IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NITRATE OF POTASS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fraser, Chemist, residing at Blue Vale
Chemical Works, Gallowgate, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, for the
Sealed the 10th September 1858, and dated the 27th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fraser at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th April
1858.
I, JOHN FRASER, Chemist, residing at Blue Vale Chemical Works, Gallow-
gate, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, do hereby declare the nature of my
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NITRATE OF POTASS," to
be as follows:-
I take one ton of muriate of potass, of not less than 90%, and of ordinary
commercial nitric acid twenty-two and a half cwts. I dissolve the muriate of
potass in as much water as may be necessary therefor, and allow it to subside.
I place this liquor in suitable vessels (earthenware will do) and add the nitric
acid. I now apply heat and collect the muriatic acid gas, condensing the
same into acid in the usual way. I place the residue in vessels to crystallize,
and these crystals are found to be nearly pure nitrate of potass, indeed,
commercially considered, may be called pure.
I also produce a nitrate of potass as pure as my own from the ordinary
nitrate of potass produced in the East Indies or any other country, by
dissolving it in water and adding nitric acid according to the refraction,

page_text: boiling and crystallizing in the usual way, say, for instance, at 3% re-
fraction about 3 lbs. nitric acid to the cwt.
I claim this and the above process as my Invention for the production of
nitrate of potass in a pure state.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fraser in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FRASER, Chemist, residing at Blue Vale Chemical Works, Gallowgate,
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 27th day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in' the 21st year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Fraser, Her special licence that I, the said John Fraser, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Fraser, 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 NITRATE OF
POTASS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Fraser, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their bands 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 Fraser, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
I take one ton of muriate of potass of not less than 90%, and of
ordinary commercial nitric acid twenty-two & a half cwts. I dissolve the
muriate of potass in as much water as may be necessary therefor, & allow it
to subside. This liquor is placed in suitable vessels (earthenware will do),

page_text: and add the nitric acid; heat is now applied. The muriatic gas is collected
and condensed into acid in the usual way. The residue is put in vessels to
crystalize, and these crystals are found to be nearly pure nitrate of potass,
indeed, commercially considered, may be called pure.
I also produce a nitrate of potass as pure as my own from the ordinary
nitrate of potass produced in the East Indies or other country, by
dissolving it in water, and adding nitric acid according to the refraction,
boiling & crystalizing in the usual way, say, for instance, at 3% refraction
about 3 pounds nitric acid to the cwt.
I claim the production of nitrate of potass by the processes above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fraser, have hereunto set my hand
& seal, this Thirteenth day of October, 1858.
תמאתיה זוח16
JOHN FRASER.
(‘sn)