IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS USED IN DYEING AND PRINTING
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL
WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, JAMES
YOUNG, of Manchester, Manufacturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Ninth day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the twelfth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Young, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James Young, my exors, adiñors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Young, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF
MATERIALS USED IN DYEING AND PRINTING;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, that I, the said James Young, should cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part

page_text: recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear..
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Young, hereby declare that the materials used in dyeing and print-
ing, to which my said Invention relates, are the staunate and stannite of
soda, the stannate and stannite of potash, the bichloride of tin, and other
analogous preparations of tin, and that my Invention consists in the following
improved modes, or processes of preparing or manufacturing on a large scale
the said materials, that is. to, say:
Firstly, to make stannate of soda, I put a quantity of tin ore, or what is
commonly known in Cornwall by the name of "black tin," reduced to powder,
into an iron. pot along with a solution of caustic soda, and set the pot on a fire
to boil. The proportions in which I use these ingredients vary with their
respective qualities. If the ore contain (say) seventy per cent. of tin, I use
about two and a half times its weight of caustic soda liquor containing about
twenty-two per cent. of soda, encreasing or diminishing the proportion of the
liquor employed according as it is desired to produce a stannate with a greater
or less excess, of alkali. I keep the materials, well stirred, and gradually raise
the heat up to between five hundred degrees and six hundred degrees
Fahrenheit, at which temperature, the ore is: acted on by the soda, and the
tin or oxide of tin contained therein, or the. greater part. thereof, combines
with, the soda. The progress of the operation may be known from time to
time by taking out of the pot, a small portion of the mass;, and ascertaining
how much of it dissolves in water, and. how much of the ore has. been .left
unacted upon. The hot mass is then transferred from the pot to another
vessel, and set to cool, and when cooled it is mixed with water, when any,
insoluble matters which may have, remained, in it unaffected by the caustic
soda are easily separated by, filtration or by subsidence. The clear, liquor
which remains is the, stannate. required, which may be either employed in
that state, or evaporated to. dryness, or crystallized; the solid, salt being
dissolved as required for use.
Secondly, I also prepare stannate of soda by mixing a: quantity of tin. ore
reduced to powder with, one and a. half times, its weight.of nitrate of soda,
subjecting the mixture to a red heat, in, an iron. vessel, passing a current of
steam over it, and, keeping it constantly stirred during the operation, in order,
to. expose fresh. portions of it to the action of the steam. Nitric and nitrous
acids are given off in fumes, which may be condensed with water, and,
collected as collateral products, (reducing thereby, the cost of the. stannate),
a, stannate remains, which may be freed from its insoluble impurities; by:

page_text: mixing with water, and filtration or subsidence, as in the process first before
described, and it may be also left either in a state of solution or crystallized
or evaporated, as aforesaid.
Thirdly, I substitute for the nitrate of soda, employed in the last preceding
process, chloride of sodium (common salt), using, however, equal weights of
the salt and tin ore, and pursuing the same process in all other respects;
I also obtain thereby stannate of soda with muriatic acid as the collateral
products.
Fourthly, I obtain by the following process both stannate of soda and
stannite of soda:-I subject to a red heat a quantity of metallic tin, mixed
with an equal weight of solid hydrate of caustic soda, which may be obtained
by boiling down caustic soda liquor, (say, 3 cwt. of the liquor containing
containing 22 per cent. of soda to about 1 cwt of the hydrate,) stirring the
materials well during the operation; whereupon the water of the nitrate of soda
becomes decomposed and parts with its oxygen to the tin, and the oxide of
tin so formed, uniting with the soda, forms a stannite of soda suitable for some
dyeing and printing purposes. To convert this stamnite of soda into stannate
of soda, I boil it in water, on which a portion of metallic tin is precipitated
in the form of a black powder, and the solution remaining is stannate of soda;
or, I take twenty parts of metallic tin, sixteen parts of solid hydrate of caustic
soda, and three parts of oxide of manganese (all by weight), and subject
them to a red heat in an open pot, keeping the mixture constantly agitated,
and allowing a free access of air. So small à proportion of oxide of manganèse
as is contained in this mixture would be quite insufficient of itself to per-
oxidize all the tin, but this oxide of manganese is converted by the heat
and absorption of oxygen from the atmosphere into a manganate of soda,
and this manganate becomes decomposed by the tin, on which part goes to
form peroxide of tin, leaving a residuum of oxide of manganese, which
becomes once more, by a new absorption of atmospheric oxygen, a manganate,
and that manganate is decomposed by the tin as before, yielding a fresh
accession of peroxide of tin, and so the process goes on until all or nearly all
the tin has become peroxidized and combined with the soda. The mass in
the pot is then dissolved in water, and the solution clarified by filtration or
subsidence. The supernatent liquor is a solution of stanṇate of soda, which
may be either left as it is, or crystallized, or evaporated to dryness, as
aforesaid. The precipitated oxide of manganese may be collected and used
over again:
The stannite formed in the first of the processes described under this
brauch of my Specification may be formed into stannate of soda, by merely

