US2735A - Improvement in salt-works - Google Patents

Description

yUnirse STATES Armar trice.

IMPRovEM ENT iN SALT-WORKS.

Speeilication forming part ot Letters Patent No. 2,735, dated July`23,`l842.

T0 LZZ whom it may concern Be itknown that I, CALVIN GUITEAU, of the village of Syracuse, town of Salina, in Onondaga county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Manufactoring Coarse and Fine Salt; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description.

The nature of my invention consists of four boilers, set in walls made of stone and brick. The two front'boilers are forty feet long, and are intended to make brine and generate steam, and are made of sheets of cast-iron, with flanges on the inner side of each sheet from one and a half to two inches wide, so as to be drilled through and riveted together. The boilers are of an exact semicircle, three feet across, aboutnine-tenths of an inch thick at the bottoni, and about three-tenths of an inch at the upper side of the boiler, and of a true taper f rom the bottom to the upper side of the flange. There is a flange from two and a half to three inches wide turned to a horizontal level, which supports the boilers on the walls in which they are set, and then turns up perpendicular about four inches, through which holes are bored about ten inches apart. The heads are of cast-iron, and are carried up to the same level with the iiange, as above described, through which holes are also bored. The rear boilers may be made of boiler sheetiron, with a horizontal` flange about three inches wide to support them on the walls; or both front and rear boilers may be made of cast-iron sheets7 as above described, without the inner flange, by a band of iron of at least a quarter inch thick, and about four inches wide, laid on where cast-iron sheets come together on the outside, and so drilled through the sheet and bands as to be riveted substantially together, and be well cemented on the inner side in the joints. There is a iifthboiler, made the same as the above-described forty- 'eet front boilers, but only twenty feet in length, and is used to generate steam to heat the crude salt-water in the reservoir and make brine.

A is the walls, of stone and brick, in which the above four boilers are set, the two in front to generate steam and make brine, and the two in rear to make iine salt, which are tlled with and boil pure saturated brine only. (See the annexed plan, the boilers c c c c.) The walls are eleven feet wide. rlhe bottom of the boilers in front are tive feet above the hearth of their fire-places.

D D are the cast-iron frames in iront to support the walls, and have two iron rods on each side secured through the cast-i ron, which extend about four feet into the walls, with their ends turned at right angles, and so laid in by masonwork as to give strength and security. (See the plan 13.) Six inches in from the front ofthe fireplace and eight inches above the hearth castiron plates are secured in the wall on each side, projecting out one inch, on which projection the mouth-irons rest on which the wood is laid. The hearth of the fire-places is made of brick, and laid edgewise, with thin clay mortar inixedswith saltwater and extended in three feet from the front on a level. The brick are then laid tlatwise with the same kind of Inortar, on an inclined plane seventeen feet,which brings it up to within six inches ofthe bottom of the boiler, keeping the width of twenty inches between the walls. Itis then expanded in direct lines, and carried down the canals or fines from the twenty inches in width to twenty-three inches at the chimney and ten inches below the bottom of the boiler. The lues or canals are then turned down, so as to enter the tlues ofthe chimney on its upper side as low and on a level with the canal or iiues above described, being ten inches below the bottom of the boiler. The wall about the sides of the boilers islaid on a circle from the upper sides, which circle falls six inches below the bottoms of the boilers. Vhere the ues come six inches below the bottom of the boilers, as

above expressed, the whole of the flue is estimated at one hundred and eighty square inches, and at the chimney two hundred square inches, up the iiue of the chimney two hundred and iii'ty square inches, which chimney must be made with a substantial partition from the bottom to the top, so that each re is kept in its own flue.

E E represent a two-incl1 pine plank sixteen inches wide, twenty feet long, set in and fitted to the flange which supports the boilers on the walls, with holes bored corresponding with the holes in the flange which supports the side plank, through which iron bolts are placed with screws on the ends, on which nuts are fitted, and in the saine manner at the heads K` K, also the rear ends. Vhen screwed up is drawn into vats in a perfectly pure state and made secure by calking with hemp. flax, or

. cotton, incorporated with white-lead and oil between the iiange and plank to prevent leaking. At the rear end the planks are carried up, so as to attach steam-conductors to them to carry the steam to the salting-vats, and are closely covered by two-inch plank in the form of a box.

F F are covers with wooden handles and with cross-pieces of two-inch plank framed across into the side plank to support the same. .The covers are made of half-inch pine boards, and of two or three in thickness, by placing them together lengthwise, so as to break joints, and whenV swelled by steam theV swelling and4V shrinking will be equal. They must be well put together by suitable nails, and at the sides and ends cut down to an angle of forty-tive degrees, also the upper side of the plank and cross -pieces, so that when placed over the boilers they will set to a joint and to a uniform level. Vhen the covers are laid on as above explained, take pure clay mortar, and with the linger press it into the joints ofthe covers (as still-caps are pasted on) to secure against the escape of steam.

' G G represent the opening four by iiveinches, to let oft the steam as occasion requires.

H H representan iron rod, which passes through the cover ofthe steam-box and is attachedto a wooden slide on the inside and secured to the plank on each side by cleats.v By the iron rod the slide is pushed down, which closes the steam-conductor. When raised thel passage is open for the steam to pass to the steam-box ofthe saltingvat.

