IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH AND GUMS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL,
HALL, late of Basford, near Nottingham, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fourteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel Hall, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Samuel Hall, my
exors, adñiors, and assigus, or such others as I, the said Samuel Hall, my
exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and all Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH AND GUMS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Samuel
Hall, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar mouths next and immediately after
the date of the said in part-recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same
reference being thereto liad, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: what i compliance with the said proviso, 1, the salu
Samuel Hall, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, the same letters referring to the same parts in each Figure respectively
(that is to say):-
I will premise my Specification by saying that I divide my
Invention into
three parts, each of them being respectively separate from and independent of
the others.
The first consists of improvements in the manufacture of starch; the
second, in the manufacture of gums; and the third, in the manufacture of
them both conjointly.
The objects and nature of my improvements in the manufacture of starch
are to bleach or whiten it, and otherwise improve its qualities, so as to render
it more suitable for stiffening or getting up linen, muslin, lace, or other articles,
and for other purposes for which it is required.
The objects and nature of my improvements in the manufacture of gums
are similar to those I have described as relating to starch, videlicet, to bleach
or whiten them, and otherwise improve their qualities for effecting the
purposes for which they are required.
And the objects and nature of my improvements in the manufacture of
starch and gums conjointly are to produce aggregates or compounds of the
bleached or whitened articles possessing qualities different and superior to
those of either starch or gums separately, and this I effect by commixing or
combining them together in various proportions, videlicet, such as are found to
be most suitable for the purposes for which such compounds or mixtures are
requires.
Having stated the objects and nature of my improvements, I will now
describe the means and apparatus for carrying them respectively into effect
in the same order as that in which they are herein-before enumerated. As
far as they relate to starch, they are improvements upon my Patent of May
Ninth, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, for improvements in the
manufacture of that article in which I specified the use of chloride of lime for
bleaching starch, whereas my present improvements consist in means and
apparatus for applying chlorine in its gaseous state for that purpose, instead of
using it in such combination with lime,and for applying also sulphurous acid
in its gaseous or other state for the same purpose, which I generate and
apply by the same means and apparatus as those I use in the generation and

page_text: application of chlorine; but of course the different well-known proper
materials are used for generating each of the two gases respectively. The
processes are the same for applying each of the two gases, as I will now
proceed to explain. They consist in the admission of fine continuous streams
(after the manner of a shower bath) of starch mixed with as much water as
will make it about the consistency of cream into a body of chlorine or
sulphurous acid gas, as the case may be, or vice versa, in the admission of
fine continuous streams of chlorine or sulphurous acid gas into such mixtures
or solutions of starch until they are sufficiently whitened.
I will now proceed to describe the apparatus I use, for effecting, the
above purpose. A, A, A, on the Sheet of Drawings annexed, are, the
plans of three retorts of earthenware or other suitable material to contain
the proper ingredients for generating either chlorine or sulphurous acid gasfas
each may be respectively required; and A¹ is the section of them taken, from
tox. B is the plan, and B' the section of a cast-iron pan containing
water, into which the retorts are immersed, and under the pan there, is.ia
furnace C¹, which opens into the chimney C*. D and E are, the plans, and
D¹ and E the sections taken from y to y of two frames or cisterns, in which
fifteen or sixteen inches in depth of starch is to be mixed up, as above stated,
with as much water as will make it of about the consistency of cream. Fis
the plan, and F¹ the section of a wooden box placed in and near one end of
frame D and D', and supported two inches from the bottom of it. The box
is closed at the top, but it opens at the bottom, and is immersed a few inches
in the. liquid starch. This box is to be kept full of chlorine orisulphurous
acid gas, as each is respectively used, the same being generated by the retorts
which are supplied with the proper materials. As above stated, small,streams
of starch are to be passed through the gases,such streams being produced by
a number of shelves a, a', placed within the box, which are perforated with a
great many small holes, as shewn by the plan a of one of them. These
streams are to be continued until the starch is sufficiently bleached or whitened
by the gases. Besides the operation of this box, another method oficombin-
ing the gases with starch is shewn by the following apparatus:-GGG!, G¹
is a trough within and around the cistern E, E¹, and supported at such a
height from the bottom of it as to be covered about half an inch with the
liquid starch. There are two sides and a top, but no bottom to this trough,
and it has a number of partitions in it, b, b, b, all being (like the shelves.in
box F) perforated with a great many small holes; and there is another
partition 6x, not perforated with holes, situated between the pipes 9* and *,
for the purpose hereafter mentioned. The gases generated in the retorts are
.

