IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM SEA WEEDS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Charles Stanford, of Worthing, in the
County of Sussex, F.C.S., for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM SEA WEEDS,"
Sealed the 28th November 1861, and dated the 4th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Charles Stanford
at the Office of the Commissioners of latents, with his Petition, on
the 4th June 1861.
I, EDWARD CHARLES STANFORD, of Worthing, in the County of Sussex,
F.C.S., do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM SEA WEEDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in obtaining products from
sca weeds. For these purposes, in place of burning sea weeds to obtain ashes
therefrom, as heretofore practised, the sea weeds are subjected to the action of
destructive distillation, by which means not only are the ashes obtained in a
morefavorable condition for separation of iodine and potash, but the vaporized
products which are lost by the process of burning are condensed and retained
for use. It is believed that the process of destructive distillation may be most
couveuiently carried on by the use of retorts or vessels externally heated, and
connected with suitable condensers, but cther well known means of destructive
distillation, amongst others, superheated steam, may be employed. The ashes
or residue thus obtained and the condensed matters are then treated by well-
known processes to separate and purify the products contained in them. The
Price 8d.1

page_text: gases evolved may also be collected, and employed for the purposes of light
and heat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Charles Stanford in the Great Seal Patent Office
the 4th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
CHARLES STANFORD, of Worthing, in the County of Sussex, F.C.S., send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and graut unto me,
the said Edward Charles Stauford, Her special licence that I, the said
Edward Charles Stanford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Charles Stanford, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM SEA
WEEDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward
Charles Stanford, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Edward Charles Stanford, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
folowing statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in obtaining products from
sea weeds. For these purposes, in place of burning sea weeds to obtain ashes
therefrom, as heretofore practised, the seaweeds are subjected to the action of
destructive distillation, by which means not only are the ashes obtained in a
more favorable condition for the separation of iodine and potash, but the

page_text: vapourized products which are lost by the process of burning are condensed, and
retained for use. It is believed that the process of destructive distillation may
be most conveniently carried on by the use of retorts or vessels externally
heated, and connected with suitable condensers, but other well-known means
of destructivedistillation, amongstothers, superheated steam, maybeemployed
The ashes or residue thus obtained and the condensed matters are then treated
by well-known processes to separate and purify the products contained in
them. The gases evolved mayalso be collected, and employed for the purposes
of light and heat.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the mauner of performing the same.
The disadvantages of and the objections to the present method of making
kelp or sea weed ash, as carried on in the Western Islands of Scotland and
the North-West Coast of Ireland may be stated as follows:-1st, the weed is
only collected and dried during the summer months, but the "drift weed,"
which is the richest, is thrown up principally in the winter, and is lost, and
the "kelpers" are out of employment during the winter months. 2nd, the
weed is burned in shallow pits on the ground or on the beach, and the
resulting kelp is unavoidably mixed with sand, earth, or stones. 3rd, the high
temperature of the fire expels a large portion of the iodine. 4th, the great
heat of the fire also has the effect of reducing the sulphates of the alkalies
(carbon being present) to sulphites, hyposulphites, and sulphides; these
accumulate in the inother liquors in lixiviation, and involve for their decom-
position a considerable expenditure of oil of vitriol before the iodine can be
obtained. The mixture also gives off large volumes of sulphuretted hydrogen,
which causes a great nuisance. 5th, the heat produced by burning the weed
is lost, and the products given off in burning are entirely dissipated.
The sea weeds employed according to this Invention are not only those at
present used in the manufacture of kelp, but also all other kinds of sea weed.
The weeds may be collected at all seasons, and dried in the open air or in
sheds by artificial heat, depending on the state of the weather. The weeds
are then compressed into cakes of a convenient size by hydraulic or other
suitable pressure to lessen the spice occupied in stowage. The sea weed
cakes are then carbonized at a low red heat in retorts, such as are used for
the distillation of products from coal, wood, and peat, and like condensing
arrangements for collecting the products are also employed; preference, how-
ever, is given to the use of large cylindrical vessels of wrought iron heated
externally and placed vertically, having the base and also the
upper end
conical. The former is furnished with an air-tight iron damper plate for

