IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DEXTRINE
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMOND
HEUZE, of Fenton's Hotel, Saint James's Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-seventh day of September, in the second year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edmond Heuzé, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege, and autho-
rity, that I, the said Edmond Heuzé, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edmond Heuzé, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DEXTRINE;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Edmond
Heuzé, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar months next imme
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edmond Heuzé; do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
in the following explanation thereof (that is to say):

page_text: The Invention consists in the formation; or manufacture, or production of
the substance known in chemistry by the name of dextrine, by means of the
admixture and action of nitric acid with and upon the farina of potatoes (usually
called potatoe starch), or the flour or starch of wheat barley, or other appro-
priate farinaceous grain or seeds, and preparing such mixture as herein-after
described, whereby the same is converted into dextrine at a much less
expence and in a state more serviceable for manufacturing purposes than by
any means hitherto discovered. This operation may be performed in different
ways, but the following is the process which at present appears to me the best,
and which I employ. The farina, flour, or starch being in a dry state, a
portion of nitric acid of the specific gravity of about equal in weight, to
one four-hundredth part of the farina or flour, is mixed with such a quantity
of pure water as is sufficient to wet the farina, flour, or starch, which is then
carefully mixed with this fluid, so that every part of it may be wetted much
as bread is mixed or kneaded. It is not, however, necessary (though I think
preferable) that the farina or flour of potatoes and similar substances should
be brought into a dry state, but it may be used as it is obtained by the maker
from the tub or vat; in such case a less portion of water will be required in
the admixture of the nitric acid.
The paste thus formed is divided into lumps of any convenient size, say,
about twenty-five pounds weight, and these should be put to drain for a few
hours to allow any superfluous moisture to run off. The lumps should then
be broken with the hands into small pieces, and placed in a chamber heated
to any degree not exceeding one hundred and seventy-six degrees of Fahren-
heit, and kept there till perfectly dry (which at the heat of one hundred and
seventy-six degrees will be done within twenty hours), and they are then
reduced to the state of flour by pounding or grinding and the use of a bolter
or sieve, and this flour is then placed in an oven heated to from two hundred
and twelve to two hundred and forty-eight degrees of Fahrenheit, where it is
kept till thoroughly dry. The time necessary for this purpose will vary
according to the degree of heat from about a quarter of an hour to five
minutes; the lower the degree of heat within the prescribed limits, the dextrine
will be the whiter, which is advantageous. When wanted to be used for any
of the purposes which I shall presently describe, the dextrine thus obtained is
to be mixed with water either cold or hot; the proportion of water varies
according to the consistence of the liquor required, which differs for different
purposes. The product is a gummy or gum-like liquor similar to the solution
of gum senegal in water, and its principal uses are as a substitute for that
gum. The most general object for which the dextrine is used is a substitute

page_text: for the solution of gum senegal, and other gummy or gum-like substances, in
printing and dressing silk, cotton, linen, and other fabrics, in painting or
printing paper-hangings, in all sorts of distemper painting, in stiffening the
different fabrics which require it, such as gauze, and in all the preparations
which required formerly the use of starch and calcined starch, calcined farina
or British gum, also in the preparation of adhesive plaisters and bandages for
surgical purposes, in glazing visiting cards and other papers. In short, it
is a perfect substitute for gum senegal and other gummy and gum-like sub-
stances, in all processes of this nature with which I am acquainted, while it is
much cheaper than any of them. Any heated chamber and any oven in which
heat can be obtained at the degrees mentioned above will answer the above
purposes; I wish to observe that I do not confine my Invention to the par-
ticular process, or preparation, or mode of mixing which I have above
described. These are merely pointed out as the most convenient methods
that I have discovered of employing my Invention, which is the use of nitric
acid mixed with water and farinaceous vegetable matter, and exposing it to
the degrees of heat stated, so as to thereby produce dextrine; but I do not
claim as new or of my Invention, the application of dextrine to the processes
I have above mentioned, or any other.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmond Heuzé, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the 2nd day of January, One thousand eight hundred