page_text: keeping it freely exposed at a red heat to the atmosphere for a sufficient length
of time, but I prefer the oxidizing process by means of manganese, as more
expeditious and on the whole cheaper.
Fifthly, I also employ, for the formation of stannate of soda, oxide of tin,
which I obtain by heating metallic tin to redness in an iron vessel, keeping
it well stirred, and passing a current of steam or air over it; and this oxide
of tin I treat along with caustic soda in precisely the same way as the ore
has been herein-before directed to be treated.
Sixthly, I manufacture stannate of potash by each and every of the methods
before described of manufacturing stannate of soda, substituting only in each
case where caustic soda, or nitrate of soda, or chloride of sodium is directed
to be employed, an equivalent of caustic potash, or of nitrate of potash, or of
the chloride of potassium, as the case may be.
Seventhly, I also manufacture stannite of potash by the same process as
stanuite of soda, as before directed to be produced, substituting for the
hydrate of soda an equivalent of hydrate of potash.
Eighthly, I manufacture stannate of lime or a stannate of any of the other.
alkaline earths, by substituting a hydrate, or nitrate, or muriate of the said
lime or other alkaline earth for the soda or potash, or for the nitrates or
muriates of soda and potash, directed to be used in the processes before
described; and from any of these stannates I procure peroxide of tin, soluble
in acids by adding an acid such as muriatic, which combines with the lime
or other alkaline earth, setting free the peroxide of tin and forming a soluble
salt with the earth, which may be separated from the peroxide of tin by
washing with water.
Ninthly, I manufacture peroxide of tin (otherwise binoxide of tin or stannic
acid) by passing carbonic acid into a solution of stannate of soda, or stannate
of potash, or by passing carbonic acid over either of these salts in a dry or
damp state until all or nearly all the alkali is converted into carbonate,
separating the peroxide of tin which is set free by washing with water, and
filtering or decanting off the solution of carbonate of soda or potash; or,
I add sulphuric or any other convenient acid to a solution of the stannate,
which precipitates the oxide of tin, after which the solution of the salt of the
alkali is easily separated by filtration or decantation; or, lastly, bicarbonate
of soda or potash, or bisulphate of soda and potash, may be mixed with the
stannate solution, which will convert the alkali of the stannate into carbonate,
and precipitate the peroxide of tin, which may be separated as in the pre-
ceding case by filtering or decantation.
Tenthly, manufacture any of the salts of peroxide of tin by treating the

page_text: peroxide (obtained from the stannates of soda or potash, or from the stannates
of lime or other alkaline earth, by any of the processes before described) with
the acid necessary to produce the particular salt required. If, for example,
oxymuriate of tin (otherwise bichloride of tin) is required to be. produced, I
add peroxide of tin to muriatic acid until the last portion added remains
undissolved. The clear liquor is the oxymuriate in a state ready for use.
For the tin ore and metallic tin used in certain of the preceding processes,
the refuse of the tin smelting works called tin slag may be occasionally sub-
stituted with advantage. It is to be reduced like the ore to a state of powder,
and used either with soda or potash, or with the muriate of soda or potash,
or with the nitrate of soda or potash, or with the before-specified alkaline
earths, or their salts, or with soda or potash and oxide of manganese, excepting
only as regards the last, when the tin contained in the slag is in the state of
peroxide of tin, in which case the oxide of manganese will not be required.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements which I
claim as constituting my said Invention are as follows:-
First, I claim the preparation of stannate of soda and stannate of potash by
the process first berein-before described, in so far as regards the heating of the
tin ore reduced to powder along with caustic soda or potash.
Second, I claim the preparation of stannate of soda and stannate of potash
by the process secondly and thirdly herein-before described, in so far as regards
the heating of tin ore reduced to powder along with nitrate of soda or nitrate
of potash, muriate of soda or muriate of potash, and passing currents of steam
over the same.
Third, I claim the obtaining of stannate of soda and stannate of potash from
metallic tin combined with a bydrate of caustic soda or potash, or with a
hydrate of caustic soda or potash and manganese, by the modes or processes
described under the fourth head of this Specification.
Fourth, I claim the obtaining of stannite of soda and stannite of potash by
the first part of the modes or processes described under the said fourth head of
this Specification.
Fifth, I claim the obtaining of stannate of soda or potash from metallic tin
which has been oxidized in the manner described, and afterwards treated, as
herein-before directed.
Sixth, I claim the preparation of the stannate of lime, and other stannates
of alkaline earths, in manner herein-before directed.
Seventh, I claim the preparation of peroxide of tin by cach and every of the
methods or processes berein-before described.

page_text: Eighth, I claim the preparation of oxymuriate of tin and other salts of
peroxide of tin by treatment: of the peroxide of tin (obtained. in the way
described) with acids, as before. described.
Ninth, I claim the employment of tin slag, wherever it can be used. as a
substitute for tin ore or metallic tin, in any of the processes herein described.
And, in conclusion, I declare that I make no claim to the conversion of any:
of the solutions aforesaid into crystals. or dry salts by evaporation, which is a
common chemical process; but that I claim exclusive right to the stannates
and stannites prepared. by the improved processes herein-before described and
claimed, whether such stannates and stannites are evaporated to dryness or
crystallized, or not evaporated to dryness or crystallized before use.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Young, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One'
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine