TREATING LICHENS OR MOSS IN ORDER TO OBTAIN SUGAR OR SACCHARINE MATTER AND SPIRIT THEREFROM
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clayton Mewburn, of 172, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer,
for the Invention of "TREATING LICHENS OR MOSS IN ORDER TO OBTAIN
SUGAR OR SACCHARINE MATTER AND SPIRIT THEREFROM." -A communi-
cation from abroad by Henry Shield, residing at Saint Petersburg,
in the Empire of Russia.
Sealed the 12th June 1871, and dated the 12th December 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clayton Mewburn
at the Office, of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th December 1870.
I, JOHN OLAYTON MEWBURN, of 172, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for " TREATING LICHENS OR. MOSS IN ORDER TO
OBTAIN SUGAR OR SACCHARINE MATTER AND SPIRIT THEREPROM," to be as
follows:-
liahona An
moss in order to obtain

page_text: The lichen is boiled with a suitable acid, sulphuric or muriatic acid
being preferred because they operate strongly and are comparatively
cheap. The lichen, especially when it contains a small quantity of
starch, and the cellular substance of which therefore principally gives
the sugar, is heated by steam, which is conducted into the vessel where
the boiling of the lichen with the acid takes place. The vessel may
conveniently be made of wood with a cover, which consists of two
halves, and it should contain about rd of a gallon of liquid to each
pound of lichen, more or less. To make the vessel more durable it may
be bound with lead; in this case the leaden sheets are soldered with
lead, like the leaden vessels used in making sulphuric acid. At the
commencement of the operation the acid must not be too dilute; for
muriatic acid of 1·165 specific gravity 15 parts of water, and for sulphuric
acid of 1-84 specific gravity 20 parts of water are sufficient. It is
important that at the beginning of the operation, before the acid becomes
too weak through the action of the steam, all the parts of the lichen
should have time to come in contact with the acid.
Firstly. There is poured into the vessel through a pipe the necessary
quantity of acid; then the vessel is filled with lichen (not compressed);
and, lastly, the steam is admitted. The lichen sinks to the bottom as
the acid operates upon it, and this may be accelerated by pressure from
above. The empty space is again filled with lichen, and so on, till the
whole quantity to be acted upon is placed in the vessel. The quantity
of acid employed can at the beginning of the operation be so little as not
to cover the annular steam pipe at the bottom of the vessel. By con-
tinuing to press the lichen while the steam acts upon it its volume
grows gradually smaller, and after one or more hours, according to the
quality of the lichen and the quantity of the water and acid used, it
becomes a dense mass, which must be stirred from time to time to
facilitate the access of the steam to all parts of it. This stirring up may
be discontinued when the mass in consequence of the continued boiling
grows more dilute. After some hours, when the formation of sugar is
finished, the mass, according to the quality of the lichen employed and
to other circumstances accompanying the boiling, has a different com-
position and different properties. The more or less liquid state of the
mass depends not only upon the quantity of water resulting from the
steam let into the apparatus, but also from the quality of the acid. If
the quantity of the latter is proportionately large, there is obtained, even

page_text: -
with little water, a very liquid mass, which remains liquid after cooling.
On the contrary, if the quantity of the acid is small, especially when
operating upon
¨“ reindeer moss," the mass after cooling remains
gelatinous; this is not a sign of an imperfect formation of sugar, for such
a gelatinous mass, if the boiling lasted long enough, contains more sugar
or. glucose in proportion to the weight of the lichen operated upon than
the mass which does not become gelatinous after cooling. The mass
obtained, although gelatinous after cooling, must after having been
stirred pass easily through filtering paper, on which all the insoluble
portions will remain. If the mass passes through the filter slowly and
incompletely it is a sign that the formation of sugar is not completed.
The filtered saccharine liquid, if perfectly finished, should not grow
cloudy or thick when mixed with spirit. For the boiling operation
12 per cent. of acid in proportion to the weight of dry lichen is sufficient.
The boiling itself should last about 9 hours.
To save time and acid, firstly, the lichen is boiled as before stated, but
only up to the point before the lichen falls quite asunder and forms with
the dilute acid an isomorphous mass; after this the dense mass, the
volume of which is small compared with that of the lichen operated
upon, is exposed to the action of steam at high pressure. The steam
is admitted by a pipe leading to the bottom of the vessel, and issues
through a number of perforations in the pipe.
Ground or divided lichen before being put into the vessel may be
treated by either of the modes described and moistened with dilute acid,
the surplus of which is squeezed out. If sulphuric acid is used the
lichen is moistened with very dilute acid, then spread out on a flat
surface and exposed to currents of cold and warm air, which absorb the
superfluous moisture. If muriatic acid is used it is conducted as gas
into the vessel containing the lichen. Such previous moistening of the
lichen with acid accelerates the decomposition of its fibre, which has the
effect of saving fuel during the subsequent operation. When the sugar
is finally formed the boiled mass is neutralized while still warm with
carbonate of lime. If the mass is too dense it must be diluted by adding
the necessary quantity of warm water before it is neutralized. The
neutralized mass is then passed through the filter to separate the liquid
from the insoluble portions. The filtered saccharine liquid may be
converted into molasses by the ordinary means, but this molasses is not
very clear. The purifying of such molasses is difficult, and therefore it

