A NEW- CONSTRUCTED WORM FOR DISTILLATION, WITH A RESERVOIR AT THE TOP THEREOF FOR RECEIVING THE STEAM THAT IS RAISED FROM THE STILL
Year: 1787

page_text: MAXWELL'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
MAXWELL, of the City of Glasgow, in Scotland, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the First day of August, in the twenty-seventh year of His
reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Stephen Maxwell, His special
licence and authority, that I, the said Stephen Maxwell, during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and in all His
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A NEW-
CONSTRUCTED WORM FOR DISTILLATION, WITH A RESERVOIR AT THE TOP THEREOF FOR
RECEIVING THE STEAM THAT IS RAISED FROM THE STILL;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a provisoe obliging me, the said Stephen Maxwell, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain 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 next and immediately after the date of the now
reciting 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 Stephen Maxwell, in compliance with.
the said provisoe, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention in manner follo wing (that is to say):-
There is hereunto annexed, and subscribed by me, a Drawing of my afore-
said New-constructed Worm for Distillation, with a Receiver at the Top
thereof for receiving the Steam that is raised from the Still, and for the more

page_text: particular specification of the uses and advantages which will arise from the said
new-constructed worm, I, the said Stephen Maxwell, further say, that the distil-
lation of ardent spirits is a very simple process. The liquor from whence the spirit
is to be extracted being once properly prepared by fermentation or otherwise, is
put into the still, is brought to boil, and the steam or vapour emitted being con-
ducted by the head spout into the upper end of the worm, is in its passage from
thence downwards condensed and becomes spirit before issuing out at the under
end of the worm. However simple this process of distillation may appear, yet in
conducting it the distiller meets with difficulties, one of which is of importance,
and arises chiefly from two causes; the first of these is the great quantity of
fixed air contained in the fermented liquor, and which comes off very copiously
alongst with the steam that produce the spirit, especially when the still first
begins to boil; the second proceeds from the form and situation of the worm,
being a spiral screw placed in a tub filled with cold water. Whenever the liquor
in the still is brought to the boiling point, at which distillation commences, the
fixed air rising in such a heated state, and combined with the body of steam
that produces the spirit, acquire a very great degree of expansion before
entering into the upper end of the worm, and when entered there have to
remove the column of cold atmospheric air with which the worm is filled, and
this against the weight of the atmosphere pressing on the worm's lower end
before the heated fixed air can escape there, Before, however, this can be
effected through so long a winding pipe as the worm placed in cold water, many
inconveniences arise, for as the still is constantly throwing up steam, so while
that does not get proportionable ready vent through the worm, it creates such
extreme heat and expansion as to cause the watery part of the liquor in the
still to rise alongst with the steam or vapour, and whenever this happens
distillation ceases, and the liquor comes out at the lower end of the worm in
the same crude state that it entered at the upper. Another great incon-
venience experienced by distillers occurs where they employ large stills, which
of course require large high worms. These worms again require such a depth
of water to cover them, that altho' the tub be plentifully supplied, yet from the
hot steam constantly pouring in, the water at the top becomes so heated as to
be rendered very unfitt for condensation, while at the same time it remains
perfectly cool below. A desire to remedy these mischiefs and inconveniences
gave rise to the present Invention of a worm with a reservoir at the top,
totally different from anything hitherto used in the process of distillation.
This new-invented patent worm consists of two parts, and to be placed in
two different tubs. The first or uppermost part, with the reservoir at the top,
is to receive and condense the steam or vapour as quickly as it shall be raised

page_text: by the still. The second is to cool the spirits after being condensed with a
pipe or crooked tube fixed in the second turn of the lower worm for letting off
the floating air without sending it out at the lower end, as has been done in
the worms hitherto used. Besides remedying the aforesaid mischiefs and
inconveniences, it is also the purpose of this Invention, by employing a worm,
the bore of which when taken from top to bottom is of a larger size than
any hitherto used, to enable the distiller to work his still in much less time
then has been till now done. The Drawing hereunto annexed, and to which
I refer, will give a proper view of the Invention, and will be understood by the
following description:-(A) the pipe that receives the spout from the still,
and conducts the steam into the reservoir, is fourteen inches wide. (B) the
reservoir; (C, C,) two canals which pass through the reservoir, nine by three
inches, and cross each other. D, D, D, D, D, canals that pass through the
upper turn of the worm, for the purpose of condensing the steam in the center
of the column, passing down the worm, five inches by two and an half. E, the
upper end of the worm joined to the reservoir, thirteen inches. F, F, F, the tub
in which the upper worm is placed. G, the pipe to carry off the floating air, four
inches wide, with a plug to shut it when the state of the still requires it. H, the
upper end of the lower receiver or worm, eight inches wide. M, M, M, M, M,
stays that supports the worms. I, an end piece, which may be taken off and
put on the lower end of the worm at pleasure, three inches wide, which will
prevent too much air from getting into the worm after distillation begins.
K, K, K, the tub in which the lower worm is placed. "L, a spout fixed to the
lower end of the receiver, and to come through the side of the worm tub, upon
which a cock is to be fixed. This spout is to convey away any glutinous or
watery part of the liquor that by accident may boil over without coming
through the worm, and to inform the distiller the moment distillation begins.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Maxwell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven.
STEPHEN (L.S.) MAXWELL.
Sealed and delivered, being first duly
stampt, (the letter H and these words
being first interlined,-H, the upper
end of the lower worm, eight inches

page_text: BE IT REMEMBERED, that it appears to the Court of our Sovereign
Lord the King, in His Chancery at Westminster, by an affidavit and protest
in the words following (that is to say) :-
Edinburgh, James Summers, of the City of Edinburgh, in Scotland, Writer,
maketh oath that he was present and did see Stephen Maxwell, in the Deed
of Specification hereunto annexed named, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of
August, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, sign, seal, and his act
and deed, in due form of law, deliver the same, with the Drawing thereunto
annexed, descriptive of the Invention therein mentioned, which was so done by
the said Stephen Maxwell, in the presence of James Brown, in the said City of
Edinburgh, Writer, and of this Deponent, saith, that the name Stephen
Maxwell set opposite to the seal of the said Deed of Specification as the party
executing the same, is of the proper handwriting of him the said Stephen
Maxwell, and was set and subscribed by him thereto in the presence of the
said James Brown and of this Deponent, and that the said James Brown and
this Deponent did severally subscribe their names as witnesses to the due
execution thereof, and that the names James Summers and James Brown, set
and subscribed as witnesses to the sealing and delivery of the said Deed of
Specification, are of the respective proper handswriting of the said James
Brown and of this Deponent.

page_text: or Chief Magistrate attend the same, is of the proper handwriting of the said
John Grieve, Esquire; and that the name James Sommers, subscribed at the
foot of the said Deposition, is of the proper handwriting of him, the said James
Sommers, and was so sworn to, attested, and subscribed as aforesaid in my
presence, on the day, year, and at the place aforesaid.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand (no notorial seal being
used in Scotland), the Twenty-fifth day of August, One thousand seven hundred
and eighty-seven years,
JOHN OGILL, N.P.,
that the above-named Stephen Maxwell did, on the day last above men-
tioned, acknowledge the said Invention and the Specification above mentioned,
and every part thereof therein mentioned and specified, to be the nature,
principle, and form of the said Invention above mentioned, before the said
John Grieve, Provost of the City of Edinburgh, and that the same was duly
stampt according to the Act of Parliament in that case made and provided.
Inrolled this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year last above