CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN CONDUCTING THE MANUFACTURE OF SALT CAKE OR SULPHATE OF SODA, AND HYDROCHLORIC OR OTHER ACIDS, AND ALKALIES OR OTHER CHEMICAL PROCESSES WHEREIN DELETERIOUS VAPOURS ARE GIVEN OFF, AND IN THE ERECTION OF FURNACES AND WORKS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD.
FORD, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of March, in the second year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Ford, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Edward Ford, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Edward Ford, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CONDUCTING THE MANUFACTURE OF SALT CAKE OR SULPHATE OF SODA,
AND HYDROCHLORIC OR OTHER ACIDS, AND ALKALIES OR OTHER CHEMICAL PROCESSES
WHEREIN DELETERIOUS VAPOURS ARE GIVEN OFF, AND IN THE ERECTION OF FURNACES
AND WORKS CONNECTED THEREWITH;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that I, the said Edward Ford, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calender months next and immediately after the date of, the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Ford, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained by the following explanation thereof, that is to say:-
from land.
My improvements in conducting the manufacture of salt cake or sulphate
of soda, and hydrochloric or other acids, and alkalies, or other chemical
processes wherein deleterious -vapours are given off, and in the erection of
furnaces or works counceted therewith, consist in removing the furnaces and
other works whereby such chemical processes are effected from the neighbour-
hood of vegetation, and erecting and working the same afloat upon the seas
or such rivers as shall be available for the purpose, whereby the destructive
vapours arising and given off during the processes shall be sufficiently removed
For this purpose, I employ a vessel or flotilla, in or upon which
I erect or construct the furnaces and works necessary for the purpose without
in any manner deviating from those usually employed in such chemical pro-
cesses excepting having them all afloat in the vessel, flotilla, or raft, and
having that moored sufficient distance from land (during the working), so as
to remove entirely all deleterious vapour from the surface of vegetation. The
vessel or flotilla should be lined with lead, at least under the furnaces, having
its sides or edges turned up, so as to be hollow upon the top surface to
secure the vessel from injury in case of any leakage from the furnace. I
would here remark that the vessel or flotilla must be "trimmed" when
working, so as to keep the bed of the furnace as level as practicable. It
will also be evident that the situation and distance from land at which the
vessel must be moored when working will entirely depend upon the character
of the coast and upon the varying circumstances of the wind; as, for instance,
if the coast be level and the wind blowing off shore, the processes may be
carried on as near as practicable. And I would further remark, in conclusion,
that owing to the well-known affinity for moisture of such vapours, I have
found it practicable that the nearer the land such flotilla can be moored with
safely the lower the chimney of the furnace may be.
Having now particularly ascertained and described the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it
to be understood that I claim as my Invention, and which is' secured; to me
by the above recited Letters Patent, the peculiar method of conducting such
processes afloat, in the manner and for the purposes herein; set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Ford, have hereunto: set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine:
EDWARD (L.S.) FORD.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of September, in the
third year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Edward
Ford came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.