IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLATION, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Prosser, of the City, County, and State
of New York, in the United States of America, but now of 62,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLATION, AND IN THE MEANS OR
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 22nd January 1869, and dated the 30th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Prosser at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th July 1868.
I, THOMAS PROSSER, of the City, County, and State of New York, in
the United States of America, but now of 62, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLATION, AND IN THE MEANS
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in supp'ementing a condensing liquid after it
has operated as such with sufficient heat to convert it into vapour in all
respects similar to that which it is supposed to have previously con-
[Price 8d.]

page_text: densed
In other words the vapour to be condensed was previously the
condensing medium but in the liquid state.
The Invention applies to the production and condensation of steam in
connection with the steam engine.
To alcoholic distillation as well as to the production of fresh from the
sea or other impotable water.
Also to the production of salt from brine, and of sugar from syrup
and other purposes.
For these purposes the liquid to be evaporated is contained in a close
receiver in the upper part of which is placed a series of chambers com-
municating with each other, and through which a heating medium, as
steam, hot water, air, or gas is successively caused to flow, by which
evaporation of the liquid in the receiver is effected. The vapor obtained
may pass down a tube into a chamber which may be called a condenser,
and thence into another chamber which may be called a refrigerator
both contained in the receiver; or the vapor obtained may pass away to
act as a motive power, and thence be brought back to the condenser and
refrigerator, and thence into the receiver below the condenser for re-use
Liquid is supplied to the lower part of the receiver by a suitable channel,
and the height of it therein is regulated by a float acting on an escape
valve. In like manner the height of the liquid obtained by condensation
is regulated. The float and valve chambers are suitably connected with
their respective main chambers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Prosser in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PROSSER, of the City, County, and State of New York, in the United
States of America, but now of 62, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said Thomas Prosser, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Prosser, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as 1, the said Thomas Prosser, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLATION, AND IN
THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Prosser, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Thomas Prosser, 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 in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention consists in supplementing a condensing liquid after it
has operated as such with sufficient heat to convert it into vapour in all
respects similar to that which it is supposed to have previously con-
densed. In other words the vapour to be condensed was previously the
condensing medium, but in the liquid state.
The Invention applies to the production and condensation of steam in
connection with the steam engine.
To alcoholic distillation as well as to the production of fresh from the
sea or other impotable water.
Also to the production of salt from brine, and of sugar from syrup,
and to other uses.
For these purposes the liquid to be evaporated is contained in a close
receiver in the upper part of which is placed a series of chambers com-
municating with each other, and through which a heating medium as
steam, hot water, air, or gas is successively caused to flow, by which
evaporation of the liquid in the receiver is effected. The vapour obtained
may pass down a tube into a chamber which may be called a condenser,

page_text: and thence into another chamber which may be called a refrigerator,
both contained in the receiver, or the vapor obtained may pass away to
act as a motive power, and thence be brought back to the condenser and
refrigerator for use or re-use, as the case may require. The refrigerating
water is supplied to the lower part of the receiver by suitable channels
for ingress and egress, and the height of the liquid in the upper part of
the receiver is regulated by a float acting on an escape valve. In like
manner the height of the liquid obtained by condensation is regulated.
The float and valve chambers are suitably connected with each other
and also with their respective main chambers, viz., the condenser,
refrigerator, and the receiver.
But that the Invention may be fully understood I will, by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings, proceed to describe meaus pursued by me
in carrying the same into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a vertical section of apparatus arranged according
to my improvements, and adapted to be used in the distillation of
alcoholic or other liquids, or for the conversion of salt water into
fresh.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the apparatus taken through the
line 1, 1, of Figure 1.
And Figure 3 is another horizontal section taken through the line 2, 2,
of Figure 1.
The outer case or receiver is for convenience divided into two parts
a, a¹. The upper part a contains the chamber A, which I call the
desiccator, and the vessel B, which I call the vapourizer; though both
these vessels are in fact vapourizers. D is another vessel, which I call
the condenser. The portion a¹ of the case or receiver contains the
chamber E, which I call the refrigerator. The chambers B, D, and E,
are formed with passages through them respectively marked B¹, D¹, and
E¹, for the passage therethrough of liquids contained in the respective
portions of the case or receiver in order that such liquids may more fully
act on the liquids in those chambers.
When the apparatus is used for the conversion of salt water into fresh
water the salt water will be conveyed by a pipe 6 into the lower portion
of the receiver a¹, and it is thence capable of flowing partly out by the

