IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION AND COMBINATION OF MINERAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTS, ALSO IN OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM MINERAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE GENERATION AND APPLICATION OF HEAT
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL
OMAS
OM THESE PRESENTS SHALI COME, 1,
JOHN KNOWLYS, of Heysham Tower, near Lancaster, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Ninth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the thirteenth year of Her reign;
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas John Knowlys, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power,sole privilege and authority, that I,the said Thomas John Knowlys,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas John
Knowlys, my exors, adiiors, 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
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man,and also in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
APPLICATION AND COMBINATION OF MINERAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTS, ALSO IN
OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM MINERAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE
GENERATION AND APPLICATION OF HEAT; " in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas John Knowlys, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner.
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, asinand by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, T, the said
Thomas John Knowlys, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:
Firstly, my Invention consists in the application, in the manufacture of
pigments, of the substances herein-after specified, and which have not hitherto
been so applied, and in the manufacture of paints and colors from the materials
and in the manner herein-after specified and described; and in order the
better to describe my Invention and the manner in which I carry it into
practical effect, I proceed in the first place by selecting one out of the several
substances referred to, and describing my mode of treating and applyin, it, in
order to exemplify the nature and objects of this part of my Invention; and
then I proceed to specify in detail the several substances referred to. ' liave
discovered that silicate of manganese (as the mineral, in any of the several
varieties composed chiefly of silicic acid and oxide of manganese, and known
commonly under the name of silicate of manganese,) forms, when treated as
herein-after mentioned,an excellent pigment with which to manufacture paints
and colors, either when so used alone or conjointly with other pigments or
materials; and that its properties qualify it to be used with great advantage as
a substitute for other materials at present employed as pigments, or to form a
basis for other pigments, paints, and colors. In so applying it, the silicate is
first reduced to an impalpable powder, and is then made in the usua Imanner
into a paint or color, by addition to it of drying oil or turpentine, or varnish, or
any other of the usual vehicles for pigments when applied as paints or colors.
When the silicate is used alone or unmixed with any other pigment, it forms an
excellent and economical light-brown-pigment-or-paint-varying in.its.shade
according to the variety of silicate selected; when mixed with crocus or
peroxide of iron, it forms a good and durable red; when with oxide of zinc and
Prussian blue, a fine and cheap blue; and when added to lamp or other black,
it produces a fine black, its combination with ordinary blacks giving bodyand
tone to the paint produced from them, and causing the paint to dry better than
when not so compounded.
It will be understood that I do not confine the use and application of the

page_text: silicate of manganese to the above kind of mixtures only, nor to the production
of these colors only. The silicate is also well adapted to give tone and body
to many other pigments and mixtures of materials besides the above, and to
form with advantage a component of many other pigments or paints than those
above-nained, and the relative proportions of the several materials to be chosen
in any case in producing the pigment or paint will depend of course upon the
kind or shade of colour to be produced, and upon the particular use to be
made of the compound.
It is the application of this substance and of the other substances herein-
after specified, possessing of themselves the properties of good pigments, or that
are capable, when combined with other pigments, of imparting valuable pro-
perties to paints or colors produced from them, and of substances existing in
such abundance either locally or generally, as to form economical substitutes
for the materials hitherto so applied, that constitutes a principal feature and
advantage of this part of my Invention. I have also discovered that besides
the silicate of manganese, the following minerals and artificial mineral products
and other substances, when broken down into powder and employed as abovo
described in respect to silicate of manganese, form valuable materials to be
applied as pigments or in the manufacture of paints, namely:-The mineral
corundum forms of itself a good and durable yellowish brown pigment, and a
good basis for a variety of other paints and colors. For example: With.
