IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VIOLET COLOUR
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VIOLET COLOUR." A communica-
tion from abroad by Johann Zeltner, of Nuremberg, Bavaria.
Sealed the 29th December 1877, and dated the 6th July 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th July 1877.
WILLIAM ROBERT-LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
VIOLET COLOUR." -[A communication from abroad by Johann Zeltner, of Nuremberg,
Bavaria.]
In the manufacture of this new colour I employ the following different modes of
procedure.
According to one method I proceed as follows, that is to say, I conduct a dry
halogen, preferably chlorine, over ultramarine blue or ultramarine green, heated to
300° Celsius, and thus halogenous products of the ultramarine are generated. After
this operation the ultramarine changes with chlorine at the beginning of the
process into a green substance, and by further action of the chlorine into a dark
red. The products thus originated are then placed in water, carbolic acid, or
'corrosive ley, and warmed, when the chlorine contained therein is dissolved into
'chloric hydrogen and chloric alkali, and at the same time the new ultramarine
combination, ultramarine violet, remains, containing hydroxyl instead of halogen.
In a precisely analogous manner sulphuric acid produces anhydride, and when
poured into ultramarine heated to about 150° Celsius it gives a sulphuric product
of a reddish color, which when mixed with carbolic acid or corrosive alkali ley
changes itself into a dissolving sulphuric acid alkali, and into an ultramarine violet
hydroxide.
I modify, the above process for carrying the said Invention into practise as
follows: I take blue or green ultramarine and heat the same to 160-180° Celsius,
and then take chlorine (or any other halogen) and steam and conduct into the said

page_text: ultramarine. There will then be an immediate formation of ultramarine violet,
hydroxide, and chloride of sodium, the last of which is removed by means of water.
According to another modification in the method of producing the said colour
according to this Invention, I take combinations of salts, which when heated in
water transform themselves into halogen and other gases, such as nitrogen, or the
like, for instance, nitrates and sal ammoniac. Should blue or green ultramarine be
mixed and heated with such a combination of salts, as, for example, nitrate of
of ammonium and sal ammoniac, nitrate of sodium and sal ammoniac, or in fact
with any mixture of salts, generating water and a halogen when heated, then, in
accordance with the second process above described, a direct ultramarine violet
hydroxide will be produced, and should there be any ammoniac salts present a
violet ultramarine amide will be produced. The salts are then removed by means
of washing, and an insoluble violet ultramarine remains.
I take
I further modify my Invention in the following manner, that is to say,
blue or green ultramarine and heat the same to 160 @ 180° Celsius, and submit it
at the same time to the action of the following bodies, namely, an acid, an oxidating
agent, and water, either separately or in combination. The result of this process
will be a more or less complete transformation of the ultramarine into a violet
nltramarine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
January 1878.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
VIOLET COLOUR." A communication from abroad by Johann Zeltner, of Nuremberg,
Bavaria.
My Invention has for its object the manufacture of a new colour, which I call
violet ultramarine.
In the manufacture or preparation of this new colour I employ the following
different modes of procedure, that is to say :-
According to one method I subject to the action of chlorine gas ultramarine blue
or ultramarine green, previously heated to 300° Centigrade, and thus obtain chlorous
products of ultramarine. The ultramarine is first transformed by the effect of the
chlorine into a green substance, and by a further or continued action of the chlorine
into a dark red. The products thus obtained are then placed in water in a solution
of carbonic acid or alkaline liquor or lye, and warmed. Then the chlorine combined
with these products passes in the solution into the condition of chloruretted alkali,
and at the same time appears the new ultramarine combination, that is to say, the
ultramarine violet, which contains combined with it hydroxyl instead of chlorine.
In a precisely analogous manner anhydrous sulphuric acid will produce on the
ultramarine heated to about 150° Celsius a sulphur product of a red colour,
which when mixed with carbonic acid, or a caustic alkaline lye, is transformed into
an isolated alkaline sulphate and hydroxidized ultramarine violet.
According to another method of practising my Invention I modify the above
described process as follows:-I take blue or green ultramarine and heat the same

page_text: to 160-180 Celsius, and then introduce into the mass of ultramarine chlorine (or
other halogen), and steam. There will then be an immediate formation of violet
ultramarine, hydroxide, and chloride of sodium, the latter of which is removed by
means of water.
According to another modification in the method of producing the said colour,
according to this Invention, I take combinations of salts, which when heated in
water will be decomposed with chlorine or other substance, or azote, such, for
example, as the nitrate and the chlorate of ammonia. Should blue or green ultra-
marine be mixed with either of these compounds, as, for example, nitrate or chlorate
of ammonia, and heated in water, and a compound producing chlorine, and if this
mixture is heated in accordance with the second process above described I obtain an
ultramarine violet hydroxide, and in transforming it by ammoniacal salts a violet
ultramarine amide. The corresponding salts which are formed are then removed
by washing, and an insoluble violet ultramarine remains.
According to the fourth method of carrying my Invention into practice I proceed
as follows, that is to say, I take blue or green ultramarine and heat the same to
160 @ 180° Celsius, and submit it at the same time to the action of the following
bodies, namely, an acid, an oxidating agent, or water, either separately or in com-
bination. The result of this process will be a more or less complete transformation.
of the ultramarine into a violet ultramarine.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
First. The above described novel process for the manufacture of violet ultramarine.
Second. The new colour or violet ultramarine obtained by this process.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.