IMPROVE. MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SIZE, GLUB, AND PHOSPHATES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Balthasar Wilhelm Gerland, of Macclesfield, in the
County of Chester, Analytical Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SIZE, GLUB, AND PHOSPHATES."
Seaied the 7th January 1864, and dated the 3rd August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Balthasar Wilhelm
Gerland at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd August 1863.
I, BALTHASAR WILHELM GERLAND, of Macclesfield, in the County of Chester,
Analytical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SIZE, GLUE, AND PHOSPHATES," to be
as follows
My Invention consists in the treatment of bones with sulphurous acid,
which in its aqueous solution dissolves the earthy matter, and leaves the glue-
forming constituents undissolved. These are, after washing, converted into
size by boiling with water or treating with steam according to a well-known
process, and the size thus obtained can be dried into glue of superior quality.
The solution obtained by dissolving bones in sulphurous acid according to
the process before described contains phosphoric acid. This phosphoric acid
can be separated as insoluble phosphate of lime by expelling the sulphurous
Price 8d1

page_text: acid by heat or steam, with or without the assistance of a current of air, and
in either case the sulphurous acid can be used again for dissolving the earthy
constituents of bones, as before described.
The phosphoric acid of the solution can also be precipitated as a metallic
phosphate by adding a metallic oxide or salt to the solution; for instance,
chloride of iron will precipitate phosphate of iron, and the metallic phosphates
thus obtained may be used for the manufacture of alkaline phosphates or
phosphoric acid by methods well known in chemistry. The solution from
which the phosphoric acid has been separated by either of these methods
contains the sulphurous acid, and can be used for acting on a fresh quantity
of bones, or the sulphurous acid can be driven off by means described
above.
I also use phosphoric acid in solution for extracting the earthy matter from
bones, by which means a solution of phosphate of lime is obtained. I also
extract phosphates from other substances containing such phosphates, such as
bone-ash, by dissolving such substances in an aqueous solution of sulphurous
acid, and treating such solution as before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Balthasar Wilhelm Gerland in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BALTHASAR
WILHELM GERLAND, of Macclesfield, in the County of Chester, Analytical
Chemist, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent; bearing date the Third day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Balthasar Wilhelm Gerland, Her special license that I, the said
Balthasar Wilhelm Gerland, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Balthasar Wilhelm Gerland, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SIZE, GLUE,
AND PHOSPHATES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said

page_text: Balthasar Wilhelm Gerland, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
mentin writing under my or their bands and seals,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
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 Balthasar Wilhelm Gerland, 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:-
My Invention consists in the treatment of bones with sulphurous acid,
which in its aqueous solution dissolves the earthy matter, and leaves the glue
forming constituents intact. These are, after washing, converted into size by
boiling with water or treating with steam in the usual way, and the size thus
obtained can be dried into glue of superior quality.
The solution obtained by dissolving bones in sulphurous acid according to
the process before described contains phosphoric acid. This phosphoric acid
can be separated as insoluble phosphate of lime by expelling the sulphurous
acid by heat or steam, with or without the assistance of a current of air, and
in either case the sulphurous acid can be used again for dissolving the earthy
constituents of bones, as before described.
In order to carry out this Invention advantageously, and particularly when
glue is to be made in large quantity, and of a good quality from bones, it is
advisable not to use strong solutions of sulphurous acid. The forms of
apparatus and mode of operation hereafter described answer the purpose,
though the details of the same may be modified by circumstances, and also by
the nature of the material used.
In making size or glue from bones by my process, it is advisable for the
acceleration of the process to break the bones into small pieces. They can
be deprived of the fat at first, or the fat may be extracted at a later period of
the process. The bones thus prepared are laid upon a filtering bottom of a
large and shallow cistern, which is filled with water, so that the bones are
kept immersed. The cistern is provided with an air-tight cover pierced by
man-holes, and these are closed by moveable lids. Between the cover and the
water level is an open space of about six inches for the circulation of the
sulphurous acid gas. The gas is produced by burning sulphur or pyrites, or
by some other suitable means, and enters the top part of the cistern after it is
well cooled, passes over the water, and therein partially dissolves itself,and is
at the other extremity of the cistern drawn through a flue into a condensing

