A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN RETORTS USED BY BLEACHERS AND MAKERS OF OXYMURIATIC ACID OR OXYMURIATE OF LIME
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MORFITT, of Cookridge, near Leeds, in the County of York, Bleacher, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of December, in the ninth year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said John Morfitt, His especial licence, that I,
the said John Morfitt, my exors, adññors, and assigns, and such others as I,
the said John Morfitt, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN RETORTS USED BY
BLEACHERS AND MAKERS OF OXYMURIATIC ACID OR OXYMURIATE OF LIME;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said John
Morfitt, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: 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
John Morfitt, do hereby declare that the nature of my improvement is
described and ascertained in manner following (that is to say):-
The retorts used by bleachers and makers of oxymuriatic acid or oxymuriate
of lime are usually made of lead, and it is found that the upright sides of
such leaden retorts are rapidly corroded by tho liquid and other matters
which are heated within such retorts for the purpose of distilling or expelling
oxymuriatic acid gas therefrom.
My improvement consists in applying a lining of glazed earthenware
withinside of the lead retort, so as to extend all round the interior upright
sides thereof, and reaching from the bottom of the retort to a greater height
than the level at which the surface of the liquid and other matters within the
retort are intended to stand; the said lining of glazed earthenware being so
applied withinside the lead retort as to prevent the liquid and other matters
contained in the retort from coming in direct contact with the lead whereof the
upright sides of the retort is composed. Therefore by means of my improve-
ment, those upright sides will be protected from being corroded by the liquid and
other matters contained within the retort. I apply my lining of glazed earthen-
ware in segments or lining pieces of such size as can be conveniently formed in
glazed earthenware in the manner of tiles, the surfaces of such segments or
lining pieces being moulded to suitable forms to correspond with and fit
against the upright sides of the retort when they are placed around the inside
thereof, so as to stand edgeways upwards upon the bottom, and applying as
close as they can against the lead. The adjoining edges of such segments aro
formed to interlock or fit into each other at all their junctions, so as to keep
each other firmly in their places, and all the interstices or cracks between tho
different segments, as well as between the segments and the lead, are filled
up with dust, obtained from pounding fragments of the same kind of glazed
earthenware as the segments or pieces are made of. When any one of the said
segments or pieces becomes cracked or broken it can bo removed and replaced
by a new one without disturbing the other segments or pieces. The said
segments or lining pieces may be made of any kind of glazed earthenware
which is not of a porous quality. The linings that I have used in my retorts
are made of a sort of clay that is used for making fire bricks, and are after-
wards glazed according to the common practice of potters.
For the further explanation of the manner of performing my improvement

page_text: I bave added three Figures in the margin, exbibiting a retort such as is com-
monly used by bleachers and makers of oxymuriatic acid or oxymuriate of
lima with my improvement applied to it.
¡i
Figure 1 is a vertical section, Figure 2 a horizontal section, and Figure 3
a perpective viow, of two of the segments of glazed earthenware. The
retort is a circular leaden vessel A, A, of about four feet and a half diameter,
one foot and a half deep, at the sides, and two feet deep at the middle,
with the manhole in the top at B to admit a workman to clear out the
inside of the retort. C is the cover of the manhole, the lower edge of its
rim being immersed in a luting of clay and water that is contained in a
circular channel; around the border of the manhole D, D, is a projecting
rim around the dome top D, E, E, D, of the retort, beneath which rim
suitable brickwork is built all around the retort, so as to enclose it, and
form a channel or flue around the sides and under the bottom of the
same to receive steam or heated air, whereby the liquid and other matters
in the retort are heated in order to produce oxymuriatic acid gas there-
from. 1, 1, is the lining of glazed earthenware, which constitutes my im-
provement. The lining rises up higher above the bottom of the retort than
the liquid mixture is intended to stand therein, as before mentioned, and the
segments are jointed and interlocked together at the adjoining edges, as is
shewn by Figure 2, and also in Figure 8, which represents two of the segments
of glazed earthenware detached as they appear before they are fixed in their
places within the retort. For a retort of the above dimensions, whereof the
lead of the sides will be about one inch thick, and the flat leaden bottom 1
inches thick, I make my glazed earthenware lining for protecting the leaden
sides from corrosion, about 12 inches thick, that lining being made in about
eight or ten segments to complete the circle of that size; but for smaller or
larger retorts the dimensions must be varied accordingly, as will be obvious to
any competent workman.
Having now ascertained and described the nature of my Invention, and
the manner of performing the same, I do hereby declare that I claim as my
Invention the application of linings of glazed earthenware within the upright
sides of leaden retorts used by bleachers and makers of oxymuriatic acid or
oxymuriate of lime.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Morfitt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine.
JOHN (L.B.) MORFITT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of February, in the
year of our Lord 1829, the aforesaid John Morfitt came before our said Lord
the King in Ilis 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.
Inrolled the Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine.