VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TUNS, COOLERS, VATTS, AND BACKS, USED BY BREWERS, DISTILLERS, AND OTHERS
Year: 1808

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME UNTO OR
CONCERN, I, JONATHAN DICKSON, of the Parish of Christ Church, and
County of Surrey, Steam Engine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the forty-
ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Jonathan Dickson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence that I, the said
Jonathan Dickson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term
of years therein expressed, should and might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TUNS,
COOLERS, VATTS, AND BACKS, USED BY BREWERS, DISTILLERS, AND OTHERS;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso requiring me, the said
Jonathan Dickson, under my hand and seal, to cause the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month after
the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being
thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jonathan Dickson, do bereby declare
that the nature of my said Invention of Various Improvements in the Con-

page_text: struction of Tuns, Coolers, Vatts, and Backs, used by Brewers, Distillers, and
others, and the various ways in which it may be performed and applied, are
fully delineated, made known, and ascertained by the following description and
the Drawings hereunto annexed, marked with the letter X, viz*:-
Whereas the various vessels or utensils represented in the annexed Drawings
having hitherto been made in wood and used by brewers, distillers, and others,
commonly known or distinguished in the English language by the mames of
mashing tuns or wetting vessels, working tuns and squares or fermenting ves-
sels, worm tubbs or condensing vessels, storehouse vats, coolers, and liquor backs,
are by my said Invention constructed and made of iron or other metals instead
of wood; but, as the aforesaid vessels are generally required to be so large that
they cannot be made in one piece, the methods herein-after described will shew
how they may be made of any size, shape, or dimensions whatsoever.
Figure 1 represents two plates or pieces, either of cast or malleable iron, as
circumstances may require, prepared to be joined together by what is called a
rabbit joint.
Figure 2 represents three plates of iron prepared for joining together by
what is called flange joints.
Figure 3 represents two plates of iron prepared for joining together by what
is called an overlaid joint.
Figure 4 represents two plates of iron prepared for joining together by
what is called an inverted joint.
Figure 5 represents two plates of iron prepared for joining together by what
is called a square or flat joint. And
Figure 6 represents a section of the aforesaid plates with ribs projecting
from the main body of the plate, which, by being united with the plate and inter-
secting each other at right angles, diagonally or otherwise (as are represented in
the Drawings hereunto annexed). By this means the iron can be made much
lighter and equally strong for the intended purpose. Having prepared the
plates of iron by the aforesaid methods, I next make use of some animal,
vegetable, or mineral substance, prepared in the form of a paste, or in their
natural state, as circumstances may require. But in cases where the vessel or
utensil thus constructed is likely to be exposed to any degree of heat, I make
use of a paste or cement consisting of pulverized iron mixed with a small
portion of salts and sulpher, which causes it to corrode and unite to the iron,
which will be equally durable in most cases, and will stand a degree of heat
little inferior to the solid iron. Having thus made the preparations as afore-
said, I take the plates of iron and place them in the different directions

