4 
NEW  APPARATUS  FOR    RECTIFYING  SPIRITS. 
twelve  inches  in  diameter  and  eight  inches  high.  Just  within 
this  cylinder  the  diaphragm  is  perforated  with  a  J  inch  diameter 
dripping  pipe  eight  inches  long.  This  is  soldered  into  the  dia- 
phragm so  as  to  project  J  to  |  inch  above  its  surface,  and  to  reach 
within  the  same  distance  of  the  surface  or  floor  of  the  chamber 
below.  This  dripping  tube  forms  an  overflow  to  the  floor  of  each 
chamber,  for  the  weak  spirit  in  descending  the  column.  The 
diaphragm  is  also  perforated  by  a  small  hole  punched  from  above 
downward,  on  the  side  opposite  the  dripping  tube.  This  small 
hole  serves  to  drain  each  chamber  when  , the  apparatus  is  at  rest. 
"When  this  diaphragm  and  its  cylinder  are  in  place,  the  space 
between  the  cylinder  and  the  inside  of  the  column,  over  the 
ring  of  holes,  is  filled  with  carefully  separated  clean  small 
gravel  stones  or  pebbles,  or  with  coarsely  powdered  charcoal, 
or  with  any  other  similar  matters  offering  large  contact  surface 
and  bad  conducting  powers.  The  vapor  in  its  ascent  under 
the  pressure  from  the  still  below  must  pass  from  the  plunger 
chamber  through  the  ring  of  holes,  and  through  the  stratum  of 
pebbles  and  wire  cloth  into  this  second  chamber  ;  and  in  so  doing 
its  temperature  is  lowered,  and  it  deposits  some  of  its  spirit,  but 
more  of  its  water,  in  the  liquid  condition.  This  condensed  por- 
tion is  boiled  and  redistilled  from  the  surfaces  and  shallow  pan 
in  which  it  is  deposited  by  the  heat  given  off  from  the  next  suc- 
ceeding portions  of  slowly  cooling  and  condensing  vapors,  and 
so  on  the  process  of  redistillation,  and  draining  back  of  weaker 
and  weaker  spirit  is  repeated  or  continued  all  the  way  up  the 
column.  The  third  chamber  is  formed  by  a  diaphragm  repre- 
sented by  fig.  3,  of  the  same  size,  similarly  turned  up  at  the  edge 
and  similarly  furnished  with  a  dripping  pipe  and  draining  hole. 
This  diaphragm,  however,  instead  of  the  ring  of  small  holes  near 
the  edge,  has  a  single  opening  in  the  centre,  four  inches  in 
diameter,  the  edges  of  the  opening  being  turned  up  like  the  outer 
edge.  Around  this  opening  is  soldered  the  lower  edge  of  a 
cylinder  of  wire  cloth  of  corresponding  diameter  and  eight  inches 
high.  Around  this  cylinder  and  concentric  with  it  is  soldered 
another  cylinder  of  double  the  diameter,  but  of  the  same  height. 
This  leaves  an  interspace  of  about  two  inches  thickness  to  be 
filled  with  pebble  stones,  and  through  which  the  vapors  must 
pass  in  their  serpentine  course  from  the  second  to  the  third 
