Aeneas Coffey
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Aeneas Coffey (1780–1839) was an Irish inventor and
distiller Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating ...
.


Biography

Coffey was born in 1780. According to some sources he was born in Ireland most likely in Co. Dublin or Co. Wicklow. Some references refer to his birth in
Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
, France, in 1780 to Irish parents. Coffey was educated at
Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
and entered the excise service around 1799–1800 as a gauger. He married Susanna Logie in 1808, and they had three sons over the next eight years: Aeneas, William and Philip.


Customs and excise officer

Coffey was appointed sub-commissioner of Inland Excise and Taxes for the district of
Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...
in 1813. He was appointed Surveyor of Excise for
Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...
and
Wicklow Wicklow ( ; ga, Cill Mhantáin , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; non, Víkingaló) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has ...
in 1815. In 1816 he was promoted to the same post at
Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
. By 1818 he was Acting Inspector General of Excise for the whole of Ireland and within two years was promoted to Inspector General of Excise in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ireland. He was a strong, determined upholder of the law, but aware of its shortcomings. He survived many nasty skirmishes with illegal distillers and smugglers, particularly in
County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...
in
Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
and in the west of Ireland, where moonshining was most rife. On several occasions he proposed to the government simple, pragmatic solutions to rules and regulations which had hampered legal distillers. Not all of his ideas were accepted. Between 1820 and 1824 he submitted reports and gave evidence to Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry on many aspects of distilling, including formalising the different spellings of Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky. His 1822 report was solidly backed by the Irish distillers. He believed that viable legal distillation would discourage illegal practices. He assisted the government in the drafting of the 1823 Excise Act which made it easier to distill legally. It sanctioned the distilling of whiskey in return for a licence fee of £10, and a set payment per gallon of proof spirit. It also provided for the appointment of a single Board of Excise, under Treasury control, for the whole of the United Kingdom, replacing the separate excise boards for England, Scotland and Ireland. The 1823 Excise Act also provided for not more than four assistant commissioners of excise to transact current business in Scotland and Ireland, under the control of the board in London. Aeneas Coffey resigned from government excise service at his own request in 1824.


Inventor

Between his Dublin education and his work as an excise officer, Aeneas Coffey had ample opportunity to observe the design and workings of whiskey stills, as Ireland was the world's leading producer of whiskey in the 19th century, and Dublin was at the centre of that global industry. This was how Coffey became familiar with a design differing from the traditional copper pot alembic still commonly used in Ireland, the continuous, or column, still. First patented by a Cork County distillery in 1822, the
column still A column still, also called a continuous still, patent still or Coffey still is a variety of still consisting of two columns. Column stills can produce rectified spirit (95% ABV). Description The first column (called the analyzer) in a column s ...
remained a relatively inefficient piece of equipment, although it pointed the way towards a cheaper and more productive way to distill alcohol. It was that last point that captured Coffey's imagination. He made his own modifications to existing column still designs, so as to allow a greater portion of the vapours to re-circulate into the still instead of moving into the receiver with the spirit. The result was more efficient, producing a lighter spirit at higher alcohol content. Coffey patented his design in 1830, and it became the basis for every column still used ever since. His column still became widely popular in
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
and the rest of the world outside Ireland, where it is known as the "Coffey still" or "Patent Still". Early Coffey stills produced spirits of about 60% or somewhat higher
alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...
concentration but still offered its operators outstanding advantages; its fuel costs were low, its output high (2000 gallons a day of pure alcohol was a good average, it needed less maintenance and cleaning than pot stills and because the still was steam-heated, there was no risk whatsoever of scorching, saving labour costs and distillation down time. Modern versions of the Coffey still can achieve much higher alcohol concentrations, approaching 95.6%
alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...
. As alcohol forms an
azeotrope An azeotrope () or a constant heating point mixture is a mixture of two or more liquids whose proportions cannot be altered or changed by simple distillation.Moore, Walter J. ''Physical Chemistry'', 3rd e Prentice-Hall 1962, pp. 140–142 This ...
with water at this concentration, it is impossible to achieve higher purity alcohol in a single column. The Irish distilling industry generally did not take up the Coffey still, but big urban distilleries in Scotland took it on for scotch, and in England it was taken on by the gin distilleries.


Distiller

On his retirement from service, Aeneas Coffey went into the Irish distilling business. For a short time he ran the Dodder Bank Distillery, Dublin and Dock Distillery in Grand Canal Street, Dublin, before setting up on his own as Aeneas Coffey Whiskey Company in 1830. The development of the Coffey still made distillation of his own whiskey much more economical.


Later years

Nothing is known of the final years and last resting place of Aeneas Coffey. His eldest son, also called Aeneas Coffey, emigrated to South Africa and managed a distillery. Aeneas Coffey junior married but his wife died childless. He returned to England and spent his final years near London.


Legacy

Aeneas Coffey's invention changed the history of distilling. Automation of the distilling process enabled by him has been likened to the application of automation by Henry Ford in the automotive industry. Mechanisation of alcohol production using his methods can now be found in almost every country on earth.


See also

*
Ó Cobhthaigh Ó Cobhthaigh is a Gaelic-Irish surname. It is now generally Anglicised Cofer, Coffer, Copher, Coffey, Caughey, Coffee, Coffie, Coughey, Cauffey, Cauffy, Cauffie, Coffy, Coughay, Coffay, Coffeye and many more. Overview Ó Cobhthaigh was the name ...
Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
-Irish surname now generally Anglicised as
Coffey Coffey may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Coffey (surname) * Coffey Anderson (born 1978), American country and gospel singer and songwriter Places * Coffey, Missouri, a city in Daviess County, Missouri * Coffey County, Kansas * Coffey County Airport, ...
or
Coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...
*
List of inventions named after people This is a list of inventions followed by name of the inventor (or whomever else it is named after). For other lists of eponyms (names derived from people) see Lists of etymologies. The list A to F * Abney level – William de Wivelesl ...
* List of alumni of the University of Dublin


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffey, Aeneas 18th-century Irish people 19th-century Irish people 1780 births 1852 deaths Irish engineers Irish inventors People from Calais Businesspeople from County Dublin 19th-century Irish businesspeople