Improvements in the Method of Preparing Fullers' Earth for Use in Manufactures.
Year: 1888

page_text: Improvements in the Method of Preparing Fullers' Earth for Use in
Manufactures.
I CHARLES RICHARD DAMES of 9 Leonard Place Kensington in the County of-
Middlesex, 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 :-
The supply of Fullers Earth in the country is believed to be limited and is now
being quickly diminished. Now the object of my invention is to bring into use and
to render suitable efficacious and valuable for commercial and manufacturing purposes
the whole of the beds or strata of Fullers Earth as taken from the ground or pit,
portions of which for some of the following or other reasons have to be treated as
useless and valueless. Portions of the Fullers Earth in the seams near the out crop
which are of the finest and softest quality are in such minute particles that they cannot
be dried and rendered of commercial value in their present form, other portions are so
supercharged with alumina as to make a clayey or sticky wash, others surcharged with
minute silica in either of which forms it is unsuitable for use in manufactures.
Fullers Earth is found in its natural state of two colours, Yellow and Blue. It has
been proved that yellow Fullers Earth is not suitable for some class of goods in the
manufacture of which Fullers Earth is used, while in other cases Blue will not do the
required work, a Drab Coloured Earth being most preferred in all cases.
Now according to my invention I take the whole of the Fullers Earth as found and
dug from the seam bed or strata, I have stones and large shells hand picked therefrom,
when necessary by reason of the lumps of Fullers Earth being large, I pass it through
a crushing machine to reduce the said lumps, or they are broken down by hand-I
then place the Fullers Earth of the different qualities and colours as required in their
correct proportions into a mill and grind the same with the addition of water and
reduce it to a slurry or solution, without removing therefrom any of the component
parts.
The proportions to a great extent must vary but where the earth is particularly
yellow should take for example of the yellow, and 3 of the blue Fullers Earth;
but as Fullers Earth changes from bright yellow to dull yellow, as it is found further

page_text: underground, and then to a kind of mottled (yellow and blue) and then to blue only;
the quantity of yellow should naturally be increased and the quantity of the blue
diminished. The quality of the earth also varies very considerably for example that
found immediately under rock is hard and the top part of the seam or bed super-
charged with fine silica; when this occurs only say 3 part could be used and the
other must be taken from some other part of the mine, where rock does not exist,
and so again with a bed of the very soft and super charged with alumina, then
about of it would be taken and the remainder from a part of the mine where the
earth is harder. I do not therefore bind myself to the use of any absolute proportions
as the same must be regulated by the quality of the earths under treatment.
In some instances and more especially where the seam of Fullers Earth is "mottled"
I grind same without mixing, taking it just as it comes from the pit. I then make it
flow into large tanks where it is allowed to stand the water which rises to the surface
is then drawn off by plugs in the sides or in the door or hatches of the tanks or by
suction; the remainder is then thoroughly stirred by machinery or by manual labour
in the most convenient manner and the whole of the slurry is then passed in reservoirs
or large tanks there to stand until required, all water rising to the surface being
here again drawn off. When of sufficient consistency, it is conveyed to drying sheds,
which may be made in any convenient manner, and when bone dry it is ready for use
and conveyance to the manufactories. The mill I prefer for reducing the Fullers
Earth to a slurry or solution, being edge runners revolving in a pan with high sides,
the arms upon which the runners revolve being fitted with ploughs and scrapers to
keep the bottom of the pan clear and to mix the slurry, but I dont bind myself to
this mill.
By this process I get a most favourable result, the different qualities of Fullers
Earth being thoroughly amalgamated in their proper proportions and then floated
without any removal of their valuable scouring and cleansing properties, I obtain a
product of uniform strength and colour and of the quality most desirable for com-
mercial purposes, and at the same time effect a great saving of Fullers Earth which
would be valueless if not judiciously mixed and amalgamated.
Having now described the nature of my said invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is
(1) The Improvements in the method of preparing Fullers Earth for commercial
use herein before described, which consists in thoroughly mixing, blending, and
amalgamating the different qualities of Fullers Earth by grinding same with the
addition of water to a slurry or solution without removing any of the valuable
constituents and thereby obtaining a product of uniform strength, quality and
colour.
(2) The saving of large quantities of Fullers Earth which in its crude condition is
valueless for commercial purposes, substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this Eleventh day of January 1888.