IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA FOR CONVERSION INTO SODA AND OTHER USES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA FOR CONVERSION INTO SODA AND
OTHER USES."-A communication from abroad by Germain Adolphe
Thibierge, of Versailles, France.
Sealed the 28th April 1863, and dated the 19th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 19th January 1863.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA FOR CONVERSION INTO
SODA AND OTHER USES," to be as follows:-
When a mixture of coal, sulphuret of iron, and chloride of sodium is
heated in the presence of air, sulphate of soda, oxide of iron, and chloride of
iron are formed, the proportion of these different bodies varies with the quan-
tities of the substances above named forming the mixture, as also with the
state of division when used.
This Invention consists in manufacturing sulphate of soda, as follows:-I
reduce to powder the fuel (charcoal, coal, coke, or other fuel) the natural or
artificial sulphuret of iron and the salt, and mix these substances in propor-

page_text: tions approaching more nearly the following, as the substances are more pure;
fuel, 1000 parts by weight; sulphuret of iron, 500 parts; salt, 200 parts,
Then in order that the mixture may be more intimate, and to diminish the
loss of the chloride of sodium by volatilization, I introduce it into the mixture
partly in powder and partly in the state of saturated solution, natural or
artificial. Should the proportion of liquid not be sufficient to convert the
mixture into a paste susceptible of being moulded I add water, and the whole
is moulded or compressed into blocks. The blocks are piled and dried by
exposure to the air aided by a moderate heat or not. The piles are so
built up that free circulation to air and vapour is afforded in the interior with
escape for them at the top. When the blocks are dry I burn them by placing
in a space left at the bottom thereof sufficient fuel to heat the blocks nearest
to it and to set fire to them. Combustion proceeds slowly and requires no
further feeding nor care except in cases where the spaces between the blocks
cause it to be too active or too slow when it becomes necessary to increase or
diminish such spaces. The products of combustion, which vary with the
nature of the combustibles used, are led into a chimney, and should, as is
most advantageous, coal or peat be the fuel used, the gases before entering
the chimney should be made to pass through a condensing chamber wherein
ammoniacal salts would become deposited, and even after issuing from the
condensing chamber acid gases and chlorides may be gathered in suitable
apparatuses.
The sulphate of soda, manufactured as before described, will be found mixed
with a considerable quantity of oxide of iron and with chlorides of iron and
of sodium, 200 parts by weight of this product mixed with 40 parts of a car-
bonaceous combustible matter yield in soda ovens soda of a high character
mixed with sulphuret of iron and chloride of sodium. The preparation, heated
as in the process known as Leblanc's, is finished when flame ceases to burn at
its surface; as usual it is advisable to cool down quickly. Where the
sulphate of soda is to be separated before being heated in ovens, lixiviation by
the ordinary processes must be resorted to; there will result a solution of sul-
phate of soda mixed with small quantities of chloride of sodium and chloride
of iron. By evaporation the chloride of sodium will become separated from
the chloride of iron, will be decomposed, and deposit oxide of iron; the solu-
tion drawn off clear will yield, on cooling, crystallized suphate of soda.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 laws
fully 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 SULPHATE OF SODA FOR CONVERSION
INTO SODA AND OTHER USES," (communicated to me from abroad by Germain
Adolphe Thibierge, of Versailles, France,) upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors or admini-
strators, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 :-
When a mixture of coal, sulphuret of iron, and chloride of sodium is
heated in the presence of air, sulphate of soda, oxide of iron, and chloride of
iron are formed, the proportion of these different bodies varies with the quan-
tities of the substances above named forming the mixture, as also with the
state of division when used.
This Invention consists in manufacturing sulphate of soda, as follows:-İ
reduce to powder the fuel (charcoal, coal, coke, or other fuel) the natural or
artificial sulphuret of iron and the salt, and mix these substances in propor-

page_text: tions approaching more nearly the following, as the substances are more
pure; fuel, 1000 parts by weight; sulphuret of iron, 500 parts; salt, 200
parts. Then in order that the mixture may be more intimate, and to diminish
the loss of the chloride of sodium by volatilization, I introduce it into the
mixture partly in powder and partly in the state of saturated solution, natural
or artificial. Should the proportion of liquid not be sufficient to convert the
mixture into a paste susceptible of being moulded I add water, and the whole
is moulded or compressed into blocks. The blocks are piled and dried by-
exposure to the air, aided by a moderate heat or not. The piles are so built
up that free circulation to air and vapour is afforded in the interior with
escape for them at the top. When the blocks are dry I burn them by
placing in a space left at the bottom thereof sufficient fuel to heat the blocks
nearest to it, and to set fire to them. Combustion proceeds slowly, and
requires no further feeding nor care except in cases where the spaces between
the blocks cause it to be too active or too slow when it becomes necessary
to increase or diminish such spaces. The products of combustion, which vary
with the nature of the combustibles used, are led into a chimney, and should,
as is most advantageous, coal or peat be the fuel used, the gases before
entering the chimney should be made to pass through a condensing chamber,
wherein ammoniacal salts would become deposited, and even after issuing
from the condensing chamber, acid gases and chlorides may be gathered in
suitable apparatuses.
The sulphate of soda, manufactured as before described, will be found
mixed with a considerable quantity of oxide of iron and with chlorides of iron
and of sodium, 200 parts by weight of this product mixed with 40 parts of
a carbonaceous combustible matter, yield in soda ovens soda of a high
character mixed with sulphuret of iron and chloride of sodium. The
preparation, heated as in the process known as Leblanc's, is finished
when flaine ceases to burn at its surface; as usual it is advisable to cool
down quickly. Where the sulphate of soda is to be separated before being
heated in ovens, lixiviation by the ordinary processes must be resorted to;.
there will result a solution of sulphate of soda mixed with small quantities
of chloride of sodium and chloride of iron. By evaporation the chloride of
sodium will become separated from the chloride of iron, will be decomposed,
and deposit oxide of iron; the solution drawn off clear will yield on cooling
crystallized sulphate of soda, but I make no claim to this last-described
process.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, manufacturing

page_text: sulphate of soda by the means and in manner herein-before described,
whether such sulphate of soda be converted into soda in manner herein-before
described, or whether it be otherwise used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.