, thus the water coming in at the pipe K is
brought in contact with the coil of pipe J, and takes up the heat of the steam
and hot water contained therein, and thus such incoming water is caused to
rise to the top of the condenser and pass off at the pipe L, by which means
a constant flow of cold water to the condenser I will take place. We will
here observe that we do not confine ourselves to the use of a coil of pipe
tained in a cylindrical vessel, but other well-known arrangements of apparatus
may be used for the condenser provided they be placed in a vessel similar to
the vessel I, such vessel having an inlet and outlet pipo K, L, placed so as
always to be below the water mark of the ship or vessel, as above described.
Fig. 3 represents another arrangement of a condenser, and consists simply of
a pipe I connected to the steam pipe H, such pipe I being fixed on the outside
of the bow (or in any other convenient place) of the ship or vessel, and passing
down towards the ship's bottom enters through the planking at J, and the
condensed water therefrom runs into a cask or tank placed below for that
purpose. By this means the water in which the ship or. vessel floats will at
all times be acting on the condensing pipe I, J, and will condense the steam
passing from the pipe H. By placing two or more pipes I, a larger cooling
surface may be obtained, and consequently a larger quantity of distilled water
may be produced.
لم
con-
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in which
the same is performed, we would further add that the condensing apparatus
should be made of such material as is least acted on by sea water, and would
have it understood that we do not confine ourselves to the use of ship's hearths

page_text: constructed as represented in the Drawing, as other arrangements will answer,
but we prefer at all times to have a separate boiler for the purpose of producing
steam, and not. to use the steam from a boiler at the same time in uso for.
cooking; and we do hereby declare that our Invention consists,-
First, in applying a condenser in the manner shown in Figures 1 and 2, such
condenser, having an inlet and an outlet pipe placed below the water-mark, as
above described;
And, secondly, we claim the placing of a pipe or pipes, whether round
(or otherwise) formed on the outside of a ship or vessel, such pipe or pipes
passing below the water line, and thus forming a condenser for the steam or
vapour from a boiler for the purpose of converting sea or other impure water
into, fresh or pure water, and suitable as such to cooking and other purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Westrup, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.