AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF PIGMENTS OR COLORING MATTERS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF PIGMENTS OR COLORING
MATTERS."A communication.
Sealed the 31st October 1854, and dated the 20th June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th June 1854.
T, WILLIAM EDWARD, NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
5 in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "An IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF PIGMENTS OR COLORING
MATTERS to be as follows :-
This Invention of An Improved Manufacture of Pigments or Coloring
Matters has for its object the production of various sorts of black colour,
known in commerce under the names of smoke black, lamp black, fish black,
German black, bone black, ivory black, and other dark colours, in a better and
more economical manner than by the ordinary process, in which the desired
result is produced by the decomposition by fire of organic substances possess-
ing an amount of carbon.

page_text: They are manufactured by burning these matters in a current of air
insufficient to cause complete combustion, or, by exposing them to the action
of an elevated temperature in closed vessels. The description of black must
necessarily depend on their origin, and on the circumstances attendant on
their formation or production. Lamp black consists of carbon nearly pure; a
small portion of tar mixed with the carbon is met with in smoke black; in
vegetable black some cinders are found mixed therewith; phosphate of lime
forms the principal ingredient in animal black. These different ingredients
give to each description of black particular properties, which render them
available for separate purposes, without establishing any great difference
between them in their application to oil painting and printing; in some a
disagreeable odour prevails, but in all the great fault will generally be found
to be slow drying.
The object of the present Invention is to modify the nature of the black,
and to do away with these objections to their use in the arts. These results
are obtained by mixing with the carbon alkaline and earthy bases. The oxides
of potassium, sodium, calcium, and aluminium are those most frequently
employed in the improved preparation of black coloring matter. The carbon
is obtained from some organic matter in preference to gas pitch, on account
of its cheapness. The oxides are introduced either in a caustic state, or are
employed in combinations, susceptible of decomposing one another when they
are mixed together. Oxides of potassium and aluminium can be decomposed
by alum; oxide of calcium by caustic lime, by its hydrate, or its pulverized
carbonate.
The following are the proportions in which the ingredients may be mixed :-
200 lbs. of the hydrated oxide of calcium are slacked in 160 lbs. of gas tar,
to which are added 18 lbs. of sulphate of alumina and potass, and with the
whole is formed a paste well mixed; this paste is then enclosed in a vessel,
which serves to preserve it from contact with the air while being strongly
heated. Earthenware pots or iron retorts, such as are employed in the
manufacture of animal black, are the vessels to be employed for the above
purpose. When the carbonization is complete, the fire is put out and the
ingredients left to cool in the closed vessel, after which the product is ready
for grinding. It will be understood, that by varying the proportions of tar and
hydrate of oxide of calcium, every shade of brown & grey can be produced
without the slightest difficulty.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors,, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton,. Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administra-
tors, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF PIGMENTS OR COLORING MATTERS,"
being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 William Edward Newton, 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 (that is to say):-
This Invention of "An Improved Manufacture of Pigments or Coloring
Matters" has for its object the production of various sorts of black color,
known in commerce under the names of smoke black, lamp black, fish black;
German black, bone black, ivory black, and other dark colors, in a better and
more economical manner than by the ordinary process; in which the result is
produced by the decomposition by fire of organic substances possessing a
certain amount of carbon. The various blacks are manufactured by burning
these organic matters in a current of air insufficient to cause complete

page_text: combustion, or by exposing them to the action or an elevated temperature m
closed vessels.
The description of black must necessarily depend on their origin, and on
the circumstances attendant on their formation or production. Lamp black
consists of carbon nearly pure; a small portion of tar mixed with the
carbon is met with in smoke black; in vegetable black some cinders are
found mixed therewith; phosphate of lime forms the principal ingredient in
animal black.
These different ingredients give to each description of black particular
properties, which render them available for different purposes; in some a
disagreeable odor prevails, but in all the great fault will generally be found to
be that they dry but slowly. The object of the present Invention is to modify
the nature of these blacks, and to obviate these objections to their use in
painting, printing, or the arts. These results are obtained by mixing with the
carbon alkaline and earthy bases.
The oxides of potassium, sodium, calcium, and aluminium, are those most
frequently employed in the improved preparation of black coloring matter.
The carbon is obtained from some organic matter; gas tar in preference, on
account of its cheapness. The oxides are introduced either in a caustic state,
or are employed in combinations, susceptible of decomposing one another
when they are mixed together. Oxides of potassium and aluminium can be
decomposed by alum; oxide of calcium by caustic lime, by its hydrate, or its
pulverized carbonate.
The following are the proportions in which the ingredients may be mixed :-
Two hundred pounds of the hydrated or slacked oxide of calcium are diluted
in or mixed with one hundred and sixty pounds of gas tar, to which are added
eighteen pounds of sulphate of alumina and potass, and with the whole is
formed a paste which must be well mixed. This paste is then enclosed in a
vessel, which serves to preserve it from contact with the air while being
stongly heated. Earthenware pots or iron retorts, such as are employed in the
manufacture of animal black, are the vessels to be employed for the above
purpose. When the carbonization is complete, the fire is put out and the
ingredients are left to cool in the closed vessel, after which the product is ready
for grinding. It will be understood, that by varying the proportions of tar
and hydrate of oxide of calcium, every shade of brown and grey can be pro-
duced without the slightest difficulty.
Having now described the Invention of "An Improved Manufacture of
Pigments or Coloring Matters," as communicated to me by my foreign corre-

page_text: spondent,, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to confine myself to
the proportions and ingredients above set forth, as they may doubtless be
varied without departing from the nature of the Invention; but that which I
consider to be new, and therefore desire to secure under the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent, is,
The production of a siccative black, brown, or grey pigment or coloring
matter, by the admixture with the gas tar or other organic substance to be
carbonized for the purpose, of the oxides of potassium, sodium, calcium,
aluminium, or other alkaline and earthy bases, for the purpose above set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFAtt,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.8.)