IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MATERIAL AND PREPARATION OF THE MATERIAL AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING POTASH,
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nicholas Doran Proby Maillard, of Dublin, in the
Kingdom of Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MATERIAL
AND PREPARATION OF THE MATERIAL AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING POTASH,
DRA
A
2
Sealed the 28th February 1862, and dated the 7th September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nicholas Doran Proby
Maillard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th September 1861.
I, NICHOLAS DORAN PROBY MAILLARD, of Dublin, in the Kingdom of
Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MATERIAL AND PREPARATION OF THE MATERIAL AND APPARATUS POR
MAKING POTASH, PEARLASH, AND CAUSTIC POTASH OF COMMERCE," to be as
follows:-
The first part of my Invention consists of the application and use of turf
peat, or bog earth, for making the vegetable ashes from which potash, pearl-
ash, and caustic potash are obtained, and leaving the land from which the
turf, peat, or bog earth is taken reclaimed and fit for cultivation.
Secondly, in the furnaces employed in burning the materials above specified.
These furnaces or grates are constructed square, round, or oval, and placed
over an ash-pit, which is covered with a moving wire screen or sieve, which

page_text: when shaken by means of a handle or lever, sifts the ashes from the grate or
furnace, and leaves them fit for washing. In this ash-pit a wooden or iron
truck is placed, and when the truck is filled with sifted ashes, it is drawn out
of the ash-pit for washing, and another truck is placed in the ash-pit to receive
the ashes from the furnace.
Thirdly, in the construction and use of drying floors or grates for drying the
turf, peat, or bog earth for burning. These drying floors are constructed of
iron bars, placed two or three inches apart, or of wood or iron plates perforated
to admit heat, and are placed over flues, which are heated by the furnaces,
which burn the turf, peat, or bog earth. These drying floors or grates can be
mado any length or width.
Fourthly, in the lixiviating or washing pans or vats in which a stirrer or
washer is placed. This washer consists of a vertical shaft, with three or more
arms. This washer is worked round the pans or vats by borse, steam, or other
power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nicholas Doran Proby Maillard in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICHOLAS
DORAN PROBY MAILLARD, of Dublin, in the Kingdom of Ireland, send
grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Nicholas Doran Proby Maillard, Her special licence that I, the said
Nicholas Doran Proby Maillard, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Nicholas Doran Proby Maillard, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo 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 Islo
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MATERIAL AND PREPARATION OF
THE MATERIAL AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING POTASH, PEARLASH, AND CAUSTIC POTASH
OF COMMERCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, tho said Nicholas
Doran Proby Maillard, my executors or administrators, by an instrument

page_text: 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 Nicholas Doran Proby Maillard, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My Invention consists in the mode of treating peat or bog earth for the
manufacture of what are known in commerce as potash, pearlash, and caustic
potash; and I perform the manufacture of such articles as follows:-
I construct a furnace of suitable shape and dimensions over an ash-pit, which
is covered with a moveable wire screen or sieve. When the fuel in the
furnace has been got up to a red heat, I throw in the peat or bog earth on the
arch of the furnace and the fuel, so as to crown the heated fuel. I allow
the fuel to remain until it is sufficiently burnt, and the ashes thereof then fall
through the bottom of the furnace, or are driven through a hole or holes in the
sides of the furnace by means of a blast or draught from the fan fixed on the
outside of the furnace, as shewn in Figure 2, letter E. The face of the blast
is shewn more fully in Figure 6, A, B, B, B. The sieve on the top of the
ash-pit is constructed on a frame, so that it may be agitated or moved by
means of ordinary gearing, or by hand power, to sift the ashes thereon through
it into a truck or box in the pit below. As the truck or box is filled, it is
removed and another put in its place. The furnaces are constructed with
suitable funnels for the escape of the smoke and volatile products of the fuel
and burnt peat. The ashes are afterwards put into a washing pan, as shewn
at Figure 5, and after they have been thoroughly agitated or stirred therein
in a mixture of water and lime, the liquor is drawn off through the pipes and
taps into the evaporating pan C in the same Figure, under which there is a
furnace D, and by means of the heat of such furnace which is sufficiently
maintained, the aqueous portion of the mixture which has passed into such
pan is evaporated and the residuum is potash, pearlash, or caustic potash,
varying in quality according to the quantities of lime which have been admixed
therewith.
By my process, above described, I can burn the peat in the furnace in its
natural state, or after it has been dried on floors constructed with parallel bars
or perforations, as shewn in Figures 3 and 4, or after it has been dried in the
open air.

page_text: Figure 1 is a front view of the furnace, shewing the moveable sieve or
screen B, and the truck or box A in the ash-pits. B1, B 1, shew the part of
the screen which covers the hole at the side of the furnace through which the
ashes are driven by means of the blasts.
Figure 2 is an isometric Drawing of the furnace, which is open at the top.
D, D, is an arch above the fuel, to aid the draught and prevent the fresh fuel
damping the fire; C, C, the funnels.
Figure 7 shews a top view of the sieve or screen.
Figure 8, an end view thereof.
Figure 9, a stage leading to the top of the furnace.
Figure 10 is an ordinary furnace bar.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is or may be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
any of the parts described taken separately, but that what I claim as my
Invention is the mode of manufacturing potash, pearlash, and caustic potash
by the treatment of the material herein-before mentioned in the manner and
by the apparatus herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicholas Doran Proby Maillard, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of March, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
NICHOLAS DORAN PROBY MAILLARD. (L.B.)