Improvements in the Manufacture and Application of the Compounds of Fluoride of Antimony with the Chlorides or Sulphates of Sodium, Potassium, or Ammonium,
Year: 1887

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture and Application of the Compounds
of Fluoride of Antimony with the Chlorides or Sulphates of
Sodium, Potassium, or Ammonium,
I, CARL JOHANN EUGEN DE HAEN of the Chemical Works, List, near Hanover, in
the Empire of Germany, Doctor of Philosophy, and Royal Counsellor of Commerce,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Fluoride of antimony, the formula of which is Sb. Fl, and which is obtained by
dissolving pure antimonious oxide free from iron in aqueous hydrofluoric acid, when
mixed in a suitable proportion with the solutions of the chlorides of sodium potassium
and ammonium and after the solution being evaporated up to the point of crystalliza-
tion gives, in cooling, crystals corresponding to the following formulae ;
1.) The compound of Huoride of antimony with chloride of sodium: Sb Fl, Cl Na;
this is a double salt readily soluble in water and crystallizing in needle-form.
2.) The compound of fluoride of antimony with chloride of potassium: Sb. Fl, Cl K.
This product crystallizes in very beautiful hard crystals of the rhombic system of
crystallization, and is soluble at 24° C. in two parts of water and at the boiling point in
one third part of its own weight of water.
3.) The compound of fluoride of antimony with chloride of ammonium (Sb. Fl, Cl NH₁)
crystallizes also very readily and is extremely readily soluble in water.
Analogously to the chlorides of sodium potassium and ammonium, the sulphates of
sodium, potash and ammonia, give also under the above mentioned conditions with the
fluoride of antimony, crystallizing compounds,

page_text: The bodies produced by the evaporated solutions are correspondingly
1.) The compound of fluoride of antimony with sulphate of soda, the formula of
which is Sb Fl, So, Na,, it crystallizes in small prisms and is readily soluble in .
water.
2.) The compound of fluoride of antimony with sulphate of potash, the formula of
which is Sb F, So, K, and which crystallizes in geodes.
3.) The compound of fluoride of antimony with sulphate of ammonia corresponding
to the formula Sb. Fl, So, (NH).
This latter double compound crystallizes readily and forms crystals of the hexagonal
system; it is already soluble in water at 24° C. in the proportion of 1 part of water to 1.4
part of salt, and at the boiling point in the proportion of as much as 1 of water to
15 of salt. The salt shows a content of antimony corresponding to 46.94 per cent. of
antimonious oxide.
The object of the production of these compounds which heretofore were not known,
is the industrial application of the same especially in the dyeing process in lieu of the
expensive tartar emetic.
Among all the new double compounds there is that of fluoride of antimony with
sulphate of ammonia, which, on account of its excellent properties, is particularly fit for
replacing the tartar emetic.
The following statement may prove the advantage resulting from the industrial
application of the salts of fluoride of antimony in lieu of the tartar emetic or oxalate
It may be remarked here:
The tartar emetic contains 43 per cent. of tartaric acid having a commercial value
of Marks: 145,00. This expensive substance is replaced in the double salts of fluoride
of antimony by fluorine respectively by sulphates, the value of which is not one sixth
of that of the tartaric acid; this difference explains the considerable difference of price
between the new salts and the tartar emetic.
The mode of applying these double salts of fluoride of antimony in the dyeing
process is exactly the same as that of the tartar-emetic. As in both the substances, the
efficiency depends only on the antimonious oxide, instead of employing as heretofore,
one part of tartar-emetic containing 43-46 per cent. of antimonious oxide, about
0,925 parts of the compound of fluoride of antimony with sulphate of ammonia containing
46.94 per cent. of antimonious oxide are used, or any other of the above said
compounds in a quantity corresponding to their contents of antimonious oxide.
Not only the six especially mentioned compounds of fluoride of antimony with the
chlorides of sodium and potassium, or the sulphates of the same may be obtained, but
also mixtures of sulphates of soda and potash, or of the chlorides of the same with
fluoride of antimony, the composition of which is different to that of the formula
propounded above. These mixtures are mentioned here only because the above said
compounds form the base of the same, and because these mixtures are to be secured
by the same Letters Patent as the two groups of the new compounds of fluoride of
antimony.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A process of manufacturing the compounds of the fluoride of antimony with the
chlorides of sodium, potassium, or ammonium, or the mixtures of these compounds
with indifferent salts, which process consists in adding to liquid fluoride of antimony,

page_text: the necessary quantities of the dissolved chlorides, and in evaporating then these
solutions so far that they crystallize after cooling.
2. In the process characterized in claim 1, the substitution in the compounds of
fluoride of antimony, of the chlorides by the corresponding sulphates of soda, potash
and ammonia, substantially as set forth.
3. The application in dyeing and cloth printing of the compounds of fluoride of
antimony characterized in claims 1 and 2 in place of the tartar-emetic, substantially as
set forth.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.