A NEW OR IMPROVED
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Major, Veterinary Surgeon, William
Wright, Gentleman, both of Swallow Street, in the County of
Middlesex, and George Hugh Jones, of the Alpha Road, in the
same County, Gentleman, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Major, William
Wright, and George Hugh Jones at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 24th April 1869.
We, JOSEPH MAJOR, Veterinary Surgeon, WILLIAM WRIGHT, Gentle-
Iman, both of Swallow Street, in the County of Middlesex, and GEORGE
HUGH JONES, of the Alpha Road, in the same County, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF WHITE LEAD, AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in the manufacture of white lead in a closed
chamber or chambers heated artificially (without the employment of

page_text: spent tan or such like fermenting materials or earthenware pots as
in the methods now in use) and as hereafter described. The necessary
vapor or vapors and gas or gases, for instance, watery vapor, ammoniacal
vapor, acetic acid vapor, pyroligneous acid vapor, hydrochloric acid gas,
and carbonic acid gas, which may be provided in any convenient manner,
are fed into and through the chamber or chambers containing the
lead or compounds to be converted into white lead, the said vapors
and gases being properly regulated during their course through the
same in any convenient manner.
The Invention further relates to the use of the vapor or vapors and
gas or gases under pressure in a closed chamber or in a series of
closed chambers under the conditions to be hereafter described, but we
do not confine ourselves to making the white lead by the substances
under pressure in the chamber or chambers, as we can produce the
white lead by our Invention without the gases and vapors being
submitted to pressure, but in the latter case more time is necessary.
The next part of our Invention comprises certain apparatus employed
in the manufacture above described, and this embraces independent
apparatus for feeding the vapors and gases and for regulating their
supply, and for keeping the lead in continuous circulation through
the closed chamber or chambers, whether under pressure or not. This
latter purpose we accomplish by revolving surfaces inside the chamber
or chambers actuated by machinery, upon which surfaces the lead or
other materials are placed; or we employ a revolving chamber containing
the lead or compounds to be converted into white lead, and which
chamber or chambers can be inverted at pleasure or made to rotate
continuously or occasionally, and this chamber or chambers we in like
manner.supply with gas or gases and vapor or vapors heated as herein-
before described; but white lead can be produced by our Invention
without any circulating contrivances.
Our Invention further consists in a method of treating the white
lead when produced so as to decompose and remove any remaining
acetic compound and replace wholly or in part the necessity of washing
the material, and this we accomplish by currents of heated vapor
or gases and air brought in contact with the material in the closed
chamber or closed chambers, and circulating through them in contact
with the materials so as to deprive them of any superfluous compounds,
but we can wash and finish in the ordinary way if desired. The

page_text: article thus manufactured is completed by any of the well known
methods.
The Invention, then, essentially consists in the employment of a closed
chamber or chambers heated artficially containing circulating apparatus
or not, and fed with suitable materials reacting upon each other and
regulated by proper regulators under pressure or not, as found most
advantageous, and in the finishing process by currents of vapors
or gases and. air, substantially as herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Major, William Wright, and George Hugh
Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
MAJOR, Veterinary Surgeon, WILLIAM WRIGHT, Gentleman, both of
Swallow Street, in the County of Middlesex, and GEORGE HUGH JONES,
of the Alpha Road, in the same County, Gentleman, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Joseph Major, William
Wright, and George Hugh Jones, Her special license that we, the said
Joseph Major, William Wright, and George Hugh Jones, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph Major,
William Wright, and George Hugh Jones, our 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 NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF
WHITE LEAD, AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Major, William Wright, and
George Hugh Jones, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and seals,.
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-

