IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF ALUMINIUM
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE
MANUFACTURE OF ALUMINIUM."-A communication from abroad by
Frederic Jacquemart, of Paris, in the Republic of France.

page_text: possesses a strength of not less than five per cent. of anhydrous acid.
Hydrofluoric acid is employed, by preference, redistilled in a vessel of
lead or copper, and condensed in a refrigerator of lead or other metal
incapable of being attacked by the fumes of the bydrofluoric acid. This
distillation or rectification permits of the separation of the hydro-fluo-
silicic and sulphuric acids with which it is mixed. The solution having
been triturated pure alumina is mixed with it until it becomes half
saturated by this earth, and a solution of marine salt containing three
equivalents of metal for each equivalent of alumina is introduced into
the acid liquor. The absorption of the alumina into the hydrofluoric
acid should be completed before the introduction of the solution of marine
salt.
In place of the acid fluoride of aluminium prepared as described
soluble fluoride of aluminium obtained by any of the known processes
may be substituted on condition that there is introduced the quantity of 1
hydrofluoric acid necessary for the formation of the cryolite by means of
the sodium of the marine salt.
The liquor separated from the precipitate of cryolite is hydrochloric
acid, which may hold small quantities of alumina or of marine salt,
according to the perfection of the combination of ingredients.
Chyrolite may also be obtained by treating with hydrofluoric acid in
the above-named condition a mixture formed of a salt of alumina, and of
a salt of soda in suitable proportions.
By substituting for the salt of of soda a salt of potash in the operations
above indicated, the like result (an artificial cryolite) may be obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
•
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
· Office on the 22nd June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the 30
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
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,
usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF ALUMINIUM," being a
communication to me from abroad by Frederic Jaquemart, President of
the Board of Directors of the Société Anonyme de l'Aluminium, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the manufacture of
aluminium by preparing an artificial cryolite for use in that manu-
facture.
The following is the process of preparing a double fluoride of sodium
and aluminium:-First, crude hydrofluoric acid may be used of any
desired degree of concentration, provided the liquor possesses a strength
of not less than five per cent. of anhydrous acid. It is however
preferred to employ hydrofluoric acid which has been redistilled in a
vessel of lead or copper, and condensed in a refrigerator of lead or other
metal incapable of being attacked by the fumes of the hydrofluoric acid.
This distillation or rectification permits of the separation of the hydro-fluo-
silicic and sulphuric acids with which it is mixed. Pure alumina in
powder is mixed with the hydrofluoric acid solution until the acid

page_text: becomes half saturated by the earth. A solution of marine salt con-
taining three equivalents of metal (sodium) for each equivalent of
alumina is then introduced into the acid liquor. The absorption of the
alumina into the hydrofluoric acid should be completed before the
introduction of the solution of marine salt.
In place of the acid fluoride of aluminium prepared as described
soluble fluoride of aluminium obtained by any of the known processes
may be substituted on condition that the hydrofluoric acid is present in
quantity sufficient for combining with the sodium of the marine salt,
and thus effecting the formation of the artificial cryolite..
The liquor resulting from the precipitation of the cryolite is hydro-
chloric acid, which may hold small quantities of alumina or of marine
salt, according to the perfection of the combination of ingredients.
Artificial cryolite may also be obtained by treating with hydrofluoric
acid in the above-named condition a mixture formed of a salt of alumina,
and of a salt of soda in suitable proportions.
By substituting for the salt of soda a salt of potash in the operations
above described, the like result (an artificial cryolite), may be obtained.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
applicable to the Manufacture of Aluminium," as communicated to me.
by my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim, manufacturing artificial cryolite in the
manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four..