IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN GAS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Alfred Wanklyn, of 11, Harrington Street,
Hampstead Road, in the County of Middlesex, Professor of
Chemistry, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION
OF OXYGEN GAS."
Sealed the 29th April 1873, and dated the 2nd November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Alfred Wanklyn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 2nd November 1872.
I, JAMES ALFRED WANKLYN, of 11, Harrington Street, Hampstead
Road, in the County of Middlesex, Professor of Chemistry, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRO-
DUCTION OF OXYGEN GAS," to be as follows: :―
This Invention consists in utilizing the chemical properties of copper
and oxide of copper in the preparation of oxygen gas as hereafter
described. It is known to chemists that metallic copper has the pro-
perty of absorbing oxygen from the air with great readiness and

page_text: completeness at a low red heat, and that oxide of copper (which is
produced by this absorption) parts very readily with its oxygen to
organic substances. I have recently observed that oxide of copper also
parts with oxygen very readily to certain metallic oxides. These pro-
perties render copper and oxide of copper serviceable in the extraction
of oxygen from the atmosphere. It is known that when baryta is heated
to low redness in air it takes up oxygen, and that when the resulting
peroxide of barium is heated in steam it parts with the oxygen which
had been taken up, and that by taking advantage of these properties
oxygen may be extracted from the atmosphere and rendered available
for use.
There is however, as is well known, a practical difficulty on
account of the slowness of the absorption of oxygen by baryta.
This Invention has for its object the getting over this difficulty by the
use of copper and oxide of copper, thereby rendering the extraction of
oxygen from the atmosphere a cheap and practicable operation.
The following is an example of my said Invention, as follows:-I mix
one part by weight of baryta with at least half its weight of oxide of
copper. I then place the mixture on the bottom of an iron retort and
heat to redness, after which I pass steam through the said retort
and lead the steam into a vessel containing cold water to condense it.
The oxygen which accompanies the steam is led into a gas holder. After
passing steam through the retort I pass air through it and allow the
nitrogen which is not absorbed to escape. I then repeat the said treat-
ment with steam.
Tustred of honoto T
MAY
ampler Time
AH
oxide of
man01208O
Oxa
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Alfred Wanklyn in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ALFRED WANKLYN, of 11, Harrington Street, Hampstead Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Professor of Chemistry, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Alfred Wanklyn,
Her special licence that I, the said James Alfred Wanklyn, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Alfred Wanklyn, 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 Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN
GAS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Alfred Wanklyn, 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 Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Alfred Wanklyn, do
hereby declare the nature of my 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 consists in utilizing the chemical properties of copper
and oxide of copper in the preparation of oxygen gas as hereafter
described. It is known to chemists that metallic copper has the pro-
perty of absorbing oxygen from the air with great readiness and
completeness at a low red heat, and that oxide of copper (which is
produced by this absorption) parts very readily with its oxygen to
organic substances. I have recently observed that oxide of copper also
parts with oxygen very readily to certain metallic oxides. These pro-
perties render copper and oxide of copper serviceable in the extraction of
oxygen from the atmosphere. It is known that when baryta is heated
to low redness in air it takes up oxygen, and that when the resulting
peroxide of barium is heated in steam it parts with the oxygen which
had been taken up, and that by taking advantage of these properties

page_text: oxygen may be extracted from the atmosphere and rendered available
for use. There is however, as is well know, a practical difficulty on
account of the slowness of the absorption of oxygen by the baryta.
This Invention has for its object the getting over this difficulty by the
use of copper and oxide of copper, thereby rendering the extraction of
oxygen from the atmosphere a cheap and practicable operation.
The following is an example of my said Invention :- I mix one part
by weight of baryta with one part by weight of lime and about one part
by weight of oxide of copper. I then place the mixture on the bottom
of an iron retort and heat to redness, after which I pass steam through
the said retort and lead steam into a vessel containing cold water to con-
dense it. The oxygen which accompanies the steam is led into a gas
holder. After passing steam through the retort I pass air through it
and allow the nitrogen which is not absorbed to escape. I then repeat
the said treatment with steam.

page_text: sented.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Alfred Wanklyn, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
J. ALFRED WANKLYN. (L.S.)