page_text: vention, 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 Joseph Major, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the manufacture of white, lead in a closed
chamber or chambers heated artificially without the employment of
spent tan or such like fermenting materials or earthenware pots as in the
methods now in use) and as hereafter described. The necessary vapor
or vapors and gas or gases, for instance watery vapor, ammoniacal vapor,
acetic acid vapor, pyroligneous acid vapor, hydrochloric acid gas, and
carbonic acid gas, which may be provided in any convenient manner, are
fed into and through the chamber or chambers containing the lead or
compounds to be converted into white lead, the said vapors and gases
being properly regulated during their course through the same in any
convenient manner.
The Invention further relates to the use of the vapor or vapors and
gas or gases under pressure in a closed chamber or in a series of closed
chambers under the conditions to be hereafter described, but we do not
confine ourselves to making the white lead by the substances under
pressure in the chamber or chambers, as we can produce the white lead
by our Invention without the gases and vapors being submitted to
pressure, but in the latter case more time is necessary.
The next part of our Invention comprises certain apparatus employed
in the manufucture above described, and this embraces independent
apparatus for feeding the vapors and gases and for regulating their
supply, and for keeping the lead in continuous circulation through the
closed chamber or chambers, whether under pressure or not. This latter
purpose we accomplish by revolving surfaces inside the chamber or
chambers actuated by machinery, upon which surface the lead or other
materials are placed; or we employ a revolving chamber containing the
lead or compounds to be converted into white lead, and which chamber
or chambers can be inverted at pleasure or made to rotate continuously
or occasionally, and this chamber or chambers we in like manner supply
with gas or gases and vapor or vapors heated as herein-before described;

page_text: but white lead can be produced by our Invention without any circulating
contrivances.
Our Invention further, consists in a method of treating the white lead
when produced so as to decompose and remove any remaining acetic
compound and replace wholly or in part the necessity of washing the
material, and this we accomplish by currents of heated vapor or gases
and air brought in contact with the material in the closed chamber or
closed chambers, and circulating through them in contact with the
materials, so as to deprive them of any superfluous compounds, but we
can wash and finish in the ordinary way if desired. The article thus
manufactured is completed by any of the well known methods.
The Invention, then, essentially consists in the employment of a closed
chamber or chambers heated artificially containing circulating apparatus
or not, and fed with suitable materials reacting upon each other and
regulated by proper regulators under pressure or not, as found most
advantageous, and in the finishing process by currents of vapors or gases
and air, substantially as herein-before described.
And in order that our said Invention may be clearly understood, we
proceed to describe the same more fully with the aid of the accom-
panying Drawings.
Firstly, as to the closed chambers heated artificially without the
employment of spent tan or fermenting materials. These chambers are
constructed so as to give the necessary vapors and gases as circuitous.a
path as possible, and by these means to expose the whole of the lead or
compound thereof to be operated upon perfectly, periodically, or con-
tinuously to the action of the various substances fed into the chamber or
supplied to the lead or lead compounds operated upon.
Figure 1 represents a chamber or chambers constructed for carrying
out this part of our Invention. A, A', represent the chambers; B, B,
the walls of the same; C, C, the roof or cover; and D, the separating or
divisional wall. These chambers are shewn with different arrangements
of the shelves, racks, or gratings for causing the gases to circulate
perfectly, and to permeate in a complete manner the lead or compounds
thereof under process of conversion into white lead. The chamber A has
shelves, racks, or gratings a, a, a, a, made of wood, glass, earthenware,
stone, enamelled metal, or any other suitable inaterial so disposed as
to cause the vapors and gases to circulate in the direction shewn by the
arrows, as well as to permicate directly through from the top to the

page_text: bottom, or vice versa; or in place of a vertical chamber a longitudinal
chamber may be used, the gases circulating therein in a similar manner.
The second chamber A' shews an arrangement by which the latter process
only is effected. Two chambers only are shewn, but a series could be
employed in one operation or one chamber alone, as most convenient.
Steam is supplied to these chambers both for heating and for furnishing
moisture by the pipes b, b, b, b, shewn in the chamber A, but not shewn
in the second chamber A', although some such arrangement for like
purposes would be employed therein. c, c, c, c, are the flues, so con-
trived as to cause the heated gases circulating through them to pass
through several chambers or through one only for heating and other
purposes, or to the chimney d, d, without passing upwards through the
chambers, the course of the currents of heated gases being regulated by
the dampers shewn in the flues c, c, c, c. The lead or lead compound is
placed upon the shelves, racks, or gratings a, a, a, a, which are contrived
to give as much freedom to the gases and vapors for attacking the lead
or compounds of lead as possible. The necessary vapor of water and
ammonia and acids, such as hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, pyroligneous
acid, acetic acid, and acetous acid vapors and gases generated from
carbonaceous materials, by preference from charcoal, spent tan, sawdust,
for furnishing carbonic acid are fed into the chambers A, A'.
The mode of providing the necessary carbonic gases to the chamber or
chambers is shewn, and is as follows:-C¹ is a charcoal or fuel burner
and furnace made so as to be self-feeding by the upper box D', D', and
provided with a supply or service pipe E, by which the combustion may
be sustained by pressure from a fan or blowing arrangement if necessary,
but not shewn in the Drawing; F is an oxidising valve, which regulates
the air admitted for effecting the combustion of the fuel. The products
of this combustion pass under and through the boiler H by the internal
flue G, or in any convenient manner. The products after passing
through the boiler pass under the pots or generators for generating the
gases or vapors employed: one of these pots or generators is shewn at L.
M is a pouring pipe; N is an exit pipe; K, a steam pipe adapted to
the generator. By the generator or generators gases or vapors can be
made and sent to the chamber or chambers A, A', by the pipe N. P
represents an auxiliary exit or chimney used as a bye pass when
necessary, as when the combustion is needed in the furnace C₁ and
the products are not wanted to circulate through the chambers A, A';
d, d, is the usual working chimney provided so as to receive the products

page_text: from the chambers by either of the valves c', c', for sealing the chambers
when required; I is the main steam pipe.
The mode of operating is as follows:-The lead or compound, which
is granulated or made into thin sheets, or in any way prepared so as to
expose a large amount of surface, is placed on the shelves, racks, or
gratings in the chambers; the chambers are then closed and heated by
steam or gases to a temperature of about 120° to 140° Fahrenheit, as
will be presently more particularly described; steam is then directed into
the chambers so as to convert a portion of the metal contained therein
into hydrated oxide or oxide; this is continued for a reasonable time,
say from 10 to 20 hours. We sometimes facilitate the production of
the hydrated oxide by the addition of the vapor of ammonia fed into the
chambers with the steam, or in any other convenient manner. The
chambers now raised to a temperature of about 120° to 140° Fahrenheit,
or thereabouts; this is accomplished by the heated products of com-
bustion being made to circulate or pass through the chambers, or by
preference by means of the steam pipes or heaters shewn at b, b, but
if more convenient, as in some circumstances it is, we have heating
chambers heated by hot air, and by this means the temperature of the
chamber is maintained. The first step being finished we next generate
acetic, pyroligneous, or acetous vapors in the generator L, and these
vapors and gases so generated are conducted by the pipe N to the upper
part of the chamber or chambers at O or to the lower part by means of
proper pipes of communication. Sometimes the generator for the gases
is contained in the lower part of the apparatus, and is so arranged that
the decomposing materials can be gradually added from the exterior of
the chambers, as may be convenient. If hydrochloric acid or nitric
acid is employed it would be at this stage, and would be prepared and
fed into the chambers in a similar manner. It is evident however that
the acids themselves could be evaporated, instead of being prepared from
their compounds as described. In these operations a sub-salt of lead is
produced upon the lead or compound thereof contained in the chamber.
The next step is to treat the lead or compound with carbonic acid.
This gas is prepared in the fuel burner C₁ or by any of the usual
processes for generating or producing this compound, and is fed into
the chambers in a heated condition or not, and caused to circulate
regularly in contact with the materials contained there so as to convert
the sub-salts into carbonate of lead. During the conversion of the lead
or lead compounds in these stages of the operation the temperature of

