IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC, SULPHUROUS, ACETIC, AND OXALIC ACIDS AND NITRATES
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
BAPTISTE ECARNOT, of France, 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 Tenth day of December,
(One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine), in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Jean Baptiste Ecarnot, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Jean Baptiste Ecarnot,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jean Baptiste
Ecarnot, my exors, admors, 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 SULPHURIC, SULPHUROUS, ACETIC, AND
OXALIC ACIDS AND NITRATES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that I, the said Jean Baptiste Ecarnot, 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
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-.
diately 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
Jean Baptiste Ecarnot, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
According to the ordinary method of manufacturing oxalic acid, if nitric
acid is brought in contact with a body which gives birth to oxalic acid
bi-oxide of azote will escape, and which in combining with the oxygen of the
Some-
atmospheric air changes into hypo-azotic acid and is generally lost.
times these vapours are employed in the manufacture of sulphuric Acid.
My improvement consists in converting the bi-oxide of azote into hypo-
azotic acid in close vessels with an injection of air, which may be intro-
duced by a blower or other suitable apparatus. It is known that this hypo-
azotic acid will dissolve in water or steam, and these will decompose into
nitric acid and bi-oxide, which coming in contact with a new injection of air,
will again be converted into hypo-azotic acid. The form of the apparatus
for regenerating the azotic acid may be varied, so long as the principle of
injecting air and water be retained. I prefer to employ a column composed
of tubes of earthenware well luted. The bi-oxide released is conducted
through glass tubes at the upper part of this column, the oxygen is supplied
to the bi-oxide by a blowing machine worked by power or by hand, and
a flow of steam is brought from the boiler with a small supply of water to
be brought from a reservoir at the upper part of the apparatus. The means
of communication of the different parts are such as are usually employed.
The chamber in which the acid is regenerated should be fitted with a porous
substance, so as to facilitate the combination. I prefer to use pumicestone in
pieces of the size of an egg. The azotic acid thus produced is of a gravity of
from eight to twelve degrees of the aerometer of Beaume, and when properly
concentrated may be used for new combinations. This process of employing
injections of atmospheric air is also to be employed in the manufacture of
sulphurous and sulphuric acid, and also to the conversion of alcohol into acetic
acid, but when it is employed for this latter it will be required to be heated to
about one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty degrees Centigrade,
which may be done in any convenient way at this temperature, the oxygen
combines with the hydrogen of the alcohol and converts it into acetic acid.
The apparatus to carry out this process may be varied, but I employ a copper
tube filled with pumicestone, into which I cause to be introduced heated ai
and alcohol in a state of vapour, and afterwards to condense the product.
For the manufacture of sulphurous acid, the sulphur is heated in a retort
until it becomes nearly in a state of fusion, and heated air is injected in

page_text: proportion to the surface of the sulphur by means of a double air-pump, and
the acid as thus obtained is passed into water or into a base to make a
sulphite, and the sulphuric acid may be obtained by treating the sulphurous
acid thus obtained with a further injection of atmospheric air and steam in an
upright tube filled with pumicestone; the dimensions of this tube are pro-
portioned to the quantity of gas injected.
When making nitrates a bi-oxide of azote is disengaged, and treated
according to the process above described for making oxalic acid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Baptiste Ecarnot, have hereunto set
my hand and seal this Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One