peroxide of iron it forms an excellent red, with lamp or other black a good
black, and is capable of entering into numerons other combinations with
products of paints and pigments of various colors. Killas, a species of
clay slate, in like manner constitutes of itself a good pigment of a bluish-
grey or other colors, according to the variety selected, and a basis for
other paints or pigments, as, for example, with oxide of zinc and Prussian
blue it forms a valuable blue paint. Soapstone or steatite, combined with
Chinese or other blue and with zinc oxide, forms an excellent blue paint,
to be mixed with other pigments and paints. I also and in like manner
apply horublende, graywacke, granite, serpentine, feldspar, basalt, lavas,
and volcanic scoria and ashes, quartz and other silicious rocks, porphyry and
gneiss in any of their several varieties. Anthracite or stonecoal when broken
down makes a black pigment, either when used alone or when mixed with one
or more of the substances herein specified, and of such combinations the follow-
ing may be given as examples:-Anthracite with shell-limestone, anthracite
with emery, anthracite with epidote, anthracite with Dudley rock, &c.; green-
stone, millstone-grit, whinstone, shales in all their varieties, and particularly
thered and purple shales, sandstones, gravel, gravelly sands; and gravelly clays,

page_text: pulverized and used in the natural state, as is the case with the matters above
mentioned; or, when previously calcined, pearl spar, calcareous spar, mountain
and other limestones, mica and mica slate, traprock, clinkstone, talc and talcous
iminerals, dolomite, arragonite and other magnesian limestones, cement
limestone, shells, coral and corallines, tufa, fullers' earth, Tripoli pipestone,
travertine oolites. The matrices of other minerals and vein stuffs, rottenstone,
Kemmeridge clay, fire-clay, Portland stone, phosphorite, coprolite, scappolite,
gosans, hornstone, helvin, & the several varieties of silicate of manganese,
chalcedonies, anhydrate, siliceous sinter wood, opal, jasper, obsidian, pitch
stone, chlorite, spinol, shiller spar, common topaz, kyanite, picknite, psyalite,
beryl, olivine, chrysolite, axinite, pyroxine, tabuler spar, stilbite, labradorite,
andalusite, schorl, tourmaline, phosphate oflime orapatite, fluor spar,peastone,
stalactites and stalagmites, baryto-calcite; the colored sulphates and colored
carbonates of baryta, syenite, angite, argillite, hypersthene, conglomorates in
all their varities, splint coal, horn coal, lignite, jet, asphalt, asphalt stone,
galena, phosphate of lead, red oxide of zinc, mispickle, mundic and other
varieties of iron pyrites, copper pyrites, arsenical copper, red and orange oxides
of copper, regulus of copper, Bristol red iron ore or earth, chromate of irou
ore, titanniferous iron ores, cube iron ore, brown iron ore, sp those, and the
varieties of sparry iron ore, specular and magnetic iron ores, blackband, frank-
linite, the phosphates of iron ores. I also apply grey and other oxides of man-
ganese, psilomelane, the sulphurets of antimony, molybdenum, bismuth,
roasted blende and other roasted sulphurets, and the residues left after calcina-
tion of arsenical & other ores, alloys of copper and bismuth, copper and anti-
mony, antimony and bismuth melted together in such proportions as to produce
friable metal.
a
In the application of oil to mineral products, and in their combination for
the purpose of producing paints, I consider it a great improvement to effect
this by grinding them with oil upon a cool surface, as some of them contain
sulphur, and others might be damaged as to their color, and the vegetable oil
be injured-as-to-its-quality, by too great heat in grinding. To effect this I
cause a stream of water to flow through a hollow chamber or chambers
constructed in the upper or under stone or stones, or both, or other grinding
surfaces, which grinding surfaces I prefer to be constructed of cast iron. The
hollow chamber or chambers may be supplied through a flexible tube by a
head of water, and the water may flow out by a waste pipe. In obtaining or
combining mineral or vegetable products by crushing them between rollers or
by pounding them in a mortar, I effect the same purpose in the same. manner
by passing water through a hollow chamber or chambers constructed in the

page_text: rollers, or in the table upon which the roller passes when a roller is used, or
in the mortar, which rollers or mortar I prefer to be of cast iron.
And I would have it understood that I claim the cooling the surface on which
materials are ground or pounded for the purpose of making paints and colors,
as herein described. In obtaining the product of a good paint from the com-
bination of these mineral products one with another, I consider it an improve-
ment that they should be finely ground in combining them with the oil. In
order to effect this, I cause the stones by suitable machinery to travel in the
same way (that plate glass is ground), by the stones not turning upon their
own axis, but in circles upon the lower table or stone, similar to the motion of
the hand in grinding paints, or to and fro with the lower stone moving laterally
backwards and forwards; and I claim this mode of grinding paints and colors.
