IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE Do ARTD
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richardson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
Do ARTD"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richardson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th May 1853.
I, THOMAS RICHARDSON, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS CONTAINING PHOSPHORIC ACID "
to be as follows:→
This Invention consists of mixing muriate of soda or potash with an
earthy or metallic phosphate, and about their equivalent quantity of
sulphuric acid, and, by preference, in a reverberatory furnace, such as is
used in decomposing common salt. Or, in place of muriate of soda or
potash, sulphate may be used with less sulphuric acid, or bisulphate
may be employed. Or; when phosphate of soda or potash is desired,
I obtain it by decomposing muriate or sulphate or nitrate of the alkali

page_text: by phosphoric acid, employing iron or brick or carthenware vessels or
furnaces. And I collect the muriatic, sulphuric, or nitric acids evolved.
I also dissolve phosphates by waste muriatic acid of chemical works,
and precipitate the same by lime or magnesia.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Richardson in the Great Scal Patent
Office, on the 16th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS RICHARDSON, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Richardson, Her special
licence that I, the said Thomas Richardson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Richardson,
my exccutors, 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 CERTAIN COMPOUNDS CON-
TAINING PHOSPHORIC ACID," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Thomas Richardson, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Thomas Richardson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say):

page_text: This Invention consists of mixing muriate of soda or potash with an
carthy or metallic phosphate, and about their equivalent quantity of
sulphuric acid, and, by preference, in a reverberatory furnace, such as is
used in decomposing common salt; or, in place of muriate of soda or
potash, sulphate may be used with less sulphuric acid, or bisulphate
may be employed. Or, when phosphate of soda or potash is desired, I
obtain it by decomposing muriate or sulphate or nitrate of the alkali
by phosphoric acid, employing iron or brick or carthenware vessels or
furnaces; and I collect the muriatic, sulphuric, or nitric acids evolved.
I also dissolve phosphates by waste muriatic acid of chemical works,
and precipitate the same by lime or magnesia.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, will now
proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
To manufacture a compound of phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid
with lime and soda or potash for manure and other purposes I take
apatite, coprolites, bone ashes, or any other substance containing
phosphoric acid, as free from organic matter as possible, and reduce
the same to powder. I ascertain by analysis the quantity of phosphoric
acid in the powder, and mix 76 parts of muriate of potash, or 60 parts
of muriate of soda, with every 72 parts of phosphoric acid. This
mixture is thrown into an ordinary reverberatory furnace, but I prefer
to use the pan-furnace employed in alkali works for decomposing
common salt by sulphuric acid. As much sulphuric acid is then run
upon this mixture as will decompose the muriate of potash or soda,
and combine with the whole of the basic constituents present in the
phosphate, so as to set the phosphoric acid at liberty. This operation
is continued until all acid fumes are evolved, and the mass is dried at
a moderate heat on one of the side furnaces, in which state it is ready
for use as a manure; or I substitute the sulphates of the alkalies, and
employ a smaller quantity of sulphuric acid corresponding to that
present in the alkaline sulphate; or I employ bisulphate of the
alkalies, and only use as much sulphuric acid as may be necessary to
decompose any carbonate or other body present which would consume
a portion of this acid.
To manufacture a phosphate of soda or potash I prepare a solution
of phosphoric acid by any of the usual methods, which is run upon

page_text: muriate or sulphate of soda or potash in a reverberatory furnace in
such proportions that there shall be rather more than one equivalent
of phosphoric acid for one equivalent of any of the above salts.. The
process is conducted in the same way and with the same precautions
as are employed in making sulphate of soda. When the operation is
conducted in what is termed a close furnace the muriatic or sulphuric
acid may be collected by any of the methods now in use for that
purpose. When I treat nitrate of soda or potash I employ the
apparatus at present in use in making nitric acid, substituting an
equivalent of phosphoric acid for the sulphuric acid necessary for
decomposing these nitrates; or I substitute phosphoric for sulphuric
acid in the manufacture of the latter acid in decomposing the nitrates
of the alkalies in the ordinary iron pots. I also make phosphate of
soda or potash by employing phosphoric acid in place of sulphuric acid
in those cases where the niuriates of the alkalies are used for the
manufacture of muriatic acid in iron retorts or cylinders.
.
To obtain a purified phosphate of lime or magnesia I take any
phosphate containing too much organic matter or other inpurities for
use in the preparation of the preceding compounds, and treat it with as
little muriatic acid as possible, for the purpose of dissolving out the
phosphate. The liquor separated from the insoluble organic or
inorganic matters is now treated with as much.lime or magnesia as is
found necessary by a few preliminary trials to precipitate the phosphate
which is collected, washed. with water;..and may now be employed in
any of the above processes.
The phosphate of soda or potash produced by any of the above
processes is the monophosphate of these alkalies. If the salt is mixed
with any impurities it must be dissolved in water, and allowed to stand
until they subside. After concentrating the liquor, the salt crystallizes
in the usual way, which may be employed as a manure or in the
manufacture of glass and porcelain, in lieu of the ordinary phosphate of
soda, with two atoms of fixed basc.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,-
1st, the manufacturing a compound of phosphoric and sulphuric acids
with lime and soda or potash by the mode herein described.

page_text: Qud, the decomposing alkaline salts by phosphoric acid in a rever-
beratory furnace, or in apparatus suitably arranged for retaining the
acid liberated from the salts during such decomposition.
gri, the obtaining a purified phosphate of lime or magnesia from an
impure phosphate by the process herein described.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Thomas Richardson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
threc.
Witness,
DAVID BLAIR WHITE.
THOMAS RICHARDSON. (L.S.)