A NEW METHOD OF PREPARING SULPHUROUS ACID IN SOLUTION
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Septimus Losh, of Wreny Syke, in the
County of Cumberland, Esquire, for the Invention of "A NEW METHOD
OF PREPARING SULPHUROUS ACID IN SOLUTION."
Sealed the 28th May 1861, and dated the 1st December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Septimus Losh
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
.. 1st December 1860.
I, WILLIAM SEPTIMUS LOSH, of Wreay Syke, in the County of Cumberland,
Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW
METHOD OF PREPARING SULPHUROUS ACID IN SOLUTION," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in producing sulphurous acid in solution by decom-
posing a hypo-sulphite salt. The way in which I carry out my process is as
follows:-I put a given weight of hypo-sulphite of soda into solution in cold
water in the proportion of 3 lbs. of hypo-sulphite of soda to 10 gallons of water.
I then add strong sulphuric acid in the proportion of 6 oz. to each lb. of the
hypo-sulphite of soda. Sulphurous acid is evolved and held in solution, sulphur
falls, and when the solution is clear it is ready for use in the arts. I do not
confine myself to the use of hypo-sulphite of soda and sulphuric acid, but to the
hypo-sulphites and the acids generally; neither do I confine myself to the exact
proportions before given.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Septimus Losh in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SEPTIMUS LOSH, of Wreay Syke, in the County of Cumberland, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said:
William Septimus Losh, Her special licence that 'I, the said William Sep-
timus Losh, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others às I, the
said William Septimus Losh, 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 "A NEW
METHOD OF PREPARING SULPHUROUS ACID IN SOLUTION," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Septimus Losh, 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 William Septimus Losh, 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 producing sulphurous acid in solution by decom-
posing hypo-sulphite salts in water. And in order to make my Invention clear
and easily understood I proceed to describe the manner in which I
carry it
into effect. I put into water a given quantity of hypo-sulphite of soda, or
hypo-sulphite of lime, or other earthy or alkaline hypo-sulphite, and then add
sulphuric acid, or any other acid that will decompose the hypo-sulphito salts;
sulphurous acid is given off, and the water becomes saturated; the sulphur
that falls and any other impurity is allowed to settle, and the clear solution of
sulphurous acid is ready, after decantation, for use. The proportions I prefer
to use are, to each 1 lb. of hyposulphite placed in three gallons of water I add

page_text: 6 ounces of sulphuric acid, 1-848. I find the above proportions answer, but
do not confine myself thereto.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that though I prefer using
bypo-sulphite of soda or hypo-sulphite of lime, yet my Invention applies to
hypo-sulphite salts generally; and that I claim preparing sulphurous acid in
solution by decomposing hypo-sulphite salts in water in manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Septimus Losh, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
WILLIAM SEPTIMUS LOSH. (L.S.)