IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEAWEED FOR OBTAINING VALUABLE PRODUCTS FROM IT
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Sonstadt, of the Parish of Maughold, in
the Isle of Man, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF SEAWEED FOR OBTAINING VALUABLE PRODUCTS FROM IT."
Sealed the 21st February 1868, and dated the 26th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Sonstadt at the
Office of the Commissioners of l'atents, with his Petition, on the
26th August 1867.
::
I, EDWARD SONSTADT, of the Parish of Maughold, in the Isle of Man,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SEAWEED FOR OBTAINING VALUABLE PRODUCTS FROM IT,"
to be as follows:-
I make a pile of timber and of seaweed, wet or dry; in alternate heaps or
layers, or arranged concentrically, an opening or chimney being left for the
introduction of fuel for firing the pile, which opening is closed after firing; I
make the covering of fresh or of wet wrack (seaweed) and fire the pile, adding
more wet wrack to the covering from time to time as may be found necessary
to effect carbonisation of the interior, the process being conducted somewhat
after the manner and with the usual precautions taken in making wood
charcoal in piles; but it is advisable to place iron tubes (or other channels)
near the bottom of the stack, penetrating to the interior and projecting
externally, which channels can be-opened or closed-at pleasure, and-which
give control over the conducting of the operation. I carry on the operation

page_text: by preference on a cemented or waterproof and fireproof floor provided with a
trough or other means for the collection of the drainage. If it is desired to
condense the products of destructive distillation an underground channel can
be used opening into the pile underneath and connected with a cistern for the
condensation of the products. The liquid draining off the pile being very
rich in salts may from time to time be thrown on to the hottest parts of the
pile, so that it may be concentrated by the waste heat of the pile, or the
drainage liquid may be separately evaporated and the products added to
the products got from the lixiviation of the carbonised wrack. The wet
wrack that has been used for a covering to one pile is well adapted to form
in part or wholly the interior packing of the next pile.. I use by preference
old ship timber in the process; it is little applicable to other purposes and
yields excellent charcoal; it is moreover generally to be had very cheaply
about the coast where seaweed is most abundantly thrown up. The drift
timber cast on shore on many parts of the coast is also very suitable. The
charcoal obtained from the wrack by this process is considering its origin
very dense, and after lixiviation for the separation from it of the valuable
soluble salts it contains is very suitable for any of the purposes to which
either vegetable or animal charcoal is ordinarily applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Sonstadt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
SONSTADT, of the Parish of Manghold, in the Isle of Man, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Sonstadt, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Sonstadt,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Sonstadt, 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

page_text: THE TREATMENT OF SEAWEED FOR OBTAINING VALUABLE PRODUCTS FROM IT," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Sonstadt, 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 I, the said Edward Sonstadt, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement: -
I make a stack of timber built in alternate layers or in concentric layers
with seaweed which may be wet or dry, an opening in the middle of the pile
or other convenient part being left as a chimney, into which lighted fuel may
be introduced. The chimney should be closed soon after firing. I make the
covering of fresh or wet seaweed, and fire the pile, adding more wet seaweed
to the covering from time to time as may be found necessary to effect the
carbonisation of the interior, the process being conducted somewhat after
the manner and with the usual precantions taken in making wood charcoal in
piles; but it is advisable to place, in building the stack, iron tubes or other
channels horizontally near the floor of the stack, penetrating to the interior
timber and projecting externally; these channels can be opened or closed at
pleasure and give control over the progress of the carbonisation. I carry on
the operation by preference on a cemented or waterproof and fireproof floor
provided with a trough or other means for the collection of the drainage. If it
is desired to condense the products of destructive distillation an underground
channel can be used opening into the pile underneath and connected with a
cistern for the condensation of the products. The wet seaweed that has been
used for a covering to one pile is well adapted to form in part or wholly the
nterior packing used with the timber of the next pile. It is advisable to
protect the stack by a roof from rain, as otherwise the liquors flowing from
the stack are unnecessarily weakened. Old ship timber and drift wood are
vell adapted to the building of these stacks.
The construction of stacks which I have found to give the best results in
he shortest time (although 1 do not confine myself to this particular arrange-
ment or to any fixed size of stack) is as follows:-Let it be intended to build
stack 13 feet in height and 20 feet in diameter at base, which make con-
enient proportions; the timber is then built up in the centre around an

