AN IMPROVED PROCESS OR METHOD OF DECOMPOSING ORGANIC OR INORGANIC SUBSTANCES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR AND FOR THE TREATMENT OF VARIOUS BODIES OR COMPOUNDS TO ELIMINATE THE SALTS, ACIDS, OR BASES CONTAINED THEREIN, AND TO PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Hodge and Arthur Bryant Hodge, both
of Fieldgate Street, Sugar Refiners, and John Joseph Eastick, of Fieldgate
Street, Analytical Chemist, all in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention
of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OR METHOD OF DECOMPOSING ORGANIC OR
INORGANIC SUBSTANCES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
SUGAR AND FOR THE TREATMENT OF VARIOUS BODIES OR COMPOUNDS
TO ELIMINATE THE SALTS, ACIDS, OR BASES CONTAINED THEREIN, AND TO
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Hodge,
Arthur Bryant Hodge, and John Joseph Eastick at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 28th June 1880.
WILLIAM HENRY HODGE and ARTHUR BRYANT HODGE, both of Fieldgate
Street, Sugar Refiners, and JOHN JOSEPH EASTICK, of Fieldgate Street, Analytical
Chemist, all in the County of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OR METHOD
OF DECOMPOSING ORGANIC OR INORGANIC SUBSTANCES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR
THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR AND FOR THE TREATMENT OF VARIOUS BODIES OR
COMPOUNDS TO ELIMINATE THE SALTS, ACIDS, OR BASES CONTAINED THEREIN,
AND TO OBTAIN NEW PRODUCTS OR COMPOUNDS."
4.
Our Invention relates to a process or method of decomposing or separating the
constituent portions of materials, bodies, or compounds, for removing from the same
salts, acids, or bases, or other matters which exist therein as impurities, and the said
Invention comprises the application of the said process to any substances or matters
capable of separation by electrolysis, and also comprises the production or formation
in the said process of new compounds of the eliminated or separated materials.
Our said Invention consists in the application or employment of electricity for
the decomposition or separation of the materials in the following manner, that is to
Say
The substance or compound to be subjected to our process is placed in a suitable
tank or vessel of any required capacity:

page_text: We arrange the conducting wires from any source or generator of electricity in
combination with terminal plates of some suitable conducting material immersed in
the said compound or liquid. Then if a current is sent through the said wires the
salts, acids, or bases, or other bodies or substances existing as impurities in the
compound, will be resolved or separated into two classes, that is to say, the anions
will congregate at the anode while the cations will collect at the cathode, and the
substances or impurities thus collected may be then removed from the said
compound, solution, or liquid, which is thus purified in a very effectual manner.
The arrangements of the apparatus employed in practising our Invention may be
varied or modified according to the nature or qualities of the liquid or compound
subjected to the above process.
In ordinary cases we employ a tank divided by porous partitions into compart-
ments, or we may use small tanks of any suitable porous material placed within
the large tank. The porous material of which the said partitions or small tanks are
formed may consist of porous earth or earthenware, artificial parchment, paper, or
other suitable material.
The anode or the cathode, or both, may be surrounded by some of the liquid
operated upon or by some other liquid, and different substances may be introduced
into the liquid operated upon or surrounding the anode or cathode, or both, to
precipitate, fix, or neutralize the acids, bases, salts, or other bodies there liberated,
or to convert them into saleable compounds.
When any electrolyte is decomposed and liberates reducing or oxidizing
substances, we utilize such liberated substances for destroying coloring matters or
other impurities in organic bodies. In the manufacture of sugar the decolourization
may take place before or after or at the same time as the reinoval of the bases or
other impurities from the sugar. The above processes may be carried on in the
blow-ups, liquor tanks, char-cisterns, and crystallizing tanks ordinarily used, or in
special apparatus. In the manufacture of beet-sugar our process may be employed
during the soaking or diffusion processes, and those roots which are now regarded as
valueless may be utilized. In some cases the use of charcoal may be dispensed with
in the manufacture of sugar by our said process. The spent animal char may be
renewed or revivified wholly or partially during the process of filtration or
afterwards.
Our Invention may be utilized for the separation of salts, bases (including
ammonia and its derivatives), alkaloids, and similar substances which are capable
of saturating acids, metals, and their oxides and hydrates, acids, and any
electrolytic substance, organic matters, colouring matters, and the like found as
impurities in saccharine matter or carbohydrates, which term we use to include
sucroses, glucoses, and amyloses obtained from beet-root-sugar, cane, sorghum, sugar-
maple, farinaceous substances, and any other source. It may also be applied for the
removal of the above salts, bases, acids, or other bodies from the products of the
fermentation of carbohydrates, also for the decomposition of compounds of the
carbohydrates made in the manufacture of sugar, as in the processes where salts of
barium, calcium, strontium, magnesium, or the like are used for the recovery of
sugar from molasses. Also for the removal of these salts, bases, acids, or other bodies
from the carbohydrates. in. any solution formed in the manufacture of any of the
carbohydrates, and for the separation of such salts, bases, acids, or other bodies which
have been used for the precipitation of impurities, such as the compounds of lead,
zinc, tin, aluminium, calcium, barium, strontium; or the like, also for the removal of
those substances or substance which give the peculiar taste to beet sugars.
The said Invention may also be applied in the manufacture of brewers' saccharum,
for the removal or elimination of the salts, bases, acids, colouring matters, organic
matters, and other impurities. It may also be used to arrest fermentation and for
the removal of the products of fermentation.
•
By our process the products of the carbonization of coal, bituminous shales,”
coal-tar, and the products of the distillation of organic substances may be acted upon.
.