page_text: B
D 2121
sufficiently
conveyed from them by the cross pipes e, e, e, to the main pipe f, f, f, and
from thence by other cross pipes g, gx, to the box Fand the trough G, G', in
the respective use of which the two methods above mentioned consist. The
operations of the two apparatuses are as follows:-First, when the box F is
used, the starch in frame D is drawn from the end of it most remote from the
box by the pump h through the pipe i, i, which is closed at each end, but is
furnished with small holes in the front of the cross branch of it, as is shewn
by jj, in the plan, and by j,,², in the section of it taken from to z across
the plan of cistern D. The course the fluid takes (which is caused by the
action of the pump) is as follows:-It first enters the pipe i through the
holes jj, j, and then passes along it, till it arrives at the pump by which it
is thrown into the small cistern land k¹, with a curved pipe at its bottom, and
from thence passes into the top of box F, and upon the shelves a, a, through
the holes whereof it falls back into the frame, ready to pass to the far end of
it, and
d repeat it
its course through the pipe i and the pump h, h', to the top of
the box whereby a circuitous route is constantly performed until the starch
F
whitened. Second, when the trough G, G¹, is used, the starch
in frame is kept in a constant state of agitation by any suitable means, and
the
gas from the retorts is sent into the trough through the pipe g*, and is
compelled by the partition 6, which, as above stated, has no holes in it, to
proceed within and around the trough in the direction shewn by the arrows,
and is divided into small streams by passing through the holes in the partitions
6,6, b. Thus it is obvious that by the first-mentioned apparatus the starch is
introd
din small streams into the gases, and that by the second the converse
of the operation takes place by the introduction of small streams of the latter
into the former. As the chlorine or sulphurous acid gas may at times be
generated in greater abundance than the starch in the two frames D and E
will absorb them, the overplus will be carried away by the pipes / and /* into
the main pipes m, m,m, from whence it may be taken and applied to some
useful'
purpose, to prevent it being wasted. When the starch is sufficiently
bleached, it is proceeded with in the usual way, videlicet, by applying diluted
sulphuric acid to it, and repeatedly washing it with clean water, and then
boxing and drying it, as directed in my said Patent of Ninth of May, in the
year One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.
Ja
9 bo
As far as my improvement relates to the manufacture of gums, it is effected
by passing chlorine or sulphurous acid through a solution of them in water, by
the same means and apparatus as I have described as used in bleaching starch
but previously to performing those processes the solution should be deprived of
as much extraneous matter as possible, by filtration, percolation, capillary

page_text: attraction, or other proper means. When the gum that is being operated
.upon has been sufficiently bleached, it is to be evaporated to dryness, either in
vacuo or under a pressure less than that of the atmosphere, or in close vessels,
passing the vapour from them through water or mercury on its way to the
atmosphere, or by any other suitable means; but previously to so drying..it,
some gums require to be treated in one of the two following manners,
videlicet: First, the solution of gum is to be mixed up with a quantity of
starch in any convenient proportion, and then well agitated and well digested
for two or three or more hours at a low temperature; and when the mixture
has been allowed to rest, and the starch has subsided to the bottom, the dessica-
tion of them may be continued till the whole mass is sufficiently dry, when the
gum which has remained at the top may be separated from the starch which
has subsided to the bottom. Second, the solution of gum from which the
starch has subsided, as above mentioned, to be drawn off, and then the water
to be evaporated from it separately, as above mentioned, and the starch which
has subsided to the bottom is also to be so dried separately, or the starch may
be boxed and dried in the usual manner. Third, the solution of gum to have
a portion of alkaline, saccharine, or saponaceous matter, or lime water put to
it, viz, as much of one or more of them as will neutralize any acid which the
solution of gum may contain after bleaching, and when saponaceous matter is
used, the oily and fatty matter liberated from the alkali must be separated
from the gum by filtration or other suitable means. I may here observe, that
I apply sulphurous acid as well as chlorine to all suitable gums except
gum arabic.
Having fully described the objects and nature of my Invention, and the
apparatus and machinery for putting it into operation, I will now proceed to
explain the extent of my claims, stating them under the three following
heads, viz*,-
First, those relating to my improvements in the manufacture of starch.
Second, those relating to the manufacture of gums; and,
Third, those relating to the manufacture of starch and gums conjointly.
Under the first head I claim the use of chlorine in its gaseous state, or in
combination with water, but not combined with lime, for bleaching starch, or
endering it white; also, the use of sulphurous acid, whether it is applied inits
luid or gaseous state, for the same purpose.
it may
Under the second head I claim the use of chlorine in whatever way
e used for bleaching gums; alse, the use of sulphurous acid in a any suitable
tate for bleaching gums, with the exception of "all varieties of gum arabic,
ncluding that brought from Senegal."

page_text: Under the third head I claim the combining or commixing of starch and
gums together (either before or after bleaching, or without bleaching them at
all) in any proportions which may be found suitable for the purposes for
swhich they may be required; which, owing to the various qualities of-both
starch and gums, and the various uses for which they are required, experience
only can point out.
I claim also the use of alkaline, saccharine, or saponaceous matter on lime,
or hydrate of lime, or lime water, previously to or during the evaporation or
dessication of the solution of gums, or of starch and gums conjointly.
I claim, moreover, the dessication of starch and gums, or the mixtures of
them, inclusive of gum arabic, by means of a vacuum, as above described, or
under a pressure less than that of the atmosphere.
And I claim the process of the inspissation of gums, inclusive also of gum
arabic, by the evaporation in vacuo of the water in which they are dissolved,
either with or without the other processes, viz, those of bleaching them by the
application of chlorine or sulphurous acid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Hall, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
Under the third head I claim the combining or commixing of starch and
gums together (either before or after bleaching, or without bleaching them at
all) in any proportions which may be found suitable for the purposes for
swhich they may be required; which, owing-to the various qualities öf-böth
starch and gums, and the various uses for which they are required, experience
only can point out.
I claim also the use of alkaline, saccharine, or saponaceous matter on lime,
or hydrate of lime, or lime water, previously to or during the evaporation or
dessication of the solution of gums, or of starch and gums conjointly.
I claim, moreover, the dessication of starch and gums, or the mixtures of
them, inclusive of gum arabic, by means of a vacuum, as above described, or
under a pressure less than that of the atmosphere.
And I claim the process of the inspissation of gums, inclusive also of gum
arabic, by the evaporation in vacuo of the water in which they are dissolved,
either with or without the other processes, viz, those of bleaching them by the
application of chlorine or sulphurous acid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Hall, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
SAMUEL (L.S.) HALL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eleventh day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Samuel Hall came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid; and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid wasstamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.