IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FERRIC AND ALUMINOUS AND FERRIC MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING USEPUL SUBSTANCES THEREFROM.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Spence, of Newton Heath, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, and Francis
Mudie Spence, of the same Place, Manufacturing Chemist, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FERRIC AND
ALUMINOUS AND FERRIC MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING USEPUL
SUBSTANCES THEREFROM.'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Spence and
Francis Mudie Spence at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 28th May 1875.
We, PETER SPENCE, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, and FRANCIS MUDIE SPENCE, of the
same Place, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE- TREATMENT OF FERRIC AND
ALUMINOUS AND FERRIC MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING USEFUL SUB-
STANCES THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the manufacture of ferric and aluminoue

page_text: alumina and iron.
Firstly. We take diluted sulphuric acid, when it has been heated we
stir in bog oxide of iron, the burnt oxide of the gas works or other sesqui-
oxide in powder, and in such quantity as will form a soluble product.
If a cake or other compound be required containing a portion of
alumina we reduce the quantity of sesqui-oxide of iron, and then
add sufficient bauxite or other aluminous matter to saturate the
remaining acid.
When a still more aluminous cake or compound is required we
digest dilute sulphuric acid upon calcined coal pit shale, cannel, or
other shale used in the manufacture of alum; or in place of the
said sulphuric acid we use the acid mother liquor of the alum manu-
facture.
To produce a cake with no excess of acid we use a large excess of
shale, running off the liquor and evaporating it to a sufficient specific
gravity.
Another part of our Invention consists in making a cake or solution
of a basic character or sub-sulphate, and this we effect cither by
continuing the digestion or boiling of the aluminous or ferric solutions
(after they have become "sweet") on bauxite or other aluminous
or ferric compound until they have taken up more alumina or iron;
and if such sub-sulphate is required to be free from iron, or nearly so,
we use the ordinary aluminous cakes which have a small per centage of
iron and boil them with a portion of China clay.
The substances made as aforesaid may be used in the manufacture
of brown and some other papers, in dyeing, in the precipitation and
purification of sewage, and for other useful purposes in which ferric and
aluminous compounds are required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Peter
Spence and Francis Mudie Spence in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, PETER
SPENCE, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturing Chemist, and FRANCIS MUDIE SPENCE, of the same
Place, Manufacturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-ninth year
of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Peter Spence and Francis Mudie Spence,
Her special license that we, the said Peter Spence and Francis
Mudie Spence, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Peter Spence and Francis Mudie Spence, 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 Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FERRIC AND ALUMINOUS AND FERRIC
MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSES OF OBTAINING USEFUL SUBSTANCES THEREPROM,"
upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said Peter Spence and
Francis Mudie Spence, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 on or before the Eighth day of
December One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis Mudie Spence, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to the manufacture of ferric and aluminous
and ferric compounds consisting of sulphate of iron and sulphate of
alumina and iron.

page_text: Finally, we take diluted sulphuric acid, and when it has been neated
we stir in bog oxide of iron, the burnt oxide of the gas works, or othe
sesqui-oxide in powder, and in such quantity as will form a soluble
product consisting of neutral sesqui-sulphate.
If a cake or other compound be required containing a portion of
alumina, we reduce the quantity of sesqui-oxide of iron, and then
add sufficient "bauxite or othe aluminous matter to saturate the
remaining acid and form a neutral sesqui-sulphate.
"
When a still more aluminous cake or compound is required we
digest dilute sulphuric acid upon calcined coal pit shale, cannel, or
other shale used in the manufacture of alum; or in place of the
said sulphuric acid we use the acid mother liquor of the alum manu-
facture.
९
· To produce a cake with no excess of acid we use a large excess of
shale, in order to effect which we boil the said sulphuric acid upon
shale until the acid is saturated, that is, until it has become sesqui-
sulphate; or if it be desired to reduce the time required for this purpose,
then we take the partially saturated acid solution from the calcined
shale digesting vessel and boil it a few hours on "bauxite," and
we then, if of sufficient specific gravity to make a hard cake, run it off
to cool for that purpose; or if it be not of that specific gravity we
evaporate it until it is of the required strength.
"
Another part of our Invention consists in making a cake or solution
of a basic character or sub-sulphate, and this we effect either by
continuing the digestion or boiling of the aluminous or ferric solutions
after they have become "sweet," that is, after they have been con-
verted into sesqui-sulphate on "bauxite or other aluminous or ferric
compounds until they have taken up more alumina or iron, and if such
sub-sulphate is required to be free from iron, or approximately so, we
use the ordinary aluminous cakes which have a small per centage of
iron and boil them with a portion of China clay or other similar easily
soluble aluminous compound.
The substances made as aforesaid may be used in the manufacture
of brown and some other papers, in dyeing, in the precipitation and
purification of sewage, and for other purposes in which ferric and
aluminous compounds may be employed.

page_text: Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire
it to be understood that we claim as secured to us under the above
in part recited Letters Patent, and for the purposes above set forth,
without confining ourselves to the exact details of the processes
described, the production of cakes or compounds of sesqui-sulphate
free from excess of acid, and others of a more basic character from
the substances above mentioned, and substantially in the manner above
11