IMPROVE- MENTS IN TREATING BONES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING GELATINE, SIZE, OR GLUE, AND IN OBTAINING CERTAIN USEFUL PRODUCTS FROM SUCH TREATMENT
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Edward Schmersahl, of Miles Platting,
in the County of Lancaster, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING BONES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING GELATINE,
SIZE, OR GLUE, AND IN OBTAINING CERTAIN USEFUL PRODUCTS FROM SUCH
TREATMENT."
Sealed the 18th October 1857, and dated the 18th April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Edward
Schmersahl at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 18th April 1857.
I, AUGUSTUS EDWARD SCHMERSAHL, of Miles Platting, in the County of
Lancaster, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING BONES POR THE PURPOSES OF OBTAINING GELATINE,
SIZE, OR GLUE, AND IN OBTAINING CERTAIN USEFUL PRODUCTS FROM SUCH TREAT-
MENT," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to obtain a gelatinous substance of greater
purity than the common size or glue, for which purpose I submit bones to the
following operations:-Firstly, I extract from them such substances as blood
and others, soluble in water; secondly, I submit them to maceration in diluted
acid, as hydrochloric acid; thirdly, I wash the so macerated bones with water
and neutralize any remaining acid. The above forms one division of my
Invention. The bones having been freed from all foreign matters. and left in
a state of raw gelatine, and they may be thus used as an article of commerce;

page_text: or I complete the operation by boiling them into a paste or jelly suitable for
immediate consumption. The liquor: in which the bones have been macerated
I reserve, and extract therefrom phosphorus and salammoniac or super-
phosphate of lime, which may be applied as a manure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Augustus Edward Schmersah in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
EDWARD SCHMERSAHL, of Miles Platting, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Augustus Edward Schmersahl, Her especial license that I, the said
Augustus Edward Schmersahl, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I,. the said Augustus Edward Schmersahl, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING BONES FOR THE PURPOSE OF
OBTAINING GELATINE, SIZE, OR GLUE, AND IN OBTAINING CERTAIN USEFUL PRODUCTS
FROM SUCH TREATMANT," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
Augustus Edward Schmersahl, by an instrument in writing under. my hand
and seal, 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 August Edward Schmersall, 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, that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is to obtain gelatine, size, or glue of greater
purity than the usual article of commerce. To this end, I obtain bones and
separate from them. blood and, such other substances which are soluble in

page_text: water, so as to deprive them of putrescent matters, which according to the
usual manufacture become mingled or partially so with the gelatine, &c. The
bones thus purified I treat with an acid, in order to dissolve the phosphate or
other salt of lime, leaving the gelatine in a solid state, which, after being
washed, as hereafter to be described, may be used as an article of commerce,
or boiled into a paste or jelly, ready for immediate use. The liquor in which
the bones have been macerated I reserve, and extract therefrom phosphorous
or salammoniac and superphosphate of lime, applicable as a manure.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will now describe
the operations in detail, as I have found them to answer. By preference I
use skull bones, or those of the inside of the horns, sometimes called sloughs
or pith, as being most free from extraneous matters; these I wash in several
separate quantities of cold water, repeating the operation until the water runs
off clear; some hours should elapse between each washing, and the cleansing
will generally be complete in two days. The blood and other soluble matters
having been thus carried off, the bones are macerated in hydrochloric acid
diluted to the strength of six degrees Twaddle, and this operation is continued
for eight or ten days, by which time the phosphate and carbonate of limo will
be dissolved, leaving the bones in their original form, but consisting of gelatine
only. Should bones be employed on which there are fatty matters I free them
therefrom by boiling after the above washing; but I prefer such as those above
mentioned.
The gelatine obtained in the form of the bones as above described I
wash in water, repeated three or four times during about two days, and sub-
sequently treat it in the same manner with milk of lime, by the former of
which it is deprived of salts that may be in solution; by the latter any remain.
ing acid is neutralized, and if there be fat it is saponified. After this I wash
in several waters to extract remaining lime, and the gelatino is then dried,
and in that form ready for use as an article of cominerce; or it may be boiled
down into a paste or jelly of required consistency.
The acid liquor in which the bones have been macerated I reserve, and by
adding ammonia precipitate superphosphate of lime, which may be used as a
manure; the then remaining liquor, being salammoniac, may be crystalized or
sublimed for an article of commerce; and I also use the precipitated salt for
the purpose of obtaining phosphorous by any known method.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be under-
stood that I claim, as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters
Patent-

page_text: Firstly, the washing of the bones so as to free them from blood and other
such soluble matters.
Secondly, the maceration of the bones in acid, whereby the salts of lime
are extracted, leaving gelatine in a solid condition.
And, thirdly, the washing and neutralizing the said solid gelatine being so
used as an article of commerce, or boiled into a jelly or paste, and I claim
the operations above described either jointly or separately; I also claim the
use of the acid liquor above mentioned for the purposes of obtaining the
aforesaid substances therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Edward Schmersahl, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
AUG. LDD SCHMERSAHL. (L.S.)