IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURE OF PRUSSIATE OF POTASH AND PRUSSIATE OF SODA
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PAUL NEUMANN, of 81, Great Tower Street, in the City of London, Prussiate
of Potash Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of January, in the seventh year of His reign,
did for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Paul Neumann, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Paul Neumann, my exors, admors, and.
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Paul Neumann, my exors, admors,
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, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF PRUSSIATE OF POTASH AND PRUSSIATE OF SODA," being partly
of my own invention, and partly communicated to me by a certain Foreigner
residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said John Paul Neumann, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in His 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, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Paul Neumann, do hereby declare the nature of the 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; that is to say:-
According to the ordinary means of manufacturing prussiate of potash and
prussiate of soda, in respect to that part of the process which consists of
submitting the materials (dry animal matter and pearl ash or soda) to be
mixed and melted to be converted into a chemical compound, the materials
are put into a semi-elliptical iron pot or vessel, which is suitably set in a
furnace that the fire may act externally at the bottom and sides, and the heat
which comes to the materials being operated on passes through the iron pot or
vessel; hence the vessel is subject to become quickly injured, and in case of
holes being produced when it is charged with the melted compound the same
may run through to the fire and be wasted; and in such means of applying
heat the fetid vapours pass away into the atmosphere and cause a nuisance to
the surrounding neighbourhood; and there have been apparatus or vessels
employed in the making of prussiate of potash which are closed, with the
exception of one point, to which a pipe for conducting such fetid vapours and
gases to other apparatus was employed, as is described in the Specification of
a Patent granted to Herman Hendriks, the Nineteenth day of October, One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-three; but in such cases the fire was
applied to the external surface of the iron cylinders or vessels which contained
the matters under operation, such vessels being equally prejudicially acted on
by the fire and liable to have holes produced therein. Now the object of the
present Invention is to cause the fire to act on the upper surface of the
materials to be operated on, and in such manner that the heat and flames of
the fire act directly on the materials, and in addition to giving off the requisite
heat thereto for melting or calcining (as by some it is technically called) also
destroys all, or nearly all, the fetid smells of the vapours and gases which were
formerly so objectionable in the vicinity of a prussiate work, and in addition
to which the vessels containing the matters under operation are not so liable
to be destroyed by the action of the fire, nor can the loss be material should a
hole be made in the pot or vessel, as it is set on a bed of sand. Having
thus stated generally the nature of the Invention, I will proceed to describe
the Drawing hereunto annexed.

page_text: Figure 2 is a plan of the furnace and pot or vessel, the upper part of the
brickwork being removed, that the internal construction of the furnace may be
more readily understood. On an examination of the Drawing it will be seen
that the furnace is for the most part similar to an ordinary reverberatory
furnace. a, a, is the melting or calcining pot or vessel. b, b, is the furnace,
the heat and flames of which pass over the materials placed in the pot or vessel
a, a, and the heat is reverberated by the upper part of the furnace down to
such materials. The nature of this part of the process of prussiate of potash
and prussiate of soda being well understood by prussiate makers, and such
being the case with respect to matters or materials used, no description of the
same need be given in this my Specification, further than to state that
supposing a charge of the furnace has just been withdrawn at the opening c
of the furnace, which drawing is performed by a ladle or otherwise, the fire in
the furnace should be supplied with fresh coal, should it require feeding; for it
should be stated that the coal should not be put to the furnace during the time
that the materials to produce the chemical compound in the pot or vessel a, a,
are being operated on, but the fire should be as clear as possible. The
workman will submit the materials under operation to stirring and heating, as
heretofore practised, which he will readily be able to do through the opening c,
through which he will see how the operation is proceeding, and he will judge
when the conversion of the materials into a chemical compound is complete by
the appearance of the melted or fluid matter, and the cessation of fetid vapours;
and it will be evident that, during the process of conversion of the materials or
matters into the chemical compound desired, the vapours rising therefrom
will combine with the flames and heat of the furnace and be burned, and the
fetid smells will be destroyed, which is a very important feature of the present
Invention.
IIaving thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would remark that variations in the furnace
and pot or vessel may be made, provided the object of the Invention be
retained. And I would have it understood that the improvements claimed
under the present Letters Patent consist in causing the heat and flame to act
directly on the materials, and give off the requisite heat thereto, and also to
burn or destroy the fetid vapours arising in that part of the process of making
prussiate of potash or prussiate of soda above described.
In witness whercof, I, the said John Paul Neumann, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord'
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
JOHN PAUL (L.S.) NEUMANN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1837, the aforesaid John Paul Neumann 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.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-seven.