A NEW METHOD OF MANUFACTURING GLUE FROM BONES BY MEANS OF STEAM
Year: 1822

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
YARDLEY, of Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, Glue Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Second day of March, in the third year of His reign, gave and granted
unto me, the said Charles Yardley, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles
Yardley, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the
term of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, my Invention
of "A NEW METHOD OF MANUFACTURING GLUE FROM BONES BY MEANS OF
STEAM;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I,
the said Charles Yardley, should not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within two calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that
then the same Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as by the
same Letters Patent, reference being thereto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Yardley, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and a manner in which the same may be performed, by the
following description thereof, (that is to say):-
That my Invention doth consist, in a. gelatin extractor or apparatus, by
means of which steam at a high-pressure is conveyed into a mass of bones in
such manner as to extract therefrom a.gelatin adapted for the purposes of glue.
This said apparatus I hereby more particularly describe, reference being had
to the Drawing and figures annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, A, is a common steam boiler, with the tell-tale B, and the high-
pressure safety valve C; D is a steam pipe communicating with a spherical
chamber or magazine, which I call the extractor E; F is a sluice or cock for
turning the steam on or off at pleasure; G is a common regulating valve; H
is a stuffing box attached to one end of the axis J, K, of the extractor. The
apparatus herein-before described, so far as the stuffing box, being well known,
a perspective elevation only of it is given; but the extractor E is represented
as a section, for the purpose of elucidating its internal arrangements. J, K, is
the axis on which it turns, J being the solid half of the axis, and K the hollow
half of it, which hollow half communicates at one end with the steam pipe D
through the stuffing box, valve, and sluice, and at the other with the descending
pipe L, which passes downward through the false bottom or plates M, M, to
within 'about three inches of the bottom of the extractor; this false bottom
M, M, is pierced with holes like a cullender, to allow the steam which passes
through the pipe L to rise upwards again into the extractor. At N is an
opening, 'closed hermetically upon an autoclave principle. O is an air-cock
which answers 'thice several purposes, as hèrein-after explained; P is a dis-
charging cock; 'Q, Q, are uprights, to support the axis of the extractor; at
R is a cog-wheel attached to the axis, by means of which and the pinion S the
extractor is turned round occasionally by hand or otherwise. T, T, are two
wooden vats for evaporating, as herein-after described; U, U, are series of
steam pipes laid along the bottom of the evaporators, and fed by the pipes
V, V, which coinmunicate by means of the pipe W with the main 'steam pipe
D; X, X, are two air-cocks; Y, Y, are two ball valves set on to the cocks
X, X; Z, Z, are two sluices for letting on and off the steam at pleasure. These
'foregoing térins are so well known to 'artificers in steam apparatuses 'that any
further explanation of them is deemed unnecessary. It should here be
observed, however, 'that the boiler of this apparatus should be proved at one
liundred and fifty pounds to the square inch, as it is worked at about one
hundred. The extractor also, which is made of cast or wrought metal, should

page_text: be proved at 50 lbs. to the square inch, as it is worked at fifteen. The forcing
supply pump, and other details of the boiler, forming no part of my Invention,
I have omitted.
Figure 2 represents a perspective elevation of the extractor with a part of
the side broken out, to shew the false bottom, axis, and descending pipe. This
false bottom is fixed upon cross bars which bolt to. the side of the extractor
and is made of broad plates of iron.
Figure 3 is another view of the descending pipe, shewing the flanges by
which it is attached to the axis.
Having now described my apparatus, I shall proceed to describe the manner
of using the same. I collect a quantity of bones and throw them into a pit,
similar to a tanner's lining pit, pour fresh water over them, and let them lie
for twelve hours, then draw off the water. I repeat this operation till the
bones are free from dirt. I then pour over the bones a solution of lime, of about
the proportion of one bushel to five hundred gallons of water, and let them lie
in this for about three days; the lime water being then drawn off, the bones
are washed with clean water and are then ready for use. The bones having
been thus prepared, I fill the extractor with them at the hole N, close the hole
N, open the cock 0 a little, so as to allow the air to escape from the extractor,
and by opening the sluice F admit the steam at a pressure of 15 lbs. to the
square inch into the extractor. It will be seen by looking at the Drawing,
Figure 1, that the bones, being put into the extractor at the hole N, will rest
upon the false bottom M; M, and the steam, passing through the descending
pipe L, below the false bottom, will then rise up through the holes pierced in
the false bottom, and will thus be distributed equally through the mass of
bones. The bones having remained an hour under the influence of the
steam, as before described, a quantity of condensed liquid will be collected in
that part of the extractor under the false bottom. This must be drawn off by
means of the cock P into a tub or other vessel (the communication between
the boiler and the extractor having being first shut off, and the steam allowed to
escape from the extractor at the cock O, which is opened entirely for that pur-
pose). This liquid having settled; the grease which is found risen on its surface
must be carefully skimmed off; as soon as the liquid is removed from the
extractor the steam must again be turned on as before for another hour, when
a second portion of condensed liquid will be obtained, and which must be
drawn off and skimmed in like manner, as before described. These two portions
of liquid are then returned into the extractor at the cock O by means of a
fuannel, and the steam turned on again for another hour, and the extractor
turned slowly round four or five times. At the end of this hour the liquid is

page_text: again drawn off by means of the discharging cock P, and conducted by means
of a hose or other. contrivance into the evaporators T, T. The steam is then
let into the pipes U, U, at the bottom of the evaporators, at a pressure of 15 lbs.
to the square inch, when strong ebullition takes place, and which having lasted
till, from the samples taken from time to time, the liquid appears to have
attained a proper consistency to form glue. When cooled, it is discharged by
ineans of cocks into backs or coolers, and, having settled and cooled, is then cut
and dried, on netts in the, ordinary manner. It should be, observed here that
allum is added to clarify the glue, during the process of evaporation, in the
same proportion and in the same manner as usually adopted in the ordinary
process of glue making.
Now such a gelatin extractor or apparatus for conveying steam at a high
pressure into a mass of bones, in such manner as to extract therefrom the
gelatin for the purpose of making glue, being to the best of my knowledge and
belief entirely new and never before practised in these kingdoms, I am desirous
to maintain this my exclusive right and privilege to the same...
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Yardley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-two.
Inrolled the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-two.