134  MANUFACTURE  OF   AMMONIA,  ETC. 
A  Taluable  improvement  in  the  mode  of  obtaining  ammonia  from 
ammoniaca]  solutions  was  patented  in  the  name  of  Mr.  W.  E.  New- 
ton, patent  agent,  November  9,  1841.  The  real  patentee,  we  be- 
lieve, was  Mr.  Laming,  of  Clichy  Chemical  Works,  near  Paris. 
This  improvement  consisted  in  the  application  of  the  well-known 
still,  invented  by  Mr.  Coffey  for  the  distillation  of  spirit,  to  the 
production  of  ammonia,  either  pure  or  more  or  less  impure,  accord- 
ing to  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  required  from  any  liquid,  from 
which,  by  the  agency  of  steam,  it  may  be  eliminated,  either  alone 
or  in  conjunction  with  vapor,  carbonic  acid,  or  other  volatile  mat- 
ters, the  presence  of  which  do  not  prevent  the  application  of  am- 
monia to  one  or  more  useful  purposes. 
This  apparatus  or  ammonia  still  is  an  upright  vessel,  divided 
by  horizontal  diaphragms  or  partitions  into  a  number  of  chambers. 
It  is  proposed  to  construct  the  vessel  of  wood,  lined  with  lead,  and 
the  diaphragms  of  sheet  iron.  Each  diaphragm  is  perforated  with 
many  small  holes,  so  regulated,  both  with  regard  to  number  and 
size,  as  to  afford,  under  some  pressure,  passage  for  the  elastic  va- 
pors which  ascend,  during  the  use  of  the  apparatus,  to  make  their 
exit  by  a  pipe  opening  from  the  upper  chamber.  Fitted  to  each 
diaphragm  are  several  small  valves,  so  weighted  as  to  rise  when- 
ever elastic  vapors  accumulate  under  them  in  such  quantity 
as  to  exert  more  than  a  certain  amount  of  pressure  on  the  dia- 
phragm. A  pipe  is  also  attached  to  each  diaphragm,  passing  from 
about  an  inch  above  its  upper  surface  to  near  the  bottom  of  a  cup 
or  small  reservoir,  fixed  to  the  upper  surface  of  the  diaphragms 
next  underneath.  This  pipe  is  sufficiently  large  to  transmit  freely 
downwards  the  whole  of  the  liquid  which  enters  for  distillation  at 
the  upper  part  of  the  upright  vessel,  and  the  cup  or  reservoir,  into 
which  the  pipe  dips,  forms,  when  full  of  liquid,  a  trap,  by  which 
the  upward  passage  of  elastic  vapors,  by  the  pipe,  is  prevented. 
The  vessel  may  rest  on  a  close  cistern,  contrived  to  receive  the 
descending  liquid  as  it  leaves  the  lowest  chamber,  and  from  this 
cistern  it  may  be  run  off,  by  a  valve  or  cock,  whenever  expedient. 
The  cistern,  or  in  its  absence  the  lowest  chamber,  contains  the  ori- 
fice of  a  pipe,  which  supplies  steam  for  working  the  apparatus. 
The  exact  number  of  chambers  into  which  the  upright'vessel  is  di- 
vided is  not  of  essential  importance  ;  but  the  quantity  of  liquid  and 
he  surface  of  each  diaphragm  being  given,  the  distillation  within 
ertain  limits  will  be  more  complete,  the  greater  the  number  of 