I I are openings twelve inches square.

U is a box open at each end, and is secured at one end into the opening at I, the other end secured in the opposite opening at I, which box, so tted in slide 12, opens a passage for steam from one boiler to the other, through the center of which box, on the upper side, an l opening is made, and on the inner side ofthe box, down each side, it is grooved and aslide is made and so iit'ted in when pushed down to stop the passage of steam, and when pulled up the passage is opened. By the use of this box the steam of both boilers may be turned and used eitherway, or by closing the passage by the slide, as above explained, the steam is coniined on each side to its own conductor.

J J J arethe side vats with their partitions, where the brine'which is discharged'frorn the boilers and carried by wooden spouts into the front end of each side vat 50 from saturation, (by a hydrometer graduated at 100 for saturation,) where aconstant stream is falling onto salt, which completes the saturation, and the last of the impurities are precipitated. The first partition stops most of the impurities, from which they are thrown or shoveled out. rlhe brine is then drawn into the second apartment, where the most or all of the impurities which remain settle. rIhe brine is then carried to the third apartment, from which it is distributed into the salting -vats, excepting what has been carried into the rearboilers for making fine salt, which require a supply of from thirteen to sixteen hundred gallons every twenty-four hours.

K K are the heads of front boilers. The uppermost hole is secured by a faucet to test the depth of brine, which is stopped bya long tapering tap to prevent being blocked byimpurities and prevent being burned by steam. The second hole is larger than the first about one inch below, and secured in the same manner, where a constant stream'is running into a spout and carried into the front end of the side vat, as above explained. Great care is required to avoid approaching to saturation, which would throw down the impurities in bulk and block the boilers; but by not approaching nearer than 5 of saturation, and drawing out the impurities as they are thrown from their suspended state by the force of heat and rise to the surface, the impurities are safely carried in the water to and deposited in the sidevats. rlhe hole nearthe bottom is for discharging the whole when cooling down the Works, and may be stopped byafaucet and tap or plug. At the rear end of the walls the brick are so laid in with clay mortar that they may be taken outand the ashes scraped out, which may be there deposited and in lthe same manner closed up again.

L L are the logs which carry the steam, from the covers of the steam-boilers into the steamboxes of the salting-vats, are of twelve-inch bore.

M represents the walls of a furnace where a boiler is set to heat the reservoirs when filled ywith crude salt-water; also, a cast-iron frame in front, to support the walls, with a mouth-iron place. The boiler is the same in size as the fortyfoot boilers at G C; differs only in length, being twenty feet. The setting in the walls differs only the incline plain, which is carried into the Ichimney on the same plan as above explained I at D D.

l N is the chimney, the plank on the sides, ends, and covers, and the xtures at the rear ends the same as the other already described. (See the plan E E.)

O is the door with a wooden handle, which opens to the inside of the steam-box on the rear end of the boiler which vheats the reservoir.

P P P P are logs of six-inch bore, which conduct the steam from the boiler into the steamboxes of the reservoirs, which pass through the center 011 the bottom of each reservoir, and are covered with copper sheets. The plank which inclose the steam-boiler are opened near the rear part on each side, so as to admit'the bored log, (steam-conductors,) and to be so secured as to conduct off the steam. The log to carry the steam to the reservoir is left open, while the opposite one is plugged. Vhen the reservoir is sufficiently heated it is -plu gged with the plug on which the wood is laid in front of the iirein dropping 'down the iiue at the upper point of sixty feet to two hundred feet, the steam inthe rear brought in serves to equalize the heated brine, extends the room and time for continuing the process, and thereby increasing the weight. To make heavy salt, the brine must be deep. It' not deep, light iiakes and light salt will be the result. The salt should be moved once ortwice in twenty-four hours. It presents a new side of each crystal and the weight greatly increased.

Vhat I claim as my own invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows, viz: t

l. The manner of setting my four boilers, as described by the annexed plan, with their xtures for carrying out and effecting thereby the object of simplifying the inode of making more coarse and line saltfwith less labor, fuel, and

expense than has ever been done orknown bebefore in the United States. With two salting-vats of one hundred and sixty feet each in length, with three oneffourth cords of Wood one, hundred and fifty bushels are made weighing from seventy to eighty pounds to the measured bushel, and from the rear boilers fifty bushels of pure line salt from pure saturated brine with an overplus of brine reinaining.

2. The extension of the salting-vats to two hundred feet in length and bringing in the steam from the two boilers to increase and equalize the heat in the rear part of the salting-vats will greatly increase the amount of salt with but a small addition of wood; also, by the use of the condensed steam from the rear end of the steam-boxes, whicllrbcing pure water will avoid blocking the boilers with limy incrustation as could not be avoided by the use of the fresh water of this region of country being universally impregnated with lime.

3. Avoiding blocking the boilers by keepin g short of saturation and drawing ottthe water with its impurities 5 from saturation as they are driven from their suspended state by the force of heat, and rise to the surface and are drawn into the side vats, and saturation completed by iiue salt taken from the rear boilers where in this manner the last of the impurities are separated and deposited. By this process the great dit'liculties of making salt are remedied, and is not only new but the most useful of anything'known or used in the history of salt-making.

t CALVIN GUITEAU.

Vitnesses:

EDWARD P. REED, J UsrUs W. HALE.

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