IMPROVED METHODS OF OBTAINING FRESH WATER FROM SALT WATER, AND OF CONCENTRATING SULPHURIC ACID
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALPHONSE
RENÉ LE MIRE DE NORMANDY, of Judd Street, Middlesex, Gentleman, and
RICHARD FELL, of the City Road, in the same County, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy and Richard Fell, our exors, admors,
and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that_
we, the said Alphone René le Mire de Normandy and Richard Fell, our
exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Alphonse René le
Mire de Normandy and Richard Fell, our exors, adñiors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, our Invention of "IMPROVED METHODS OF OBTAINING FRESH WATER FROM
SALT WATER, AND OF CONCENTRATING SULPHURIC ACID;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said Alphonse René le Mire de
Normandy and Richard Fell, 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, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately.

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that' in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy and Richard Fell, do hereby declare
that the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to
be performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
These methods consist,-
First, in an apparatus, the form of which may be varied, but which is so con-
trived that fresh water is distilled from salt water by means of steam admitted
in an exterior chamber, which steam heats and evaporates a certain portion of
the salt water, which is admitted into one or several chambers of a peculiar
construction, or arranged in a certain manner and placed within the exterior
chamber just alluded to; and likewise in a contrivance, by means of which
atmospheric air is made to fix with the aqueous vapor resulting from the
evaporation of a portion of the salt water operated upon; the apparatus
producing at the same time a certain quantity of ordinary non-aerated distilled
or fresli water resulting from the condensation of the steam admitted into the
exterior chamber.
Secondly, in an apparatus by means of which the platinum or glass vessels
usually employed for concentrating sulphuric acid are dispensed with, the
sulphuric acid to be concentrated being made to flow upon inclined planes
of platinum foil, or, on slabs of glass or of porcelain, heated to a suitable
temperature.
DESCRIPTION OF THE APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING FRESH WATER FROM SALT
WATER.
Figure I., sectional elevation of the apparatus. A, cylinder of galvanized or
zinced iron, in which steam is admitted by means of the steam cock V; B,
discs made of galvanized iron or of sheet zinc, and divided internally into
partitions, along which the salt water from which fresh aerated water is to be
obtained is made to circulate. These discs or evaporating chambers commu-
nicate with each other by means of the tubes C. The discs may be made of
course of other materials, but I prefer galvanized iron or sheet zinc; C, tubes
through which the salt water operated upon passes from one evaporating
chamber or disc to the other. The first of. these tubes is in .communication
with a small tank or receiver D; D, small tank or receiver, into which the
salt water to be operated upon is admitted. This small tank or receiver is

page_text: provided internally with a moveable hood E, closed at the top, but open at the
bottom, and perforated as shown at d, d; E, moveable hood, closed at the top,
open at the bottom, and perforated as shewn at d, d, which acts as a
water trap; F, exit tubes, through which the steam which has been raised
from the salt water, which circulates within the evaporating discs B, by the
heat of the steam admitted within the cylinder or steam jacket A escapes into
a general tube G, with which the exit tubes F communicate; G, generated
tube in communication with the exit tubes of all the discs or evaporating
chambers B; H, connecting tube, through which the steam in the general
tube G is admitted within the condenser J; J, a condenser of a U shape, into
which the steam of the evaporating chambers or discs B is admitted and con-
densed. This condenser is terminated by an open tube L, in communication
with the air; K, exit tube, bent in the shape of the letter U, for the exit of
the fresh water condensed in the condenser J; L, tube soldered on the top of
the condenser J, and in communication with the air. It is protected by a
small cap of wire gauze or perforated plate, in order to prevent dirt or other
impurities from falling in; M, tank filled with cold sea water, for condensing
the steam which comes into the condenser J; N, tube through which the cold
sea water is admitted into the tank M; O, tube through which the excess of
water of the tank M escapes; P, tube which brings a portion of the salt
water of the tank M in a box Q; Q, box traversed by the tube R, and in
which box the salt water brought therein through the tube P is heated by the
condensed distilled water contained in the tube R; R, exit tube, through
which the steam admitted into the steam jacket A escapes, after having been
condensed by the salt water which circulates in the discs or evaporating
chambers B. This tube, as may be seen, is bent, and as it is full of fresh
distilled non-aerated water almost at the boiling temperature, it serves to heat
the salt water which is admitted into the box Q; S, tube bent in the shape of
a U, for the discharge of the concentrated sea water after it (the sea water)
has circulated in the discs B; T, tube issuing from the box Q, and which
brings the sea water to be operated upon into the small tank or receiver D.
and thence into the discs or evaporating chambers B. This tube is repre-
sented as being outside of the jacket A, though it may be advantageous to place
it within it; U, cock for regulating the supply of the sea water to the appa-
ratus; V, steam pipe in communication with a boiler or steam generator, and
through which the steam is admitted into the jacket A; X, discharge tube for
emptying the tank M when necessary; Y, air pipe, open at both ends, tra-
veising the general tube G, and by means of which the steam of the evapo-
rating chambers or discs B becomes saturated or mixed with air at Z. The

page_text: apparatus works in the following manner:-Sea water being, admitted into the
small tank or receiver D, passes through the openings at the bottom of the
hood E, and thence into the discs or evaporating chambers B, whence, after
circulating therein from one to the other, it escapes through the tube S: If,
however, steam be then. admitted into the chamber or steam jacket. A by
opening the steam pipe V, which we suppose in communication with a steam
generator, a' portion of the sea water which circulates in the discs B'is heated
thereby, and escapes through the exit tubes F, with which each disc B is
provided. But as a current of air is caused 'in the tube Y by the difference of
température of the column of air in that tube and that of the external-air, the
steam issuing from the discs B, or rather of the general tube G, mixes in the
tube H or thereabouts with the air admitted by the tube Y, and coming in
contact with the cool surfaces of the condenser J is resolved into aerated fresh
water, which then flows out at K. On the other hand, the steam which has
been admitted into the steam jacket A for the purpose of evaporating a
portion of the sea water of the discs B, being condensed by that seawater, is
resolved into non-aerated fresh water, which flows out through the tube R.
This tube R is coiled within a box Q, placed under the apparatus, which box
Qis supplied with sea water from the tank M by the tube P. This water in
the box comes, as may be seen, from a point near the top of the tank M,
because at the top of that tank the water contained therein is already. heated
by the condensed steam of the condenser J, and when it reaches the box Q it
is further heated by the coiled pipe R, which contains the condensed steam of
the steam jacket A, which is nearly at a boiling temperature. From that
box Q the sea water descends through the tube T, in order to supply the
small tank D in communication with the discs B.
Figure 2 is a sectional plan of one of the discs B; the letters correspond
with those of the sectional elevation or Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a sectional plan of the condenser through the line a, b, Figure I.;
the letters correspond likewise with those of Figure 1. In reference to this
improved method of obtaining fresh water from salt water, we would say that
we claim the above described method of procuring fresh water from salt water,
of whatever materials the apparatus be made, or however the different parts
thereof may be placed with reference to one another, so long as the same effect
is produced in substantially the same manner.
. DESCRIPTION OF THE APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATING SULPHURIC ACID.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the apparatus; A, cylinder of sheet pla
tinum covered up with or placed for protection and support within a cylinder

page_text: of copper or iron, or any other material suitable for that purpose; B, slabs of
sheet platinum placed in tiers within the platinum cylinder, and resting upon
glass or porcelain slabs or supports not liable to be attacked by sulphuric acid.
We prefer the slabs on which sulphuric acid operated upon is flowing to be in
sheet platinum, but they may be altogether of glass or of porcelain, not liable
to be attacked by sulphuric acid. C, platinum disc or flange pinched- by
another flange of copper or other metal by means of bolts and screws, so that
the inner platinum tube or cylinder may be hermetically closed at both ends;
D, platinum tube terminated by a platinum funnel adjusted upon a central
tube, provided with a hood closed at the top,-open at the bottom, and per-
forated at the sides, through which perforations d, d, the sulphuric acid to be
operated upon is allowed to pass into the platinum cylinder and circulates
upon the slabs within that cylinder; E, bent tube in platinum for the exit of
the concentrated acid; F, exit tube for the issue of the acidulous water which
evaporates pending the circulation of the acid upon the slabs, which tube is in
communication with a worm or condensing apparatus in the usual way; G,
furnace serving to heat the apparatus; H, chimney.
Figure 2 is a sectional elevation in the direction of the line a, b, the letters
correspond with those of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a front view of the apparatus; the apparatus works as follows:-
The acid which the operator wishes to concentrate is to be poured into the
funnel of tube D, whence it eventually penetrates into the interior of the
apparatus by passing through the perforations d, d, of the hood, and thence
through the tube in the middle of the funnel down upon the slabs B, upon
which it flows, but as the cylinder is heated to a suitable temperature, well
understood by the makers of that product; a portion of the water which the
acid contains evaporates and distils over through the tube F, whilst the con-
centrated acid flows out through the tube E.
What we claim is an apparatus in which sulphuric acid is made to flow
upon slabs in attacteable by that acid (placed within an envelope, which may
be like platinum, inattacteable by sulphuric acid, and whereby the acid in
question is concentrated by evaporation and distillation, as above described, the
same never having been done before to the best of our knowledge.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
ALPHONSE (L.S.) NORMANDY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Alphonse René le Mire de
Normandy came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute, made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.