STEREOTYPE PRINTING

signifies printing by fixed types, or by a cast typographic plate. This plate is made as follows:—The form, composed in ordinary types, and containing one, two, three, or more pages, inversely as the size of the book, being laid flat upon a slab, with the letters looking upwards, the faces of the types are brushed over with oil, or preferably, with plumbago (black lead). A heavy bra rectangular frame of three sides, with bevelled borders, adapted exactly to the size of the pages, is then laid down upon the chase, [61] to circumscribe three sides of its typography; but the fourth side, which is one end of the rectangle, is formed by placing near the types, and over the hollows of the chase, a single bra bar, having the same inwards sloping bevel as the other three sides. The complete frame resembles that of a picture, and serves to define the area and thickne of the cast, which is made by pouring the pap of Paris plaster into its interior space, up to a given line on its edges. The plaster mould, which soon sets, or becomes concrete, is lifted gently off the types, and immediately placed upright on its edge in one of the cells of a sheet-iron rack mounted within the cast-iron oven. An able workman will mould ten sheets octavo in a day, or 160 pages. The moulds are here exposed to air heated to fully 400° F., and become perfectly dry in the course of two hours. As they are now friable and porous, they require to be delicately handled. Each mould, containing generally two pages octavo, is laid, with the impre ion downwards, upon a flat cast-iron plate, called the floating-plate; this plate being itself laid on the bottom of the dipping-pan, which is a cast-iron square tray, with its upright edges sloping outwards. A cast-iron lid is applied to the dipping-pan, and secured in its place by a screw. The pan having been heated to 400° in a cell of the oven, under the mould-rack, previous to receiving the hot mould, is ready to be plunged into the bath of melted alloy contained in an iron pot placed over a furnace, and it is dipped with a slight deviation from the horizontal plane, in order to facilitate the escape of the air. As there is a minute space between the back or top surface of the mould and the lid of the dipping-pan, the liquid metal, on entering into the pan through the orifices in its corners, floats up the plaster along with the iron plate on which it had been laid, thence called the floating-plate, whereby it flows freely into every line of the mould, through notches cut in its edge, and forms a layer or lamina upon its face, of a thickne corresponding to the depth of the border. Only a thin metal film is left upon the back of the mould. The dipping-pan is suspended, plunged, and removed by means of a powerful crane, susceptible of vertical and horizontal motions in all directions. When lifted out of the bath, it is set in a water-cistern, upon bearers so placed as to allow its bottom only to touch the surface. Thus the metal first concretes below, while, by remaining fluid above, it continues to impart hydrostatic pre ure during the shrinkage attendant upon refrigeration. As it thus progre ively contracts in volume, more melted metal is fed into the corners of the pan by a ladle, in order to keep up the hydrostatic pre ure upon the mould, and to secure a perfect impre ion, as well as a solid cast. Were the pan more slowly and equably cooled, by being left in the air, the thin film of metal upon the back of the inverted plaster cake would be apt to solidify first, and intercept the hydrostatic action indispensable to the purpose of filling all the lines in its face. A skilful workman makes five dips, containing two pages octavo each, in the course of an hour, or about nine and a half octavo sheets per day. The pan being taken asunder, the compound cake of mould and metal is removed, and beat upon its edges with a wooden mallet, to detach the superfluous metal. The stereotype plate is then handed over to the picker, who planes its edges truly square, turns its back flat upon a lathe to a determinate thickne , and carefully removes the little imperfections occasioned by dirt or air left among the letters when the mould was cast. Should any of them be damaged in the course of the operation, they must be cut out, and replaced by soldering in separate types of the same size and form. [61] Chase ( cha is , frame, Fr.), quoin ( coin , wedge, Fr.), are terms which show that the art of printing came directly from France to England. STILL ( Alambic , Fr.; Blase , Germ.); is a chemical apparatus, for vaporizing liquids by heat in one part, called the cucurbit , and condensing the vapours into liquids in another part, called the refrigeratory ; the general purpose of both combined being to separate the more volatile fluid particles from the le volatile. In its