AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HALL, of Basford, in the County of Nottingham, Cotton Spinner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Ninth day of May, in the second year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said Samuel Hall, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said Samuel
Hall, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His
Majesty's Colonies, and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that if 1, the said Samuel Hall, shall not particularly,
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) will more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Hall, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in the following description thereof (that is to say):-
The object of my Improvement in the Manufacture of Starch is to bleach it
or render it white by discharging or removing the colouring matter from it.
The manner in which my improvement is to be performed is as follows:-I
manufacture the starch by the usual processes till it has arrived at the stage in
which it is ready for boxing. I then calculate how many pounds of starch the
quantity I have in process will produce when in the finished state, and to every
such pound (after having stirred it up well with as much water as will make it
about the consistency of cream), I add one gallon of bleaching liquor, and
agitate it sufliciently to cause it to act upon the colouring matter of the starch,
so as to bleach or whiten it. The bleaching liquor may be made by taking a
quantity of water, and adding to every gallon thereof about two ounces of
oxygenated muriate of lime, which must be well stirred, and then left to rest
till the sediment has subsided to the bottom, from which the clear bleaching
liquor must be carefully poured off for use. When the starch and bleaching
liquor have been sufficiently agitated together, as above directed, I add to the
mixture a quantity of water, in the proportion of about four gallons to every
pound of starch contained therein, calculated as aforesaid, and, after well
stirring it, leave it to rest till the starch and other insolable parts of the
mixture have subsided to the bottom, from which I draw off the liquid. I then
add about two ounces of sulphuric acid, diluted with one gallon of water
to every pound of starch, and agitate them well together, as long as is necessary
for the acid to act sufficiently on the starch and any extraneous matter it may
contain. I then add a quantity of water, in about the proportion of four
gallons to every pound of starch, and agitate the whole well together to wash
away any extraneous matter capable of being removed thereby. The whole is
then to be left to rest a sufficient length of time for the purified or whitened
starch to subside to the bottom, from which I then draw off the liquid.
washing may be repeated with clean water, in the manner above described, as
often as is found necessary to cleanse the starch sufficiently from the oxy-
geneated muriate of lime and sulphuric acid. The starch, when so cleansed,
is to be boxed, dried, and finished in the usual manner. The exact quantities
of the oxygencated muriate of lime and sulphuric acid which are requisite to
bleach or whiten the starch, according to my improvement as above described,
will be easily ascertained by a few trials. No precise rules can. be given for
them, as they depend upon the quality of the starch and the strength of the
The

page_text: oxygenated muriate of lime and the sulphuric acid.
Although prefer the
use of oxygenated muriate of lime as being convenient and economical, my
improvement upon starch may be performed by using the oxygenated muriatic
acid in its gasseous state, or in such combinations as are proper for this purpose.
My improvement, as above described, may also be advantageously performed
as soon as the slimes are separated from the starch, instead of proceeding with
the manufacture thereof till it is ready for boxing. Before my improvement is
commenced the starchmaker will find by a few trials at what stage of his
usual processes my Invention may be performed with most convenience. I
do not claim the exclusive use of the oxygenated muriatic acid, or its com-
binations with lime or any other substance, nor of sulphuric acid, except for
my improvement in the manufacture of starch, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Hall (party hereto), have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1821, the aforesaid Samuel Hall came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.