page_text: is more profitable to convert the filtered saccharine liquid directly into
spirit. For this purpose the liquid is neutralized with burnt or carbonate
of lime. The gypsum or chloride of lime thus formed remains in this
somewhat acidulous mash, which is afterwards fermented and when
distilled by the same means and in the same apparatus as those
employed for making spirit from corn, potatoes, and other substances
gives ȧlcohol.
To obtain a material suitable as food for cattle the mass, if it was
moistened with muriatic acid, is neutralized with carbonate of soda
]
instead of with lime, and consequently the food will contain common
salt.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Clayton Mewburn in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 172, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Clayton Mewburn, Her special licence
that I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, 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 "TREATING LICHENS
OR MOSS IN ORDER TO OBTAIN SUGAR OR SACCHARINE MATTER AND SPIRIT THERE-
PROM," (communicated to me from abroad by Henry Shield, residing
at Saint Petersburg, in the Empire of Russia), upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, 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

page_text: 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 John Clayton Mewburn, 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 following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in treating lichens or moss in order to obtain
saccharine matter of the nature of grape sugar or glucose and spirit
or alcohol.
The lichen is boiled with a suitable acid, sulphurio or muriatic aciḍ
being preferred, because they operate strongly and are comparatively
cheap. The lichen, especially that which contains a small quantity
of starch, and the cellular substance of which therefore principally
gives the sugar, is heated by stean, which is conducted into the vessel
where the boiling of the lichen with the acid takes place. The vessel
may conveniently be made of wood, with a cover which consists of two
halves, and it should contain about one-third of a gallon of liquid to
each pound of lichen, more or less. To make the vessel more durable
it may be bound or lined with lead; in this case the leaden sheets are
soldered with lead like the leaden vessels used in making sulphuric
acid. At the commencement of the operation the acid must not be too
dilute; for muriatic acid of 1-165 specific gravity 15 parts of water, and
for sulphuric acid of 1.84 specific gravity 20 parts of water are sufficient.
It is important that at the beginning of the operation, before the acid
becomes too weak through the action of the steam, all the parts of the
lichen should have time to come in contact with the acid.
Firstly, there is poured into the vessel through a pipe the necessary
quantity of acid, then the vessel is filled with lichen (not reduced), and
lastly, the steam is admitted. The lichen sinks to the bottom as the
acid operates upon it, and this may be accelerated by pressure from above.
The empty space is again filled with lichen, and so on till the whole
quantity to be acted upon is placed in the vessel. The quantity of acid
employed can at the beginning of the operation be so little as not to
cover the annular steam pipe at the bottom of the vessel. By continuing
to press the lichen while the steam acts upon it its volume grows
gradually smaller, and after one or more hours, according to the
quality of the lichen and the quantity of the water and acid used, it

page_text: becomes a dense mass, which must be stirred from time to time to
facilitate the access of the steam to all parts of it. This stirring may be
discontinued when the mass in consequence of the continued boiling
grows more dilute. After some hours, when the formation of sugar
is finished, the mass, according to the quality of the lichen employed
and to other circumstances accompanying the boiling, has a different
composition and different properties. The more or less liquid state of
the mass depends not only upon the quantity of water resulting from
the steam let into the apparatus, but also upon the quality of the acid.
If the quantity of the latter is proportionately large there is obtained,
even with little water, a very liquid mass which remains liquid after
cooling. On the contrary, if the quantity of the acid is small, especially
when operating upon "reindeer moss," the mass after cooling remains
gelatinous; this is not a sign of an imperfect formation of sugar, for such
a gelatinous mass, if the boiling lasted long enough, contains more sugar
or glucose in proportion to the weight of the lichen operated upon than
the mass which does not become gelatinous after cooling. The mass
obtained, although gelatinous after cooling, must after having been
stirred pass easily through filtering paper, on which all the insoluble
portions will remain. If the mass passes through the filter slowly and
incompletely it is a sign that the formation of sugar is not completed.
The filtered saccharine liquid, if perfectly finished, should not grow
cloudy or thick when mixed with spirit. For the boiling operation
12 per cent of acid in proportion to the weight of dry lichen is sufficient.
The boiling itself should last about nine hours.
To save time and acid, firstly, the lichen is boiled, as before stated,
but only up to the point before the lichen falls quite asunder and forms
with the dilute acid an isomorphous mass. After this the .dense mass,
the volume of which is small compared with that of the lichen operated
on, is exposed to the action of steam at high pressure. The steam is
admitted by a leaden pipe leading to the bottom of the vessel, and issues
through a number of perforations in the pipe.
Ground or divided lichen before being put into the vessel may be
treated by either of the modes described, and moistened with dilute acid,
the surplus of which is squeezed out. If sulphuric acid is used the
lichen is moistened with very dilute acid, then spread out on a flat
surface and exposed to currents of cold and warm air, which absorbs the
superfluous moisture. If muriatic acid is used it is conducted as gas

page_text: into the vessel containing the lichen. Such previous moistening of the
lichen with acid accelerates the decomposition of its fibre, which has the
effect of saving fuel during the subsequent operation. When the sugar
is finally formed the boiled mass is neutralized while still warm with
carbonate of lime. If the mass is too dense it must be diluted by adding
the necessary quantity of warm water before it is neutralized. The
neutralized mass is then passed through the filter to separate the liquid
from the insoluble portions. The filtered saccharine liquid may be
converted into molasses by the ordinary means, but this molasses is not
very clear. The purifying of such molasses is difficult, and therefore
it is more profitable to convert the filtered saccharine liquid directly into
spirit. For this purpose the liquid is neutralized with burnt or
carbonate of lime. The gypsum or chloride of lime thus formed
remains in this somewhat acidulous mash, which is afterwards fer-
mented, and when distilled by the same means and in the same
apparatus as those employed for making spirit from corn, potatoes, and
other substances gives alcohol:
To obtain a material suitable as food for cattle the mass if it was
moistened with muriatic acid, is neutralized with carbonate of soda
instead of with lime, and consequently the food will contain common
salt.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,
treating lichens or moss substantially as herein-before described in
order to obtain sugar or saccharine matter and spirit therefrom.
In witness whereof I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.