IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARATION AND USE OF ANESTHETICS."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Astley Paston Price, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Chemist, and James Alfred
Wanklyn, Professor of Chemistry at the London Institution,
Finsbury Circus, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARATION AND USE OF ANESTHETICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Astley Paston Price
and James Alfred Wanklyn at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th April 1868.
We, ASTLEY PASTON PRICE, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Consulting Chemist, and JAMES ALFRED WANKLYN,
Professor of Chemistry at the London Institution, Finsbury Circus, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
FREPARATION AND USE OF ANESTHETICS," to be as follows:-
Hitherto protoxide of nitrogen (laughing gas) when intended for
anoesthetical purposes has been prepared and stored in the ordinary
gascous form, which has necessitated either the immediate preparation

page_text: of that gas in the vicinity where it had to be administered, or the con-
veyance of the same in bulky gas holders or inconvenient recipients.
Now our Invention relates to the preparation of the protoxide of
nitrogen (or laughing gas) in such a form and in such combination
as that it may be more casy of transport and of storage, and of being
more casily purified and more convenient for use when required, and
consists, 1°, in effecting the condensation of the protoxide of nitrogen
by means of pressure in a suitable vessel or recipient, such as an iron
or other metallic vessel of the required strength; 2°, in effecting
increased solution of the protoxide of nitrogen in solvents thereof
(as, for example, in alcohol) by means of pressure, such solvents
being contained in vessels capable of being closed and of withstanding
the required degree of pressure; 3°, in effecting the solution of the
protoxide of nitrogen by means of pressure in such anoesthetical agents
as may be useful (as, for instance, in ether or chloroform), and which
are solvents of the same.
Our Invention further relates to the employment and use of the
compressed gas per se, and of the solutions above referred to, effected
under pressure for anoesthetical purposes. When such compressed gas,
or solutions of the same, which have been effected and which exist under
pressure, are to be employed for anoesthetical purposes, the bottles or
vessels containing the same being furnished with suitable cocks or taps,
the gas or gas and vapour may be transferred to other recipients for
administration, or administration may be practised direct from the
original vessel or container.
SPECIFICATION' in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Astley Paston Price and James Alfred Wanklyn in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ASTLEY
PASTON PRICE, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Consulting Chemist, and JAMES ALFRED WANKLYN, Professor of
Chemistry at the London Institution, Finsbury Circus, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of

page_text: ycar
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Astley Paston Price and James Alfred
Wanklyn, Her special license that we, the said Astley Paston Price and
James Alfred Wanklyn, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Astley Paston Price and James Alfred
Wanklyn, our exccutors, administrators, or 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION AND USE OF ANOESTHETICS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said Astley Paston Price and James
Alfred Wanklyn, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of
us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Astley Paston Price and James
Alfred Wanklyn, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to
say:-
Hitherto protoxide of nitrogen (laughing gas) when intended for
anoesthetical purposes has been prepared and stored in the ordinary
gaseous form, which has necessitated either the immediate preparation
of that gas in the vicinity where it had to be administered, or the con-
veyance of the same in bulky gas holders or in other inconvenient
recipients.
Now our Invention relates to the preparation of the protoxide of
nitrogen (or laughing gas) in such a form and in such combination as
that it may be more easy of transport and of storage, and also of being
more easily purified and more convenient for use when required, and
consists in effecting the solution of the protoxide of nitrogen under
pressure in solvents thereof (such, for example, as alcohol), such solvents.
being contained in vessels capable of being closed, and also of with-

page_text: standing the required degree of pressure for effecting such preparation,
and in effecting the solution of the protoxide of nitrogen by means of
pressure in such anoesthetical agents as may be solvents of the same, and
which may be useful medicinally (such, for instance, as ether or chloro-
form), or mixtures of the same.
In carrying out the first part of our Invention the protoxide of
nitrogen may be prepared in the usual manner, videlicet, by heating
nitrate of ammonia in a retort, and collecting the gases evolved, as is
well understood. The protoxide of nitrogen gas being collected and
contained in a gasometer is by means of a forcing pump forced into one
or more of the solvents herein-before referred to, such solvents being
contained in vessels or containers of sufficient strength to resist the
degree of pressure requisite for effecting the desired solution. In practice
a pressure of about twenty atmospheres will be found sufficient for such
purpose.
When it is desired to obtain the protoxide of nitrogen of greater
purity we employ a solution of the protoxide of nitrogen gas in any of
the solvents before mentioned, but by preference alcohol, on account of
its comparatively low volatility and cheapness. The gas is allowed to
escape from such solution by diminution of pressure, and the gas thus
liberated is collected and again forced into one of the before-mentioned
solvents contained in a suitable receiver or container, so that a solution
of highly purified protoxide of nitrogen gas may be obtained, or the
protoxide of nitrogen gas thus purified and liberated may be specially
employed for anoesthetical purposes.
Our Invention further relates to the employment and use of the
solutions of protoxide of nitrogen above referred to and produced under
pressure for anoesthetical purposes. When such solutions of protoxide
of nitrogen which have been effected, and which exist under pressure,
are to be employed for anoesthetical purposes the reservoirs or vessels
containing the same are to be furnished with suitable cocks or taps in
connection with or adapted to suitable inhaling apparatus. The gas and
vapour evolved from such solutions may be transferred to other recipients
for administration, or administration may be practised direct from the
original vessel or container.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
"said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we

page_text: consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
the preparation of solutions of protoxide of nitrogen substantially in
the manner and for the purposes as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Astley Paston Price, on behalf of
myself and the said James Alfred Wanklyn, have to this Specifi-
cation set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
ASTLEY PASTON PRICE. (L.S.)
ASTLEY PASTON PRICE. (L.S.)