AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MURIATE OF AMMONIA."
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hunt, of Tipton, in the County of Stafford,
Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MURIATE OF AMMONIA."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
September 1862.
I, WILLIAN HUNT, of Tipton, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturing
5 Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Ax IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MURIATE OF AMMONIA," to be
as follows:-
Muriate of ammonia is ordinarily made by adding muriatic acid to the
ammoniacal liquors obtained in making coal gas. The solution of muriate of
ammonia thus obtained is evaporated to dryness, and the solid sublimed to
separate it from impurities.
My Invention consists in making muriate of ammonia by mixing muriatic
acid gas or chlorine and the vapour of water with atmospheric air, or with
uncombined nitrogen obtained from any convenient source, and causing this
gaseous mixture to pass through burning coke or coal or other carbonaceous
fuel. Under these circumstances the vapour of water is decomposed by the
ignited carbon which combines with the oxygen of the water, and the nascent

page_text: hydrogen entering into combination with the nitrogen present forms ammonia,
which, with the muriatic acid, also present, forms muriate of ammonia. The
waste combustible gases evolved from blast furnaces and other furnaces may be
used in carrying my Invention into effect, the said waste gases being mixed with
muriatic acid gas and made to burn in the furnaces of steam engine boilers or
in other furnaces. Where muriatic acid cannot be conveniently employed,
chloride of manganese, or chloride of iron, or chloride of sodium, or any other
chloride capable of yielding chlorine on being heated, may be employed. In
this case the chloride used is mixed with the coal or coke fuel and a little
steam is passed through the fire. The chloride is decomposed, and the chlorine
evolved combines with the hydrogen and nitrogen present and forms muriate
of ammonia. The muriate of ammonia produced passes off in the form of
vapour with the gaseous products of the combustion, and by cooling the said
products the muriate of ammonia may be condensed and may be separated
from impurities by sublimation. Or the gases from the furnace in which the
process is carried on may be made to pass, either by a chimney draft or by
the use of a fan, through a condenser filled with coke or other suitable
material, and a stream of water being made to percolate through the coke, the
muriate of ammonia present in the gases is dissolved by the water and may
be obtained in a solid form by evaporation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
February 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HUNT, of Tipton, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturing Chemist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Hunt, Her special licence that I, the said William Hunt, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
lunt, 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

page_text: Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MURIATE OF AMMONIA,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Hunt, 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 Offico
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Hunt, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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:-
Muriate of ammonia is ordinarily made by adding muriatic acid to the
ammoniacal liquors obtained in making coal gas. The solution of muriate of
ammonia tbus obtained is evaporated to dryness, and the solid sublimed to
separate it from impurities.
My Invention consists in making muriate of ammonia by mixing muriatic
acid gas or chlorine and the vapour of water with atmospheric air, or with
uncombined nitrogen obtained from any convenient source, and causing this
gaseous mixture to pass through burning coke or coal or other carbonaceous
fuel. Under these circumstances the vapour of water is decomposed by the
ignited carbon which combines with the oxygen of the water, and the nascent
bydrogen entering into combination with the nitrogen present forms ammonia,
which, with the muriatic acid gas, also present, forms muriate of ammonia. The
waste combustible gases evolved from blast furnaces and other furnaces may be
used in carrying my Invention into effect, the said waste gases being mixed
with muriatic acid gas and made to burn in the furnaces of steam engine boilers
or in other furnaces. Where muriatic acid cannot be conveniently employed,
chloride of manganese, or chloride of iron, or chloride of sodium, or other
chloride capable of yielding chlorine on being heated, may be employed. In
this case the chloride is passed into the blast or other furnace, or mixed with
the coal or coke fuel used in the furnace, and a little steam is passed through
the fire. The chloride is decomposed and the chlorine evolved combines with
the hydrogen and nitrogen present and forms muriate of ammonia. The
muriate of ammonia produced passes off in the form of vapour with the
gaseous products of the combustion, and by cooling the said products
the muriate of ammonia may be condensed and may be separated from
impurities by sublimation. Or the gases from the furnace in which the

page_text: process is carried on may be made to pass, either by a chimney draft or by
the use of a fan, through a condenser filled with coke or other suitable
material, and a stream of water being made to percolate through the coke the
muriate of ammonia present in the gases is dissolved by the water and may
be obtained in a solid form by evaporation.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe
the manner in which the same is to be performed.
When I carry my Invention into effect by using the waste combustible
gases evolved from blast furnaces, I volatilize muriatic acid, and pass it into
the said furnaces with the atmospheric air or blast by placing a cast-iron pot
or vessel in communication with the blast pipes of the furnace, the said pot
or vessel, containing liquid muriatic acid, which is volatilized, and allowed to
mix with the said blast passing to the furnace.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents a form of apparatus,
which may be used for this purpose; a is the pot or vessel built in the brick-
work b. Underneath the said pot or vesssel is a fire-place c, by menus of
which the muratic acid supplied to the said pot or vessel is volatilized.
The top of the pot or vessel a opens into the blast pipe d. The muriatic acid
is supplied to the pot or vessel by means of the syphon pipe e, to the upper
part of which a vesself is connected. The vesself is surmounted by a stop-
cock 9. and a funnel. Communication between the vessel fand pipe e is
effected by the stop-cock h. The stop-cocks g and h are made of earthen-
ware. The vesself being filled with muriatic acid the stop-cock 9 is closed,
and the stop-cock h opened, and the acid contained in the vesself is thereby
made to pass into the vessel a. Or the liquid acid may be allowed to trickle
into the blast pipe d, in which case the acid is conducted into the blast pipe by
means of earthenware pipes placed within cast-iron pipes, dry cement being
placed between the iron and earthenware. The muriatic acid thus conveyed to
the blast furnace mixed with the nitrogen of the atmospheric air give rise to
the formation of muriate of ammonia as they pass through the ignited fuel of
the furnace; the muriate of ammonia formed may be collected in the manner
berein-after explained.
When I introduce chlorine in the form of some solid compound of chlorine
into the blast furnace to form muriate of ammonia, I use an apparatus
arranged in the manner represented in Figure 2, that is to say, I connect a
hollow globular vessel i with the blast pipe or pipes of the said furnaces, the
said vessel having stop-cocks k, l, at top and bottom respectively. Powdered
chloride of manganese, or chloride of iron, or chloride of sodium, or other
chloride capable of yielding chlorine, on being heated is placed in the said