simplest form, it consists of a retort and a receiver, or of a pear-shaped matra and a capital, furnished with a slanting tube for conducting away the condensed vapours in drops; whence the term still , from the Latin verb still are , to drop. Its chief employment in this country being to eliminate alcohol, of greater or le strength, from fermented wash, I shall devote this article to a description of the stills best adapted to the manufacture of British spirits, referring to chemical authors [62] for those fitted for peculiar objects. [62] The treatises of Le Norm and and Dubrunfaut may also be consulted. The French stills are in general so much complicated with a great many small pipes and pa ages, as to be unfit for distilling the glutinous wash of grains. In respect of rapidity and extent of work, stills had attained to an extraordinary pitch of perfection in Scotland about thirty years ago, when legislative wisdom thought fit to levy the spirits duty, per annum, from each distiller, according to the capacity of his still. It having been shown, in a report presented to the House of Commons in 1799, that an 80-gallon still could be worked off in eight minutes, this fact was made the basis of a new fiscal law, on the supposition that the maximum of velocity had been reached. But, instigated by the hopes of enormous gains at the expense of the revenue, the distillers soon contrived to do the same thing in three minutes, by means of broad-bottomed shallow stills, with stirring-chains, and lofty capitals. In the year 1815, that preposterous law, which encouraged fraud and deteriorated the manufacture, was repealed. The whiskey duties having been since levied, independently of the capacity of the still, upon the quantity produced, such rapid operations have been abandoned, and proce es of economy in fuel, and purity in product, have been sought after. One of the greatest improvements in modern distilleries, is completing the analysis of crude spirit at one operation. Chemists had been long familiar with the contrivance of Woulfe, for impregnating with gaseous matter, water contained in a range of bottles; but they had not thought of applying that plan to distillation, when Edouard Adam, an illiterate workman of Montpellier, after hearing accidentally a chemical lecture upon that apparatus, bethought himself of converting it into a still. He caused the boiling-hot vapours to chase the spirits succe ively out of one bottle into another, so as to obtain in the succe ive ve els alcohol of any desired strength and purity, “ at one and the same heat .” He obtained a patent for this invention in 1801, and was soon afterwards enabled, by his succe on the small scale, to set up in his native city a magnificent distillery, which excited the admiration of all the practical chemists of that day. In November, 1805, he obtained a certificate of certain improvements for extracting from wine, at one proce , the whole of its alcohol. Adam was so overjoyed, after making his first experiments, that he ran about the streets of Montpellier, telling every body of the surprising results of his invention. Several competitors soon entered the lists with him, especially Solimani, profe or of chemistry in that city, and Isaac Berard, distiller in the department of Gard; who, having contrived other forms of continuous stills, divided the profits with the first inventor. The principles of spirituous distillation may be stated as follows:—The boiling point of alcohol varies with its density or strength, in conformity with the numbers in the following table :— | Specific gravity. | Boiling point, by Fahrenheit’s scale. | | 0·7939 | 168·5° | | 0·8034 | 168·0 | | 0·8118 | 168·5 | | 0·8194 | 169·0 | | 0·8265 | 172·5 | | 0·8332 | 173·5 | | 0·8397 | 175·0 | | 0·8458 | 177·0 | | 0·8518 | 179·0 | | 0·8875 | 181·0 | | 0·8631 | 183·0 | | 0·8765 | 187·0 | | 0·8892 | 190·0 | | 0·9013 | 194·0 | | 0·9126 | 197·0 | | 0·9234 | 199·0 | | 0·9335 | 201·0 | See also the table under Alcohol , page 16 . Hence, the lower the temperature of the spirituous vapour which enters the refrigeratory apparatus, the stronger and purer will the condensed spirit be; because the offensive oils, which are present in the wash or wine, are le volatile than alcohol, and are brought over chiefly with the aqueous vapour. A perfect still should, therefore, consist of three distinct members; first, the cucurbit, or kettle; second, the rectifier, for intercepting more or le of the watery and oily particles; and third, the refrigerator, or condenser of the alcoholic vapours. These principles are illustrated in the construction of the still represented in figs. 1057 , 1058 , 1059 , 1060 , 1061. ; in which the resources of the most refined French stills are combined with a simplicity and solidity suited to the grain distilleries of the United Kingdom. Three