IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WATSON PATTINSON, of Felling, near Gateshead, Durham, Chemical Manufac-
turer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the eleventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Watson Pattinson, my exors, adiňors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Watson Pattinson, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Watson Pattinson, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Watson Pattinson,
shall cause a particular description of 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, to be inrolled in Her said. Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Watson Pattinson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention applies principally to that method of making soda from
common salt now generally practised, and well known, in which the common
salt is put into a decomposing furnace with sulphuric acid, and heated with
constant stirring until all the muriatic acid is driven off and it has become
sulphate of soda. This sulphate of soda is then mixed with certain proportions
of chalk and coal, and heated in a ball furnace with constant stirring to
insipient fusion; the mass or ball being then withdrawn from the furnace is
lixiviated, and the lixivium boiled nearly to dryness, after which the salt so
obtained is put into a carbonating furnace and heated to redness with constant
stirring till the required effect is produced. This salt is again dissolved, the
solution boiled nearly to dryness, and the resulting salt heated in a drying
furnace, with constant stirring, until it is made quite dry and ready to be
ground for sale. Now in all these four furnaces the matters submitted to heat
have been hitherto always stirred by hand, and my Invention' consists of the
construction and application of machinery to the stirring of the matters
submitted to heat in these furnaces, and in keeping the machinery which is
exposed to the action of the fire from becoming too hot during the respective
operations; but there is a method of producing sulphate of soda by heating a
mixture of iron pyrites and common salt to a moderately high temperature
with constant stirring, and my Invention as already set forth is equally
applicable to this mode of obtaining sulphate of soda.
I will now describe particularly the machinery I use for the above-men-
tioned purposes, reference being made to the annexed Drawing, and to the
various figures and letters used to indicate the same, and as the ball furnace
used in soda making is perhaps the most important, and the stirring of the
matters contained in it by machinery rather than by hand of the greatest
advantage, I shall at present confine myself to the description of my Invention
as applied to the ball furnace, after which its application to all the other
furnaces will be easily understood. Figures 1, 2, and 3 are respectively plan,
longitudinal section, and cross section of a ball furnace of two beds, but for
convenience I shall at present consider only the working bed A in all the
Figures. A vertical shaft of cast iron a, on the top of which is a horizontal
cog wheel 6 (Figures 2, 3, and 4),. driven by the prime mover, passess through

page_text: the roof and bottom of the furnace, and 'rests in a foot step c. A piece of brick-
work surrounds the vertical shaft where it passes through the furnace bottom,
forming a sort of circular wall around it to prevent the materials in the furnace
from coming in contact with the shaft. This wall is best made, by having
brick pieces moulded of the shape shewn Figure 6, four of which when put
together form the circular wall. These brick pieces extend into the furnace
bottom, and are securely fixed by being imbedded in the brickwork, as shewn
at Figures 1, 2, and 3. The scraper 3, nearest the centre, Figures 1 and.2,
moves round with its ends nearly in contact with this pillar. From this
vertical shaft, within the furnace, extend two horizontal arms of cast iron 'd, d,
a cross section of which is separately shewn Figure 5, and a longitudinal
section in Figure 2. The working bed A, and also the heating bed B, Figures
1 and 2, of the ball furnace, are made nearly circular, and these arms extend
from the centre to near the circumference of each bed. These arms of cast
iron being exposed within the furnace to the direct action of the fire would
speedily get very hot, and indeed melt, but they are kept cool by a stream of
water which constantly flows through them in a tube or passage 1, in all, the
Figures provided for that purpose. This tube is an inch malleable iron pipe
round which the arm is cast. The cold water enters at the top of the shaft at
e, e, Figures 2, 3, and 4, where a small cistern or furnace is fixed; and after
traversing both arms through the tube it issues at f in the Figures, where it
is delivered into an annular cistern 9 within which the shaft revolves. The
quantity of water is so regulated that is issues into the cistern g at the tem
perature of one hundred and sixty degrees or thereabouts, and this thoroughly
protects the arms. The arms d, d, are placed at such a distance from the
bottom of the furnace that they move round above the matters in the furnace,
but there are attached to each arm three knives or stirrers of iron or other
suitable material which project down into the mass to be stirred, and reach
nearly to the furnace bottom. These knives or stirrers are separately shown
F.7, and they are fixed upon the arms, and each kept in its place by the
frame or eye of the stirrer being pushed over and along the arm until it drops
into a notch or groove cut on the upper surface, and also in the projecting
edge of the under side of the arm shewn at Figure 5, in which notch or groove
it afterwards is kept by its weight. The shape of these stirrers is seen
perfectly in the Figures, and they are so formed as alternately to push back-
wards and forwards.the mass to be stirred as the arm revolves in the direction
of the arrows at Figure 1, and thus to effect a thorough mixing and continual
change of place and surface, the stirrers 2, 2, 2, moving the mass towards the
centre, and the stirrers 3, 3, 3, moving it towards the circumference. Now,

page_text: the form of the stirrers and their position on the arms is obviously such, that
when the arms are made to revolve in the opposite direction both stirrers push
the mass outwards towards the circumference, and thus when the ball is to be
withdrawn, a slide, forming part of the furnace bottom at C, is removed, the
motion of the arms reversed, and the charge is gradually expelled from the
opening. In stirring the balls I find one revolution per minute sufficient, but
when the motion is reversed to expel the ball, the speed, by suitable cog wheels
on the top of the vertical shafts, may be made four revolutions per minute to
save time. During the time of working the ball in the working bed of. the
furnace, as described, there has been a ball in process of heating in the heating
bed B, and on removing the finished ball a sliding piece of cast iron h, Figures
1 and 2, placed between the two beds to prevent any of the materials in the
heating bed from being pushed over during the working of the ball, is with.
drawn by its handle i, the motion of the arms reversed, and the whole of the
charge in the heating bed is pushed down into the working bed to be finished,
as before. Another charge is thrown into the heating bed to be ready in its
turn for transferance to the working bed, and in this way the operation
proceeds continually. I have described a ball furnace with two beds, but the
ball furnace may be made with one bed only, in which case the application of
my Invention is still more simple. The application of my Invention to stir
the matters in the decomposing furnace, carbonating furnace, and drying
furnace, and also in the furnace where common salt and iron pyrites are
heated, is most obvious, for in all these cases the mass to be acted upon is
merely spread a few inches thick upon the bottom of the furnace, and is never
fused, so that the revolving arms and knives or stirrers keep it constantly
stirred, turned, and intermixed with great ease and certainty. In applying
my Invention to the decomposing furnace, I would observe, that it is only in
the drying portion of that furnace where it is applicable. The mixture of acid
and salt must be previously made and boiled nearly to dryness, after which,
and on being transferred to the drying portion of the decomposing furnace, the
mass is thoroughly stirred by my apparatus till the operation is completed, and
then withdrawn in the manner already described.
Having thus explained the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would remark, that, although I have been particular in
describing the exact details of the machinery used by me in carrying out my
Invention, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to such
details, so long as machinery is caused to act similarly on the matters.in the
furnaces employed in this manufacture; but what I claim is, the stirring the
matters contained in decomposing, balling, carbonating, and drying furnaces,

page_text: used in the manufacture of soda by machinery set up in such furnaces. And
I also claim the cooling machinery so used by circulating water through the
same.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Watson Pattinson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
WILLIAM WATSON (L.S.) PATTINSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid William Watson Pattinson came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.