Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/405

 SAL

SAL

The antient methods of boiling brine into filt, in Chefhire and Worcefterfhire, are accurately described in 'the trarf- aclions of the Royal Society ; and the method, formerly ufed in Staftbrdfhire, is delivered in Dr. Plot's hiftory of that county; but the method, now generally ufed in Eng- land, is this. '

The brine being received from the well into a large ciftern, is thence received, as occafion requires, into the fait pan. Thefe pans are of the fame form with thofe ufed in the boil- ing of fea felt) and ufually hold about eight hundred gallons : in fome places thefe are made of iron, and in others of lead. When the brine is put into the pan, a little blood is mixed with it, in order to clarify it, and leaden pans are placed at the corners, to receive the fcratcb, or calcarious earth, that feparates from them in the boiling. An ounce of blood is fufficient for eight hundred gallons of brine. As foon as it is boiled, it is carefully fkimmed, and afterwards it is fufiered to boil very brifkly for fome time, till the fait is granulated; after this the fcratch is feparated, and the fire flackcned, till the whole fait is formed.' When they liave feparated the fcratch, and the fait is ready to cryftallize, they put into the pan feveral forts of feafon- ings, as they call them, fuch as ale, butter, and the like, which they fuppofe correct the bad qualities of the brine, and make the fait of a fmaller grain. After this they boil it very gently, and when as much fait is formed, as will fill two or three of their wicker bafkets, they rake it up to the fides of the pan, and fill it into the baikets, placing them over the leach trough, that the brine may drain into it from the fait. The fait taken out, they call a draught of fait, and the operation, a clearing of the pan. Brownrig of Salt, p. 104.

In this manner they draw the fait, and clear the pan five or fix times during each procefs, leaving at Jaft only a few quarts of brine at the bottom of the pan. The baikets, in- to which they put the /alt out of the pan, are called alfo barrows : they ufually contain about a bufhel of fait, and are of a conic figure, open at the bafe. The 'whole procefs of working a pan of brine ufually lafts about twenty four hours. After the fait has drained an hour or two in the' bafkets, it is removed into the hot-houfe over the furnace, where it remains four or five hours to be thoroughly dried, and is then taken out of the baikets, and laid up for fale. In all the Englifh fait works, the leach brine, which is what remains in the pan after the fait is cryftallized, and what drains from the fait in the baikets, is not thrown away, as it is in Germany, but is added to the pan next to be boiled. And befide the fait made in this manner, they have, at moft of the Englifh jalt works, a different kind, which they call Jhfaery fait. See the article Shi very fait. They have alfo another kind of fait, made up in form of fu- gar loaves in fmall wicker bafkets, which is thence called loaf fait, ox bajhet fait. This is the whiteft, drieft, and fineft grained of any fait, and is therefore greatly efteemed at table. In preparing this fait they ufe fome refin, and other additions, to break the grain, and render it very fmall ; others alfo, to this purpofc, boil it the more brifkly, and ftir it brifkly all the while. But in Chefhire, where the beft bafket fait is made, they ufc no particular procefs about it, but only take the third draughts of every pan, which always are the omeil fait ; and they do not fufFer thefe to lie fo long in the pan, as when they make fait of a larger grain, but take it out before it can form large cryfhls : by this means they have it of a fine fmall grain, and they then prefs it hard down into the wicker bafkets, and when dtied in the ff ove, they let it remain in the bafkets for fale. Brown- rig of Salt, p. 107.

Not long fince Mr. Lowndes publifhcd a method of greatly improving the Englifh brine fait, fo as to make it at leaft equal to the French bay fait.

The method is this. Let a brine pan, containing about eight hundred gallons of liquor, be filled with brine to with- in an inch of the top ; then make and light the fire, and when the brine is juft lukewarm, put in either an ounce of blood from the butchers, or the whites ,of two eggs. Let the pan boil with all poflible violence, and as thefcum rifes take it off. When the frefh, or watery part is pretty well decreafed, throw into the pan the third part of a pint of new ale, or the fame quantity of the grounds of any malt liquor. When the brine begins to grain, add to it the quantity of a fmall nut of frefh butter, and when the liquor has flood half an hour longer, draw outthe fait. By this time the fire will be greatly abated, and fo will the heat of the liquor ; let no more fuel be thrown on the fire, but let the brine gently cool, till a perfon can juft bear to put his hand into it ; keep it in that degree of heat as nearly as poflible, and when it has worked for fome time, and is beginning to grain, throw in the quantity of a fmall nutme<* of frefh butter, and about two minutes after that fcatter throughout the pan, as equal as may be, an ounce and three quarters of common alum, pulverifed very fine ; then inftantlv,' with the common iron fcrape-pan, ftir the brine very brifkly in every part of the pan for about a minute; then let the pan fettle, and conftantly feed the fire, fo that the brine may

