IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Davis Pochin and James Woolley, both of
the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing
Chemists, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henry Davis Pochin and
James Woolley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition and Declaration, on the 19th November 1857, pursuant to tho
9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
DAVIS POCHIN and JAMES WOOLLEY, both of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemists, send greeting.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Henry Davis Pochin and James
Woolley, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN OR DEXTRINE FROM AMYLACEOUS SUBSTANCES,"
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by following statement, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists in taking farina, sago starch, wheat starch, maize
starch, or other amylaceous substances, and treating them with buttermilk,

page_text: sour milk, or with lactates, lactic acid, and its compounds, and afterwards pro-
ceeding with the mixturo in tho ordinary way now practised, so as to convert
the same into gum or dextrine, which possesses a greater power of thickening
than that now in use, as well as other valuable properties useful in dyeing and
calico printing. We take farina, sago starch, wheat starch, maize starch, or
other amylaceous substances, and dry them by exposing them for a sufficient
time to a gentle heat in an ordinary stove for drying farina, so as to obtain
them in a thoroughly dry condition, but avoiding a hent so high as to calcino
the substances under treatment. When dry, they are mixed with from one-
fourth to one-eighth of their weight of buttermilk or sour milk, the quantity
varying as the gum or dextrine is required to be made of a paler or darker
color, the larger quantity being used for the pale, and the lesser for the brown.
After having been well mixed together, they are passed through a sieve or
ordinary dressing machine having wire of about forty meshes to the square
inch. The substances so prepared are dried at a gentle heat, and afterwards
calcined to the required shade of color. We find that a good soluble gum or
dextrine is obtained at a shado known in the trade as number 8, but a good
useful gum or dextrine as low as shade number 2.
If wheat starch, sago starch, maize starch, or other hard amylaccous sub-
stanco is used, it must be first brought into a state of powder, and if it contains
but little or no water, it may at once be mixed off with the buttermilk or sour
milk, and treated as previously described.
We prefer to use buttermilk or sour milk, from the fact of its being cheap,
but we find that lactic acid obtained from other sources than buttermilk and
sour milk, as well as lactates and the compounds containing lactic acid, can be
used for the purposes above described, and when they are to be so used, they
must be dissolved in water, so as to afford the same strength of lactic acid as
is contained in the buttermilk or sour milk, and the dried farina, sago starch,
wheat starch, maize starch, or other amylaceous substances mixed with them
in the same way as is herein-before described as when buttermilk or sour milk
is used, employing a stronger or weaker solution, according to the result
required. If a gum or dextrine of a light shade of color is required, a
stronger solution must be used than when gum or dextrine of a darker shade
is required. This, any person acquainted with the manufacture of gum or
dextrine, will easily know how to regulate.
We wish it to be distinctly understood that we do not claim the amylaccous
substances above mentioned, but we claim the use and application of butter-
milk, sour milk, lactic acid, lactates, or the compounds of lactic acid, for facili-

page_text: tating the formation and improving the quality of the gum or dextrine when
produced substantially in manner above described from farina, sago starch,
wheat starch, maize starch, or other amylaceous substances.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Davis Pochin and James Woolley,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighteenth day of
November, in the year of our Lord Ono thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
II. DAVIS POCHIN. (L.S.)
JAB WOOLLEY.
(L.S.)