IMPROVEMENTS IN. APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING THE MOISTURE FROM SLIP FOR POTTERS' USE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Skertchly, of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the
County of Leicester, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING THE MOISTURE FROM SLIP FOR POTTERS' USE."
Sealed the 27th July 1860, and dated the 6th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Skertchly at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
February 1860.
I, JOSEPHI SKERTCHLY, of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the County of Leicester,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING THE MOISTURE FROM SLIP FOR POTTERS'
USE," to be as follows:-
Firstly, in constructing pans of wrought iron for the evaporation of moisture
from slip by the heat of steam. The pans consist of a vat or other vessell for
containing the slip to be operated upon, and beneath the vat is a chamber or
chambers to be supplied with steam as the heating medium. The plates which
constitute the upper and lower parts of the steam chamber are braced or stayed.
together by angle plates, studs, bolts, or other suitable mechanical contrivances,
in order to enable them to withstand considerable steam pressure.
Secondly, I construct pans for like purposes of cast iron strengthened in
like manner, or the pans may have suitable pieces cast upon them at intervals,
by which means the necessary strength may be obtained.
Thirdly, I cast the upper and lower parts of the steam chamber, or portions

page_text: or segments thereof in one piece, leaving the casting hollow in certain parts,
sufficiently large to contain the requisite quantity of steam.
Fourthly, I employ cast and wrought iron or other suitable metals or
substances in combination, stayed, braced, or otherwise strengthened by suitable
mechanical means for the purpose of evaporating moisture from slip by the 5
heat of steam.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Skertchly in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
SKERTCHLY, of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the County of Leicester, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Skertchly; Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Skertehly, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Skertchly, niy 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
APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING THE MOISTURE FROM SLIP FOR POTTERS' USE,"
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Skertchly, 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.
upon
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Skertchly, do bereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
:-
My Invention of apparatus for evaporating the moisture from slip for potter's

page_text: use, consists in constructing the heating flues or chambers of the apparatus or
kiln wholly or partially of cast metal, and employing therein the heat of steam
as the means for effecting the evaporation of the moisture. This heating
chamber consists of one or more pieces of metal, by preference cast iron;
having cavities, grooves, or other spaces left between its upper and lower
surfaces, of sufficient capacity to contain the requisite quantity of steam for
heating the slip. The cavities, grooves, or other spaces constituting the steam
chamber or chambers, may be formed by means of sand or other cores, or by.
any other convenient method of casting, or the steam chamber may be formed
by connecting two or more plates or castings together, but leaving a space
between them. In this case the plates or castings must be well secured in
their positions by ribs, stays, angle plates, studs, bolts, or other suitable con-
trivance placed between and firmly fastened to them in order to obtain the
requisite space for the steam and the necessary amount of resistance to prevent.
bursting. Around this steam chamber sides of any suitable material are.
placed so as to form a vat to receive the slip.
But in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will now proceed
to explain the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 is a plan; Figure 2 a horizontal section on the line 1, 2, of
Figure 8; Figure 3, a side elevation; and Figure 4 an elevation in section
on the line 1, 2, of Figure 1. A, A, is the bed of the apparatus upon which
the slip is placed, and confined within the sides B, B; C, C, are cavities or
grooves in the bed which constitute the steam chamber or chambers of the
apparatus. In producing these grooves, holes have to be left in the casting
at d, for the removal of the sand or other material employed for cores; these
holes I stop by plates, screw pins, or by any other convenient method. In the
Drawings, they are shewn stopped by plates D, D, and the plates are held in
their positions by screw pins E, E, which pass through the apparatus, having
the heads at F, F, and the nuts at G, G; H, HI, are the inlets for steam, and
I, I, outlets for the condensed water; K, K, are flanges for securing the
separate castings of the bed together by bolts or other means well understood.
The arrows indicate the cavities or grooves in which the steam travels; L, L,
are divisions or stays between the cavities employed for strengthening the
casting, in order to prevent bursting. These divisions or stays need not be
entire through their whole length, but may, if preferred, be left merely as studs
connecting the upper and lower parts of the steam chamber, care being taken
to leave them sufficiently numerous and strong to insure the necessary resistance
to the pressure of the steam.
A modification of the method of constructing the bed and steam chamber of

page_text: the apparatus which I sometimes find convenient, consists in making each
separate casting of the bed to form a single tube or chamber, and place a
number of these tubes side by side, but connected together by any suitable
means, in such manner that the steam may pass from one tube to another; or
if preferred, each tube or casting may constitute a separate steam chamber
having its own inlet and outlet pipe.
I would here observe, that I do not confine myself to the precise details of
construction described herein or shewn by the Drawings, as they may be varied
without departing from my Invention; but what I claim as new, and desire
to secure by Letters Patent, are,-
1st, the construction of apparatus for evaporating the moisture from slip for
potters' use, substantially as described.
2nd, the employment of a steam chamber composed wholly or partially of
cast iron or other cast metal or alloy of metals, for the purpose herein-before
described.
3rd, the employment of studs, stays, bolts, angle plates, or their mechanical
équivalents as strengthening pieces for the steam chambers of apparatus for
evaporating moisture from slip for potters' use, whether the said strengthening
pieces be cast thereon or affixed thereto, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Skertchly, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOSEPH SKERTCHLY. (L.S.)