IMPROVEMENTS IN DEFECATING OR PURIFYING ACETIC ACID AND OTHER SOLUTIONS, ALSO IN DISINFECTING ROOMS AND OTHER PLACES, AND IN PRESERVING WOOD
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bollmann Condy, of Battersea, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DEFECATING OR PURIFYING ACETIC ACID AND
OTHER SOLUTIONS, ALSO IN DISINFECTING ROOMS AND OTHER PLACES, AND IN
PRESERVING WOOD.""
Sealed the 2nd December 1856, and-dated the 7th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left by the said Henry Bollmann.Condy
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on..the
7th July 1856:
I, HENRY BOLLMANN CONDY, of Battersea, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DEFECATING OR PURIFYING ACETIC ACID
AND OTHER SOLUTIONS; ALSO IN DISINFECTING ROOMS AND OTHER PLACES, AND IN
PRESERVING WOOD," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in using the manganate or permanganate of soda or
potash for deficating or purifying acetic acid and other solutions for disinfecting
rooms and other places, and for preserving wood, which substances have never
heretofore been used for these purposes; and in the manufacture of acetic acid
it is further purified by roasting the acetate of lime from which it is made in
a revolving retort vessel, or a retort or vessel furnished with a mechanical
agitator, by which arrangement the acetate of lime may be more uniformly

page_text: roasted, and the impurities more completely driven off, than heretofore. In
order to separate the acetic acid from the acetate of lime, sulphuric acid
is added thereto, and the mixture is placed in bags and the acetic acid pressed
out, the gypsum remaining in the bags.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Bollmann Condy in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BOLLMANN CONDY, of Battersea, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her Heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Bollmann Condy, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Bollmann
Condy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Bollmann Condy, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN DEFICATING OR PURIFYING ACETIC ACID AND OTHER SOLUTIONS, ALSO
DISINFECTING ROOMS AND OTHER PLACES, AND IN PRESERVING WOOD," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Bollmann Condy, 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 per-
formed, 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.
IN.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bollmann Condy, 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 consists in using the manganate or permanganate of soda or

page_text: potash for defecating or purifying acetic acid and other solutions-for disinfecting.
rooms and other places, and for preserving wood, which substances have never
heretofore been used for these purposes; and in the manufacture of acetic acid
it is further purified by roasting the acetate of lime from which it is made in
a revolving retort or vessel, or a retort or vessel furnished with a mechanical
agitator, by which arrangement the acetate of lime may be more uniformly.
roasted, and the impurities more completely driven off, than heretofore. In
order to separate the acetic acid from the acetate of lime sulphuric acid
is added thereto, and the mixture is placed in bags and the acetic acid pressed.
out, the gypsum remaining in the bags.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and;
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method in which
I prefer to conduct the processes. In order to purify acetic acid, I add thereto.
a solution of manganate of soda in such quantity that the manganate shall
exist in the mixture in the proportion of one part to every two hundred parts
of acetic acid; the result is the precipitation of peroxide of manganese, which
I allow to subside during about four days, and then run off the clear liquid, to
which I add powdered wood charcoal, in. the proportion of one part to one.
hundred parts of acid, and I diffuse the powdered charcoal through the whole
of the liquid by frequently stirring it; finally, I draw the acid off the charcoal
and distil it in the ordinary manner, but separating, to be again treated, the
portion (say one-fifth of the whole;) which first distils over, as it will be found
less pure than that which passes over afterwards. Sometimes when the acid
treated is originally very impure I repeat the process on the whole quantity.
When using permanganate of soda in place of manganate of soda I use one.
part thereof to three hundred parts of acid; in other respects the process
remains, the same.
I would here remark, that I prefer that, previously to applying the process
above described, the acetic acid should be partially purified by combining
it with soda or lime, roasting the salt formed, and afterwards decomposing it
with acid, as is now ordinarily practised.
For purifying dilute alcohol and other solutions manganate is added in
a similar manner before distillation. The manganate and permanganate of
soda I have also found to be very useful for disinfecting rooms and other
places; and in using these substances for this purpose it is only necessary to.
expose them in small quantities in the room or other place which it is desired
to disinfect.
For preserving wood by means of manganate or permanganate of soda or
potash, I prepare a solution of either of these salts by dissolving one part of."

page_text: the salt in two and a half parts of water, and I cause: such solution to permeate
the wood as completely as possible, which may be effected by any.of.the.
processes now in use for saturating. wood with other preserving solutions..
When I wish the solution of manganate or permanganate: to act only on the
surface of the wood, I prefer to use a stronger solution, containing one part of.
salt to say two parts of water, and this solution I.lay over the surface of the
wood by means of a brush.
Another part of my Invention consists in: a method of roasting acetate,
of lime. The first process of purifying crude acetic acid consists in combining
the same with soda or lime and roasting the salts formed. Now; heretofore in:
the manufacture of the purer qualities of acid; lime has rarely or never
been used for this purpose, in consequence of the great difficulty in roasting the:
acetate of lime completely, for this salt if at all-over-heated is liable to take fire.
and burn into carbonate of lime. Now, my Invention consists in roasting this:
acetate of lime in a retort or vessel, so arranged as mechanically to agitate the
salt, and thus to prevent any portion thereof from remaining long in contact
with the heated- surface of the retort or vessel. The retort which I prefer
to employ is an iron cylinder, twelve feet long and nine inches in diameter,
heated by a furnace in the same way as gas retorts are heated. At its two ends:
it is left partially open, and -it-is mounted on axes, on-which it rotates-con-
tinuously at the rate of about fifteen revolutions per-minute... The salt to.
be roasted should be thoroughly dried and-powdered, and is then fed by a
hopper or long narrow spoon into one end of the retort, which end I. prefer.
to be about two inches higher than the other end, so that the retorts work
at a slight inclination, and in consequence the salt-fed in.at the upper
is, after remaining a sufficient time in the retort,-regularly discharged- at
the lower end thereof. If it should be found that the salt is not: rendered:
perfectly inodorous, by one roasting, this process is to be repeated. In order to
assist in maintaining a uniform temperature; I place a thermometer in the
mouth of the retort; and I regulate the temperature of the salt to as near 350°
as possible; in any case 400° should not be exceeded, or there will be danger
of the salt taking fire; and if, on the other hand, the temperature is lower than
300 the roasting will not be perfectly effected. In order to separate the acetic
acid from the acetate of lime- I use, as heretofore, sulphuric acid; but I
conduct the process in the following manner-:-I-make-a concentrated solution
of the salt, and add thereto sulphuric acid until all the lime is converted into
sulphate; I then throw the mixture on to a filter to let the acetic acid drain
off as far as it will do so;, afterwards, I transfer what remains on the filter-to
strong bags made of closely-woven fabric, and I submit these bags to a heavy:
end

page_text: pressure by a screw or hydraulic press. The gypsum which remains in the
bags I mix with water, which I then filter, and thus obtain a weak acid
solution, which I use for dissolving a further quantity of acetate of lime, so as
to recover the acid which such weak solution contains.
This method of separating acetic acid from acetate of lime I also employ to
separate the acid from unroasted acetate of lime when I wish to make an acid
of ordinary quality; and the acetic acid obtained by the process I distil in the
usual manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bollmann Condy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Third day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
BENJAMIN HALCRON,
Battersea.
HENRY BOLLMANN CONDY. (L.S.)