page_text: the chamber is preserved at about 120° to 140° Fahrenheit, and the
successive steps of the operation are repeated, care being exercised to
well regulate the supply of steam so as not to wash the lead nor to have
it in too dry a state for treatment until the whole of the lead or its
compound is converted into white lead.
Figure 2 shews the arrangement of a chamber constructed so as to
allow free circulation to the gases and vapors, and having the fuel
burner C¹ placed inside the chamber. E is the air supply, and F the air
regulator for perfecting the combustion of the gases passing out laterally
at the lower sides of the burner; I is the steam service, and N the
service valve for the gases or vapors as necessary.
Figure 3 represents the fuel burner as arranged in Figure 2, and
showing the lateral openings a, a, a, a, by which the gases pass out at
either side of the lower part of the fuel burner; E is the air service as
before described, and F is the air chamber for perfecting combustion, the
supply being in each case regulated by proper valves.
Figure 4 shews the arrangement of a pressure chamber A, A, A, A,
fitted with valves E, E, for the purpose of regulating the pressure within;
B, B, B, B, are pipes or channels for circulating steam from a boiler, or
hot air and gases from the fuel burner C, and forming also the shelves or
supports for the lead or its compound. These pipes or channels com-
municate with the chimney at D, which is provided with a stop valve G,
so that the products of combustion after passing through the pipes or
channels of the chamber A, A, and heating it can be forced into the
interior of the chamber and brought in contact with the lead or its
compound, and thus after being employed as a means of heating the
chamber when the same is heated by the gases from the fuel burner C
these gases are utilized in the decomposition of the sub-salts and in the
formation of white lead, but the heated gases may be employed for
heating purposes alone, and carbonic acid supplied to the chamber from
some independent source in a heated condition or not.
Figure 5 shews the arrangement of the shelves in the chambers so as
to cause circulation of the gases within it, the course of these currents
being at right angles to those within the hollow shelves or pipes through
which the heating current passes, and on which the lead or its compound
is placed.
The mode of operating is the same in the pressure chambers as that
already described.

page_text: When circulating chambers are employed in which the metal is kept
in motion we can have two cylinders, as shewn in Figures 6 and 7, the
inner one of which is made to rotate; this inner one contains the lead or
its compound; it is a cylindrical vessel B with a number of radial
shelves or gratings on which the lead or its compound is placed. It is
evident that the form of apparatus for causing the lead to circulate
within the chambers may be much varied without departing from our.
Invention. Instead of a cylindrical chamber we sometimes employ one
of an oblong shape, which is so arranged as to be inverted occasionally.
In this manner the lead or its compound situated on the shelves can
be exposed and treated on all its surfaces more conveniently. These
chambers are all fitted in a similar manner to those we have already
described, and are fed with gases or vapors in a similar manner.
The whole of the chambers are conveniently arranged with air-tight
doors or openings for charging and discharging materials in manu-
facture.
White lead so manufactured can be finished in the usual manner by
washing, grinding, &c., but we prefer to treat our products in a novel
manner and on a new principle, that is, we decompose any salts of lead
remaining other than those proper to white lead, and this we accomplish
as follows:-We pass into the chambers when containing the lead
compounds produced in manufacture as described ammoniacal com-
pounds, and so decompose any remaining salts of lead other than those
proper to white lead, and after this treatment we raise the temperature
of the substances so treated or the chamber and its contents so as
to remove the ammoniacal compound so formed, and thus avoid the
necessity of washing either wholly or in part. The lead is afterwards
finished and prepared for general uses in the customary manner.
White lead manufactured according to our Invention is free from
all contamination and is pure white lead. Our process relieves the
operation from its present dangerous tendencies, the workmen are
never exposed to any dangerous or deadly fumes, nor is there the most
remote chance of loss of the material in the process of manufacture.
By our Invention also time is greatly economised, the usual period
required being about three months, whereas we can fully operate upon
lead so as to convert it into white lead in from fourteen to twenty-eight
days according to the substance of the material operated upon, and
in a pressure chamber we can produce it in even less time than that
named.

page_text: And having now described the nature of our said Invention,' and
in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we
claim, ―
-
First. Treating lead or compounds of lead in a closed chamber or
closed chambers heated artificially and supplied with vapor or vapors
and gas or gases under pressure or not under pressure, substantially as
and for the purpose herein-before described.
Second. Treating lead or compounds of lead in a closed chamber or
closed chambers heated artificially and supplied with vapor. or vapors
and gas or gases under pressure or not under pressure, the lead or
compounds of lead being caused to circulate or move in the said chamber
or chambers either continuously or intermittently, substantially as and
for the purpose herein-before described.
Third. Submitting lead compounds to currents of heated vapor or
gases and air brought into contact therewith, so as to remove therefrom
all salts of lead other than those proper thereto.
Fourth. The several apparatus constructed and operating substan-
tially as herein-before described for carrying out our mode or modes of
manufacturing white lead herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Major, for myself and
on behalf of William Wright and George Hugh Jones, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of
October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-nine.
Witness,
EDW. GRIFFITH BREWER,
89, Chancery Lane.
J. MAJOR. (L.S.)