IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CAL- IN FURNACES THEREFOR. CA CINATION AND MANUFACTURE OF KELP AND
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Morris, of the Royal Exchange, in the
W
+
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CAL-
IN FURNACES THEREFOR. CA
CINATION AND MANUFACTURE OF KELP AND
communication from abroad by Joseph Pellieux and Albert Maze-
Launay, of Kerhuon, Finisterre, France.
21
W
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred: Morris at the,
"Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th December 1871.
J
PL
231
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a
I, ALFRED MORRIS, of the Royal Exchange, in the City of London;
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CALCINATION AND MANUFACTURE OF KELP AND IN FURNACES THEREFOR,
communication to me from abroad by Joseph Pellieux and Albert Maze-
Launay, of Kerhuon, Finisterre, France, to be as follows
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The object of this Invention is to enable the manufacture of kelp
in the condition in which it is taken from

page_text: It has hitherto been the practice to use for this purpose-dried seaweed
only, a practice which has confined the manufacture to the summer
months, and has been the cause that the seaweed thrown up by winter
storms, and which is infinitely richer in chemical product than that
obtained in the summer, has been lost, and the manufacture been
restrained within limits which have prevented a supply of raw material
equal to the demand for manufacturing purposes.
777
The process has hitherto been as follows: The seaweed is cut and
collected in the fine weather by the peasants and fishermen of the coasts
where it abounds, and by them laid to dry in the sun on the beach.
From the glutinous nature of the weed a large quantity of sand
necessarily adheres to it, a quantity which increases whenever it is
turned over, and which has been estimated at 20% of the weight of the
kelp resulting from the calcination after the weed has been thus dried.
When dried the weed is burnt in pits dug in the earth or sand, and in
order to stimulate the fusion of the mass the peasants (engaged in the
production of this staple, who naturally go about their work in the
manner most suited to their personal convenience, but with little or no
regard to the real value of the kelp) are in the habit of stirring (the fire
too much, by this means producing an unnecessary. degree of heat, which
is the cause of the loss of a very much greater per-centage of the volatile.
salts contained in the seaweed than would otherwise occur. These
volatile salts represent perhaps the most important item in the material
in question. Moreover, inasmuch as 25 tons of green seaweed are
required for the production of 1 ton of kelp of the value of about £5, it
will readily be understood that the industry is not too profitable to those
engaged in it, and the material of almost unlimited adulteration being
ready at hand in the sand of the beach, it is not surprising that such
adulteration takes place to an extent variously estimated at from 25% to
75% of the production of certain districts. Further, the kelp when
produced has hitherto been sold to the manufacturers who employ it, and
whose works are often of course necessarily distant from the places of
production, by the intervention of agents, who being paid (at any rate in
France) by weight, are anxious only to sell kelp, and are indifferent as
to whether the kelp they sell be good or bad in quality.
T
21.
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"By the process hereafter described the weed can be burnt throughout

page_text: 2nd: A greater wealth of soluble and volatilė salts in the kelp pro-
duced in consequence of a more intelligent and better regulated system
of calcination.
3rd. Freedom from adulteration in consequence of the increased
facility of supervision.
The Invention is as follows:-The furnace should be constructed in a
position favourable for the transport and reception of the seaweed of the
neighbourhood at a point about 20 to 25 feet above the high-water mark
at spring tides. Carts or trucks on trams deliver the green seaweed in
the feed room, whence it is passed continuously through apertures into
the mouth of the furnace, and thence falls on to the first of a series of
horizontal fire-bars, which at intervals of, say, 3 feet occupy the whole of
the horizontal section of the furnace. The number of these series of
fire-bars may be determined by the depth of fall which the circumstances
of the case or the nature of the ground may admit of. The fire-bars
themselves are by preference cast-iron tubes of the hardest quality, open
to the outer air to allow of a current of air passing through them to
prevent their fusion. The seaweed falling by degrees from one series of
bars to the other towards the floor of the furnace is dried by the heat
generated below as hereafter described. The throat of the furnace is
kept at a dull red' heat by the fire, the flames from which enter chambers
of the furnace by openings provided for that purpose, and while serving
to dry the seaweed above; tend to produce the draught necessary for the
process of calcination below. Two lateral chambers, the action of which
is regulated by registers, permit of an augmentation of draught when
necessary. Openings closed by cast-iron doors are provided, through
which is furnished (and regulated according to the progress of com-
bustion) the supply of fresh air necessary for the transformation of the
carbon of the seaweed into carbonic acid' gas, to avoid the abstraction of
oxygen from the sulphates at the same time that it feeds the combustion
of the gaseous compounds arising from the organic matter contained
"