principal objects are obtained by the arrangement here shown; first, the extraction from fermented wort or wine, at one operation, of a spirit of any desired cleanne and strength; second, great economy of time, labour, and fuel; third, freedom from all danger of blowing up or boiling over, by mismanaged firing. When a combination of water, alcohol, and e ential oil, in the state of vapour, is pa ed upwards through a series of winding pa ages, maintained at a determinate degree of heat, between 170° and 180°, the alcohol alone, in any notable proportion, will retain the elastic form, and will proceed onwards into the refrigeratory tube, in which the said pa ages terminate; while the water and the oil will be in a great measure condensed, arrested, and thrown back into the body of the still, to be discharged with the effete residuum. The system of pa ages or channels, represented in fig. 1058. , is so contrived as to bring the mingled vapours which rise from the alembic a , into ample and intimate contact with metallic surfaces, maintained, in a water-bath, at a temperature self-regulated by a heat-governor. See Thermostat . IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1180.png:Alembics and stills The neck of the alembic tapers upwards, as shown at b , fig. 1057. ; and at c , fig. 1058. , it enters the bottom, or ingre vestibule, of the rectifier c , f . f is its top or egre vestibule, which communicates with the bottom one by parallel cases or rectangular channels d , d , d , of which the width is small, compared with the length and height. These cases are open at top and bottom, where they are soldered or riveted into a general frame within the cavity, enclosed by the two covers f , c , which are secured round their edges e , e , e , e , with bolts and packing. Each case is occupied with a numerous series of shelves or trays, placed at small distances over each other, in a horizontal or slightly inclined position, of which a side view is given in fig. 1059. , and cro sections at d , d , d , fig. 1058. Each shelf is turned up a little at the two edges, and at one end, but sloped down at the other end, that the liquor admitted at the top may be made to flow slowly backwards and forwards in its descent through the system of shelves or trays, as indicated by the darts and spouts in fig. 1059. The shelves of each case are framed together by two or more vertical metallic rods, which pa down through them, and are fixed to each shelf by solder, or by screw-nuts. By this means, if the cover f , be removed, the sets of shelves may be readily lifted out of the cases and cleaned; for which reason they are called movable . The intervals i , i , i , fig. 1058. , between the cases, are left for the free circulation of the water contained in the bath-ve el g , g ; these intervals being considerably narrower than the cases. Fig. 1060. represents in plan the surface of the rectifying cistern, shown in two different sections in figs. 1058. and 1059. h , k , figs. 1058. and 1060. , is the heat-governor, shaped somewhat like a pair of tongs. Each leg is a compound bar, consisting of a flat bar or ruler of steel, and one of bra alloy, riveted face wise together, having their edges up and down. The links, at k , are joined to the free ends of these compound bars, which, receding by increase and approaching by decrease of temperature, act by a lever on the stopcock l , fixed to the pipe of a cold-water back, and are so adjusted by a screw-nut, that whenever the water in the bath ve el g , g , rises above the desired temperature, cold water will be admitted, through the stopcock l , and pipe n , into the bottom of the cistern, and will displace the over-heated water by the overflow-pipe m . Thus a perfect equilibrium of caloric may be maintained, and alcoholic vapour of correspondent uniformity transmitted to the refrigeratory. Fig. 1061. is the cold condenser, of similar construction to the rectifier, fig. 1058. ; only the water cells should be here larger in proportion to the vapour channels d , d . This refrigeratory system will be found very powerful, and it presents the great advantage of permitting its interior to be readily inspected and cleansed. It is best made of laminated tin, hardened with a little copper alloy. The mode of working the preceding apparatus will be understood by the following instructions. Into the alembic, a , let as much fermented liquor be admitted as will protect its bottom from being injured by the fire, reserving the main body in the charging-back. Whenever the ebullition in the alembic has raised the temperature of the water-bath g , g , to the desired pitch, whether that be 170°, 175°, or 180°, the thermostatic instrument is to be adjusted by its screw-nut, and then the communication with the charging-back is to be opened by moving the index of the stopcock