page_text: according to the nature or form of the vessel or utensil I am about to
make, and take a quantity of the composition before described and put it
into the cavities or spaces between where the plates are intended to be joined
together, and then. I either screw, rivet, bolt, or hoop them together, as the
situation or circumstances will admit of, and thus form and make a vessel or
utensil of any shape, size, or dimensions whatsoever, from the barrel of thirty-
six gallons to the vat of two hundred thousand gallons and upwards, as will be
seen by the annexed Drawings.
Figure 7 is drawn from a scale of nearly one eighth of an inch to a foot, as
are also all the following Figures, and represents a sectional view of a mashing
tun or wetting vessel made open at top, and which is used by brewers and others
for the purpose of mixing and extracting the strength from the malt or other
materials. The projecting part inside (1,2,) is for the purpose of holding
down a false bottom sometimes made use of in those cases.
Figure 8 represents a working tun or fermenting vessel, being made close
in all directions, except a door or opening into it at some convenient place,
as at A.
Figure 9 represents a worm tubb or condensing vessel, and is made open at
top to receive the worm from the still, which worm I also make of iron, if
found convenient.
Figure 10 represents a vat or store vessell used by brewers, distillers, and
others, for the purpose of mixing and containing large quantities of porter, ale,
or other fluids, as may be found necessary. This vessel is in general made
perfectly close except a door or opening into it at top, as at B, and at C and
D is generally fixed cocks or other contrivances for the purpose of drawing off
the liquor when convenient.
Figure 11 represents a cooler or large shallow vessel used in the process of
brewing for the purpose of cooling the worts before they undergo a state of
fermentation, or be otherwise disposed of. This vessel being constructed and
made agreeable to the aforesaid methods produces a large surface to the sur-
rounding atmosphere, but when filled with hot liquor of any sort naturally
rarifies the circumambient air according to the degree of heat it possesses.
I therefore place a number of tubes or pipes at 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., or as many as
may not be found incumbersome. These pipes or tubes may be carried to any
height above the depth of the vessel, and which will admit of a free passage
for the air, which may be rarified by the heat of the bottom, and which will
naturally endeavour to ascend. Thus, while the vessel remains hotter than
the surrounding atmosphere, a current of air will be continually ascending
through the aforesaid tubes, and the bottom will be successively acted upon by

page_text: fresh supply of cold air, and will consequently accilerate the cooling of the
liquor. By this means coolers may be made to occupy less room and produce
the same effect as wooden vessels made in the common way. And be it
further understood of this last-mentioned vessel, that in cases when the
aforesaid tubes may not be required, I make them plain, as from A to B.
Figure 12 represents a liquor back or cistern. This vessel is used by
brewers, distillers, and others, for the purpose of mixing and containing water
or other fluids, and by being made according to the aforeaid principles and
of the aforesaid materials, will, by the last-mentioned Drawing, be clearly
understood to be capable of being extended to any given size, and which it
is presumed a centary of time will not materially injure it, and will no
doubt be found to be an excellent substitute for those wooden vessels or
utensils so subject to decay; some by being immersed in the earth or water,
and others by being placed on the tops of buildings, whereby they are alter-
nately exposed to the weather and heat of the sun.
And be it further understood of my said Invention, that in all cases where
any of the aforesaid vessels or utensils, being made of iron or other materials
according to the aforesaid principles and methods, shall in anywise be found
to affect or disagree with the fluids they contain, then I tin or line them with
wood of any sort required, which by glues, gums, and rosinous substances,
will be made to adhere to the iron, and the vessel thus tinned or lined will
then have all the properties of a tinned or wooden vessel or utensil of whatever
sort of wood it may be lined with.
Having thus far delineated and set forth the nature and uso of my said
Invention, and some of the ways in which it may be applied, I do further
declare that all acqueducts, reservoirs, docks, canals, and all such places
requiring inverted arches and other securities from the innovation of the
surrounding earth or water may, by the aforesaid methods, and of the afore-
said materials, be lined or otherwise secured agreeable to Figure 13, in place
of wood, stone, and brickwork, used in common cases, so liable to give way.
And be it further understood of my said Invention, and agreeable to the
various principles, methods, and applications before delineated and ascertained
(which may justly be deemed building in iron), I, the said Jonathan Dickson,
do hereby further declare, that agreeable to Figure 14, strong warehouses,
manufactories, fortified places, stately mansions, elegant pallaces, tombs,
monuments, churches, and other places of devine worship, with their steeples
or towers, to any extent, can, of the aforesaid materials, and by the aforesaid
principles, methods, and applications herein-before described, delineated, ascer-
tained, and made known, be permanently made, built, or erected, agreeable

page_text: to any of the orders of architecture, in place of stones, bricks, and other
terraqueous substances made use of in the common way.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonathan Dickson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eight.
Iurolled the Seventh day of December, in the year above written.