IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Allen. Turner, of No. 1, Clarges Street,
Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH."
Sealed the 24th July 1857, and dated the 27th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Allen Turner.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th January 1857.
I, WILLIAM ALLEN TURNER, of No. 1, Clarges Street, Piccadilly, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH," to be as follows:-
The nature of this Invention consists in reducing wax or other oleaginous
matters or substances to powder by any. convenient means, and then mixing
the same with starch, by which I improve the quality of the starch, and render
it more useful and commercially valuable than starch as heretofore manu-
factured.
The means by which I propose to effect the above-mentioned improve-
ments are as follows:-Suppose wax to be used, I first bleach the same in the
The wax is then reduced to a
manner usually practised of bleaching wax.
liquid state by heat or other convenient means, and afterwards mixed with
in

page_text: wheaten or other flour, in the proportion of about 3 pounds of wax or other
oleaginous substance to about 3 pounds of flour. These are mixed together
and then added to about 112 pounds of starch.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Allen Turner in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ALLEN TURNER, of No. 1, Clarges Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Middle-
-sex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William 'Allen Turner, Her special licence that I, the said William
Allen Turner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Allen Turner, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Allen Turner, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 William Allen Turner, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained' in and by the 'following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in reducing wax or other oleaginous matters or sub-
stances to powder by any convenient and suitable means, and then mixing the
same with manufactured starch; for the purpose of improving the quality
thereof, and rendering it more useful and commercially valuable than starch as
heretofore manufactured.

page_text: In order to explain my said Invention as compretery as possible, I now pro-
eced to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect in the manufacture thereof, as follows:→
PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE.
Immerse one ton of sago, such as is commonly used in the manufacture of
starch, in a sufficient quantity of cold water to cover the sago, then add thereto
about 20 pounds of chloride of lime, which should be well stirred before
mixing the saine with the sago; let it remain for about 48 hours, then draw
the liquor off and repeat this process again by adding fresh liquor thereto; let
the mixture again remain for 48 hours and then draw it off. The sago will
then be properly bleached. Then proceed to cleanse the same in about three
washings of cold water, namely, by adding about 20 gallons of water to each
112 pounds of sago, well stirring it at intervals during 8 hours, and when it
has settled then. draw it off, and repeat this process of cleansing twice more.
These rinsings will assist in getting rid of the chloride of lime. The sago thus
far prepared is next.immersed in a bath of the ordinary sulphuric acid of
commerce and water in the following proportions, namely, 1. pound of the acid
to 1 hundredweight of sago, and 20 gallons of cold water; the whole should be
well stirred and mixed together, and then left to settle for about 8 hours,
after which draw the liquor off. The residue is then fit to go into the drying
room, and when dried, which. may be performed in the usual way, it is blued
and sifted. To blue, add 1 pound of smalts to 1 hundredweight of starch,
well mix them together and then sift the same; next proceed to add wax or
other oleaginous matters or substances thereto, chemically preparing the same
in the following manner:-Take 40 pounds of pure wax, or wax called sperm-
aceti, distilled from palm oil, melt the same in any convenient manner, and
then bleach it in the following manner :-To 40 pounds of wax add 3
ounces of oxalic acid in powder and 40 pounds of starch, and keep stirring the
same during the time of adding, then pour the mixture into other vessels to
cool; when cold break the same up and sift it into a powder, after which
the mixture must be sifted in with the remaining quantity of starch to
make up the ton weight, by adding 4 pounds of the above mixture to every
112 pounds of the manufactured starch whilst wet.
An important feature in my said Invention consists in putting the afore-
said mixture into the body of the starch at the last washing, and before it is
dried.
The starch thus far prepared is then mixed with gum. The gum I have
found answer well is that commercially known as Turkey arabic gum, as being

page_text: a fine white gum. To perform this part of the process of manufacturing starch
proceed as follows:-Put 80 pounds of said gum into an ordinary steaming
pan and add sufficient water thereto to melt it; when melted, add 80 pounds
of starch, which must be well mixed and incorporated therewith, then dry the
mixture and grind and sift it; or instead of this, the powder of the wax and
the powder of the gum (in the proportions herein stated) may be mixed with
the starch after it is dried; or the gum may first be ground to a powder and
then mixed with the dry starch in the same proportions.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture of Starch," together with the
best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I
would remark, in conclusion, that I do not intend to restrict myself to the
adding of gum, wax, and other oleaginous matters or substances to starch made
according to the method herein described, but reserve to myself the right of
adding such materials to starch as ordinarily manufactured. And I hereby
declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim, the combining of wax or other
oleaginous matters or substances and gum with starch in the manufacture
thereof, in the manner above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Allen Turner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
WILL A. TURNER. (L.S.)
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE, Patent Agent,
4. Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.