page_text: withdrawing the charge when the carbonization is complete, and the latter is
provided with a moveable iron hopper for introducing the charge. These
retorts are furnished at the upper part with conduit pipes, which carry the
products of distillation to an iron main, and thence through a series of
ordinary iron pipe condensers, from which the gas evolved passes through a
pair of scrubbers to a gasometer. In place of retorts kilns of brick or other
suitable material may be employed, and such an arrangement as that of
Schwartz for distilling peat, and other forms of apparatus used in distilling
products from peat or wood, may be employed.
In using the apparatus above mentioned the charcoal is withdrawn into
closely covered iron boxes on wheels run underneath the conical end of the
retort, or into a brick chamber, from which it may he removed when cool.
If iron boxes are used they are wheeled into the drying shed in order to
heat the same, and thus to economize the heat. The charcoal thus obtained
is lixiviated as ordinary kelp. This charcoal contains the whole of the iodine
and potash of the sea weeds employed, and it is comparatively free from
sulphur compounds, and it quickly affords a colourless solution of the salts it
contains.
This solution is treated according to the usual well-known processes to
separate the iodine and also the potash and sola salts. The washed charcoal
is thrown out in heaps to dry in the air, and may be used for heating the
retorts or for other uses. The ash resulting from the combustion of the char-
coal forms a valuable manare. The products of distillation consist of tar,
water, and gas The tar is very fluid, and contains volatile oil, fixed oil, and
pitch, also creosote and several basic oils, including aniline. The water holds
in solution carbonate of ammonia, acctate of ammonia, and a light spirit
having the properties of acetone. The gas possesses considerable illuminating
powers, and
may be used in lighting the factory, heating the stills for the
purification of the oils, and, if desired, the retort also. The tar which accu-
mulates in the hydraulic main is syphoned off and distilled with an equal
measure of water in an iron tar still provided with an ordinary worm or other
condenser, or it may be distilled by steam, in either case a light oil anal gous
the
tha passes over with the condensed water, on which it floats;
this is syphoned off and treated with dilute sulphuric acid, this dissolves from
it several oily bases, including picoline and aniline, and a peculiar red coloring
matter is deposited; this substance, to which the name of algine is given, is
filtered off, dissolved in spirit, and this solution deposits it on evaporation.
The light oil is then agitated for several hours with from 5 to 10 per cent. of
oil of vitriol, washed with water, then with caustic soda, and finallyre-distilled;

page_text: it then resembles the pure coal naptha of commerce, and contains much
benzole, which may be easily removed by distillation. The residual tar (which
in this state much resembles Stockholm tar, and may be used in place thereof),
from which the light oil has been distilled, is then pumped into another iron
still and a stronger heat applied, a heavy oil comes over of a yellowish color,
which is easily condensed; it contains true creosote, which is removed and
purified by caustic soda. The fixed oil is then purified by oil of vitriol, caustic
soda, and re-distillation. The pitch left in the still is pumped, while hot, into
brick ovens provided with an iron pipe to carry off the heavy vapours, and
subjected to a red heat, by which a further portion of fixed oil is obtained
and a good coke left in the still,commercially useful to ironfounders on account
of its freedom from sulphur; or the pitch may be employed for the manu-
facture of patent fuel or otherwise. The liquid in the condensers being
separated from the tar, which sinks to the bottom, is mixed with excess of
lime and distilled in a capacious iron still provided with a suitable condenser,
ammonia and pyroacetic spirit pass over and are received into and saturated
with hydrochloric acid. The solution of acetate of lime remaining in the still
is run out, evaporated to dryness, and the black impure acetate of limo thus
obtained may be purified by charring and recrystallization, by converting it
into acetate of soda, by sulphate of soda, or by any of the well known
methods adopted by manufacturers of the same from other sources.
The ammoniacal distillate which has been neutralized by hydrochloric acid
is redistilled until the specific gravity of the distillate rises nearly to that of
water; this is best distilled by the agency of steam, the first portion which
comes over is the pyroacetic spirit, this is collected separately, the weaker
liquor subsequently distilled being returned to the still with the next charge,
a simple redistillation over caustic lime yields it in a state of purity. It is a
colourless spirit having the properties of acetone, very volatile, and a good
solvent ofshellacand sandarac. The solution of chloride of ammoniumremain-
ing in the still is run out, evaporated, crystallized, and the crystals sublimed
according to the ordinary method of making salammoniac of commerce.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Charles Stanford, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
EDW. C. C. STANFORD.
(L.S.)