CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING AND PREPARING COLOURING MATTER FROM ORCHIL,
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALPHONSE
GARNIER, of Paris, in the Republic of France, but now of South Street,
Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, send grecting.
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-eighth
day of April, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Alphonse Garnier, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Alphonse Garnier, my exors, adñors, and assigns, and such others as I, the
said Alphonse Garnier, my exors, adiñors, 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, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man,
and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING AND PREPARING COLOURING
MATTER FROM ORCHIL," communicated to me from abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Alphonse Garnier,
should cause a particular description of the nature of the 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

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alphonse Garnier, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention com-
municated to me, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained, in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in treating direct, by means
of chemical agents, the tinctorial matter of dye lichens or orchil, and in
the processes of separating it from other heterogenous substances. According
to the processes in use, for extracting colouring matter from orchil or dye
lichens, a mass of these plants are operated upon in a crude state, in the
following manner:-After bruising them with a vertical millstone they are
immersed in troughs, where water is poured upon them to form a paste;
then alkalies, such as lime, potassium, urine, salt of ammonia, liquid ammo-
nia, or any other alkalies capable of producing the extraction of the color,
and sometimes acid salts are added. The paste is then very frequently
stirred up, and after this operation several months must elapse before the
orchil is fit for use. By the above process it may be easily seen the orchil
still contains all the constituent elements of the lichen in its crude state,-
that is to say, the ligneous part, the greasy, gummy, and chloriphylous
resins, the coloring matter, and several other unimportant substances;
among all of which one only is useful for dyeing and printing of stuffs, which
I treat by the following processes.
:
FIRST PROCESS FOR TREATING DYE LICHENS..
After cleansing the lichens of the dirty bodies which surround them, I
bruise them by the action of a millstone, or any other machine having the
property of separating vegetable substances. This preliminary operation has
the effect of facilitating the extraction of the colouring matter from the
lichen by the water. I carry on that extraction by the known means for
obtaining extracts from vegetables; either by boiling the lichens in pure
water, and adding alkaline salts for facilitating their solution,' or by suc-
cessive washings in cold or hot water, or even by distillation. The extraction
being effected by one of the means herein-before stated, the decoction is
filtered off, in order to expel the ligneous parts which it may still contain.
The decoction thus obtained may be submitted immediately to chemical and
physical actions; that is to say, it is then ready for giving out the colour
by adding to it the. necessary alkalies generally employed for that purpose

page_text: Although the coloring. decoction, obtained by the above process no longer
contains the..ligneous part of the lichens, yet it is still impregnated with the
resinous and gummy bodies,. and is besides loaded with too great a quantity
of liquid; it is consequently at too low a degree of areometer, when especially
it is to be employed for printing 'on stuffs. I have succeeded, by the process
hereafter described, in reducing the quantity of liquid produced by the first
operation for extracting from the lichens, and in obtaining the coloring- miatter
in a purer state.
SECOND PROCESS FOR TREATING THE COLORING MATTER FROM.
DYE LICHENS:
I put the decoction obtained direct. from. the lichens into a vat; then [
pour into it a small quantity of liquid deuto-chloride of tin, and stir up the
mixture; I leave it at rest a few instants, when a precipitate is formed at
the bottom of the trough; I then decanter: off the 'water floating on the
surface, and place the precipitated matter on a filter made of woollen tissue;
I submit it to a washing. with: commion water, in order to expel any excess
of salt it might contain, and then make it drip. The precipitate thus ob-
tained represents the substance, only requiring the necessary addition of
alkalies for developing the colour, called,orchil. ¡I can also reduce,. by the
process herein-after described, the product. of the above extraction to a still
smaller volume; but in that case I obtain a degree of purity much inferior to
that resulting from the last herein-before described process. The decoction
proceeding from the extraction of the lichens by either of the herein-before
described processes is evaporated by well-known means and processes, and
the concentration of the liquid may be continued until I obtain a more or
less advanced stage of siccity. I will here remark, that the operation for
reducing the decoction from the lichens to a smaller volume, that is to say,
the separation of a part of the liquid from the substance capable of producing
the tinctorial matter, bas for its object to decrease the cost of labour in
working upon a larger quantity while producing the color and in the transit
of the colour itself. The product of the tinctorial matter reduced to a
smaller volume by the first or by the second process herein-before described,
is put into vessels which are kept closed up, and deposited in a damp and
hot place; I then pour into that matter the necessary quantity of any of
the agents employed for extracting colouring matter in the manufacture of
orchil. I cannot in a precise manner lay down the exact amount of liquid
deuto-chloride of tin required for precipitating the tinctorial matter contained
in the decoction, as the required quantity of that agent depends upon the

page_text: more or less amount of liquid obtained from a certain weight of lichens, on
the degree of that liquid by the aerometer, as also of the quality of the
deuto-chloride of tin made use of. In conclusion I would observe, that the
decoction obtained by the extraction of the lichens may also be subjected to a
clarifying operation by known means, such as the introduction of albumine,
bullock's blood, gelatine, or other similar and clarifying agents. The processes
herein-before described are not only applicable to the dye lichens, but
also to all vegetables capable of producing tinctorial matters.
And having now described the Invention communicated to me, and the
manner of performing the same, I would wish it to be understood that I do
not claim as of the Invention the several chemical agents, apparatus, or exact
modii operandi herein-before described; nor do I confine myself to the
chemical agents enumerated, nor to the precise details herein pointed out,
reserving to myself the right of applying any other agent susceptible of
obtaining similar results. But what I do claim as of the Invention communi-
cated to me, and intended to be protected by the aforesaid Letters Patent,
is, the obtaining coloring matter from dye lichens or orchil, by treating alone
the said coloring matter with certain known agents, and the processes for
reducing the same to a pure state, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alphonse Garnier, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
ALPHONSE (L.S.) GARNIER.
Taken and acknowledged by Alphonse
Garnier (party hereto), at Paris, in
the Republic of France, this 28d
day of October, 1849, before me,

page_text: Britanic Majesty's Consul, of Paris, in the Kingdom of France. And this
deponent further saith, that the signature "Thomas Pickford" set, subscribed,
or written in the margin of the Specification hereunto annexed, marked A,
and dated the Twenty-third day of October instant, and purporting to be
executed by Alphonse Garnier, of Paris, whereby it is stated that the Specifi-
cation was acknowledged by him, the said Alphonse Garnier, before the said
Thomas Pickford, on the said Twenty-third day of October, at Paris aforesaid,
is of the proper handwriting of the said Thomas Pickford.