IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FOSSIL AND OTHER MINERAL PHOSPHATES OF LIME
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Mathieu Louis Henrionnet and Léopold Octave
Boblique, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the, Empire of France,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FOSSIL AND
OTHER MINERAL PHOSPHATES OF LIME."
Sealed the 7th May 1861, and dated the 18th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Mathieu Louis Henrionnet
and Léopold Octave Boblique at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 18th November 1860.
We, MATHIEU LOUIS HENRIONNET and LEOPOLD OCTAVE BOBLIQUE, of 39,
Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FOSSIL
AND OTHER MINERAL PHOSPHATES OF LIME," to be as follows:-
To one hundred parts of crushed coprolites, phosphorites, apatite, or other
mineral phosphate of lime, we add about sixty parts of crude chloride of
sodium, and mix thoroughly. The mass is then placed in a kiln or chamber of
suitable form and dimensions, in which it is carried to a high temperature, say,
for instance, to a red heat, and at the same traversed by a current of steam.
In this process the silica which may be contained in the phosphate is caused by
the steam to react on the chloride of sodium, producing silicate of soda and
hydrochloric acid. The latter in its turn reacts on the tribasic phosphate of.

page_text: lime and taking up two equivalents of lime forms chloride of of calcium and
soluble phosphate of lime, while a portion of the phosphoric acid combines
with the soda and forms phosphate of soda. Should not the phosphates of
lime thus treated contain a sufficient portion of silica a quantity of the latter
(sand for instance) should be added to make up the deficiency.
By one operation we thus obtain, 1stly, silicate of soda, 2dly, phosphate of
soda, and 3dly, soluble phosphate of lime in the most favourable condition for
perfect assimilation.
We may also obtain somewhat similar results by the employment of sulphate
or carbonate of soda or of the corresponding salts of potash. The chloride of
sodium might even be replaced by the chloride of potassium but for the high
price of the latter salt.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Mathieu Louis Henrionnet and Léopold Octave Boblique in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, MATHIEU
LOUIS HENRIONNET and LÉOPOLD OCTAVE BOBLIQUE, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Mathieu Louis Henrionnet and Leopold Octave Boblique, Her special
licence that we, the said Mathieu Louis Henrionnet and Léopold Octave
Boblique, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Mathieu Louis Henrionnet and Léopold Octave Boblique, our 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 TREATMENT OF FOSSIL
AND OTHER MINERAL PHOSPHATES OF LIME," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Mathieu Louis Henrionnet and Léopold Octave Boblique,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
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

page_text: 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 we, the said Mathieu Louis Henrionnet and Léopold
Octave Boblique, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
With one hundred parts of crushed coprolites, phosphorite, apatite, or other
mineral phosphate of lime, we mix thoroughly about sixty parts of crude
chloride of sodium of the commonest description, such as sea or bay salt, waste
salts of brine, or other residual or refuse matters sufficiently charged with
chloride of sodium. The mass is then placed in a kiln or chamber of suitable
form and dimensions, in which it is carried to a high temperature, say, for
instance, to a red heat, and at the same time traversed by a current of steam.
In this process the silica which may be contained in the phosphate is caused
by the steam to react on the chloride of sodium, producing silicate of soda
and hydrochloric acid; the latter in its turn reacts on the tribasic phosphate of
lime, and taking up two equivalents of lime form chloride of calcium and
soluble phosphate of lime, while a portion of the phosphoric acid combines
with the soda and forms phosphate of soda. Should not the phosphates of
lime thus treated contain a sufficient portion of silica a quantity of the latter
(sand for instance) should be added to make up the deficiency.
It may be observed that in the above process the production of the phos-
phate of soda depends on the proportion of phosphoric acid contained in the
raw material, and is consequently more or less regular according to the nature
of the latter. In some cases the phosphate of soda may even be entirely
absent, but this is a point of secondary importance, the essential object of the
treatment above described being the production of a thoroughly assimilable
phosphate of lime.
By one operation we thus obtain, Istly, silicate of soda, 2dly, phosphate of
soda (when the raw material is rich in phosphoric acid), and 3dly, soluble
phosphate of lime in the most favorable condition for perfect assimilation.
We may also obtain somewhat similar results by the employment of
sulphate or carbonate of soda or of the corresponding salts of potash. The
chloride of sodium might even be replaced by the chloride of potassium but for
the high price of the latter salt.
Having now described the nature of the said improvements, and the manner
of carrying them into effect, we declare that without confining ourselves to
the precise details laid down we claim as our Invention, the treatment

page_text: substantially as described of fossil and other mineral phosphates of lime with a
view to the production of a soluble and assimilable fertilizing compound for
agricultural purposes.
In witness whereof, we, the said Mathieu Louis Henrionnet and Léopold
Octave Boblique, have hereto set our hands and seals, this Eighth 5
day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-one.
M. L. HENRIONNET. (L.s.)
LP. OB. BOBLIQUE.
(L.S.)
M. L. HENRIONNET. (Ls.)
LP. O. BOBLIQUE.
(L.S.)