“After the experiment the Patentee, Mr. Christopher Chrysel, set up the same pan on his improved Patent Method, and then in three similar firings in half a week as before there was only burnt 3 tons 5 cwt. of coal and made 8 tons 2 cwts. or 162 cwts. of salt=2 tons 10 cwts. of salt per ton of fuel.” Chrysel says in his treatise that the pan mentioned in his experiments--24 ft. long, 15 ft. broad, and 12 in. deep--will be regarded by his German readers as of phenomenal bigness, but he explains that in England it is looked upon as only a medium-sized receptacle. The pans in use in Cheshire at this period were of various sizes, but the tendency was to introduce pans of increasing dimensions. “Indeed I can with all truth say,” he writes, “that in England I have seen with my own eyes, pans two, three and four times as big (as the one he used at Bye Flat) and have measured them with my own hands, and have proved each one designedly and have seen and marked and become persuaded that from large salt pans the greater advantage and the most noted cheapness in the manufacture of salt depend and proceed.” In the course of his experiments with pans of all sizes, he proved that in a small pan, 8 ft. square and 9 in. deep, heated with one furnace, he obtained in five weeks a clear profit of £35 15s. 2d., while in one pan, compounded out of five of the small pans, and heated with two furnaces, the profit of one week’s working was £42 15s. 5d., or a net additional profit of £7 0s. 3d., and the saving of four weeks in time and labour. He further experimented with three of the largest pans for one week, with the following results-- “The first--36 by 25 feet and 13 inches deep holding 975 cubic feet of Brine--burnt in 3 Furnaces in one week 12 tons of coal and made 32 tons 2 cwts. of salt. “The second--40 by 27 ft. and 13 inches deep holding 1170 cubic feet of brine--burnt in 3 Furnaces in a week 15 tons 18 cwts. of coal and made 34½ tons of salt. “The third--52 by 26 feet and 13 inches deep holding 1464 cubic feet of Brine--burnt in 4 Furnaces in one week, 24 tons of coal and made 62 tons of salt.” Chrysel is himself amazed that pans containing 360, 900, and even 1,400 cubic feet of brine can be boiled into salt in the same space of time, and he is feign to admit that “up to now, nobody, to my knowledge, has proved what length, breadth, and depth of pan is calculated to make the most salt with the least consumption of coal. Consequently everywhere are to be found many different pans, and other varieties are continually being tested. And I myself cannot feel that I am capable of deciding the question, nevertheless I will, from my experience and conscientious conviction, say what I consider is the best, cheapest, and most reliable pan for this purpose.”