IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Franklin Winser, of the City of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, and Israel Swindells, of Kegworth, in the
County of Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Franklin Winser and
Israel Swindells at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 11th March 1868.
We, FRANKLIN WINSER, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, and ISRAEL SWINDELLS, of Kegworth, in the County of
Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF MAGNESIA," to be as
follows:-
In the manufacture of alkali by the present known method lime or
carbonate of lime is used as a flux, either for the alkali, soda, 01
potash.

page_text: This Invention relates to the use of magnesia limestone, containing
more or less of carbonate of magnesia, commonly known by the name
of dolomite. We use this instead of lime or limestone, by which means
we obtain sulphides or sulphites of magnesia. These sulphides or
sulphites we treat either by exposure to the atmosphere or by wasting,
in a furnace, or by any other commonly known means by which
sulphides or sulphites are reduced to sulphates. When this result is
obtained we treat them in the ordinary known method for solution and
crystalization.
There is a certain per-centage of carbonate of magnesia left in the
waste from black ash balls on the above plan. This we treat with
bi-sulphurett' of iron or any other metal or earth containing this com-
bination, either before or after solution.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said
Franklin Winser and Israel Swindells, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FRANKLIN
WINSER, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, and
ISRAEL SWINDELLS, of Kegworth, in the County of Leicester, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Franklin Winser and Israel Swindells,
Her special license, that we, the said Franklin Winser and Israel
Swindells, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Franklin Winser and Israel Swindells, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and 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

page_text: Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF MAGNESIA," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Franklin Winser and Israel Swindells, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
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 on or before the 18th day of September One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Franklin Winser and Israel
Swindells, do hereby declare the nature of our 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) :-
We take carbonate of magnesia or dolomite instead of carbonate of
lime, and fuse or flux it in the usual way adopted in the manufacture
of soda ash or alkali, and in the manufacture of potasthen we
separate the alkalies in the usual well-known methods. The residuum
or blue waste, which has to a considerable extent become converted
into sulphide of magnesia, has then to be freed from the rough carbona-
ceous matters by means of picking and washing. The fine sulphides
of magnesia after being thus freed are dryed and roasted in any
ordinary reverberatory or other suitable furnace. The whole of the
magnesia in the blue waste will not however be found to be wholly
converted into sulphides, there not being sufficient sulphur given off
during the process of the soda ash or potash manufacture; in this case,
after testing and carefully ascertaining the quantity of sulphur that is
deficient, we add the equivalent of sulphur by means of mixing ground
sulphides or bi-sulphides of any metal or earth with it in the furnace,
we prefer using bi-sulphide of iron. The sulphurous acid that is thus
liberated by the action of the heat becomes, if the mass be kept properly
stirred up, united to those parts which were deficient. The action of
the heat (which is a known method equally with that of exposure to
atmospheric air for the converting of sulphides into sulphates) in
conjunction with the sulphurous acid gas liberated from the metals
or earths as before described, causes the greater part of the mass to be
converted into sulphate of magnesia, which can be dissolved in the usual
ways.

page_text: Having now described the nature and particulars of our said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire
it to be understood that we claim,―
First. The use of carbonate of magnesia or dolomite in the manu-
facture of alkalies instead of carbonate of lime for the production of
sulphate of magnesia or Epsom salts.
Secondly. The use of sulphides or bi-sulphides of earths and metals,
in combination with either carbonate or oxide of magnesia, for the
further development of the manufacture of sulphate of magnesia or
Epsom salts.
In witness whereof, I, the said Franklin Winser, for and on behalf
of myself and the said Israel Swindells, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the within named
Franklin Winser, in the
presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
FRANKLIN WINSER. (L.S.)