IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND PRODUCTION OF CERTAIN COLORS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Deacon, of Appleton House, Appleton, in
the County of Lancaster, Alkali Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND PRODUCTION OF CERTAIN COLORS,
AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
"
Sealed the 31st October 1862, and dated the 14th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Deacon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th May 1862.
I, HENRY DEACON, of Appleton House, Appleton, in the County of Lan-
caster, Alkali Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND PRODUCTION OF CERTAIN
COLORS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to the manufacture or production of certain colors
which are produced, as is well understood, by the action of an elevated tempe-
rature on well-known mixtures of clays (i. e. substances consisting mainly of
silica and alumina), of sulphate or carbonate of soda, or of both, of sulphur,
and of carbon or of carbonaceous matter, the free access of atmospheric air
during the first heating process being prevented. In the ordinary process of
manufacture, mixtures of these materials are subjected to the primary heating
process in closed receptacles, to which access during the process of heating
is extremely difficult, if not impossible.

page_text: My improvements consist in subjecting such raw materials or mixtures to
the primary heating process in retorts or ovens, or in other suitable vessels
provided with doors or openings easily removed, but closed air-tight or as
nearly so as and when required the materials under treatment may thereby
be easily inspected, stirred, or otherwise manipulated during such heating
operation.
The second part of my Invention consists in washing the colors obtained
from the processes berein-before described in what are known as circulating
vats or tanks, whereby pure water is employed to complete the washing, whilst
all the liquors obtained are highly charged with soluble salts which are
easily recovered for use by evaporating the water holding them in solution.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Deacon in the Great Seal. Patent Office on the
14th November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DEACON, of Appleton House, Appleton, in the County of Lancaster, Alkali
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Henry Deacon, Her special license that I, the said
Henry Deacon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henry Deacon, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND PRODUCTION OF CERTAIN
COLORS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst
'others) that I, the said Henry Deacon, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal
of one of them, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Deacon, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-.
lowing statement, reference being had to the accompanying. Drawings, and,
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the manufacture or production of certain
colors which are produced, as is well understood, by the action of an elevated.
temperature on well-known mixtures of clays-(i. e. substances consisting mainly.
of silica and alumina); of sulphate or carbonate of soda, or of both, of sulphur,
and of carbon or of carbonaceous matter, the free access of atmospheric air.
during the first heating process being prevented. In the ordinary process of
manufacture, mixtures of these materials are subjected to the primary heating.
process in closed receptacles, to which access during the process of heating is.
extremely difficult, if not impossible.
My improvements consist in subjecting such raw materials or mixtures.
to the primary heating process in retorts or ovens, or in other suitable vessels
provided with doors or openings easily removed, but closed air-tight. or as
nearly so as practicable, so that when required the materials under treatment
may thereby be easily inspected, stirred, or otherwise manipulated during such
heating operation..
The second part of my Invention consists in washing the colors obtained
from the processes herein-before described, in what are known as circulating
vats or tanks, whereby pure water is employed to complete the washing, whilst
all the liquors obtained are highly charged with soluble salts which are easily
recovered for use by evaporating. the water holding them in solution. The
retorts or ovens in which I prefer to effect the primary heating are so-con-
structed, that all contact of flame-with the materials operated upon is pre-
vented, and (except as to the doors and outlet for the gases evolved during.
the process) are similar to those known as the "close" or "blind furnaces"
employed in the manufacture of alkali for roasting salt cake or sulphate of
soda. The doors of these latter furnaces are however rarely capable of closing:
so perfectly as is necessary for the manufacture of the said colors. I prefer
planing the face of the iron frames and doors, and causing the doors to slide-
on the frames, the planed surfaces being in contact.
Each door is provided
with a screw clamp similar to those used with gas retorts for forcing the door
into its place when required. The fastening and other apparatus for these
clamps must not however interfere with the easy. opening or closing. of. the
doors. Through these doors the material may be introduced and withdrawn,
inspected, stirred,.or otherwise manipulated. Other and much smaller doors.