page_text: opening of about a foot in diameter to a height of about 11 feet; this opening
serves for introducing lighted fuel when the stack is to be fired. The timber
should be packed to a thickness of nearly three feet at the base, making it
there, including the chimney, between 6 and 7 feet diameter. The diameter
should diminish towards the top, but not very greatly, the chimney being kept
of the same size throughout. The shape of this stack of timber may be
determined to a considerable extent by the shape or formn of the pieces of
timber used in building it. The seaweed to be carbonised (preferably that
which has formed the cover to a former stack) is solidly heaped around the
core of timber to a thickness of about 4 feet all round, and is piled up firmly
close to the timber to the top, diminishing in thickness towards the top; the
pile is now about 14 or 15 feet thick at the base. Around the seaweed
timber is piled to a thickness all round of about a foot, 'more or less, and
around this wet seaweed to a thickness of about two feet, and covering both
the inner seaweed and the timber, but leaving the opening in the middle.
After lighting the stack by introducing burning fuel into the chimey it is
allowed to burn up well till well lighted, when a massive piece of timber is
laid over the opening, and this is completely covered with wet weed to a depth
of about two feet. The pipes or tubes before mentioned are laid down while
building the stack and touch the inner core of timber at the one end, projecting
without at the other end. During the burning of the pile holes can be made
through the seaweed covering to regulate the burning, much as is usually done
in ordinary charcoal piles. such a pile as I have now described would be
ready for opening in about three weeks, or less, from the time of firing. It
gives out scarcely any smoke, but should be kept steaming as equably as
possible all over. If a much less proportion of timber than herein recom
mended is used the results are not so satisfactory. The liquid draining from
the stack should be collected, and may advantageously be used for lixiviating
the carbonised wrack and charcoal obtained by the process. When the liquors
attain a suitable strength they may be boiled down to dryness, and the dry
mass be fused in an iron crucible to destroy organic matter. The black carbo-
naceous mass thus obtained yields to water a colourless solution of salts, from
which the usual products yielded by kelp may be obtained by crystallization,
and the customary treatment of the residual mother liquors for iodine and
bromine. Lithium salts may also, at least in some instances, be obtained from
the same source, or the liquors may be treated as ordinary kelp liquors are
treated without previously drying and fusing them; but in this case the salts
obtained by crystallization will be dirty, and the consumption of oil of vitriol in
the treatment of the mother-liquors will be large. Or, again, the liquors may be

page_text: dialyzed by Grabam's process, and thus the organic matters be saved, chiefly
as impure acetates, which may be used with lime for manure, or crude acetic
acid may be made from it. But the method of treating the liquors which
I recommend is that first described of evaporating to dryness, fusing the
residue, and extracting the salts with water. The wood and seaweed charcoal
got from the stack after lixiviation and drying make excellent fuel for
evaporating the liquors on the spot, and the ash is a useful manure.
The special features and advantages of this process I consider to be that
by it the laborious and costly process of drying the weed is made unneces-
sary, this being effected by the waste heat produced during the slow
carbonisation of the seaweed itselt, assisted only by the timber used in
building the stack, the seaweed constituting the covering although not
completely dried, but it is brought to a state in which it is well fitted to
undergo in its turn the process of carbonization in the next stack..
In witness whereof, 1, the said Edward Sonstadt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
ROB JAS. KELLY,
Advocate, Ramsey,
Isle of Man.
E. SONSTADT. (L.S.)