page_text: by opening the stop-cock
globular vessel
and closing the lower one 1.
The vessel i having been filled the stop-cock & is closed, and the stop-cock / is
opened to permit of the powdered chloride passing slowly into the blast
pipe m, which said chloride is carried by the blast to the furnace where it is
decomposed, and the chlorine evolved combines with the hydrogen and
nitrogen present, and forms muriate of ammonia. In place of the chlorides
enumerated, the boiled down residual liquor resulting from the manufacture
of bleaching powder may be employed with the same effect, the said residual
liquor containing chloride of manganese and chloride of iron. Instead of
passing muriatic acid or chlorine into the blast furnace by means of the blast
as described in order to bring muriatic acid or chlorine and free nitrogen
into contact with the burning fuel in the said furnace, I effect the same object
by saturating the coal or coke, or other material used in the blast furnace,
with the waste liquor resulting from the manufacture of bleaching powder,
the said liquor containing chlorides of manganese and iron, and some free
muriatic acid, or a solution of chloride of sodium, or other solid or liquid
capable of yielding chlorine when heated may be used, mixed with tho
coal or coke or other material. When chlorides are used the vapour of
water present in the air yields hydrogen to form with the chlorine muriatic
acid, and with the nitrogen ammonia. The muriate of ammonia formed
in the blast furnace is conducted with the other gases from the said furnace
along an iron flue, and the said gases are separated by causing them to
be drawn by means of a chimney or fan through an absorbing chamber or
condensing apparatus of the kind berein-after described and represented
in Figure 8, the said chamber or apparatus containing water or moistened
coke. The muriate of ammonia is taken up by the water, and the other
gases escape into the atmosphere, or are conveyed to a steam boiler furnace,
or other furnace. Or the muriate of ammonia may be separated from the
combustible gases after the latter have been employed for generating steam
or other purpose. Where the products of combustion have to travel a con-
siderable distance through flues, as for example in the manufacture of salt,
the use of an absorbing or condensing chamber is unnecessary as the muriate
of ammonia will be deposited on the sides of the flues, and may be collected
from time to time. When I wish to obtain muriate of ammonia from furnaces
other than blast furnaces, I place a suitable vessel containing muriatic acid
near the place where the coal or coke is burning, and I cause the said
muriatic acid to be drawn through the fire in a gascous state. Or the coal
or coke used may be saturated with muriatic acid, or with any solution of a
chloride capable of yickling chlorine when heated, before the said coal or coke

page_text: is burned. When saturated coal is used in coke ovens, as the coking opera-
tion proceeds muriate of ammonia is formed in the manner herein-before
explained, which is conveyed with the other gases through a chimney to a
condensing or absorbing chamber where the muriate of ammonia is condensed
and the gases escape to the air. Figure 3 represents an apparatus of this
kind, the condensing chamber of which may also be used to condense the
muriate of ammonia obtained from blast furnaces and other furnaces; o is the
chimney or flue opening into the coke oven at p. The said chimney p is
connected by a pipe 9 with the condensing or absorbing chamber r, in which
chamber coke or other suitable matter is maintained in a moistened state by a
gentle stream of water supplied to the chamber in the usual way. The
bottom of the condensing chamber r communicates by a pipes with a stack
or chimney. As the condensing chamber r is of the kind commonly used in
chemical manufactures, I do not think a further description of it necessary.
The muriate of ammonia and combustible gases are drawn by the draught up
the flue or chimney o, and through the condensing chamber r, where the
muriate of ammonia is dissolved by the water in the said chamber, and the
residual gases escape by the pipes into the chimney, and from thence into
the air. The solution of muriate of ammonia accumulates at the bottom of
the condensing chamber r, and can be removed from time to time by the
stop-cock t. The muriate of ammonia will in each of the cases herein-before
described be obtained in a state of impurity, being mixed with particles of
unburned carbon or earthy matter, and sometimes a little excess of muriatic
acid. To obtain pure muriate of ammonia from the said mixture I neutralize
the free acid with lime and evaporate the solution to dryness, and afterwards
sublime the solid muriate of ammonia in the ordinary way. The quantity of
muriatic acid or chlorine which it is necessary to use in each case must be
such as to give a slight excess of muriatic acid to the muriate of ammonia
obtained, which excess may be detected by using moistened litmus paper in
the usual way. Instead of using the wasto gases of fires or furnaces the
mixture of muriatic acid, or other chlorine compound, may be passed
through a furnace having no other use than the manufacture of muriate of
ammonia.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention, but I claim as my
Invention the improvement or improvements in the manufacture of muriate
of ammonia herein-beforo described and illustrated in the accompanying

page_text: Drawing, that is to say, manufacturing muriate of ammonia by passing a
mixture of volatilized muriatic acid and atmospheric air or uncombined nitrogen
through burning coke or coal or other carbonaceous fuel, or passing a mixture
of atmospheric air or uncombined nitrogen through ignited fuel, with which
fuel has been mixed chloride of manganese or chloride of iron, or other
chloride capable of yielding chlorine or muriatic acid when heated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hunt, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM HUNT. (LS.)
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW,