AN IMPROVED PREPARATION AND APPARATUS FOR TESTING ALCOHOLS, AND ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF FOREIGN BODIES MIXED THEREWITH
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED PREPARATION AND APPARATUS FOR TESTING
ALCOHOLS, AND ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF FOREIGN BODIES MIXED
THEREWITH." A communication from abroad by Jean Bonjour, of
No. 64, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France.
Scaled the 15th December 1874, and dated the 18th June 1874,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th June 1874.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PREPARATION AND APPARATUS FOR
TESTING ALCOHOLS, AND ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF FOREIGN BODIES MIXED
THEREWITH," a communication to me from abroad by Jean Bonjour, of
No. 64, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France, to be as follows:-
The means of testing now possessed for ascertaining the alcoholic
richness of a liquid are satisfactory as to fixing its strength. The

page_text: ordinary alcohometer gives it perfectly; but where the difficulty begins
is when the alcohol of wine is mixed with other alcohols or with other
foreign bodies which change its principle. In this case the alcohometer no
longer gives the degree of alcohol, and docs not even disclose its presence.
Recourse must therefore be had to chemical analysis; this means is
slow, and far from being within reach of everybody, because of the
rapidity with which this analysis must be made. The object of this
Invention is therefore to provide an apparatus which will indicate with
certainty that the alcohol of wine has been mixed with another alcohol,
or with any other body foreign to this alcohol.
This Invention has two main characteristics.
The first, which is the chemical side, consists in the use of a reactive,
which decomposes the natural alcohol of wine when it is pure, but which
acts differently accordingly as it is mixed with a greater or a less quantity
of foreign bodies, whether alcohol from beetroot, grain, or even a fatty
body.
The second is the mechanical side based upon the construction of the
apparatus in which the reaction and the analysis are made.
For the first, namely, the composition of the reactive which is to
reveal the presense of foreign bodies in the alcohol of winc, it is this :-
3 parts of alcohol purely from grain at 96 degrees, mixed with 97 parts
of acetate of lead termed "saturni extract."
The apparatus used is composed as follows:-A balloon or globe.
intended to contain the liquid to be analysed, as well as the quantity of
reactive required for this operation. A mixer placed within the balloon
serves to agitate the liquid which it contains.
The quantity of reactive to be used in relation to the strength of the
alcohol to be analysed is proportioned according to tables drawn up for
that purpose. The liquid being thus mixed escapes by the lower part of
the balloon or globe by a worm to go to a pressure filter intended to
purify the liquor. After its filtration the liquid falls into a vase, where
it completes its clarification. The liquid is then poured off, and weighed
very exactly.
The result obtained has for object to indicate, by means of tables
drawn up for the purpose, whether the alcohol of wine has been mixed,
and the quantity of the mixture.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special licenco
that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward Gedge, 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
"AN IMPROVED PREPARATION AND APPARATUS FOR TESTING ALCOHOLS, AND
ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF FOREIGN BODIES MIXED THEREWITH," a commu-
nication to me from abroad by Jean Bonjour, of No. 64, Faubourg St.
Martin, Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Edward Gedge, 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 Edward Gedge, 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

page_text: ordinary alcoholometer gives it perfectly; but where the difficulty
begins is when the alcohol of wine is mixed with other alcohols, or with
other foreign bodies which change its principle. In this case the
alcoholometer no longer gives the degree of alcohol, and does not even
disclose its presence. Recourse must therefore be had to chemical
analysis. The means is slow and far from being within reach of every-
body, because of the rapidity with which the analysis must be made.
The object of this Invention is therefore to provide an apparatus which
'will indicate with certainty that the alcohol of wine has been mixed with
another alcohol or with any other body foreign to this alcohol.
This Invention has two main characteristics.
The first, which is the chemical side, consists in the use of a reagent
which decomposes the natural alcohol of wine when it is pure, but
which acts differently accordingly as it is mixed with a greater or a
lesser quantity of foreign bodies, whether alcohol from beetroot, grain,
or even a fatty body.
The second is the mechanical side, based upon the construction of the
apparatus in which the reaction and the analysis are made.
The the first, namely, the composition of the reagent which is to
reveal the presence of foreign bodies in the alcohol of wine, it is thus :-
Three parts of alcohol purely from grain at 96 degrees, mixed with
97 parts of acetate of lead termed saturni extract.
The apparatus used is composed as follows:-A balloon, globe, or
spherical vessel intended to contain the liquid to be analysed, as well as
the quantity of reagent required for this operation. A mixer placed
within the balloon serves to agitate the liquid which it contains.
The quantity of reagent to be used in relation to the strength of the
alcohol to be analysed is proportioned according to tables drawn up for
that purpose. The liquid being thus mixed escapes by the lower part of
the balloon or globe by a worm to go to a pressure filter intended to
purify the liquor. After its filtration the liquid falls into a vase, where
it completes its clarification. The liquid is then poured off, and weighed
very exactly.
The result obtained hae for chignt to indiente he means of tables dumn