page_text: passage 61 and partly by the passage c, c', valve passage c³, and passages
c3 and c to the case or receiver a, or in the case of alcoholic distillation
the supply to the chamber a may be by the passage p from a suitable
receiver when the passage c¹ will be closed, steam or other heating
medium being caused to flow by the passage d upwards into the
chamber A, and downwards into the chamber B, and thence away by
the pipe f. The liquid in the case a, a¹, should be maintained at a
height sufficient fully to immerse the vessel B, for which purpose I
employ the float g to act by the rod g¹ on a suitable valve at g2 to open
or close the passages c¹ & p. Uniformity of pressure is maintained in
the valve and float chamber by means of the pipe h' communicating
between the float chamber and the case or receiver a. The heat of the
heating medium passing as stated into the chamber A and through the
chamber B communicates heat to the liquid contained in the case or
receiver a to cause the vapourization thereof, and the vapour so produced
ascending in the case a to the upper portion thereof thence enters the
upper end of the tube D2, and down that tube into the chamber D,
which is formed in two parts D3, D4, connected together by tubular
passages Ds. By such vapour passing into the chamber D it becomes
condensed, and flows down by the passage De from the chamber D tc the
refrigerator E, which is also formed in two parts E³, E³, which are con-
nected together by the tubular passages E4. The lower portion E³ of
the chamber E is formed with a well E5, which is connected by the
passage i with the valve chamber j, the valve j¹ of which is by a rod j",
connected to the float in the float chamber j. The lid 5 of the
chamber is perforated to admit of uniformity of pressure therein.
position of this float 3 acting on the valve j¹ regulates the height of
the fuid or condensed vapour in the chamber E and passage D'. o is an
air pipe to aid in preserving uniformity of pressure in the chamber D.
The
Figure 4 shows a vertical section of an arrangement of the Invention
applied to the generation of steam for use in steam engines for alcoholic
distillation or for other purposes.
Figures 5 and 6 are horizontal sections of parts of the same, the
corresponding portions in these Figures are indicated by similar letters
to those used in describing the former Figures, but in this case, in place
of the liquid to the chamber a being supplied from the chamber a¹, it is
forced into that chamber a by a suitable force pump by the pipe k, and
the liquid passing from the chamber a¹ by the pipe c, passes away when

page_text: permitted so to do by the position of the valve g² to the pipe c³, and
thence to the pipe, and the steam generated in the upper portion of
the chamber a passes away by the pipe to the steam engine or other
use, and is thence returned for condensation, as before explained, by the
pipe m to the chamber D. The passage below the valve j¹ is by the
pipe in connection with the air
""
pump.
In case of alcoholic distillation, either with or without the air pump,
the waste contained in a cistern above the apparatus or under
pressure equivalent thereto, must replace as a condensing medium the
water in the lower part of the receiver, and itself become the condensing
medium, so that either the one or the other, that is to say, either the
water or the alcoholic wash may be distilled by one and the same
apparatus as the one or the other is laid on or cut off by suitable cocks.
The economic effect produced does not depend upon any peculiar
arrangement of parts of the apparatus, except inasmuch as it subserves
the object of the system, which consists in the conservation or salvage
of heat in the steam to be condensed, the greatest portion of which is in
a latent state, and is entirely saved; it follows then that the salvage of
this latent heat is a measure of the economy of the system supposing
all other things to be equal, because in all other systems it is almost
entirely lost. Supposing this to be admitted, and also the well-known
fact that the latent heat of vapour increases with decrease of temperature,
it necessarily follows that the temperature of the condenser may be
economically decreased by the operation of an air pump, as in the
ordinary air pump condenser, of a low-pressure steam engine. It is
therefore desirable in all cases to use an air pump to maintain as good a
vacuum as possible in the condenser for the economic working of this
system, and more particularly where a low temperature is desirable to
avoid giving the productions an undesirable flavour, as in sugar or
spirituous distillation.
It may also be further observed that the process of distillation may be
continuous, while and at the same time any number of redistillations
may be produced. Thus the condensed exhaust steam from a steam
engine or vapour from alcoholic wash may be condensed and refrigerated
and then returned into the upper part of the receiver as condensing
media to be again re-evaporated, excepting that portion which is,
accidentally lost or intentionally intercepted after leaving the air pump,
which loss will be made good by the condensing media, which is drawn

page_text: or sucked into the air pump through a valve regulated by its float in
communication through a force or feed pump with the upper portion of
the receiver whenever the position of the valve will allow it to pass. In
this case this valve arrangement is only used to supply the deficiency
herein-before mentioned, while the main body of the condensing media is
supplied direct from the refrigerator regulated by the valve herein-before
referred to.
For example, if no loss and no interception of the fluid result of
condensation takes place the distillations are merely continuous repe-
titions ad infinitum; thus, if one half is lost or intercepted, the other
half is twice distilled; if two-thirds, the other one-third is thrice
distilled; if three-fourths, four times, and so forth.
that will fall by its own gravitation to the bottom of the upper portion
of the receiver outside of the condenser, and may be blown off through
one or more cocks, as may be necessary.
As to the residuim,
Having thus described my improvements and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise arrangements of parts, as shown and
described, as these may be varied without departing from the peculiar
character of the Invention; but what I do claim is, the method or
system of distillation, and the adaptation or combination of means or
apparatus employed therein, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Prosser, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
THOMAS PROSSER. (L.s.)