I claim as my Invention, under the first head and division thereof, the
application of the several substances herein-before specified in the manufacture
of pigments, paints, and colours, and whether the said several substances when
so applied be used separately or conjointly, or be mixed with other well known
pigments, or paints, or colors.
The second part of my Invention relates to the manufacture of oxide of zinc,
and consists in the following methods of treating the crude or impure oxide of
zinc obtained by the operations usually employed in manufacturing oxide of
zinc from blende or other zinc ores. The oxide resulting from the operation
of the blast furnace when applied to blende or sulphuret of zinc, or the oxide
obtained when using a reverberatory furnace to reduce the ore to an oxide, is
formed of a greyish or yellow color, owing to the presence in it of chiefly some
particles of carbon, some sulphur, undecomposed blende, and other sulphur
compounds, which it is desirable to remove in order to whiten and improve
the quality of the oxide to be applied as a pigment or paint. And my Inven-
tion herein is as follows:-I dissolve the impure oxide in dilute sulphuric acid,
and leave the solution to stand till all insoluble matter has subsided, when I
decant off the clear solution, or I make the solution clear by separating from
it all insoluble impurities by filtration or otherwise. The insoluble impurities
will be found to consist chicfly of particles of carbon and of sulphur, or
insoluble sulphur compounds that have been produced in the blast furnace and
disseminated through the oxide. To the clear solution of sulphate I then add
a clear solution of carbonate of soda, and thus throw down a precipitate of
carbonate of zinc, which I dry by heatand pressure (using preferably (hydraulic
pressure) in the first instance, to expel the greater portion of the moisture),
and then I either use this carbonate of zinc itself as a pigment, or I previously
heat it to expel the carbonic acid and reconvert it into an oxide, to be applied

page_text: as a pigment or paint. The sulphate of soda yielded by this operation I again
convert by well-known processes into a carbonate, to be again applied for
the same purpose of precipitating the oxide from the sulphate solution. I
sometimes vary this process by using carbonate of ammonia or of potash,
or those alkalies and the soda in a caustic state in place of the carbonate
of soda, as above-named, and I recover these alkalis by the use of well-
known chemical operations, to be reapplied in their original condition to
the process of purifying the oxide, but I prefer to use carbonate of soda
as being the most economical. Other acids may be employed in place of
the sulphuric, such as the hydrochloric, nitric, or acetic, and in like manner. I
treat and employ the resulting oxide of zinc as a pigment or paint, and recover
the alkaline agents used by application of well-known chemical means.
Another mode of treating the impure oxide of zinc before described to render
it more applicable as a paint or pigment, is as follows:--I grind the oxide up
with from about five to twenty per cent. of the lime or carbonate of lime, or
combinations of carbonates of lime and maguesia, previously to using the oxide
of zinc in the manufacture of paint; and this addition and treatment of it I
have found to improve its qualities, and to cause it to work and dry better as a
paint than when not so treated. I do not confine myself to the use of the
above portions, as they will vary with the state of the oxide.
I claim the mixing the crude oxides of zinc, or those kinds which contain
sulphur or sulphur compounds with line, carbonate of lime and magnesia, in
any state of combination to improve its properties when applied as a pigment
or paint; and I claim the application in purifying oxide of zinc of the processes
therein above described.
The third part of my Invention relates to the carbonaceous residue obtained
in manufacturing prussiate of potash or of soda, that is, the insoluble matter
left after lixiviation of the prussiate "metal," and known technically as " tank
sludge," and consisting chiefly of a mixture of finely divided carbon and oxide
of iron, along with some alkaline salts and a portion of prussiate remaining in
it as-the-process-of-lixiviation-is-ordinarily-conducted.
