IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT OF STARCH FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Henson Henson and William Frederick
Henson, of No. 38, Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster, for
"the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT OF
STARCH FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Henson Henson
and. William Frederick, Henson at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st November 1858.
We, HENRY ENSON HENSON and WILLIAM FREDERICK HENSON, of No. 38,
Parliament Street, in the City.of Westminster, do hereby declare the nature
of tlie said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT
OF STARCH FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
1:
L.
The object of our Invention is to produce a starch suitable for all kinds of
laundry and domestic purposes, which will be economical and to some extent
flame-proof.
J
For these purposes we employ in the inanufacture of starch alkaline silicates
such as silicate of soda, or of potash, or any preparation of them, either alone
or in combination with farina, flour, rice, or other suitable substance, to which
we add any colouring matter or tint, or some decolourizing substance, as may
be desirable. We may also for some purposes add, in combination with the
said silicate or compounds, oils, resin, or other hydrocarbon, mixed or unmixed
with alkali
1. 2

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Henson Henson and William Frederick Henson in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
HENSON HENSON and WILLIAM FREDERICK HENSON, of No. 38, Parliament
Street, in the City of Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Henry Henson Henson and William Frederick Henson, Her special
licence that we, the said Henry Henson Henson and William Frederick
Henson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Henry Henson Henson and William Frederick Henson, our execu-
tors, 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 MANUFACTURE AND TREAT-
MENT OF STARCH FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Henry Henson Henson and William Frederick Henson, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, aud in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 we, the said Henry Henson Henson and William
Frederick Henson, do hereby declare the nature of our 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):-
The object of our Invention is to produce a starch suitable for all kinds of
laundry and domestic purposes which will be economical and to some extent
flame-proof.
For these purposes we employ in the manufacture of starch alkaline silicates,
such as silicate of soda or of potash, or any preparation of them, either alone
or in combination with farina, flour, rice, or other suitable substance, to which
we add any colouring or tint, or some decolourizing substance to the silicate,

page_text: as may be desired. The alkaline silicate we prefer is the silicate of soda, and,
we mix this either in a liquid, semi-liquid, crystalline, or high-dried state
with other starch or material for making starch, either during the process of
the manufacture of such starch, or by subsequent admixture. Or we employ
the alkaline silicate alone or mixed with some colouring substance only; and
we prefer in this case to make it in the high-dried or powder form, so that it
may be used at the will of the operator as a starch by itself, or mixed with
other starch in any desired proportions.
To make our silicate of soda we mix three parts of very pure and white
sand with two parts of pure dry soda; these are thoroughly mixed together
and put in a covered crucible, and placed in a reverberatory furnace, and
heated for four or five hours. The materials being vitrified, are poured on to
a sheet of wrought iron; the vitreous mass is then pounded to about the size
of grain, and then boiled for three hours in five or six parts of pure water, and
constantly agitated. When the whole is dissolved it is left to settle, and
decanted or filtered, and then evaporated as may be desired, or to the con-
sistence of syrup and kept in stoppered bottles, or dried to a crystalline salt,
which may be reduced to a powder and subsequently still further dried, so
that the particles when enclosed in packages will not cohere.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we claim the use, application, and manu-
facture of alkaline silicates in the manner and for the purposes herein
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Henson Henson and William
Frederick Henson, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
80 Witness,
HENRY FLETCHER, Patent Agent,
42, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane.
H. H. HENSON. (L.S.)
W. F. HENSON. (L.s.)