8 
NEW  APPARATUS  FOR  RECTIFYING  SPIRITS. 
is  in  the  packing  of  the  piston,  but  this  difficulty  is  by  no  means 
insurmountable. 
The  vapor  pipe  from  the  goose,  now  conveying  alcoholic  vapors 
nearly  freed  from  watery  vapor,  and  comparatively  free  from  im- 
purities, has  its  exit  through  the  side  of  the  goose  tub,  and  enters 
the  tub  of  the  first  purifier.  The  purifying  tubs  are  two  in  num- 
ber, d  and  d',  and  they  are  precisely  alike  in  arrangement. 
They  are  furnished  with  a  worm  about  25  feet  in  length,  of  light 
two-inch  lead  pipe,  to  lead  the  vapor  from  the  goose  exit-pipe  to 
the  purifiers  proper.  The  purifiers  are  slightly  conical  vessels 
of  6  ft),  sheet  lead,  3  feet  long,  by  13  inches  diameter  at  the 
larger  upper  end,  where  the  lead  is  soldered  to  an  iron  ring  fur- 
nished with  an  iron  cover.  The  narrower  lower  end  of  the  leaden 
vessel  passes  water-tight  by  means  of  a  leaden  flanch  through 
the  bottom  of  the  tub,  and  then  terminates  in  a  leaden  funnel, 
pipe  (|  inch)  and  stop-cock.  The  vapor  entrance  into  the  purifier 
is  close  to  the  bottom  of  the  tub.  The  purifiers  are  furnished 
each  with  seven  shelves  of  tinned  copper  wire  cloth,  soldered  to 
tinned  copper  rings,  of  such  sizes  as  to  be  arrested  at  regular 
points  by  the  approaching  sides  of  the  vessel.  Upon  these 
shelves  the  coarsely  powdered  charcoal  is  spread,  in  strata  of 
two  or  three  inches  thickness.  The  vapor  then  admitted  below, 
must  successively  pass  through  all  these  fourteen  strata  of  char- 
coal in  succession,  before  being  admitted  finally  into  the  con- 
densing worm,  and  is  thus  deprived  of  all  remaining  impurity. 
The  water  of  these  tubs,  in  which  the  purifiers  are  immersed,  is 
kept,  by  means  of  a  small  coil  of  steam  pipe,  at  a  temperature 
just  about  the  boiling  point  of  the  alcohol  as  it  issues  from  the 
condensing  worm.  All  the  watery  vapors  and  impurities  con- 
densed in  the  purifiers  drain  off,  and  are  conducted  back  into  the 
still  through  the  £  inch  leaden  pipe  shown.  The  pipe,  before  it 
joins  the  larger  one  leading  from  the  goose,  is  "trapped"  or 
bent  downward  into  a  looped  form.  This  bend,  being  always 
full  of  weak  spirit,  prevents  the  passage  of  vapor  by  this  channel 
into  the  purifiers,  whilst  it  offers  no  obstruction  to  the  passage 
of  the  liquid  towards  the  still.  Another  similar  trap  is  made 
in  the  larger  pipe  as  it  approaches  the  column,  to  prevent  the 
vapor,  under  the  pressure  from  the  still  from  passing  by  this 
route  into  the  goose.    The  J  inch  pipe,  which  drains  the  purifiers, 
