IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODIUM
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Sonstadt, of Loughborough, in the County of
Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SODIUM."
Sealed the 7th January 1864, and dated the 14th July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Sonstadt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
July 1868.
I, EDWARD SONSTADT, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SODIUM," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
sodium.
Sodium is now commonly manufactured by heating together carbonate of
soda, coal or coke dust, and carbonate of lime, and the sodium distils over and
is condensed. The sodium according to this process is liberated in the presence
of carbonic oxide, which tends to oxidize it, and the sodium is only partially.
protected from the action of the carbonic oxide by the carbonic acid gas
liberated from the carbonate of lime.
According to my Invention I substitute gypsum or sulphate of lime for the:
carbonate of lime, or for a part thereof; this gypsum at once oxidizes the,

page_text: carbonic oxide into carbonic acid, and this latter gas has no destructive action
on the sodium; I thus obtain a larger yield of sodium than heretofore. The
gypsum is well dried before it is used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Sonstadt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
· 12th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
SONSTADT, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Sonstadt, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Sonstadt,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Sonstadt, 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, 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 MANUFACTURE OF SODIUM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Edward Sonstadt, 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 saine 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 Edward Sonstadt, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
.
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
sodium.
Sodium is now commonly manufactured by heating together carbonate of
soda, coal or coke dust, and carbonate of lime, and the sodium distils over and
is condensed. The sodium according to this process is liberated in the presence
of carbonic oxide, which tends to oxidize it, and the sodium is only partially.

page_text: protected from the action of the carbonic oxide by the carbonic acid gas
liberated from the carbonate of lime.
According to my Invention I substitute gypsum or sulphate of lime for the
carbonate of lime, or for a part thereof; this gypsum at once oxidizes the
carbonic oxide into carbonic acid, and this latter gas has comparatively little
destructive action on the sodium; I thus obtain a larger yield of sodium than
heretofore. The gypsum is well dried before it is used.
I find the following proportions to give good results :-
Dried carbonate of soda
Coal dust
Dried gypsum
- 65 parts.
32
- 10 "
This is less than the theoretical quantity of gypsum required to completely
oxidize the carbonic oxide produced during the reaction into carbonic acid, but
when a larger proportion of gypsum is used the mixture is apt to fuse, which
gives much trouble in working. The materials are heated in the usual
manner, and the 'only respect in which my process differs from that in common
use is in the substitution (either complete or partial) of gypsum for chalk in
preparing the mixture from which the sodium is obtained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Sonstadt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thusand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Omוהמזומם מהשמת
EDWARD SONSTADT. (L.)