AN ENTIRE NEW METHOD OF SEPARATING THE FOSIL OR MINERAL ALKALI FROM THE MURIATIC ACID AS IT EXISTS IN COMMON SALT, AND ALSO IN SEPARATING THE FOSIL OR MINERAL ALKALI FROM THE COMMON SALT AS IT EXISTS IN KELP
Year: 1792

page_text: HODSON, of the City of Chester, Soap Boiler, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirtieth day of August, in the thirty-second year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said George Hodson, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said George Hodson, during
the term of fourteen years therein expressed, should and lawfully might use,
exercise, and vend, within that part of the Kingdom of Great Britain
called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "AN ENTIRE NEW METHOD OF SEPARATING THE FOSIL OR
MINERAL ALKALI FROM THE MURIATIC ACID AS IT EXISTS IN COMMON SALT,
AND ALSO IN SEPARATING THE FOSIL OR MINERAL ALKALI FROM THE COMMON
SALT AS IT EXISTS IN KELP;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso, obliging me, the said George Hodson, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery,
within one calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: Letters Patent, as by the said Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had,
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Hodson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained as follows, that is to say:-
To extract the alkali from common salt I proceed thus:-With a ton of salt
I mix to the amount of sixteen bushels of small coal or charcoal, (I give the
preference to the small coal,) and in this state throw it into the furnace by the
door, (see E in the Draught hereupon indorsed,) for the purpose of fusion.
During the progress of the fusion it must be stirred at times with the rake,
(see D, in the said Draught,) in order to effect a proper union of the materials,
and to expose, by bringing all the parts successively to the surface, the whole
mass to the action of the reverberating flame; after the fusion is completed
it is to remain one hour in the furnace, and then to be drawn out. The sub-
stance thus drawn is the ash in its impure state; to refine it, nothing further is
requisite than to form a lixivium and evaporate it to dryness. To extract
the alkali from the common salt as it resides in kelp, a ton of kelp must be
broken into small lumps, and mixed with ten bushels of charcoal or small coal
instead of sixteen; in every other respect the process corresponds with the
above description. The rationale is as follows:-The phlogiston contained in
the small coal or charcoal, being liberated by the fire, exerts its agency on the
common salt, and effects a decomposition in it; the acid of the salt being
separated from its alkaline basis is dissipated, and the alkali left, in conjunc-
tion with the residuum of the charcoal or small coal, forms the ashes.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Hodson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, in the thirty-second
year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace
of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the
Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven
hundred and ninety-two.
GEORGE HODSON. .(L.S.)
: Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said George
Hodson (upon parchment, appearing to have
been first legally stamped,) in the presence of

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of September,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid George Hodson came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
T
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year above written.