AN IMPROVEMENT IN PREPAIRING AËRATED WATER
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MAUGHAM, of Newport Street, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirty-first day of January, in the sixth year of Her reign, did
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Maugham, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Maugham, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Maugham, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick;
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PREPAIRING AËRATED
WATER;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
William Maugham, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Maugham, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):-
My process consists in making an aërated water containing lime in the
state of what is known by chemists as supercarbonate or bicarbonate of lime,
and is effected by passing carbonic acid gas through a solution of caustic
lime in water, the said solution being under pressure during the period that it
is being impregnated with the carbonic acid gas. Over and above the quantity
of carbonic acid necessary to form super or bicarbonate of lime, the water holding
such salt in solution is to be further highly charged with carbonic acid SO
gas,
as to possess in an eminent degree a sparkling property, resembling in this
respect soda and other well-known aërated waters. That the mode of proceed-
ing may be fully understood, it is to be observed that to succeed in manufac-
turing the article under consideration, I take the refuse chippings or small
pieces of white Carrara marble left by statuaries or marble masons, and these I
place in a crucible perforated with a few holes, which is then to be inserted in
a furnace, so that the marble may be submitted to a full red heat, after the
manner in which ordinary limestone is burned for making mortar. The
carbonic acid is thus expelled from the marble by the heat employed, and if
the proper quality of marble has been selected very pure caustic lime remains,
'which is to be dissolved in water. The proportions may be one pound of lime
to two gallons of water; and for this purpose a vessel of sufficient capacity
should be employed, and well covered, so as to exclude the solution of lime
which is formed from the external atmosphere, because a solution of lime in
water rapidly absords carbonic acid from the atmosphere, and is again converted
into carbonate of lime. According to Mr. Richard Phillips, as stated in a note
in his translation of the London Pharmacopoeia, one pint of water at 60°
Fahrenheit will dissolve 111% grains of lime. An access of lime is of no
consequence, as it will remain undissolved, and can be used for another
occasion.
My reason for not using other varieties of marble or limestone is, that on
account of the impurities which they contain they are apt to impart an unplea-
sant flavor to the aërated liquor. After the lime is added to the water, which
is to be used cold, the mixture should be well stirred or agitated for a few
'minutes, so as to thoroughly effect the slaking of the lime, and bring the
particles of lime in contact with those of the water, and then the whole should
be allowed to stand, so that any undissolved portion of lime may subside.
When the lime liquor is clear (though there will always be a pellicle on the
surface) it may then be drawn off by a cock, placed a few inches above the un-
dissolved lime at the bottom of the vessel; and as it is drawn off it will be better

page_text: to pass it through a filter, for, with the greatest care, some particles of
lime undissolved, or carbonate of lime, will be found floating in the solution,
which ought to be perfectly clear. I do not recommend any particular kind
of filter, one that it is efficacious being all that is required. The lime liquor
In
might be passed through a layer of clean sand mixed with charcoal.
the experiments which have been made under my directions, the lime liquor
has been merely passed through coarse filtering paper, such as druggists
are in the habit of using; but this mode of proceeding would be too slow
and tedious on the large scale. The filtered solution of lime is to be kept
in a proper vessel excluded from the atmosphere, and is then ready for use.
To obtain the acrated liquor, it is only necessary to pass the lime liquor into
a sufficiently strong and properly closed vessel, and charge it with carbonic
acid gas under a sufficient degree of pressure. I consider it unnecessary to
describe any particular form of apparatus for effecting this object, as the
machinery employed for making soda water, as it is called commercially, and
other aërated waters, is all that is required to complete the operation, provided
the pressuse be sufficient to force in the requi.ite quantity of carbonic acid gas,
so that the lime in the lime water, which by this operation is at first con-
verted into carbonate of lime, and next into what is known by chemists under
the name of super or bicarbonate of lime, may be held thoroughly in solution
in water in the latter state; and that the water may be further highly charged
with carbonic acid in excess, so as to possess the sparkling properties of an
aërated water in a very eminent degree. This extra charging with carbonic
acid gas will entirely depend on the pressure employed. It is well known that
in machinery employed by soda water manufacturers, and the manufacturers of
aërated waters in general, that such machinery enables the manufacturer to
increase or diminish the pressure upon the carbonic acid, and the liquid to be
impregnated therewith, at will so that in well constructed machinery of this
kind, the manufacturer has it in his power to make the aërated liquor, accord-
ing to this Invention, under the most favorable circumstances. Without a
sufficient degree of pressure be used the aërated liquor will have a somewhat
unpleasant flavor; I use a greater degree of pressure than what is usually
employed for making soda water. The aërated liquor thus prepared is next to
be drawn off into strong bottles, after the manner in which soda water is
bottled, and secured with corks, fastened down with wire or any other suitable
material, when it is ready for the market.
: I do not claim the manufacturing of super or bicarbonate of lime by
dissolving lime in water through the medium of carbonic acid, such a
mode for producing this compound being well known to chemists; but

page_text: what I claim is, the manufacturing of bicarbonate of lime from lime water
under pressure, and so as to obtain an excess of carbonic acid, and thus form
an agreeable aërated liquor.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Maugham, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-three
Enrolled the Thirty first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.