IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING A SUBSTITUTE FOR SODA CRYSTALS,' 'SODA ASH,' OŔ REFINED ASH
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Buchanan, of Hebburn, in the County of
Durham, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
AND APPLYING A SUBSTITUTE FOR SODA CRYSTALS,' 'SODA ASH,' OŔ
REFINED ASH.'"
Sealed the 23rd November 1869, and dated the 28th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Buchanan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th September 1869.
I, JOHN BUCHANAN, of Hebburn, in the County of Durham, Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING AND APPLYING A SUBSTITUTE FOR SODA CRYSTALS,' 'SODA ASH,' OR
* REFINED ASH,'" to be as follows, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object the application of an advantageous
substitute for ordinary commercial "soda crystals," "soda ash," or
"refined ash," and to be used in the various arts or manufactures in
which those chemical agents are or may be employed.
The ordinary "soda crystals" consist of deca-hydrated carbonate of

page_text: soda, or carbonate of soda combined with ten equivalents of water,
which large proportion of water enhances the cost of its use by increasing
its bulk and otherwise. The commercial "soda ash" or "refined ash"
is objectionable on account of the impurities it contains.
The objections thus indicated are avoided according to the present
Invention by employing mona-hydrated carbonate of soda, in which the
carbonate of soda has combined with it only one equivalent of water,
whilst it is obtainable in a very pure state. For this purpose the liquor
produced by lixiviating the "black ash," as practised in the ordinary
manufacture of soda, is heated in a vessel to evaporate it and increase
its density, being kept in a state of agitation; and the heating, which is
effected by preference by means of a coiled steam pipe, is continued
until crystals are formed. These crystals are the mona-hydrated car-
bonate of soda in a very pure state, and they are removed from the
liquor as they are formed. They are afterwards drained or dried by
means of a hydro-extractor or otherwise, and aro then ready for the
market.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Buchanan in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BUCHANAN, of Hebburn, in the County of Durham, Chemist, send
greeting,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine,
in the thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Buchanan,
Her special licence that I, the said John Buchanan, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Buchanan, 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 OBTAINING AND APPLYING A SUBSTITUTE FOR

page_text: SODA CRYSTALS,' 'SODA ASH,' OR 'REFINED ASH,' 33
upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Buchanan, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Buchanan, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the application of an advantageous
substitute for ordinary commercial "soda crystals," "soda ash," or
"refined ash," and to be used in the various arts or manufactures in
which those chemical agents are or may be employed.
The ordinary "soda crystals" consist of deca-hydrated carbonate of
soda, or carbonate of soda combined with ten equivalents of water,
which large proportion of water enhances the cost of its use by increasing
its bulk and otherwise. The commercial "soda ash" or "refined ash"
is objectionable on account of the impurities it contains.
The objections thus indicated are avoided according to the present
Invention by employing mona-hydrated carbonate of soda, in which the
carbonate of soda has combined with it only one equivalent of water,
whilst it is obtainable in a very pure state. For this purpose the liquor
produced by lixiviating the "black ash," as practised in the ordinary
manufacture of soda, is heated in a vessel to evaporate it and increase
its density, being kept in a state of agitation; and the heating, which is
effected by preference by means of a coiled steam pipe, is continued
until crystals are formed. These crystals are the mona-hydrated car-
bonate of soda in a very pure state, and they are removed from the
liquor as they are formed. They are afterwards drained or dried by
means of a hydro-extractor or otherwise, and are then ready for the
market.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention,- and -the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I have-to-state that-what
I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to
ne by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the obtaining

page_text: and applying of mona-hydrated carbonate of soda as a substitute for
"soda crystals," "soda ash," or "refined ash," as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Buchanan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.