A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SALT OR SALTS OF AMMONIA
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Septimus Losh, of Wreay Syke, in the
County of Cumberland, Esquire, for the Invention of "A METHOD OF
MANUFACTURING A SALT OR SALTS OF AMMONIA."
Sealed the 2nd August 1867, and dated the 8th February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Septimus Losh
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th February 1867.
I, WILLIAM SEPTIMUS LOSH, of Wreay Syke, in the County of Cum-
berland, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SALT OR SALTS OF AMMONIA," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing a salt or salts of ammonia as
follows: I mix carbonate or sulphate of ammonia in solution with the liquid.
hyposulphites of lime or calcium obtained from the substances known as
alkali waste or gas waste, or from a substance made from sulphate of lime by

page_text: acting on it at a high heat with coal or carbon, and by this means I obtain
byposulphite of ammonia in an impure state; I purify it by crystallizing, and
so obtain pure byposulphite of ammonia.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Septimus Losh in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SEPTIMUS LOSE, of Wreay Syke, in the County of Cumberland, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Septimus Losh, Her special licence that I, the said William
Septimus Losb, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Septimus Losh, 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 "A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SALT OR SALTS OF AMMONIA," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Septimus Losh, 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 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 William Septimus Losh, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in obtaining salts of ammonia by treating the waste
residuum of the ordinary process of soda making commonly known as " alkali
waste" or "vat residuum," or the solutions thereof, with ammoniacal salts or

page_text: free ammonia which will combine with the sulphurous portions of the same,
thereby producing byposulphite of ammonia and sulphite of ammonia.
And in order to explain fully the manner in which my said Invention is to
-be performed will describe the method of proceeding which I prefer to
.adopt.
I take alkali waste, or the residuum of the ordinary process of soda making
(which, substance is so well known as to require no further description), and
lay it in heaps as it comes from the vats; such heaps may contain 2 or 3 tons
each (more or less), and this I find a convenient quantity. After remaining a
few days exposed to the action of the atmosphere the heaps will be ready for
use; about a week's exposure is generally enough, and is the time I prefer.
At the expiration of this time the waste so exposed is transferred to a vat or
vats composed of iron or other suitable material where water is run upon it
in sufficient quantity and at a proper temperature to dissolve the whole or the
greater part of the soluble sulphurous compounds contained in the alkali
waste, which dissolving or washing will be facilitated by stirring. The
materials are allowed to settle, and the clear supernatant liquid is run or
drawn off into another vat or vats, where a solution of ammonia, carbonate of
ammonia, or sulphate of ammonia is added until salts of ammonia are formed,
which will be readily ascertained by a precipitate ceasing to fall, when the
addition of the said ammoniacal solutions is made. The salts thus formed in
solution are obtained in a solid state by evaporating the liquid to a suitable
strength (say, until a specific gravity of 1.37 or thereabouts is indicated) and
then crystallizing in the ordinary manner. The salts of ammonia so obtained
are principally byposulphite of ammonia and sulphite of ammonia, and they
may be further purified by subjecting them to a second crystallizing process.
The ammoniacal solution I prefer using for this process of obtaining hypo-
sulphite of ammonia is the solution of ammonia obtained in the process of
making gas from coal, and known as "ammoniacal liquor," but I do not
confine myself thereto, neither do I confine myself to the employment in this
process of what is strictly speaking "alkali waste," as a substance the same,
or nearly so, might be made for the purpose, although ordinary alkali wasto
will be much more economical. In some cases I pass ammonia in the stato
of vapour into the solid alkali waste or into the solutions thereof obtained as
above described.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim obtaining salts of
ammonia by treating alkali waste or the residuum produced in the ordinary

page_text: process of soda making, or a substance the same, or nearly so; or the
solutions thereof with ammonia or ammoniacal salts, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Septimus Losh, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of August, One thousand. eight
hundred and sixty-seven..