page_text: tower. The construction of this tower may be similar to that of those now
used for the condensation of muriatic acid. It is made tight all round, except
its connection with the top part of the cistern,and in its cover a flue provided
with a damper communicates with the chimney. The damper should be
carefully regulated, as it commands the draught from the sulphur burner
through the whole apparatus. The tower is also fitted with pumps, which,
taking the water from the bottom of the cistern near the tower, deliver it on
the top of the tower, where it is distributed over the whole surface, and after
having descended is collected on the bottom of the tower, from whence it is
conveyed through a pipe to the level of the water at the other end of the
cistern. These pumps serve the important purpose of causing circulation of
the water in the cistern. The gases after having traversed the tower are
deprived of the greatest part of the sulphurous acid, and if the small residue
is to be made available, another condensing apparatus maybe inserted between
the chimney and the tower. By the action of sulphurous acid and water,
the earthy constituents of the bones gradually enter into solution, and thereby
increase the specific gravity of the liquor in the cistern. It depends upon
accidental circumstances, particularly the temperature, which should be kept
as low as possible, to what degree the specific gravity might be increased with
advantage. The limit I have found to be about 1-2, but as the absorption of
the gas is very slow when approaching this point, it is advisable to interrupt
the process before the liquor is so much saturated. The liquor, after having
attained the desired state of saturation, is drawn off from the cistern into a
close vessel, where it is subjected to heat, which can be advantageously
supplied by steam pipes. The sulphurous acid is thereby liberated in a
gaseous state, and can be used again for acting on bones, or for other
purposes, and phosphate of lime is precipitated in a comparatively pure state.
It is collected on a drainer,and will be available for agricultural or industrial
purposes. The water which, in practice, still retains a little sulphurous acid
and phosphate, can be cooled and used again for dissolving a fresh quantity of
phosphates from bones. The sulphurous acid can also be recovered from the
solution by diminution of the atmospheric pressure, particularly when assisted
by heat. The bones in the large cistern, if the organic matter is not quite
extracted, are again treated with water and sulphurous acid in the manner
before described, and this is repeated until ouly the organic part of the bones
is left undissolved. This is now removed from the cistern through the man-
holes, and after it has been separated from the solution by washing, draining,
and pressing, it is ready for boiling into size. This part of the process may
be accomplished by any method known. If the fat has not been extracted

page_text: previously it may now be recovered, for after rest it will be found floating on
the glue solution.
For extensive manufactories I prefer au apparatus with the following
alterations: The cistern containing the bones over which the sulphurous acid
gas passes is increased in length; the gas enters at one end and goes into a
tower at the other end. The tower is supplied with water, and this runs into
the top part of the cistern. The current of water and the supply of gas are
so regulated that the current of liquor running from the bottom of the cistern
at the end where the gas enters may form a solution of the desired strength.
This is passed through a steaming apparatus for the expulsion of the sulphurous
acid and the separation of the phosphates, then through a drainer, on which
the precipitate of phosphates is collected,and after having been cooled is lifted
on the tower to supply the same instead of water.
According to another part of my Invention, I recover the phosphoric acid
from the solution of the phosphates in sulphurous acid by precipitating with a
metallic oxide or salt. If, for instance, oxide of iron or chloride of iron is
mixed with the liquor, the phosphoric acid is precipitated as phosphates of
iron, and in a like mauner the phosphates of other metallic oxides can be
obtained, which may be used as materials for the manufacture of alkaline
phosphates or phosphoric acid, according to methods well known to chemists.
The acid solution separated from the precipitated phosphates can be used to
dissolve a fresh quantity of earthy matter from bones or other materials, or
the gas can be expelled from it by heat. The same process is also applicable
forextracting and purifying phosphates from other materials, particularly such
as are of mineral origin, and from bone or animal charcoal. The manipula-
tions are in these cases essentially the same as those described for the
extraction of the earthy matter from bones, and the sulphurous acid can
also be recovered from the solution obtained by the process, as has been
before explained.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same may be carried out, I wish it to be understood that I do not bind
myself to the precise details or mechanical arrangements abovespecified, asthese
may be variously modified without departing from the nature of my present
Invention; nordoIclaimthe mechanical arrangements herein-before described;
but what I claim is, the treatment of bones for the manufacture of size or
glue, and of other substances containing phosphates, for the purpose of
obtaining phosphates in a comparatively pure state by sulphurous acid and
water, without the employment of stronger acids, and the recovery of the

page_text: sulphurous acid from the solutions so obtained by means of heat or the
diminution of atmospheric pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Balthasar Wilhelm Gerland, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
BALTHASAR WILHELM GERLAND. (L.B.)