IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EPSOM SALTS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Ziegele, of 11, Mincing Lane, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
EPSOM SALTS."--A communication from abroad by Messrs. Vorster and
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Ziegele at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd September 1867.
I, AUGUSTUS ZIEGELE, of 11, Mincing Lane, in the City of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF EPSOM SALTS," to be as follows:-
Epsom salts for medical and other purposes have hitherto been manufactured
in England from magnesia, limestone, and dolomite by treating the same with
sulphuric acid.
The Invention consists in manufacturing Epsom salts from the kiserit con-,
tained in the Stassfurt and Anhalt Abraum salt; also from the refuse obtained,
in the manufacture of muriate of potash in form of kiserit. For this purpose
the kiserit containing Abraum salt or the before mentioned refuse is treated
by cold water and washed, which manipulation carries off the soluble salts

page_text: whilst the insoluble parts, as kiserit and anhydrate, remain in a settled state.
This settled mass is washed once more with water, and in this manner cleaned
from the adherent liquor, afterwards the mass is dried and ground and has
become fit for use in cotton works, viz., for finishers, stiffeners, warp sizer,
calenderers, calico printers, and others. The stuff can likewise be used in an
undried and unground state. The kiserit thus obtained is treated by hot or
cold water and dissolved by stirring it up from to 1 hour; by this operation
it becomes hydrated, combined with water, and so transformed into Epsom salts.
This dissolution after being cleared can be used either in cotton and other
manufactories as above stated or evaporated and crystalized into Epsom salts.
The kiserit can likewise be hydrated and dissolved by heat, and the Epsom salt
crystalized direct out of the liquor. The above described proceeding is how-
ever preferable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Augustus Ziegele in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
ZIEGELE, of 11, Mincing Lane, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Augustus Ziegele, Her special licence that I, the said Augustus Ziegele,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Augustus
Ziegele, my executors, administrators, 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 MANUFAC-
TURE OF EPSOM SALTS."-A communication to me from abroad by Messrs. Vorster
and Grüneberg, persons resident at Cologne, in the Kingdom of Prussia,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Augustus Ziegele, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
ór 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

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
t
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Augustus Ziegele, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained'in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
Epsom salts for medical and other purposes have hitherto been manufactured
in England from magnesia, limestone, and dolomite by treating the same with
sulphuric acid.
The Invention consists in manufacturing Epsom salts from the kiserit con-
tained in the Stassfurt and Duhalt Abraum salts, also from the refuse obtained
in the manufacture of muriate of potash in the form of kiserit. The Stassfurt
Abraum salts and the refuse salts of the muriate of potash manufactory con-
tain muriate of potash, of soda, of magnesia, anhydrit clay, sulphate of mag-
nesia in varying proportions. The sulphate of magnesia is therein contained
in chemical combination with one equivalent of water (Mg. OSO, + HO)
and is called as such kiserit, which is insoluble in cold water in its natural state.
To obtain it in a pure form the above mentioned crude and refuse salts con-
taining kiserit are put into flat fine sieves, these sieves are hung in tubs filled
with water and in consequence the water is in contact with the mass in the sieves.
From the different materials contained in the salts only the soluble parts as
muriate of potash, common salt (muriate of soda) and muriate of magnesia
dissolve. The kiserit, of which there is about 16% in the mass, however goes
through the sieve in the form of fine crystal powder and collects at the bottom of
the tub like starch flour. As the soluble salts contained with the kiserit in the
above mentioned crude salts and refuse salts dissolve, and the insoluble parts
of the crude salts and refuse salts, viz. the anhydrit and clay, remain for their
principal part in the sieve, I obtain on the bottom of the tub the kiserit in a
nearly pure form. The kiserit thus obtained hardens very soon, a part of it
combining itself chemically with water, and in crystallizing cements the powder
together. After having drawn off the salt liquor from the tub. the kiserit is
broken out from the bottom. The washing process may be otherwise con-
ducted to separate the kiserit from the soluble and insoluble impurities, but the
use of sieves in the manner described is preferred. The purified kiserit so
obtained is dried by strong calcination. By this calcination the kiserit pieces
are transformed into a state about equal to burnt limestone, these pieces are
ground very fine and stirred well in water, considerable heat is developed, and
the material now dissolves very readily. By this operation it combines itself
with 7 equivalent water and can therefore be crystallized as Epsom salts. The

page_text: clear liquor obtained from the kiserit as aforesaid by stirring, and which is in
fact a solution of Epson salts, is however also fit for direct use in the sizing,
stiffening, finishing, etc., of all yarns and woven fabrics.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Ziegele, have hereunto set
my band and seal, this Seventeenth day of March in the year of t
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
AUGUSTUS ZIEGELE. (L.S.).