A NEW SEMI-FLUID OR SOLID PRODUCT OBTAINED BY CONCENTRATING THE SAPONACEOUS PARTS OF THE QUILLAI TREE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, Patent Agent, of the
British and Foreign Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in
the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A NEW SEMI-FLUID OR SOLID
PRODUCT OBTAINED BY CONCENTRATING THE SAPONACEOUS PARTS OF THE
QUILLAI TREE."-A communication from Emeric de Werchin, residing at
Maubeuge, in the Empire of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition; on the
21st April 1864.
I, HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, Patent Agent, of, the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France,
and 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex; do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW SEMI-FLUID OR
SOLID PRODUCT OBTAINED BY CONCENTRATING THE SAPONACEOUS PARTS OF THE
QUILLAI TREE," communicated to me by Emeric de Werchin, a person residing
at Maubeuge, in the Empire of France, to be as follows:
This Invention consists in obtaining from the bark of the quillai tree
(known as Panama wood in France) a semi-fluid or solid product which may
be applied to scouring wool and other uses instead of the alkalies 'now'
employed for these purposes.

page_text: The process, which is capable of great variations, is as follows:-The
saponaceous parts of the bark having been extracted by steeping and pounding
or boiling and pressing, the water is evaporated in shallow vessels in the open
air or by artificial heat, until the residue becomes of the consistence of syrup,
and in order to obtain a solid product the residue is dried on marble slabs,
thus forming crusts or sheets which dissolve readily..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 24, Rue du
Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, Her special licence that I, the said Henri
Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should in 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 Inven-
tion for "A NEW SEMI-FLUID OR SOLID PRODUCT OBTAINED BY CONCENTRATING THE
SAPONACEOUS PARTS OF THE BARK OF THE QUILLAI TREE," a communication from
Emeric de Werchin, a person residing at Maubeuge, in the Empire of
France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henri Adrien
Bonneville, 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 Henri Adrien Bonneville, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This Invention consists in obtaining from the bark of the quillai tree,
known as Panama wood in France, a semi-fluid or solid product which may
be applied to scouring wool and other uses instead of the alkalies now
employed for this purpose.
The process, which is capable of great variations, is as follows:-The
saponaceous parts of the bark having been extracted by steeping and pounding
or boiling and pressing, the water is evaporated in shallow vessels in the open
air or by artificial heat, until of the consistence of syrup, and in order to
obtain a solid product the residus is dried on marble slabs, thus forming crusts
or sheets which dissolve readily.
The great inconveniences which the use of alkaline substances for scouring
wool presents have been remarked for some time past. The animal substances
being in the category of fatty bodies are naturally subject to the influence of
alcaline reactions, and whatever precautions are taken in using them it is
rare that the filaments of wool are not more or less altered by them, and this
often without arriving at the separation of the foreign fatty bodies. The
object of this Invention is to remedy this state of things. Latterly, a bark,
known as Panama wood, but which is really the bark of the quillai tree, a
native of America, and particularly of Chili, has been imported. It was found
that this bark contained a soapy substance detersive in a high degree, which
it abandoned to water by simple maceration or boiling in this fluid. This
solution, promptly corruptible, was preconised for use in the arts, particularly
for scouring wools and cloths; but either because sufficient strength could not
be obtained, or on account of a defectuous mode of application, or some other
cause, trades still use alcaline substances, which they would, however, wish to
dispense with, particularly for wool. This Invention consists, then, in extracting
the saponaceous parts of the bark of the quillai tree (native of America and
principally of Chili), and in reducing them to a siropy or solid state, so as to
concentrate in a small volume the detersive properties of said bark, and thus
to generalise its use in the arts. Up to the present day the properties of the
soapy substance contained by this bark have not been industrially used, par-
ticularly for the scouring of wools, spun, woven, or in grease, although the
simple solution obtained by steeping or boiling has been, as before stated,
preconised for replacing the alcaline substances and soaps with alcaline bases
habitually employed for the purpose, the first of which are always more or
less hurtful, and the second only suitable for use in certain preparations.
This soapy substance, a sort of balsam contained in the fibres of the bark, is

page_text: of a peculiar nature, and reveals to the smell an acid peculiar to the vegetable.
It is perfectly soluble in water, whether hot or cold, and in all proportions; it
is unalterable by the action of the air, the various alkalies dissolve without
decomposing it, and even the mineral acids are without sensible action
on it. Alone, the fatty bodies paralyse it action, thus causing it to enter the
category of substances, having the property of reacting on fatty bodies with or
without causticity.
From the siropy (semi-fluid) state to the solid-state all degrees of solution
required, according to the use proposed; may be obtained; whatever its
'degree of concentration it always retains the property of perfect innocuity
even on the most delicate colours, and in its application to scouring wool, far
from altering it, it leaves all its ductility, advantage so precious for spinning
and for the quality of the fabrics. The process used for extracting this
substance is the same as those usually employed for obtaining extracts of the
kind, preferably by maceration and expression, either by pressing or rolling
between cylinders. It is concentrated by heat or natural evaporation in the
open air, but in the latter case in large shallow vessels.
To obtain the solid product it suffices to submit the semi-fluid product to
the action of the open air by spreading it in thin coatings on marble slabs,
when it transforms itself in a hard substance with resinous fissures possessing
'all the same properties, but to a more intense degree.
£ Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, communicated to
me, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I
do not intend to confine myself to the process of extraction above indicated,
nor to any special application of the product obtained; but what I claim is,
concentrating to the state of syrup or paste and dessicating to a solid state
the saponaceous parts of the bark of the quillai tree, whatever processes or
modes of extraction are used for obtaining this concentration or dessication.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)