IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUPACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA, SULPHATE OF POTASH, AND OTHER SULPHATES, AND IN THE PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONTURE EMPLOYMENT OFTIC
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bollmann Condy, of Battersea, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUPACTURE OF
SULPHATE OF SODA, SULPHATE OF POTASH, AND OTHER SULPHATES, AND IN THE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bollmann Condy
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th January 1854.
I, HENRY BOLLMANN CONDY, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF SULPHATE OF SODA, SULPHATE OF POTASH, AND OTHER SULPHATES, AND IN THE
MANUFACTURE AND EMPLOYMENT OF MURIATIC ACID," to be as follows:-
I take products obtained in a furnace by the decomposition of muriate of
soda or muriate of potash in the usual way, by one atom of sulphuric acid
(that is, when forty-nine parts by weight of sulphuric acid are used with sixty
parts of muriate of soda or with seventy-six parts of muriate of potash), and
place them in a cylindrical or other shaped chamber or vessel, and heat to
redness, when a jet of dry steam is introduced and allowed to pass through the
mass, by which means the remainder of the muriatic acid is liberated, and may

page_text: be condensed; or I treat muriate of potash or muriate of soda by acting on it
with two atoms of sulphuric in leaden or copper vessels, heated by steam or
otherwise; by which means, after having applied heat, and kept the materials
heated for a sufficient time, all the muriatic acid is driven over, and a complete
decomposition is effected, and a bisulphate of potash or soda left in the still in
lieu of a mixture of bisulphate and muriate, as is the case when one atom of
acid and one atom of either salt is employed.
The bisulphate of soda or potash may be dissolved, and the neutral sulphate
of soda or potash crystallized out, when the excess of sulphuric acid
may be
made use of again to decompose a fresh charge of muriate of potash or soda,
making up for the quantity of sulphuric acid which has entered into the
formation of the neutral sulphate, or the bisulphate may be used to decompose
other salts, or for generating carbonic acid gas from chalk, or may be used for
the manufacture of a fresh sulphate by combining the excess of sulphuric acid
which exists in the bisulphate of soda or potash with a fresh base (such as'
copper, zinc, iron, ammonia, or other base), and separating such new sulphate
from the sulphate of soda or potash by crystallization or otherwise.
The employment of the dry muriatic gas produced as above forms the last
part of the Invention, and consists in using it for the decomposition of acetate
of lime for the production of glacial acetic acid, or an acid as nearly approach-
ing that strength, understood by the term glacial, as possible.
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 20th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, HENRY
BOLLMANN CONDY, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth 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

page_text: 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 SULPHATE OF SODA, SULPHATE OF POTASH, AND OTHER
SULPHATES, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE AND EMPLOYMENT OF MURIATIC ACID," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Bollmann Condy, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 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):-
I take the products obtained in the manufacture of sulphate of soda or
potash by the decomposition of one atom of muriate of soda or potash, in the
nsual way, by one atom of sulphuric acid; and these products, which consist
of a mixture of sulphate of soda with excess of acid and muriate of soda, when
broken into pieces of about the size of an egg, and mixed, so as to be as
uniform as possible, are placed in a cylindrical or other shaped vessel, which is
filled completely full, and heated to redness, as evenly as possible, when a jet
or jets of dry steam are introduced at one end, and allowed to pass through the
mass and out at the other end of the vessel, by which means the remainder of
the muriatic acid is liberated, and may be condensed together with the steam, in
the same way that the acid is condensed in the first part of the process, and the
sulphate of soda is obtained nearly pure; or I treat muriate of potash or muriate
of soda by acting on it with two atoms of sulphuric acid; that is, I employ
by preference one hundred and ninety-six parts of sulphuric acid of specific
gravity 1-890, or an equivalent quantity of any other specific gravity, to act on
sixty parts of muriate of soda or seventy-six parts of muriate of potash in
leaden or copper stills or vessels heated by steam or otherwise, and the heat
should be applied gradually to avoid a too rapid liberation of gas, by which
means, when the materials have been heated for a sufficient time, all the
muriatic acid is driven over, and a complete decomposition of the muriate
employed is effected, and a bisulphate of potash or soda left in the still, in lieu
of a mixture of bisulphate and muriate, as is the case when one atom of acid
and one atom of either salt is employed.

page_text: The bisulphate of soda or potash is then dissolved, in water in the proportion
of 150 to 200 lbs. of bisulphate of potash, or 25 lbs. of bisulphate of soda to
100 lbs. of hot water, and the neutral sulphate of soda or potash will crystallize
out on cooling, and the excess of sulphuric acid in the mother liquor may be
made use of again to decompose a fresh charge of. muriate of potash or soda,
adding sufficient sulphuric acid to make up for the quantity of acid which has
entered into the formation of the neutral sulphate, or the bisulphate may be
used to decompose other salts; for instance, an equivalent quantity of bisul-
phate may be mixed with an equivalent of muriate. of soda or potash, and
employed for making neutral sulphate by the first process herein named; or
it may be used in lieu of sulphuric acid, and with an equivalent quantity of
muriate of soda in the furnaces or cylinders, or other vessels in which muriatic
acid is now distilled, and in which sulphate of soda is now obtained, or it may
be employed for generating carbonic acid from chalk. In this last case a
solution of the bisulphate must be made, and this is to be placed in a vesse!
above another vessel containing the chalk, and which is fitted with an agitator
to stir up the contents, and is made tight, with the exception of one outlet at
the top for the carbonic acid to escape. The solution, having run down from
the upper vessel to the lower, and the agitator having been used to ensure
mixture of the contents of the lower one, the carbonic acid will be, expelled,
and the contents of the lower vessel will consist of.a precipitate of sulphate of
lime and a supernatant solution of sulphate of soda, which latter may be
crystallized or dried, as may be required. Or the bisulphate of soda or, potash
may be used for the manufacture of a fresh sulphate by combining the excess
of sulphuric acid which exists in it with a fresh base (such as copper, zinc,
iron, ammonia, or other base), and separating such new sulphate from the
sulphate of soda or potash by crystallization.
:
The employment of the dry muriatic acid gas which is obtained in quantity
during the manufacture of muriatic acid, by the method before named, viz, by
employing two equivalents of sulphuric acid, forms the last part of the Inven-
tion, which consists in using it for the decomposition of acetate of lime for the
production of glacial acetic acid, or an acid as nearly approaching the strength
understood by the term glacial as possible. This is effected in the following
manner I place the acetate of lime in a chamber or vessel to which a pipe
leads the first portion of the muriatic acid which distils, and as soon as water
begins to be condensed on a piece of glass, which may be dipped into the
vapour now and then to ascertain the fact, the gas will no longer be dry, and
should be disconnected from the vessel containing the acetate of lime, and

page_text: attached to another vessel, for the condensation of muriatic acid. The acetate
of lime which has been subject to this process will have been converted into
muriate of lime and acetic acid, glacial or nearly glacial, which latter must be
distilled from the muriate of lime, and afterwards rectified in the usual way by
distillation.
In witness whercof, I, the said Henry Bollmann Condy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
0 Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
HENRY B. CONDY. (L.B.)