CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA ASH
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
SMITH, of Saint Helen's, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-Third day of October, in the ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
the said Arthur Smith, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Arthur Smith, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I; the said Arthur Smith, my executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA ASH;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Arthur Smith, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Arthur Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention of Improvements in the Manufacture of Soda Ash consists
in the substitution of the vat waste or the residuum of the lixiviation of the
black ash in place of using fresh calcareous matter for making the mixture of
sulphate of soda, carbonaceous matter, and chalk or lime, which is subjected
to decomposition in the reverberatory furnace. The manner of carrying out
this Invention is, to mix the vat waste or residuum mass obtained from pre-
ceding operations of the soda manufacture in required proportions with ground
coal, slack, or charcoal and salt cake or sulphate of soda, and to expose this
mixture on the hearth of a reverberatory furnace to a strong heat with due
stirring and turning over till the mixture becomes fully fused and decomposed.
The said vat waste is preferable for the above purpose after it has lain for
some time exposed in a heap to the atmospheric influence, whereby it becomes
deprived to a considerable degree of its sulphurous impregnation. The pro-
portion of the vat waste to be used for a certain weight of sulphate of soda
and slack depends upon the proportion of calcareous matter in the waste, and
can therefore be regulated for each particular heap only by trial or experi-
When it is relatively poor in calcareous matter, it must be used in a
ment.
proportionately larger quantity.
...
Having now described my Invention and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim, under the above, in part
recited Letters Patent, the substitution of the said vat waste in place of fresh
calcareous matter, either in whole or only in part, in mixing the materials
for the reverberatory operations of the soda manufacture.
In witness whereof, I, the, said Arthur Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
ARTHUR (L.S.) SMITH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-second day of
April, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Arthur Smith came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.