o, over a proper portion of its quadrantal arch. The wash will now descend in a slender equable stream, through the pipe o , f , thence spread into the horizontal tube p , p , and i ue from the orifices of distribution, as seen in the figure, into the respective flat trays or spouts. The manner of its progre is seen for one set of trays, in fig. 1059. The direction of the stream in each shelf is evidently the reverse of that in the shelf above and below it; the turned-up end of one shelf corresponding to the discharge slope of its neighbour. By diffusing the cool wash or wine in a thin film over such an ample range of surfaces, the constant tendency of the bath to exceed the proper limit of temperature is counteracted to the utmost, without waste of time or fuel; for the wash itself, in transitu , becomes boiling-hot, and experiences a powerful steam distillation. By this arrangement a very moderate influx of cold water, through the thermostatic stopcock, suffices to temper the bath; such an extensive vaporization of the wash producing a far more powerful refrigerant influence than its simple heating to ebullition. It deserves to be remarked, that the maximum distillatory effect, or the bringing over the greatest quantity of pure spirits in the least time, and with the least labour and fuel, is here accomplished without the least steam pre ure in the alembic; for the pa ages are all pervious to the vapour; whereas, in almost every wash-still heretofore contrived for similar purposes, the spirituous vapours must force their way through succe ive layers and obstruction to the proce . Whatever supplementary refrigeration of the vapours in their pa age through the bath may be deemed proper, will be administered by the thermostatic regulator. Towards the end of the proce , after all the wash has entered the alembic, it may be sometimes desirable, for the sake of despatch, to modify the thermostat, by its adjusting-screw, so that the bath may take a higher temperature, and allow the residuary feints to run rapidly over, into a separate cistern. This weak fluid may be pumped back into the alembic, as the preliminary charge of a fresh operation. The above plan of a water-bath regulated by the thermostat, may be used simply as a rectifying cistern, without transmitting the spirit or wash down through it. The series of shelves will cause the vapours from the still to impinge against a most extensive system of metallic surfaces, maintained at a steady temperature, whereby their watery and crude constituents will be condensed and thrown back, while their fine alcoholic particles will proceed forwards to the refrigeratory. Any ordinary still may be readily converted into this self-rectifying form, by merely interposing the cistern, fig. 1058. , between the alembic and the worm-tub. The leading novelty of the present invention is the movable system of shelves or trays, enclosed in metallic cases, separated by water, combined with the thermostatic regulator. By this combination, any quality of spirits may be procured at one step from wash or wine, by an apparatus, simple, strong and easily kept in order. The empyreumatic taint which spirits are apt to contract from the action of the naked fire on the bottom of the still, may be entirely prevented by the use of a bath of potash lye, p , p , fig. 1057. ; for thus a safe and effectual range of temperature, of 300° F., may be conveniently obtained. The still may also be used without the bath ve el. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1181a.png:Still Mr. D. T. Shears, of South wark, obtained a patent in March, 1830, for certain improvements and additions to stills, which are ingenious. They are founded upon a previous patent, granted to Joseph Corty, in 1818; a section of whose contrivance is shown in fig. 1062. , consisting of a first still a , a second still b , a connecting tube c , from the one end to the other, and the tube d , which leads from the second still-head down through the bent tube e , e , to the lower part of the condensing apparatus. The original improvements described under Corty’s patent, consisted further, in placing boxes f , f , f , of the condensing apparatus in horizontal positions, and at a distance from each other, in order that the vapour might ascend through them, for the purpose of discharging the spirit by the top tube g , and pipe h , into the worm, in a highly rectified or concentrated state. In each of the boxes f , there is a convex plate or inverted dish i , i , i , and the vapour in rising from the tube e , strikes against the concave or under part of the first dish, and then escapes round its edges, and over its convex surface, to the under part of the second dish, and so on to the top, the condensed part of the vapour flowing down again into the still, and the spirit pa ing off by the pipe h , at top; and as the proce of condensation will be a isted by cooling the vapour as it rises, cold water is made to flow over the tops of the boxes f , from a cock k , and through small channels or tubes on the sides of the boxes, and is ultimately discharged by the pipe l , at bottom. