IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF PERFORATED BLOCKS OF CHLORIDE OF SODIUM OR CHLORIDE OF POTASSIUM FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA AND SULPHATE OF POTASH
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Brock, of Widness, Lancashire, Alkali
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PERFORATED BLOCKS OF CHLORIDE OF SODIUM OR CHLORIDE OF
POTASSIUM FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA AND
SULPHATE OF POTASH,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Brock at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd April 1875.
I, JOHN BROCK, of Widness, Lancashire, Alkali Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PERFORATED BLOCKS OF CHLORIDE OF SODIUM OR CHLORIDE
OF POTASSIUM FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA AND SULPHATE
OF POTASH," to be as follows:-

page_text: manufacture of sulphate of soda and sulphate of potash consists in manu-
facturing the blocks direct from the crystals of either salt when ready
to be taken from the brine pan in place of the method now known,
in the which the manufactured salt is taken and manipulated in the
desired form by damping and pressing into suitable moulds, or by per-
forating blocks already formed with suitable tools; the disadvantage of
such prepared blocks is their cost and their too great density. Now in
this my Invention I prepare moulds or frames of wood, or other suitable
material, of the desired form, which may be 12 inches by 12 inches by
9 inches deep. The frame or mould is provided with a bottom, either
fixed or temporarily fixed to the nearly vertical sides of the frame or
mould, and perpendicularly upon this bottom, which is perforated for
drainage, are arranged a series of taper pegs, the full height of the
frame; these pins are placed at any required distance apart, for instance,
two inches from centre to centre, and their bases may have a diameter
of ths of an inch and taper to the upper part to a diameter of 3/ths; if
preferred the taper of the pegs may be reversed, the lower end being
the smallest and inserted into the bottom, the pegs being removable
when the salt is nearly sct, and in this method of providing for the pegs
they may be made 12 inches long in place of 9 inches the depth of the
frame, the extra length forming a handle to remove them from the block
when nearly set. The frames thus prepared, the salt crystals from the
boiling down pans are taken up by a perforated skimmer and placed in
the moulds, and drained; when sufficiently set the block is turned out
of the first described mould or in the second described mould; the pins
are first removed and then the block turned out. I now place it on a
wagon or tramway frame, by which it is conveyed to the drying stove.
If the frame or bed of the carriage is of iron, which it should be to sustain
the heat of the stove, I cover it with a layer of salt, so that the block
may not be contaminated by contact with the iron.
By stoving the blocks at once whilst they are still moist I get a block
sufficiently porous to allow the sulphurous acid gas to penetrate as
required in the well known direct action process of converting chloride
of sodium or chloride of potassium into sulphate of soda or potash, but
perfectly hard, and solid enough to bear the ordinary usage of transport
and loading and unloading.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Brock in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BROCK, of Widness, Lancashire, Alkali Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Brock, Her special license
that I, the said John Brock, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Brock, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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, 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 Manu-
FACTURE OF PERFORATED BLOCKS OF CHLORIDE OF SODIUM OR CHLORIDE OF POTASSIUM
FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA AND SULPHATE OF POTASH,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Brock, 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 John Brock, 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:―
This Invention of improvements in the manufacture of perforated
blocks of chloride of sodium or chloride of potassium for use in the
manufacture of sulphate of soda and sulphate of potash consist in manu-
facturing the blocks direct from the crystals of either salt when ready
to be taken from the brine pan in place of the method now known, in
the which the manufactured salt is taken and manufactured in the

page_text: desired form by damping and pressing into suitable moulds, or by per-
forating blocks already formed with suitable tools; the disadvantage of
such prepared blocks is their cost and their too great density. Now in
this my Invention I prepare moulds or frames of wood, or other suitable
material of the desired form, according to the wishes of purchasers, a
suitable form of which may be 12 inches by 12 inches by 9 inches deep.
The frame or mould is provided with a bottom, either fixed or tem-
porarily fixed to the nearly vertical sides of the frame or mould, and
perpendicularly upon this bottom, which is perforated for drainage, are
arranged a series of taper pegs the full height of the frame; these pins
or pegs are placed at any required distance apart, for instance, two inches
from centre to centre, and their bases may have a diameter of % of an
inch and taper to the upper part to a diameter of /, if preferred the
taper of the pegs may be reversed, the lower end being the smallest and
inserted into the bottom, the pegs being removeable when the salt is
be
nearly set, and in this method of providing for the pegs they may
made 12 inches long in place of 9 inches, the depth of the frame, the
extra length forming a handle to remove them from the block when
nearly set. The frames thus prepared the salt crystals from the boiling
down pans are taken up by a perforated skimmer and placed in the moulds
and drained, when sufficiently set the block is turned out of the first
described mould, or in the second described mould the pins or pegs are
first removed and then the block turned out. I now place it on a wagon
or tramway frame, by which it is conveyed to the drying stove. If the
frame or bed of the carriage is of iron, which it should be to sustain the
heat of the stove, I cover it with a layer of salt, so that the block
not be contaminated by contact with the iron.
may
By stoving the blocks at once whilst they are still moist I get a block
sufficiently porous to allow the sulphurous acid gas to penetrate as
required in the well known direct action process of converting chloride
of sodium or chloride of potassium into sulphate of soda or potash, but
perfectly hard and solid enough to bear the ordinary usage of transport
and loading and unloading.
I am aware that blocks of salt with perforations have been prepared
by taking the manufactured salt and damping it, placing it in boxes,
and then perforating them by machinery or hand or by taking boxes of the
size required, having therein fixed pegs for the perforations required,
and therein moulding manufactured salt previously damped, and there-

page_text: fore I do not claim the use of perforated blocks of salt; but having now
described my Invention, and the manner of carrying it into effect, I
would have it understood that what I claim and desire to secure by the
in part herein recited Letters Patent is, the manufacture of perforated
blocks of salt, that is, ordinary chloride of sodium or perforated blocks
of ordinary chloride of potassium, by placing in the before described
moulds the recently formed crystals of either salt direct from the boiling
down pans, and then draining and stoving for the purpose of making
porous blocks of salt for the purpose of conversion into sulphate of soda
or sulphate of potash, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Brock, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.