IMPROVEMENTS IN THE RECOVERY OF ALKALI FROM THE LIQUID IN WHICH ESPARTO, WOOD, STRAW, OR OTHER MATERIAL HAS BEEN BOILED.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Adam Fyfe and William Hadfield
Bowers, both of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE RECOVERY OF ALKALI FROM THE
LIQUID IN WHICH ESPARTO, WOOD, STRAW, OR OTHER MATERIAL HAS BEEN
BOILED.'
"
Sealed the 28th May 1875, and dated the 1st December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Adam Fyfe and
William Hadfield Bowers at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents with their Petition, on the 1st December 1874.
We, DAVID ADAM FYFE and WILLIAM HADFIELD BOWERS, both of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE RECOVERY OF ALKALI FROM
THE LIQUID IN WHICH ESPARTO, WOOD, STRAW, OR OTHER MATERIAL HAS BEEN
BOILED," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates principally to a former Invention for which

page_text: Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of
September, in the year One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three,
and Numbered 2873, have been granted to us. In the said former In-
vention waste alkaline liquors resulting from the operation of boiling
esparto, wood, straw, or other materials, were taken up by means of saw-
dust or other organic matters, and were subjected to destructive
dis'tillation; and our present Invention relates to the economic concen-
tration of such liquors previously to the application thereto of the
sawdust or other matter.
To effect the said concentration we inject streams of heated air or 1
gases into the body of the liquid to be concentrated. The said air may
be heated by ordinary or suitable means, and waste heat from the
furnace or furnaces may be employed to heat the air conduits or the air-
heating chambers, or the heated gases arising from the combustion of
coke, charcoal, or other suitable fuel may be injected into the liquid.
When using the said heated gases we force air by means of a pump
or other suitable forcing apparatus through the burning fucl, and con-
duct the heated gases generated in and issuing from the furnace through
suitable conduits, and cause the said gases to issue into the body of the
liquid and thereby to come directly into contact therewith; or we with- 1
draw the said heated gases from the furnace or furnace flue by means
of a fan or pump or suitable exhausting and forcing apparatus, and
force the said gases into the liquid; or we conduct the evaporation in
closed vessels and exhaust the vapours and gases from within the said
vessels, and thereby draw the said heated gases into the liquid.
In the arrangement which we now consider to be most suitable we
employ a furnace or furnaces to heat the evaporating pan, and we cause
the heated gases issuing from such furnace or furnaces or part of such
gases to issue into the body of the liquid through perforated pipes or
other suitable conduits. This method of concentration is also applicable
in cases wherein such liquids as herein-before indicated are to be
subsequently treated otherwise than in accordance with the aforesaid
former Invention.
ง

page_text: form of highly heated or incandescent charcoal, and this residue we
place in chambers formed below the evaporating pan wherein the com-
bustion of the carbon is permitted and encouraged until the alkali is
left within the chambers in a more or less pure condition. The heated
gases arising from the said chambers assist in the heating of the pan
and mingle with the gases from the furnace or furnaces, and are
thus wholly or partially injected into the liquid, as herein-before
mentioned.
.
In some cases, or if preferred in any case, the gases issuing from a
special furnace, not situated below the evaporating pan, may be
employed in manner as herein-before mentioned. The said special
furnace may be in the form of a vertical furnace having a supply door
at the upper end and a withdrawing door at the lower end thereof, the
air being forced or drawn into the furnace through openings at or near
the said lower end, the heated gases issuing into a conduit through an
opening or through openings at or near the upper end.
The alkaline carbonaceous matter resulting from the treatment of the
aforesaid liquors by processes other than the process which is the subject
of the aforesaid former Invention may be consumed in chambers or
furnaces in manner as herein-before indicated, the issuing gases being
injected into the liquid to be concentrated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Adam Fyfe and William Hadfield Bowers
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DAVID
ADAM FYFE and WILLIAM HADFIELD BOWERS, both of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said David Adam Fyfe and William

page_text: Hadfield Bowers, Her special licence that we, the said David Adam
Fyfe and William Hadfield Bowers, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said David Adam Fyfe and William
Hadfield Bowers, our 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 In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE RECOVERY OF ALKALI FROM THE LIQUID
IN WHICH ESPARTO, WOOD, STRAW, OR OTHER MATERIALS HAVE BEEN BOILED,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said David Adam
Fyfe and William Hadfield Bowers, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our, 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

page_text: furnace or furnaces may be employed to heat the air conduits or the air
heating chambers; or the heated gases arising from the combustion
of the coke, charcoal, or other suitable fuel may be injected into the
liquid.
When using the said heated gases we force air by means of a pump
or other suitable forcing apparatus through the burning fuel, and
conduct the heated gases generated in and arising from the furnace
through suitable conduits, and cause the said gases to issue into the
body of the liquid and thereby to come directly into contact therewith,
or we withdraw the said heated gases from the [furnace or furnace flue
by means of a fan or pump or suitable exhausting and forcing
apparatus and force the said gases into the liquid; or we conduct the
evaporation in closed vessels and exhaust the vapours and gases from
within the said vessels, and thereby draw the said heated gases into the
liquid.
In the arrangement which we now consider to be most suitable we
employ a furnace or furnaces to heat the evaporating pan, and we cause
the heated gases issuing from such furnace or furnaces or part of such
gases to issue into the body of the liquid through perforated pipes or
other-suitable conduits. This method of concentration is also applicable
in cases wherein such liquids, as hercin-before indicated, are to be
subsequently treated otherwise than in accordance with the aforesaid
former Invention.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we
have appended hereunto a Sheet of Drawings 'marked with letters of
reference, corresponding marks indicating the same parts in the various
Figures.
Referring in this place to the said Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a
vertical longitudinal section, Fig. 2 a plan, and Fig. 3, a vertical cross
section of an arrangement adopted by us when carrying our Invention
into effect, the said Figs. being drawn to a scale of about three-eighths
of an inch to the foot.
In this example three evaporating pans A, A, are arranged side by

page_text: The effect of the said streams of gaseous products is to greatly increase
the ebullition of the liquid, and as a consequence to shorten the time
required to effect the concentration of the said liquid to the required
degree, as compared with cases in which our Invention is not employed,
and in addition the concentration is effected with a much smaller con-
sumption of fuel.
We do not confine ourselves to the number, form, and arrangement
of the pans, nor of the furnaces and flues beneath the pans, nor to the
precise arrangement of the pipes, the important feature in this arrange-
ment being the injection of the streams of hot gaseous products of
combustion into the body of the liquid to be concentrated.
We have found the "Roots' blower" to be very suitable for our
purpose, but we do not confine ourselves to its usc, as other apparatus
capable of exhausting the gaseous products from the flue and of forcing
thom into the distributing pipes may be substituted for the said blower,
if preferred or considered to be more suitable.
Fig. 5, drawn to a scale of about one-quarter of an inch to the foot,
illustrates modifications in the arrangement just described. In this
example the pans are arranged at different levels, and the liquid is run
into the highest pan and overflows through a pipe into a lower pan,
and from thence through a second pipe into the lowest pan, from
which the concentrated liquid may overflow in a continuous stream or
be withdrawn at intervals, as preferred. The said pans are also con-
nected by other pipes, indicated by dotted lines at m, m, the said pipes
being provided with plug valves, and furnishing means whereby the
pans may be entirely emptied when desirable. In this example the
flues from the furnaces extend beneath all the pans in the range, and
the blower is employed to force air into the ash-pit n, which is provided
with a door or with doors which when closed are air-tight or nearly so,
the same remark applying to the furnace door or doors. The air so
forced into the ash-pit flows through the body of burning fuel, and the
resulting gaseous products of combustion are forced through the flues b, b,
into the pipes e. This arrangement may be modified, as for example,
two pans or more than three pans may be employed, or the blower may
exhaust the gaseous products from the flues 6, as in the case of the
previous example.

page_text: The blower or other forcing apparatus may be employed to force air
to supply the furnaces in the example first described, instead of exhaust-
ing the gascous products from the flues.
Fig. 6 represents a vertical section of a special furnace for the
generation of hot gaseous products of combustion. The said furnace is t
provided with a charging door, indicated at o, and with a door at p for
the withdrawal of ashics. Air is forced into the furnace through a
pipe, the air entering a flue s extending around the lower part of the
furnace and issuing through a number of perforations or passages into
the burning fuel. The gascous products of combustion flow through 1
a pipe or fluc t, and are employed as herein-before set forth.
furnace may be greatly modified in form and construction, and when
employed the furnaces below the pans may be dispensed with if not
considered to be necessary.
This
We have not considered it to be necessary to illustrate any arrange- 1
ment for heating air in pipes or for otherwise heating air to be used in
lieu of the said gaseous products of combustion, as the manner in which
such heating can be effected is well understood.
As herein-before mentioned we may cover in or enclose the evaporating
pan or pans, and employ the blower or other exhausting apparatus to
exhaust the air or gases and vapour out of the enclosed space, so as to
draw the gaseous products or heated air through the pipes into the
liquid to be concentrated; but at present we consider the arrangements
illustrated to be preferable.
Having now fully described and indicated the nature of our said In- 2
vention and means whereby the same may be carried into practical
effect, we would remark in conclusion, that we claim, concentrating or

page_text: And, Lastly. We claim the apparatus constructed and arranged, sub-
stantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated herein-before
and in the accompanying Drawings.
"
In witness whereof, I, the said David Adam Fyfe, for myself, and
on behalf of the said William Hadfield Bowers, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Signed and sealed by the said.
David Adam Fyfe, in the
presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patentees,
3, Princess Street,
Albert Square,
Manchester.
D. A. FYFE. (L.s.)