Specification of the Patent granted to JOSEPH CORTY, of Harley-street, Cavendish-square, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant; for certain Improvements on, and Additions to Stills, or the Apparatus used for Distilling, and also in the Process of Distilling and Rectifying. Dated January 20, 1818. With an Engraving. To all to whom these presents shall come, &c. Now KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said Joseph Corty do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of the said improvements, and the manner in which the same are to be performed, by the following description thereof, reference being had to the drawings annexed; that is to say: That the said improvements do consist in connecting two stills by such tube or tubes, hollow cylinder or cylinders, pipe or pipes, or other channel or channels, -passage or passages of wood, metal, or such other substance or combination of substances, as may be deemed most expedient by the manufacturer, (but I prefer a pipe of copper, as described in the drawings annexed), and also connected in such manner, that the vapours or a portion thereof which rise into the head of the first still, may flow through the said tube or tubes, hollow cylinder or cylinders, pipe or pipes, or other channel or channels, passage or passages, into the second still, there mingling with the wash or liquor contained in the second still, and undergoing a second evaporation. And, moreover, the said improvements do consist in allowing the vapours which rise into the head of the second still, so to pass from the head of the second still as to enter the condensing apparatus from under-neath (instead of above or at the side of it, as is the usual mode), mode), by which means the said vapours, after leaving the second still, rise upwards through the condensing apparatus. And, moreover, the said improvements do consist in placing the boxes of the condensing apparatus, through which the vapours have to ascend, horizontally, or nearly so as may be most convenient, and at a distance from one another, with a stream of water flowing in a particular manner, as described in the drawing, over the top of the first or upper box, thence passing by a side passage or passages over the top of the second or next box below it; and thence by similar passages from the second box over the top of the third or under box, whence it is carried off by a waste pipe; and by which means the two processes of condensing and rectifying are carried on at the same time in the said apparatus; the said apparatus may consist of any number of boxes, but I prefer three, as described in the drawing. And, moreover, the said improvements do consist in a peculiarly-shaped passage, through which the spirit passes on, leaving the worm, into the spirit cask, and by which shape the atmospheric air is prevented from entering the worm at the said passage. The shaped passage I prefer is that represented in the drawing, but any shape will answer, provided some part of the said passage be depressed considerably below the level of the worm, while some subsequent part of the said passage rises nearly to a level with it, by which means a part of the said passage is continually filled with spirit during the process of distillation. And, moreover, the said improvements do consist in a certain tube or tubes, pipe or pipes, or other channel or channels, passage or passages, made of wood, glass, metal, or such other substance or combination of substances, as may be deemed most expedient by the manufacturer, attached or affixed to the passage by which which the spirit leaves the worm in manner following; that is to say: First, rising above the level of the said passage by which the spirit leaves the worm, and then descending into a vessel of water, by which means the carbonic acid gas which is continually evolved during the process of distillation is suffered to escape, while the atmospheric air is prevented from ascending into the worm. The hereinbefore mentioned improvements having been tried and found to succeed, and being to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new communication, and never before used or practised in these his present Majesty's kingdoms and colonies, I am desirous to maintain this my exclusive right and privilege to the same; for further elucidation I have attached drawings, of which the above described inventions form a part, and to which the following references relate. Fig. 1, (Plate I.) A B represent two stills - partly filled with wash; g g the connecting tube described above to lead from the head of the still A, to the top part of the still B, which it enters at P, immersing two or three inches of its extremity into the wash contained in the still B; D a pipe of communication, for the purpose of drawing the wash from still B into still A; C, a common or other stop-cock; R represents the passage by which the vapours described above to pass from the head of the second still, are conveyed into the condensing apparatus from underneath; it will be observed that this passage is so constructed, that the portion of the said vapours which are condensed, are suffered to return by the small passage r, into the wash contained in the still B; the passage R enters the condensing apparatus at o; G, G, G, are the three boxes above described to be placed at a distance from one another; H, H, H, are three |