THE MANUFAC TURE OF A COMPOUND TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ANIMAL CHARCOAL IN REFINING SUGAR AND OTHERWISE."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Patrick Michael Belton, of New York City, United
States of America, Sugar Refiner, for the Invention of "THE MANUFAC
TURE OF A COMPOUND TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ANIMAL CHARCOAL IN
REFINING SUGAR AND OTHERWISE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Patrick Michael Belton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st August 1860.
I, PATRICK MICHAEL BELTON, of New York City, United States of America,
Sugar Refiner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "THE
MANUFACTURE OF A COMPOUND TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ANIMAL CHARCOAL IN
REFINING SUGAR AND OTHERWISE," to be as follows:-.
Animal charcoal or "bone black" as it is commonly termed has hitherto
been largely employed in the refining of 'sugar, for the purpose of effecting the
removal from it of certain natural coloring matters; as well as of certain foreign
substances which have been necessarily 'added to the sugar in the earlier stages.
of the process. The cost of this substance has now become so large an item
that an equivalent article which, while possessing similar qualities, shall yet be
furnished at a more moderate price, has long been wanted. Such an equivalent
I have discovered in the article "bog peat" when properly prepared. The
manner in which I prefer to treat it is as follows:-To one hundred pounds
of the peat, taken as it comes from the bog, I add, say about six pounds of.
chalk (or its equivalent) which has been reduced to powder and mixed with
sufficient water to bring the whole mass to a pasty consistence, thereby effect-
ing the perfect admixture of the two. This is then brought, by expressing
a portion of the water, to such firmier consistence that it may be cut or formed

page_text: into flat cakes of say one or two inches in thickness for convenience in further
wworking. It should then be subjected to the action of a powerful press in
order to drive out as much of the remaining water as can be, and this will be
facilitated by covering each cake with a cloth, or with wire gauze, and placing
*them between iron plates. The cakes are then either air or stove dried until
all moisture is expelled. They are then ground to a coarse mealy powder and
charred much after the manner of charring bones for the same purpose. On
being cooled the material is ready for use in the same manner as the usual
animal charcoal and it may like animal charcoal be recharred from time
*to time.
-SPECIFICATION -in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters, Patent, filed
by the said Patrick Michael Belton, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th February 1861.
TO ALL TO. WHOM THESE PRESENTS: SHALL COME, I, PATRICK
MICHAEL BELTON, of New York City, United States of America, Sugar Refiner,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
*One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give. and grant unto
me, the said Patrick Michael Belton, Her special licence that I, the said
Patrick Michael Belton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Patrick Michael Belton, 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 "THE MANUFACTURE OF A COMPOUND TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE
FOR ANIMAL CHARCOAL IN REFINING SUGAR AND OTHERWISE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Patrick Michael Belton, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Patrick Michael Belton, do hereby
declare the nature, of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is.

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
Animal charcoal, or "bone-black" as it is commonly termed, has hitherto
been largely employed in the refining of sugar for the purpose of effecting the
removal from it of certain natural coloring matters, as well as of certain foreign
substances which have been necessarily added to the sugar in the earlier stages
of the process. The cost of this substance has now become so large an item
that an equivalent article which, while possessing similar qualities, shall yet be
furnished at a more moderate price, has long been wanted. Such an equivalent
I have discovered in the article "bog peat" when properly prepared. The man-
ner in which I prefer to treat it is as follows:--To one hundred pounds of the
peat, taken as it comes from the bog, I add, say about six pounds of chalk (or
its equivalent) which has been reduced to powder and mixed with sufficient water
to bring the whole mass to a pasty consistence, thereby effecting the perfect
admixture of the two. This is then brought, by expressing a portion of the
water, to such firmer consistence that it may be cut or formed into flat
of say one or two inches in thickness for convenience in further work. It
should then be subjected to the action of a powerful press in order to drive
out as much of the remaining water as can be, and this will be facilitated by
covering each cake with a cloth or with wire gauze, and placing them between
iron plates. The cakes are then either air or stove dried until all moisture is
expelled. They are then ground to a coarse mealy powder,. and charred much
after the manner of charring bones for the same purpose. On being cooled
the material is ready for use, in the same manner as the usual'animal charcoal,
and it may like animal charcoal be re-charred from time to time.
es
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the use or
employment of bog peat treated substantially in manner herein-before described
as a substitute or equivalent for animal charcoal in refining sugar. and other-
wise.
In witness whereof, I, the said Patrick Michael Belton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, One thousand
PATRICK M. BELTON (L.S.)