page_text: in the seaweed. The utilization of these gaseous compounds is of
considerable importance from an economical- point of view, as it is
pretty generally admitted that the heat arising from this combustion is
sufficient for the evaporation of all the water in the green seaweed
containing these organic substances.
Inasmuch however as the steam must condense more or less during
the process; it would be impossible to arrive at calcination of green
seaweed by using only its inherent elements of combustion; but in
using, as in this system, the caloric of its own combustion in order to
dry it, the desired result is obtained with a trifling expenditure of fuel
in addition.
The 'seaweed partially calcined on the fire-bars above becomes com-
pletely converted into kelp on the floor of the furnace, where it
accumulates in a semi-fluid state, and whence it is removed through an
opening or vent by rakes constructed for the purpose and run into
moulds placed at the vent of the furnace. These moulds being
reversed the kelp is turned out in cakes, regular, firm; and of good
appearance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Morris in the Great Seal Patent Office on 2
the 14th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
MORRIS, of the Royal Exchange, in the City of London, send greeting.
.
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WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the 2
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Morris, Her special licence
that I, the said Alfred. Morris, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Morris, my executors, 3
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
***
اصة به
.

page_text: 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 CALCINATION AND MANUFACTURE OF KELP AND IN FURNACES THEREFOR" (a
communication to me from abroad by Joseph Pellieux and Albert Maze-
Launay, of Kerhuon, Finisterre, France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Morris, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
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

page_text: position favourable for the transport and reception of the seaweed of the
neighbourhood at a point about 20 to 25 feet above the high-water mark
at spring-tides.
And in order that this Invention may be more readily understood, I
will describe the same with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
.
...
Carts or trucks on trams deliver the green seaweed in a feed room,
whence it is passed continuously through the apertures D, D, into. the
mouth of the furnace, and thence falls on to the first of a series of hori-
zontal fire-bars M, M, which at vertical intervals of, say, 3 feet occupy
the whole of the horizontal section of the furnace. The number of these
series of fire-bars may be determined by the depth of fall which the
circumstances of the case or the nature of the ground may admit of.
The fire-bars themselves are by preference cast-iron tubes of the hardest
quality, open to the outer air N, N, to allow of a current of air passing.
through them to prevent their fusion. The seaweed falling by degrees
from one series of bars to the other towards the floor K of the furnace is
dried by the heat generated below as hereafter described. The throat of
the furnace is kept at a dull red heat by the fire in the lower furnace S,
the flames from which enter chambers of the furnace C, E, F, G, by 4
openings R, R, provided for that purpose, and while serving to dry the
seaweed above, tend to produce the draught necessary for the process of
calcination below. Two lateral chambers V, V, the action of which is
regulated by dampers or registers, permit of an augmentation of draught
when necessary. O, O, are four openings closed by cast-iron doors,
through which is furnished (and regulated according to the progress of
combustion) the supply of fresh air necessary for the transformation of
the carbon of the seaweed into carbonic acid gas to avoid the abstraction
of oxygen from the sulphates at the same time that it feeds the com-
bustion of the gaseous compounds arising from the organic matter
contained in the seaweed. The utilization of these gaseous compounds
is of considerable importance from an economical point of view, as it is
pretty generally admitted that the heat arising from this combustion is
sufficient for the evaporation of all the water in the green seaweed
containing these organic substances.

page_text: And having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this
Invention, I declare that I claim,-
Firstly. The herein-before described improvements in the calcination
and manufacture of kelp, substantially as herein set forth.
Secondly. The construction of furnace substantially as and for the pur-
poses herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Morris, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
and manufacture of kelp, substantially as herein set forth.
Secondly. The construction of furnace substantially as and for the pur-
poses herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Morris, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
T. S. MORRIS,
Winchester.
ALF. MORRIS. (L.S.)