page_text: may be employed for these latter purposes, and the large doors used only for
the introduction and withdrawal of the materials. The doors may be all on
one side of the furnace, or otherwise disposed, as desired. The gases evolved
during the process are by preference allowed only to escape from one or more.
of the doors, left open only so far as will suffice for this purpose without:
admitting any atmospheric air. Any manipulation of the materials under
process, I prefer to effect by instruments passed through an opening from
which these gases are escaping, as the atmospheric air is thereby excluded.
When no gases are given off, all the doors must, during this primary heating,
be tightly closed. I prefer to make these "close" or "blind furnaces" above.
referred to of bricks, but other materials and forms (amongst others, ordinary
gas retorts) may be employed if provided with suitable easily moved but
tightly closing doors. In the ordinary "close" or "blind "brick furnace. the
flame usually passes through a flue or flues over the arch or roof, down the
end, under the bed or bottom into the chimney or bye flue. This arrangement
is the most durable, but if preferred the course of the flame may be varied in
many ways. As in the ordinary construction of brick "blind" or "close
furnaces" no flame passes down the sides, it is in such cases better to keep
the arch or roof very near the bed, say 6 or 9 inches from the bed to the
springing of the arch, and the latter kept as flat as is consistent with stability.
The vats or tanks I employ for washing the said colors are constructed.on
the same principle as the "black ash" vats or tanks employed in the manu-*
facture of alkali. The circulation of the wash water may be effected or assisted
by pumping, and the water may be either hot or cold. The false bottoms
may be made of filtering cloth. The said colors being usually very finely
divided, a bed of a few inches only in thickness is commonly desirable as the
resistance to the free passage of the water is considerable, and for this
reason care must be taken to make the vats so deep as will give sufficient
head of water to ensure the necessary circulation.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
-refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating. corresponding parts throughout all the
corresponding Figures.
.
!
Figures 1, 2 and 3 of my Drawings represent respectively a longitudinal
section, transverse section, and sectional plan of a blind or close furnace,
retort, or oven, provided with doors, and without other outlet for the gases
evolved from the materials under process in accordance with my said Inven-
tion; and Figure 4 represents isometrically, and to double the scale of the

page_text: other Figures, the details of the door frame, door, and clamp; G is the ash-pit;
H, the fire-place; I, the flue over the top arch (N) of the furnace or retort;
J, the descending flue at the end; K, the flue under the bed O, which is sup-
ported by the pillars M; the flame finally escapes to the chimney by the flue
L; the door frames are shewn at P, the door at R, and the clamp at S; the
doors R are so made as to slide on or be lifted off the door frame P, as may
be found requisite when the clamp S is removed; the doors and frames may
be of cast iron and the clamp of wrought iron; a damper may be inserted at
any convenient position in the flue L. The circulating vats are shewn in
elevation and plan at Figures 5 and 6 respectively. T', T", T, T, are the
vats, T being shewn in section; U, the false bottoms; V, V, V, V,
the pumps or upright circulating pipes, opening under the false bottoms of one
vat, and. by a side branch communicating with the body of the next vat; they
are open at the top for the introduction of a "bucket" when the circulation is
assisted by pumping, in which case a foot valve is of course also necessary, as
shewn in the section. When the gravitation of the washing water is the only
power used to effect the circulation, the pipes. V have no valves or buckets,
but below each side branch pipe, there is a contraction into which a plug is
inserted. through the open top whenever one vat is to be isolated for emptying;
W is the horizontal circulating pipe for connecting the under side of the false
bottom of one end vat with the body of the other end vat; X, X, X, X,
are pipes for running off the liquor from the vats. In place of putting taps
or cocks to these pipes, it is found convenient to attach to them pieces of
flexible. tube, provided at the other end with a tube bent in the form of a hook.
When hung on the top edges of the vats, as shewn, no liquor can escape; but
when lowered to any required level, the liquor can be run off to that level
into any convenient vessel. To avoid confusion in the Drawing, only one
flexible tube, &c., is shewn, but one is of course in practice attached to each
pipe X. The arrows shew the course taken by the water. It is rarely sent a
complete circle, but the material to be washed being spread on the false
bottoms, the hot or cold water, as the case may be, is run over one of the vats,
say T, it filters through the material, passes under the false bottom, up the
pipe or pump V' into the vat T", and similarly through each vat and pipe until
it arrives at T, the liquor in filtering through each bed of material extracting
some of its soluble salts, &c., and becoming more highly charged therewith.
From the liquor is run off by the pipe X"; when sufficient water has
been run into T the supply is stopped, and all is pumped from under its false
bottom into the vat T"; T¹ is then emptied of washed material, and fresh put
on its false bottom; the pure or fresh water is then run into 1", and the liquor
:

page_text: on reaching T runs from it by the pipe W into T, which thus becomes the
last of the series, and the strong liquor is run from its pipe X'; and so on, each
vat becoming in turn the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the series, without the
material under process being removed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
1st, the general system or mode of manufacturing or producing colors, and
the construction, arrangement, and combination of apparatus employed therein,
as herein-before described and illustrated by my Drawings.
2nd, the application and use to and in the manufacture or production of the
said colors, of retorts, ovens, or furnaces so constructed as to admit of their
contents being inspected, stirred, or otherwise manipulated without injury from
'the admission of atmospheric air.
3rd, the application and use to and in the primary heating process in the
manufacture or production of the said colors, of "close" or "blind furnaces" or
ovens similar to those employed in the manufacture of alkali for roasting salt
cake or sulphate of soda.
4th, the washing of the said colors in what are known as circulating vats
or tanks similar in principle to those employed in the manufacture of alkali for
the lixiviation of black ash.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Deacon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
HENRY DEACON. (L.S.)