10  NEW  APPARATUS  FOR  RECTIFYING  SPIRITS. 
portions  to  the  size  of  the  goose,  this  arrangement  may  be  omitted, 
as  the  circulation  of  the  large  body  of  water,  with  the  radiation 
and  evaporation,  keeps  the  temperature  down  without  much  neces- 
sity for  supplying  cold  water,  particularly  if  the  still  works  regu- 
larly. With  the  proportions  given  and  without  using  the 
automatic  valve,  the  temperature  of  the  water  often  does  not 
vary  two  degrees  for  three  or  four  hours  at  a  time. 
The  purifiers,  when  used  for  alcohol,  are  prepared  for  use  by 
placing  coarsely  powdered  recently  burned  charcoal  upon  the 
shelves  or  disks  of  wire  cloth  to  the  depth  of  two  or  two  and  a 
half  inches  on  each,  so  that  the  two  require  about  18  lbs.  to 
charge  them.  The  iron  covers  are  then  bolted  on,  the  tubs 
filled  with  water,  and  the  temperature  of  the  water  raised  to  170° 
to  176Q,  and  maintained  at  that  temperature  steadily. 
The  condensing  worm  tub  is  of  course  supplied  with  cold  water, 
and  the  charging  back  filled  with  whiskey  or  the  dilute  spirit  to 
be  rectified. 
The  still  is  then  charged  up  to  the  overflow  cock,  say  58  to 
60  gallons,  and  the  whole  apparatus  is  ready  for  working. 
A  good  head  of  steam  turned  into  the  heating  coil  of  the  still 
sets  it  boiling  rapidly  in  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  Then  the  head 
of  steam  is  checked  off  to  a  moderate  working  flow,  and  the  dis- 
tillation is  commenced.  Stopcocks  1,  3  and  5  are  closed,  and  also 
that  of  the  charging  back/,  the  others  being  open.  The  spirit 
is  redistilled  and  cooled  in  each  chamber  as  it  ascends  the 
column,  and  is  distributed  over  a  very  large  surface,  and  washed 
as  it  passes  through  the  various  strata  of  pebbles,  the  water  and 
weak  spirit  condensed  draining  back  with  the  more  easily  con- 
densed oils  into  the  still  to  be  again  boiled.  The  vapor  freed 
from  most  of  the  impurities  and  water  then  passes  to  the  goose, 
where  more  of  the  water  is  separated  as  weak  spirit  and  drained 
back  into  the  still  for  redistillation.  The  vapor  has  its  tempera- 
ture again  equalized  in  the  short  worm  of  the  purifier,  and  then 
passes  more  slowly  through  all  the  strata  of  charcoal  in  succes- 
sion, still  depositing  a  portion  of  weak  spirit  to  be  returned  to  the 
still,  until  it  finally  passes  into  the  condensing  worm  in  a  pure 
state.  Here  it  is  all  condensed,  and  escapes  from  the  eduction 
pipe  at  the  rate  of  a  gallon  every  six  or  seven  minutes. 
As  soon  as  the  distillation  is  fairly  under  way,  the  stop  cock 