And my Invention herein consists in applying this residue in the manufacture
of pigments,after having been treated as herein-after described, and as a manure
when treated as will be described, or it may be used in its original state when
combined with other substances herein-after mentioned, and also the applica-
tion of it for deodorizing noxious matters. When required for a pigment I
treat the residue as follows:-It is well washed with water to removeallsaline
matter, and then after being dried it constitutes a good black pigment, or
before separating by washing the alkaline and other soluble matter, I add

page_text: to the residue muriatic, sulphuric, acetic, or other acid, in quantity sufficient to
reutralize the alkali, and form with a portion of the oxide of iron a salt. of
iron, by which I produce prussian blue from the prussiate present, and then I
wash the whole with water to remove all saline and other soluble matter, and
by this process I leave mixed with the carbon the Prussian blue that has been
so formed; and the remainder of the oxide of iron and the residue, as thus
obtained, constitutes a black pigment of another shade. Or by anothermode of
proceeding, I first wash the residue with water to remove all soluble matter,
and then add to it bisulphate of potash or of soda, in quantity sufficient to
form with the oxide of iron, after reacting together, a double sulphate of iron
and potash or soda, and then I again wash with water to separate all soluble
matter, and the residue thus obtained consists of pure carbon, and constitutes
another variety of shade of black; or I add to the residue in the first instance
(and without previous washing, as much bisulphate of potash or soda as forms
a double sulphate, by combination with the whole of the alkali and oxide of
iron present, and Prussian blue with the prussiate present, and then I wash the
residue to dissolve out all soluble matter, and thus obtain a residue consisting
of pure carbon, mixed only with Prussian blue; and further I improve the
quality of those of the blacks obtained by these processes that contain
Prussian blue by exposing them to the action of atmospheric air, in order to
"raise" or deepen the colour or shade of the black; or I take the residue in its
original condition, that is, without first separating from it any of its saline
matteror oxide ofiron, and employ it in that state after being dried as a pigment;
and, further, I find that this residue is much improved by mixing and washing
it with clay and water previous to its being mixed with the other materials.
The black pigment obtained by any of the above processes, 1 propose to
designate "horn black," and it forms of itself an excellent paint or pigment
when mixed with oil or varnishes, and combined with other usual materials
employed in manufacturing paints and colours.
A further part of my Invention relating to this prussiate residue on its
application as a pigment consists in combining it for such purposes, and
manufacturing paints with it, as follows, namely: I take the residue or horn
black in its original condition (or I use it in this and in the manner following,
after being prepared by any of the above processes), and mix it by grinding
well together with alumina or any aluminous earth, or with silica or siliceous
earths or calcareous substances; and I prefer for this purpose to use plastic
clay in the relative proportion of about two parts horn black and one part clay.
But I do not confine my Invention to this kind of clay only, nor to these propor-
tions, as these can be considerably varied,and stil! the benefits of the composi-

page_text: tion be secured. This mixture, when dried and pulverized, and mixed with oil
and driers in the usual manner of making paints, forms an excellent paint,
drying well and possessing a good "body." In like manner and for the same.
purpose I employ the following mixtures, namely: horn black with oxide of
zinc; horn black with anthracite ; horn black with anthracite and oxide of
magnanese; horn black with emery; horn black with corundum; horn black.
with graywacke or with killas, or shell limestone, or whinstone, or horn black
quartz and crocus, (forming a rich brown pigment,) or liorn black with marlor
obsidian, or Dudley rock, carbonate or sulphate of baryta, gypsum, oxide of.
antimony, or any of the several minerals or products enumerated in the first.
part of my Invention. When I apply this residue as manure, the iron and
alkaline matters not having been separated from it, I previously mix it with.
T
finely pulverized feldspar, natrolite, or other minerals containing potash or
soda, or with gypsum or carbonate of lime, or with lavas; and I prefer when
applying it with such substances for manure to use it in this state; but I also
use it for manure after having been treated to separate it from other substances
as above described, and in that condition alone it constitutes a highly fertilizing
agent. I am aware that the residue in its original condition, as it is obtained
from the prussiate makers, has already been used as manure; and I therefore
do not claim its use in that condition as any part of my Invention. When
using this material for the purpose of deodorizing noxious matters, I add it to
the matter requiring deodorizing in a powdered or other suitable state.
I claim as my Invention the application, as a pigment or paint, of the
carbonaceous residue (after having been treated as above described) obtained
in the manufacture of prussiate of potash or soda, and in the combination of
such residue with the materials mentioned for the manufacture of paints and
pigments, as herein described. And I claim its use as a manure, after separa-
tion from it of its oxide of iron and other ingredients as above described, and.
when combined with the several substances herein above specified. And I
claim the application of this residue, in any of its state, for the purpose of
deodizing noxious matters.