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1181b.png:Peculiarly shaped tube Fig. 1063. represents a peculiarly shaped tube a , through which the spirit is described as pa ing after leaving the end of the worm at b , which tube is open to the atmospheric air at z ; c , is the pa age through which the carbonic acid gas is described as escaping into the ve el of water d . IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1181c.png:Still IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1182a.png:Still Now the improvements claimed under the present patent, are exhibited in figs. 1064 , 1065 , and 1066. Fig. 1064. represents the external appearance of a still, the head of which is made very capacious, to guard against over-boiling by any mismanagement of the fire; fig. 1065. is the same, partly in section. On the top of the still-head is formed the first-described rectifying apparatus, or series of condensing boxes. The vapour from the body of the still filling the head, meets with the first check from the dish or lower ve el i , and after pa ing under its edges, ascends and strikes against the lower part of the second dish or ve el i , and so on, till it ultimately leaves the still-head by the pipe at top. This part of the apparatus is slightly altered from the former, by the substitution of hollow convex ve els, instead of the inverted dishes before described, which ve els have rims descending from their under surfaces, for the purpose of retaining the vapour. The cold water, which, as above described, flowed over the tops of the boxes f , for the purpose of cooling them, now flows also through the hollow convex ve els i , within the boxes, and by that means greatly a ists the refrigerating proce , by which the aqueous parts of the vapour are more readily condensed, and made to fall down and flow back again into the body of the still, while the spirituous parts pa off at top to the worm, in a very high state of rectification. After the water employed for the refrigeration has pa ed over all the boxes, and through all the ve els, it is carried off by the pipe m , through the ve el n , called the wash-heater; that is, the ve el in which the wash is placed previous to introducing it into the still. The pipe m , is coiled round in the lower part of the ve el n , in order that the heated water may communicate its caloric to the wash, instead of losing the heat by allowing the water to flow away. After the heated water has made several turns round the wash heater, it pa es out at the curved pipe o , which is bent up, in order to keep the coils of the pipe within always full of water. Instead of the coiled pipe n , last described, the patentee proposes sometimes to pa the hot water into a chamber in a tub or wooden ve el, as at n , in fig. 1061. , in which the wash to be heated occupies the upper part of the ve el, and is separated from the lower part by a thin metallic partition. The swan-neck h , figs. 1064. and 1065. , which leads from the head of the still, conducts the spirit from the still through the wash-heater, where it becomes partially cooled, and gives out its heat to the wash; and from thence the spirit pa es to the worm tub, and being finally condensed, is pa ed through a safety tube, as ( fig. 1058. ) before described, and by the funnel is conducted into the cask below. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1181-2.png:Still Should any spirit rise in the wash-heater during the above operation, it will be carried down to the worm by the neck p , and coiled pipe, and discharged at its lower end; or it may be pa ed into the still-head, as shown in fig. 1062. A patent was obtained by Mr. Æneas Coffey, in August, 1830, for a still, which has been since mounted in several distilleries. It is economical in fuel, labour, and time, but is said not to produce a clean spirit, without peculiar attention. The apparatus is represented in fig. 1067. a , b , c , d , is a sectional view of that part of the still wherein the wash is deprived of its alcohol, and the vapours analyzed. It is described as consisting of a chamber or ve el a , with the vertical chamber b , c , placed above it; the lower half of this chamber is divided into compartments by horizontal plates e , e , e , of thin copper or other metal; each of these plates is turned down at one side, until it nearly touches the plate next underneath it, as shown in the figure; thus leaving a pa age throughout the whole of them, by which any liquid falling on the top plate may descend into the next under it, and from that to the