AN IMPROVED MODE OF MANU- FACTURING SULPHURIC ACID
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Reynolds, of Bagillt, in the County of
Flintshire, Chemist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF MANU-
FACTURING SULPHURIC ACID."
Sealed the 25th April 1865, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord Chancellor,
and dated the 'Olot Ostalo 1004
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Reynolds at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
October 1864.
I, ARTHUR REYNOLDS, of Bagillt, in the County of Flintshire, Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
MANUFACTURING SULPHURIC ACID," to be as follows:—
My Invention consists in the employment of a solution of copper or other
metal capable of forming more than one oxide, which solution I bring into
contact with sulphurous acid and air, or other mixtures of gases containing
free oxygen to cause the formation of sulphuric acid. I prefer to use a weak.
solution of sulphate of copper. The contact may be effected by allowing the
solution. to trickle over pebbles in a chamber through which the gasses pass;
the solution being returned to the top of the chamber, and allowed to trickle
down again, and so on, or a fan may be employed to dash the liquid into
spray, or indeed any other known means may be adapted for bringing liquid
intimately into contact with gases. The solution of metal acts as a carrier
between the oxygen of the air and the sulphurous acid, so that a small

page_text: quantity of metal in solution will cause the formation of a large quantity of
sulphuric acid in a similar manner to that in which the nitrous fumes usually
employed in the manufacture of sulphuric acid act. The metal can be removed
from the solution and used again, the separation may be effected by means of
sulphuretted hydrogen, or the sulphate may be allowed to crystallize out of 5
the concentrated acid.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Arthur Reynolds in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th April 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, 'ARTHUR
REYNOLDS, of Bagillt, in the County of Flintshire, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Arthur Reynolds, Her special licence that I, the
said Arthur Reynolds, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Arthur Reynolds, my executors, administrators, and
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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF MANUFACTURING SULPHURIC ACID," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Arthur Reynolds, 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 Arthur Reynolds, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be'
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the employment of a solution of copper or other
metal capable of forming more than one oxide, which solution I bring into

page_text: contact with sulphurous acid and air, or other mixtures of gases containing
free oxygen to cause the formation of sulphuric acid. I prefer to use a weak
solution of sulphate of copper. The contact may be effected by allowing the
solution to trickle over pebbles in a chamber through which the gases pass,
the solution being returned to the top of the chamber, and allowed to trickle
down again, and so on; or a fan may be employed to dash the liquid into
spray, or indeed any other known means may be adopted for bringing liquid
intimately into contact with gases. The solution of metal acts as a carrier
between the oxygen of the air and the sulphurous acid, so that a small
quantity of metal in solution will cause the formation of a large quantity of
sulphuric acid in a similar manner to that in which the nitrous fumes usually
employed in the manufacture of sulphuric acid act. The metal can be removed
from the solution and used again; the separation may be effected by means of
sulphuretted hydrigen, or the sulphate may be allowed to crystallize out of
the concentrated acid.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, manufacturing
sulphuric acid, substantially in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Reynolds, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.