IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ALKALI
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Deacon, of Appleton House, Widnes,
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ALKALI."
Sealed the 11th November 1873, and dated the 20th September 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Deacon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the,
20th September 1873.
•
I, HENRY DEACON, of Appleton House, Widnes, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ALKALI," to be as follows:
This Invention relates to the "finishing" of the "salts" obtained in
the manufacture of alkali. At present these "salts" are "finished." by.
being calcined in reverberatory furnaces.
Now my Invention consists in omitting this calcination, and instead.
thereof causing heated air to pass through the said "salts" when at an
elevated temperature. The said salts are placed in an iron or other

page_text: vessel provided with a false bottom, perforated pipes, or with other con-
venient means for permitting the entrance and passage of heated air into
and through the said "salts," such air being heated and propelled
through the "salts" by means of any well-known air heating and air
propelling apparatus. Should the salts contain much caustic alkali
they are easily fused, and their fusion may be effected in a cast-iron
vessel, and the heated air may be propelled or caused to pass through
the melted mass.
"
In order to economise the heat the vessels containing the " salts
may be arranged in a series, so that the air may pass from one to
another. The escaping heated air may thus be used to warm fresh
cold "salts," and the heated finished "salts may thus be used to warm
fresh cold air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Deacon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DEACON, of Appleton House, Widnes, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Deacon, Her
special license, that I, the said Henry Deacon, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Deacon,
my executors, administrators, or 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 MANUFACTURE OF ALKALI," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Deacon, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the

page_text: 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 Henry Deacon, 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 relates to the "finishing" of the "salts" obtained in
the manufacture of alkali or carbonate of soda. At present these
"salts " or unfinished carbonate of soda "are finished" by being cal-
cined in reverberatory furnaces.
"
Now my Invention consists in omitting this calcination, and instead
thereof causing heated air to pass through the said "salts" when at an
3 elevated temperature. The said
"salts" are placed in an iron or other
vessel provided with a false bottom, and also with perforated pipes or
with other convenient means for permitting the entrance and passage of
heated air into and through the said "salts," such air being heated and
propelled through the "salts" by means of any well-known air heating
and air propelling apparatus. Should the "salts" contain much caustic
alkali they are easily fused, and their fusion may be effected in a cast-
iron vessel, and the heated air may be propelled or caused to pass
through the melted mass.
In order to economise the heat the vessels containing the "salts "
may be arranged in a series, so that the air may pass from one to
another. The escaping heated air may thus be used to warm fresh cold
salts," and the heated finished "salts " may thus be used to warm
fresh cold air.
66
In carrying this Invention into effect any convenient air propelling
and air heating apparatus may be employed. When the heated finished
"salts" are used to warm fresh cold air it will be convenient to have
the air pipe connections so arranged that the cold air on its way from
the propeller to the air heating apparatus may pass through the heated
finished salts.
For the best kind of "finishing" the temperature of the air should be
as high as conveniently can be obtained, and when the "salts are
"

page_text: finished without being fused their temperature must be below that at
which they fuse. As is well known to practical men the fusion point
of "salts" varies with their constitution, the temperature of the heated
air should therefore vary accordingly.
An inferior kind of finishing can be obtained without fusion simply by
drying the "salts" with warm air at a temperature insufficient to decom-
pose the sulphites and hyposulphites, which are generally present in
varying proportions in all alkaline "salts."
When the "salts " are fused the higher the temperature the quicker
the operation is finished, but to avoid undue action of the fused "salts,
&c." upon the apparatus the temperature must not be raised too high.
Practical men well know how far their apparatus will bear heating
without injury, and whether their object will be better served by con-
tinuing the application of air at a lower temperature for a longer time or
by shortening the time of the operation at the cost of obtaining an
increased temperature.
""
I do not claim the finishing of fused or melted "caustic soda' or
potash by propelling air through the fused mass; but what I do claim
is, the finishing of the so-called "salts" obtained in the manufacture of
alkali or carbonate of soda by causing heated air to pass through the
said "salts" when at an elevated temperature.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Deacon, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of
February, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.