Of The Urns
These are copper vessels, thus called from their resembling those
funeral vases of the ancients. Mine have a bottom of about 18 inches
diameter; they are two feet high, have a bulge of 6 inches near the top,
and then draw in to form an overture of about 8 inches.
On one side, towards the top, there is a copper pipe 2 inches diameter,
projecting externally 2 or 3 inches, and bent in an elbow: it enters the
internal part of the urn, and descends towards the bottom, without
touching it; there it is only a slight curve, and remains open.
The external part of that pipe is fitted to receive the pewter pipe of
the still; they are made so as to enter into one another, and must fit
exactly. The round opening at the top of the urn receives a cap with a
pewter pipe, made like that of the still. It is likewise five feet
long, and its size in proportion to the opening: this goes and joins
itself to the second urn, as the still does to the first. The pipe of
this second goes to a third, and the pipe of this last to the worm. The
three urns bear each a small pipe of discharge towards the bottom.
This apparatus must be made with the greatest care. Neither the joints,
the different pipes of communication, nor the nailings, must leave the
smallest passage to the vapors. The workman must pay the greatest
attention to his work, and the distiller must lute exactly all the parts
of the apparatus that are susceptible of it: he must be the more careful
as to luting it, as this operation is only performed once a week, when
the apparatus is cleaned. At the moment of the distillation, the master
or his foreman must carefully observe whether there is any waste of
vapors, and remedy it instantly. The still and urns ought to be well
tinned.