CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES OF COMMERCE FROM FARINACEOUS AND LEGUMINOUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1849

page_text: AL
AND MENTO
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WE,
HENRY ATTWOOD, late of Goodman's Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, and JOHN RENTON, late of Bromley, in the same County,
Engineer, both now of Pimlico, in the said county, 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 Thirteenth day of September One thousand eight hundred and
forty-nine, in the thirteenth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Henry Attwood
and John Renton, our executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the
said Henry Attwood and John Renton, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Attwood and John
Renton, our executors, administrators, 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, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF STARCH AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES OF COMMERCE FROM
FARINACEOUS AND LEGUMINOUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that we, the said Henry Attwood and John Renton,

page_text: or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, 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 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, we, the said
Henry Attwood and John Renton, hereby declare that the nature of the
said improvements consists in effecting the separation of starch from the
other substances with which it is combined in farinaceous and leguminous
substances, by a more expeditious process, and by the use of cheaper agents,
than those commonly in use. And in order that these improvements
may be clearly understood, we shall, by way of exemplification, describe
the mode in which we manufacture starch from rice, and point out those
parts of the process which we claim as being new and of our invention.
We take whole or broken grains of rice, with or without the husk, or
rice flour, and throw them or the flour into a shallow or any other con-
venient vessel; we then pour in a solution of lime and chloride of
sodium (common salt), sufficient to cover the whole of the rice, that is
to say, about twenty-six gallons of the solution to about one hundred
and twelve pounds of the rice. We make this solution by mixing
slacked quick lime and chloride of sodium and water in the proportions
of about one hundred pounds of the lime and thirty pounds of chloride
of sodium to five hundred gallons of water, or in any other like pro-
portional quantities. But we do not confine ourselves to the above
proportions, as other proportions might be used, though with less ad-
vantage. The solution thus made is to be allowed to settle, and the
clear top liquor only drawn off for use. We let the rice remain thus
submerged for about six hours, stirring it well every half hour. We
then draw off the liquid by means of suitable taps, and cover the rice
with a fresh quantity of a similar solution; the rice is then exposed for
six hours to the action of the solution, being well stirred once every half
hour as before; after which the liquid is to be drawn off, when the rice
is ready to be ground.
The grinding is effected in the usual way, and the ground rice trans-
ferred to what is called a "rousing vessel," and covered over with a

page_text: quantity of a similar solution as before mentioned. The ground rice is
then to be well stirred or roused for about two or three hours. From
this vessel the rice is removed to a separating vessel or vessels, in which
it is left to stand for about six hours, in order that the starch may be
separated from the gluten with which it is combined. To save time,
we generally perform the stirring or rousing process the last thing at
night, so that the separation may be effected before morning. On
examining the separating vessel or vessels, a thick or creamy matter is
found deposited at the bottom, which is the starch mixed with a portion
of fibrine, while the gluten floats near the top of the liquor. We then
draw off the liquor as close as may be to the creamy deposit, and fill up
again with cold water, which after a little time is also drawn off.
The starch or starchy matter is now to be separated from the fibrine
with which it is intermixed, in the usual way adopted by rice starcli
makers.
For the purpose of facilitating the separation of the starch from thè
fibrine in the water, we sometimes use a sliding or telescopic tube placed
vertically over an outlet at or near to the bottom of the vessel, and so
that the upper end of the tube can be gradually, and from time to time,
depressed, until the whole of the starch floating in the water has been
run off from the fibrine, which falls towards the bottom. The moist
starch is run into a receiving or filtering vessel, made with a false bot-
tom or side, consisting of one or two plates of perforated zinc or woven
wire, or other suitable material, with an intermediate sheet of cotton,
linen, or some other like fabric, the whole being carefully fastened,
so that none of the starchy matter may escape through.
3
From between the bottom or side of the vessel and the perforated zinc
plate or plates, or other suitable material, there is a pipe which leads to
an exhaust pump.
On the starchy matter being run off into the receiv-
ing or filtering vessel, the pump is set to work, when it draws off all or
most of the excess of water with which the starch is charged, but brings
off also along with the water a portion of starch which the meshes of the
false bottom or filter have failed to intercept. The pump therefore is
made to empty itself into a long shallow trough, or a series of shallow
troughs communicating with each other, so that the starchy water may

page_text: have to run a long distance before it is finally allowed to run to waste,
and so as during its progress to deposit the whole of the remaining starch.
For this purpose the trough or series of troughs should be placed so as
to cause a continuous but very gentle flow of the water, say-at an inclina-
tion of about one inch in one hundred feet: The width of the trough or
troughs should be in proportion to the quantity of the water holding the
starch in suspension, and it will be better if the depth does not exceed four
inches. We have found in practice that in a run of about three hundred
feet the water will come. off perfectly clear and free from starch. The
whole of the starch which has been thus separated and collected is now
ready for what is called "boxing," after which it is to be dried in the
usual manner. The gain so far is such, by the means and methods we
have described, that is to say, by the use of the lime and salt solution
and processes aforesaid, that we can advance the manufacture of starch
in about forty-eight hours to the same stage which it now takes about
one hundred and thirty-two hours and upwards to arrive, at, and obtain,
besides, an increase of from six to seven per cent. in the quantity of
starch produced. The starch is, we believe, also much purer than any
obtained by means of a caustic alkaline. or acid solution, and fitted for
all purposes to which wheaten starch produced by fermentation is usually
applied. We prefer using the solution of lime and salt cold, because
more lime can be dissolved in cold than in hot or warm water, and because
also the risk of fermentation is thereby diminished; but we do not confine
ourselves to the use of the said solution at any particular temperature.
Starch of a good quality for some purposes, though not for all, may
also be made by using solutions of lime alone in the manner before spe-
cified; in which case, however, we make the solution of lime with cold
water, and use it in that state only, and confine our claim to the use of
it in that state. The same lime and salt solution as aforesaid may also
be employed with the like good effect in manufacturing starch from rye,
peas, beans, and other leguminous substances, and in the preparatory
steps also of the manufacture of other like articles of commerce, such as
dextrine or British gum.
We desire, however, that it may be understood, that we do not claina
the whole of the details of the said method or methods as being new,

page_text: and that neither do we claim the employment of pumps or telescopic
tubes to collect the starch; but that the improvements which we claim
as of our Invention are as follows:-
First, we claim the employment of a solution of lime in conjunction
with chloride of sodium or salt in water, as before described, in the
manufacture of starch and other like articles of commerce, and in the
manner before described; and that either before or after the rice is
ground, crushed, or broken:
Secondly, we claim the employment in the manufacture of starch of
lime-water, prepared from lime and cold water:
And, Thirdly, we claim the employment in the manufacture of starch
of the use of long shallow troughs in connexion with the exhaust
pump, for the purpose of depositing from the water discharged by the
pump any remainder of starch as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Attwood and John
Renton, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
eighth day of February in the year of our Lord One thousand
hundred and fifty
HENRY ATTWOOD. (L.S.)
JOHN RENTON. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the Twenty-eighth day of
February in the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Henry Attwood
and John Rentou came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery,
and acknowledged the specification aforesaid, and all and everything
therein contained and specified in form above written; and also the
specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Thirteenth day of March in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty.