US15411A

US15411A - Improvement in apparatus for solar-salt evaporation

Info

Publication number: US15411A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1856-07-29
Anticipated expiration: 1873-07-29

Description

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR SOLAR-SALT EVAPORATION.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 15, 11 I, dated July 29, 1856.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. BOYNTON, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Mode of Evaporating Salt-Water for the Purpose of Manufacturing Salt; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the letters of reference marked thereon. I

Having been engaged for more than ten years last past in the manufacture of solar salt, I have become familiar with all its advantages and disadvantages.

The salt-vats A will last for an indefinite period, being saturated and preserved by the salt; but the covers B, which shield the vats in rainy weather, being exposed to the sun and rain, and not being saturated with salt, will last on an average not more than ten years, or at least not without extensive repairs. The vats A only cover one-half the land, the covers B occupying an equal space between the vats when shoved oft, to allow of the evaporation in the vats A. Thus onehalf of the salt-land is wasted, being only occupied by the covers B when. not over the vats A. Thereby the salt-lands, which are worth from three hundred to three thousand dollars p er acre, are one-half unproductive, being occupied only by the covers B when evaporation is going on in the vats.

The nature of my invention consists in using the covers B of salt-vats A in evaporating the water in addition to the vats.

Solar salt is only made by the evaporation of the salt-Water in vats, and it can only be done in fair weather. During'rainy weather the vats must be shielded by a cover. These covers B are so arranged as that they can be shoved on or off, according to the weather. WVhen the coversB are'off the vats, they occupy just as much land as the vats A. Thus one-half the land is wasted or used only for the covers B. The vats are made of indefinite length,

though usually from one hundred to six hundred feet, and sixteen feet wide,leaving a space of land between the vats of sixteen feet wide (and as long as the vats) for the covers when shoved off the vats. The covers are used in sections of eighteen feet in length. Over these spaces I place'a trough or spout, O, as long as the covers B, having small holes in the lower side, or any equivalent thereto, for the salt-water to drip through slowly, and flow down over the covers B. The overhanging eaves of the covers B just reach over the sides of the two contiguous vats, so that I the water 'as it drips from the roof of the covers B falls into the vats. The troughs or spouts are made stationary midway between V the vats on arches D and E, so that when the covers B are shoved off the vats A'on the rails F the ridge of the covers will stand directly under the troughs. By means of stopcocks I let the water into the troughs or spouts, or cut it off at pleasure. The covers are provided with friction'rolls G G. By this means the covers are made to evaporate as much or more than the vats, because the covers with only a thin sheet of water on them will warm up in a short time, and the evaporationcommence at once, while it takes more time for the body of Water in the vatsto warm up in the morning, so that the evaporation would be as rapid as from the covers.

H H are lap-pieces on the covers for cover ing the joints. By this means also the covers are preserved. The salt-vats never rot out,

being preserved by the salt, while the covers have to be renewed or repaired every few years.

By my invention the covers B, as well as the vats, are saturated with salt, and conse quently preserved. Thus by this new and useful improvement in the mode of solar evip, oration of salt-water, as before specified, I

double the evaporation-surface on a given amount of land, and likewise get a more rapid I I The useand application of the covers B of the salt-vats Afor the evaporation of salt-water by solar influence, in the manner above specified.

, JOHN F. BOYNTON. [n .1 Inpresence of w. v. v. ROSA, L. G. Hovr.