The fourth part of my Invention relates to the clarifying and improving the
quality of linseed and other oils to be applied in the manufacture of paints,
varnishes, &c.,consists in exposing the oil to the conjoint action of light and air
in the manner herein-after described. I first prepare the oil for this purpose,
either by heating it in the ordinary manner or by mixing it with a portion of
oxide of manganese or litharge, and leaving these to react on cach other
during a few days, when they are again separated by straining the oil
through cloth or otherwise. Then, by means of any suitable mechanical

page_text: contrivance, I expose the strained oil to the conjoint action of light and air,
facilitating such action by causing the oil to be well agitated during the
process, in order to present continually a fresh surface to the light and air.
The arrangement I prefer to employ for this purpose is an upright chamber
or structure 'similar to an ordinary shot tower, but in the sides of which glass
is fixed so as to admit light freely. The oil is placed in a reservoir at the top,
and by any suitable contrivance is made to drop or run in thin streams from
top to bottom of the tower, and in its passage it is exposed to the light, and a
current of air made to flow through the apparatus in a direction contrary to
thatin which the oil falls. By so treating the oil it is finally bleached, and is
in allrespects improved in quality, and particularly in its drying.properties. To
facilitate this process I heat the oil and the air to a degree not higher than
about two hundred and twelve degrees of Fahrenheit; but I prefer, where
greater expedition is not needed, to conduct the process under an ordinary'
temperature. also apply the same process to other oils and fats besides the
linseed, conducting the process in the same manner. I vary the contrivance.
here used by substituting for the tower a dashing machine, so constructed as
to admit light freely, and the passage through it of a current of cold or heated
air, the purpose being, as before, to maintain a constantly renewed contact
between the oil and the air, and to expose it freely to the action of light.
A further part of my Invention consists in employing a tower or upright
chamber, constructed and used as just described, for evaporating, concen-
trating, and clarifying liquors, holding in solution saccharine, saline, or other
matters, and in the treatment of which the bleaching and clarifying action of
light is required, or without light. The liquors are contained in a reservoir
placed at the top of the tower, and are made to drop or run in thin streams
through it, and in their passage to meet the ascending current of cold or
heated air, as before described.
A further part of this Invention consists in the use of a number of steam
pipes placed in the interior of the tower in a suitable position, and so arranged
as to cause the liquor to be evaporated as it falls through the tower; at the
same time a brisk current of air is made to traverse the tower to aid
evaporation, and carry off by an outlet the vapour produced. Further,
in place of using this contrivance to heat, and consequently evaporate,
liquids, I employ it sometimes as a cooler, that is, I cause cold water to
traverse the pipes, and the warm liquor that has to be cooled to drop upon
them, and flow from one cold surface to the other in its passage through the
tower, whilst a current of cold air is passing through it, serving to facilitate
the process.
Another part of the Invention is a mode of applying heat for the purpose of

page_text: purifying and bleaching vegetable oils, as follows:-Oil or fatty matters being
caused to pass down covered inclined planes or surfaces exposed tolight andair,
either with or without a stream of water running down with the oil, heated air, or
steam, is generated at the bottom of the incline, and caused to pass upwards to
meet the descending oil, and thus to aid in bleaching and purifying it.
Another part of my Invention relates to an improvement upon a former
Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of November, One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-nine. The product from the fire is made to pass
downwards through tubes a, a, at intervals near the bottom of the boiler into
the centre tube; the product is then carried to one end of the tube, passes under
by the return flue, and then up the chimney; the passage of the product is
shewn by the arrows; there is a projection on each side of the boiler fastened
on by proper stays and bolts, &c., with communication for the water and steam
by means of perforations c at intervals in the side of the boiler. I also claim
the use and application of pyrometres attached to subliming vessels; an
outer covering is placed upon the vessel, with an air space between to pre-
vent the too rapid radiation of the heat, and any suitable pyrometre indicates
the heat of the exterior of the vessel and the hollow space by its action, which
is indicated by a dial, or by any other suitable means.
I claim as my Invention the application of apparatus as above described, or
similar apparatus, wherein the coujoined action of light and air may be applied
to the clarifying, bleaching, and improving the quality of oils, and to the
evaporating, concentrating, and clarifying of liquors, as above described.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Thomas John Knowlys, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
THOMAS JOHN (L.S.) KNOWLYS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of February, in the
year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Thomas John Knowlys, Esquire, came
-before-our-said-Lady_the_Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord One