Specification of William Clark : desiccating and preserving matters from decay.

  • William Clark
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of William Clark : desiccating and preserving matters from decay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Specification. A.D. 1863.—N° 186. 3 Clark's Improvements in Desiccating and Preserving Matters from Decay. but the source is definite, if I have the first day collected five gallons of liquid, next day I shall have less, and no water at all after a certain period. Supposing that I have used ether to dissolve tannin, and wish without heating to separate these two bodies the conditions are the same, the space will be 5 composed of two crucibles disposed neck to neck and carefully luted, the crucible shall contain the solution and shall be sufficiently cool so that the whole ether vaporizing in the one crucible may be condensed in the other crucible. Supposing, finally, that I have dissolved india-rubber or caoutchouc in essence of turpentine, and that without heating or ventilating I wish to 10 insulate this caoutchouc in the space limited, and closed as above, I can destroy the vapor from essence of turpentine by decomposing its very elements either by combustion or chemical agency. * I trust that I have by the above various examples justified all the conditions in which I have bound myself, and which limit the Invention, for which I 15 desire to obtain Letters Patent, my explanations will I believe enable any industrial person to make use of and perform my Invention when the same has become public property, but I will further treat of some peculiar points which may be further improved. 1st, when I use chemical agents having great affinity for vapour, this having 20 no real value, and the chemical agent having one, I intend revivifying such chemical agents, and restore to them as economically as possible their former properties. For instance I dry in free air and by the cheapest vapourizing processes chloride of zinc, which although having to day served to dry will still serve to dry to-morrow, and this must be considered as part of my 25 Invention. 2ndly, in case when for saving time it should be necessary to multiply the operations more than the extent of the space will allow, or the extent of the surface of contact between the chemical or physical agent and vapor will allow, some arrangements more or less ingenious may be adopted. Thus the 30 absorbing power of a given surface may be increased tenfold without its real extent being varied, for instance, in the operating space where I have enclosed milk to be evaporated I arrange bellows to circulate the air in the space, blowing it through a cask filled with quicklime or chloride of calcium. This air enters the cask in the damp state and goes out from it in a dry state, by 35 doubling the height of the cask, and the rapidity of the passage of the air, and increasing the capacity of the bellows, I may attain the same result in a shorter and shorter time, but this is but a corollary of my Invention. 3rdly, at any temperature and at any pressure, as stated above, the effects shall be produced as indicated. However it will be an advantage when this