never be quite fcalding hot, yet always a great deal more than lukewarm; let the pan fiand working thus for about three days and nights, and then draw it, or take out the fait. The brine remaining, will, by this time, be fo cold, that it will not work at all, therefore frefh coais muft be thrown upon the fire, and the brine muft boil for about half an hour, but not near fo violently as before the firft drawing ■ then with the ufiial inftrument take out fuch fait as is begin- ning to fall, and put it apart; then let the pan fettle and cool. When the brine becomes no hotter than one can juft put one's hand into it proceed as before, and let the quantity of alum not exceed an ounce and a quarter, and about eight and forty hours after draw the pan, and take out all the fait. Lowndes' % Brine Salt improved. This is Mr. Lowndes's procefs only ; he afterwards directs cinders to be chiefly ufed in preparing the fires, the better to pr-eferve an equal heat, and by that means alfo he pro- pofes faving a confiderable expence, after ting, that at prefent cinders are fo little valued in Chefhire, as to be thrown out into the highways. Mr. Lowndes adds, that in a pan of the fize before-mentioned, there may be prepared, at each procefs, fixteen hundred pounds weight of fait from the beft brine in Chefhire, and one thoufand and fixty-fix pounds from the ordinary brine of that county. This, as the procefs continues five days, is a little more than five bufhels and a half of fait a day, from the beft brine, and a little more than four bufhels a day from the ordinary kind. Broxvnrig of Salt, p. 106.

Marine Salt, the name given by writers on this fubjec~t, exprefsly to that kind of common, or white fait, which is boiled from fea water, without any previous preparation. This fait is only made in countries where great quantity of fuel can be had at a very low price, or where the fun has not force enough ; and is therefore made in few counties of England, except on thofe parts of the Britifh coaft which moft abound in pit-coal. This has thence got the name of Neweajile fait, and is exported to Denmark and Norway, and fome other countries, as well as fent to London and other parts of England.

The moft convenient works for the making this fait are con- ftructed in the following manner. The faltern is erected at fome convenient place near the fhore ; it is a long and low building, confifting of two parts, one called the fore- houfe, and the other the pan ho ufe or boiling-houfe. The fore-houfe ferves to receive the fuel, and cover the work- men ; and in the boiling houfe are placed the furnace, and the pan in which the fait is made. And in fome places they have two pans, one at each end of the building, and the fuel and place for the workmen is in the middle. The furnace opens into the fore-houfe by two mouths, and from thefe is carried up a wall to prevent the afhes from fly in? to the fait pans, and in this is a door of communication be- tween the two houfes. The body of the furnace confifts of two chambers, divided from one another by a brickwork called the mid feather, which from a broad bafe terminates in a high edge nigh the top of the furnace, and by means of ftiort pillars of caft iron fixed upon it, fupporis the fait pan. The pans are oblong and fhallow, the common mea- fure being fifteen feet in length, twelve feet in breadth, and fixteen inches in depth ; they are commonly made of plates of iron joined together with nails, and the joints filled with a ftrcng cement ; and the bottom of the pan is prevented from bending down, or changing its figure, by hooks fatt- ened to ftrong iron bars which are placed acrofs it. Between the fides of the pan and the walls of the boiling- houfe there runs a walk five or fix feet broad, where the workmen fiand to draw out the fait. The roofs are wood, and are faftened with pegs of wood, nails mouldering away into ruft in a few months.

Not far diftant from the faltern on the fea fhore, between full fea and low water mark, they make a little pond in the rocks, or with ftones in thefand; this they call a Imnp, and from this pond they lay a pipe; through which, when the fea is in, the water runs into a well adjoining to the faltern, and by this well tbey pump it into troughs, by which it is conveyed into their fnip or cittern, in which it is ffored up till they have occafion to ufe it. The ciftcrn is built clofe to the faltern, and may be placed ' moft conveniently between the boiling-houfcs on the back- fide of the fore-houfe. It is made either of wood, brick, or clay, and fliould be covered with a fhed, that the fait wa- ter in it may not be weakened by rains, and fhould be placed fo high that the water may conveniently run out of it into the pans. When the fea water has flood in the ciftern till the mud and fand are fettled from it, it is drawn off into

\ the fait pan ; and at the four corners of the fait pan, where it is fupported by the brick work, and confequently the flame does not touch its bottom, there are placed four fmaller

1 leaden pans and fcratch pan;, which for 2. fait pan of fifteen feet, are ufually about a foot and half long and a foot broad, and three inches deep. Thefe. have a bow or circular han- dle of iron, by which they may be drawn out with a hook when the liquor in the pan is boiling.

The fait pan being fifed with fea water, a ftrong fire of

pit-