A; MODE OF PREPARING AN OXIDIZING AGENT
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Puls, of No. 25, Francis Terrace, Hackney".
Wick, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, for the Invention of "A;
MODE OF PREPARING AN OXIDIZING AGENT."
Sealed the 8th November 1861, and dated the 13th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Puls at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th May
1861.
: I, FRANCIS PULS, of No. 25, Francis Terrace, Hackney Wick, in the
County of Middlesex, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said.
Invention for "A MODE OF PREPARING AN OXIDIZING AGENT," to be as
follows:-
My said Invention.consists of a mode of rendering oxygen more active as
an oxidizing agent. For this purpose I cause oxygen, either alone. or mixed
with any other gas which will not injure or destroy its action, to be passed
through or otherwise brought into contact with, sulphuric acid, heat being.
applied to one or both of those materials, so that the gas may be as much as
practicable subjected to the action of the acid. This may be effected in.
various ways, and atmospheric air may be treated in this manner for the
purpose of rendering the oxygen which it contains more active. Oxygen

page_text: treated in this manner is rendered more active, and will more readily combine
with other substances, for which it has an affinity for manufacturing and other
purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Puls in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
PULS, of 25, Francis Terrace, Hackney Wick, in the County of Middlesex,
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May; in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto:
me, the said Francis Puls, Her special licence that I, the said Francis Puls,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis
Puls, 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 "A MODE OF PRE-
PARING AN OXIDIZING AGENT," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Francis Puls, 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 Invention, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE,. that I, the said Francis Puls, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 (that is to say):
My said Invention consists of a mode of rendering oxygen gas more active
as an oxidizing agent, or, in other words, to cause it to enter into combinations.
with greater facility. For this purpose I cause oxygen, either alone or mixed
with any other gas which will not destroy or injure-its action as an oxidizing

page_text: agent, to be passed through or otherwise brought into contact with liquid
sulphuric acid; and in order to effect the desired change in the oxygen gas,
care should be taken to subject every part of the gas operated upon to the
action of the acid. The process may be performed at the ordinary temperaturo
of the atmosphere, but I prefer to apply heat, either to the acid or to the gas
operated upon, or to both, in order that the gas may be more effectually
subjected to the action of the acid, and the desired change in the oxygen be more
effectually ensured. Atmospheric air may be treated in this manner for the
purpose of rendering the oxygen which it contains more active as an oxidizing
agent. Any apparatus or process may be employed for the purposes of my
Invention which will cause every part of the gas operated upon, to be brought
into contact with and subjected to the action of the acid.
The following mode of subjecting gas to the action of the acid may be
adopted I take a vessel made of stoneware or other material which the acid
will not injuriously affect, and I fix a lid or cover upon it, so that it shall be
air-tight. Within the vessel, and a little above the bottom of it, I place a
false bottom, having numerous perforations in it, and upon the false bottom I
place a layer of broken coke, glass, pumicestone, or other material upon
which the acid will not act, and then I pour over such broken material a
quantity of sulphuric acid sufficient to moisten every part of it. I make one
orifice in the vessel, and by means of a tube passing through it I convey the
gas to the space under the perforated false bottom, from which space the gas
escapes, and passing up through the perforations in the false bottom in a
minutely divided state, comes in contact with the broken material moistened
with the acid, as above mentioned, and in passing up through amongst the
broken material to the top of the vessel it is repeatedly subjected to the action
of the acid. I make an orifice in the upper part of the vessel, to which I fit
a pipe, by means of which I convey the gas which has been operated upon to
a gasometer, or to the vessel or place where it is intended to be used.
The description which I have given will be sufficient to enable any
competent workman to subject gas to the action of the acid for the purpose
above mentioned; but I do not intend to confine myself to the use of the
mode of operating above described, but in performing my Invention to avail
myself of any means by which the gas may be effectually brought into
contact with and subjected to the action of the acid for the above-mentioned
purposes.
Oxygen, whether alone or mixed with any other gas, as above mentioned,
when subjected to the action of sulphuric acid, as above described, is rendered

page_text: more active as an oxidizing agent, and will more readily combine with other
substances, for which it has an affinity for manufacturing and other purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Puls, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
:
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
said Francis Puls, in- the presence
of
ALEXANDER FORSYTH, Solicitor,
10, Lombard Street.
FRANCIS PULS. (L.S.)