third, and so on, from plate to plate, at the alternate ends, until it arrives at the last plate, wherein it falls into the ve el a , by the pipe f ; each of these plates is furnished with several light valves, opening upwards, through which any steam or vapour may ascend; it may also be perforated with holes, but they must not be so numerous or so large as to allow of all the steam pa ing through them without raising the valves; c , is a pipe by which the alcoholic vapour, after it has been analyzed, and has acquired the proper strength, is conducted into the ve el d , which is made perfectly close; the vapour will here be condensed on the surface of the pipe g , g , g ; from this chamber it will descend in a liquid state into the pipe h , whence it may be conducted to a worm or refrigerator, to be cooled in the ordinary way; i , is a ve el through which the spent wash flows, after being operated upon in the distilling apparatus, and is discharged in a state of ebullition; j , is a ve el or chamber containing the wash to be distilled. A force pump may be substituted, to force the wash through the pipes k , and distilling apparatus, with the velocity required. The patentee states that it is requisite the wash should be pa ed through the pipe k , with sufficient velocity and force, so as to prevent the deposition of sediment in the pipe; the wash in its pa age through the pipe k , will gradually become increased in temperature as it pa es through the spent wash in the chamber, and the close ve el d , until it is discharged nearly at the boiling point on the upper plate in the chamber, where it comes in contact with the vapours arising from the ve el a . It is to be observed, that the wort does not reach the boiling point while in the pipe k , k ; to ascertain which, a thermometer is placed on the pipe, and by increasing or diminishing the quantity of wash, its temperature may be regulated. The wash, after being discharged from the pipe k , descends from plate to plate as before mentioned, at which time a supply of steam from a boiler, or generator is admitted into the apparatus, through the pipe. The lower part of this pipe in the ve el a , is pierced with a number of small holes, so as to spread the steam over the ve el; it then rises upwards, pa ing through the plate by the small holes and valves, and through the stratum or sheet of wash flowing over them; the wash, as it descends, gives out a portion of its alcohol to the steam, as it pa es over every plate, until it is entirely deprived of its spirit, which it will generally do by the time it arrives at the 7th or 8th plate; but it is better to employ a greater number, to guard against accidents or neglect. A small steam pipe rises from the chamber a , with its upper end opening into the box or chamber; into this chamber the end of a worm projects from the cistern of cold water; the steam rising up the pipe is nearly all condensed in the worm, and flows back into the chamber a , by the pipe. The small portion of the steam uncondensed, is allowed to escape at the upper end of the worm, and the flame of a small lamp or taper is to be constantly kept over the orifice; when, should the least quantity of alcohol descend with the wash into the chamber a , it will rise with the steam through the pipe and worm, and immediately take fire from the flame of the lamp or taper, thereby warning the attendant to increase the supply of steam or diminish the quantity of wash, as may seem nece ary. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1184.png:Cheap still I shall conclude this article with a description of the cheap still which is commonly employed by the chemists in Berlin for rectifying alcohol. a , is the ash-pit; b , the fireplace; c , c , the flues, which go spirally round the sides of the cucurbit d ; e , the capital, made of block tin, and furnished with a bra edge, which fits tight to a corresponding edge on the mouth of d ; f , f , the slanting pipes of the capital; g , the oval refrigeratory, made of copper; h , the water-gauge gla tube; i , a stopcock for emptying the ve el; k , do., for drawing off the hot water from the surface; l , tube for the supply of cold water. A double cylinder of tin is placed in the refrigeratory, of which the outer one m , m , stands upon three feet, and is furnished with a discharge pipe n . The inner one o , o , which is open above, receives cold water through the pipe p , and lets the warm water flow off through the short tube q , into the refrigeratory. In the narrow space between the two cylinders, the vapours proceeding from the capital are condensed, and pa off in the liquid state through n . The refrigeratory is made oval, in order to receive two condensers alongside of each other in the line of the longer axis; though only one, and that in the middle, is represented in the figure.