page_text: as in the case of carbohydrates. By our process we can decompose different
electrolytes as required, and can thus get at the anode and cathode oxidizing and
reducing agents, and these can be used to oxidize or reduce the various products of
the above, or to form various substitution products or compounds. We can remove
salts, bases, acids, or other bodies as above specified from those products which are
not strongly acted upon by the electric current. Moreover we may separate the acid
from the basic bodies in the above products.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Henry Hodge, Arthur Bryant Hodge, and John Joseph
Eastick in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd December 1880.
WILLIAM HENRY HODGE and ARTHUR BRYANT HODGE, both of Fieldgate
Street, Sugar Refiners, and JOHN JOSEPH EASTICK, of Fieldgate Street, Analytical
Chemist, all in the County of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OR METHOD
OF DECOMPOSING ORGANIC OR INORGANIC SUBSTANCES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR
THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR AND FOR THE TREATMENT OF VARIOUS BODIES OR
COMPOUNDS TO ELIMINATE THE SALTS, ACIDS, OR BASES CONTAINED THEREIN,
AND TO OBTAIN NEW PRODUCTS OR COMPOUNDS."
Our Invention relates to a process or method of decomposing or separating the
constituent portions of materials, bodies, or compounds, for removing from the same
salts, acids, bases, or other matters which exist therein as impurities or otherwise,
and the said Invention comprises the application of the said process to any substances
or matters capable of separation by electrolysis, and also comprises the production or
formation in the said process of new compounds of the eliminated or separated
materials.
Our said Invention consists in the application or employment of electricity for
the decomposition or separation of the materials in the following manner, that is to
gay:-
The solution or liquid compound to be subjected to our process is placed in a
suitable tank or vessel of any required capacity.
We arrange the conducting wires from any source or generator of electricity in
combination with terminal plates of some suitable conducting material immersed in
the said compound or solution. Then if a current is sent through the said wires
the salts, acids, or bases, or other bodies or substances existing in the compound, will
be resolved or separated into two classes, that is to say, the anions will congregate
at the anode while the cations will collect at the cathode, and the substances or
bodies thus collected may be then removed from the said compound, solution, or
liquid, which is thus purified in a very effectual manner.
The arrangements of the apparatus employed in practising our Invention may be
varied or modified according to the nature or qualities of the liquid or compound
subjected to the above process.
In ordinary cases we employ a tank divided by porous partitions into compart-
ments, or we may use small tanks of any suitable porous material placed within
the large tank. The porous material of which the said partitions or small tanks are
formed may consist of porous earth or earthenware, artificial parchment, paper, or
other suitable material.
The anode or the cathode, or both, may be surrounded by some of the liquid
operated upon or by some other liquid, and different substances may be introduced
into the liquid operated upon or surrounding the anode or cathode, or both of them,
to precipitate, fix, or neutralize the acids, bases, salts, or other bodies there
liberated, or to convert them into saleable compounds.
When any electrolyte is decomposed and liberates reducing or oxidizing
substances, we utilize such liberated substances for destroying colouring matters or
other impurities in organic bodies. In the manufacture of sugar the decolourization
may take place before or after or at the same time as the removal of the bases or
other impurities from the sugar. The above processes may be carried on in the
blow-ups, liquor-tanks, char-cisterns, and crystallizing tanks ordinarily used, or in
special apparatus. In the manufacture of beet-sugar our process may be employed
during the soaking or diffusion processes, and those roots which are now regarded as
valueless may be utilized. In some cases the use of charcoal may be dispensed with in
the manufacture of sugar by our said process. The spent animal char may be

page_text: renewed or revivified wholly or partially during the process of filtration or
afterwards.
Our Invention may be utilized for the separation of salts, bases (including
ammonia and its derivatives), alkaloids, and similar substances which are capable
of saturating acids, metals, and their oxides and hydrates, acids, and any electrolytic
substance, organic matters, colouring matters, and the like found as impurities in
saccharine matter or carbohydrates, which term we use to include sucroses, glucoses,
and amyloses obtained from beet-root-sugar, cane, sorghum, sugar-maple, farinaceous
substances, and any other source. It may also be applied for the removal of the
above salts, bases, acids, or other bodies from the products of the fermentation of
carbohydrates, also for the decomposition of compounds of the carbohydrates made
in the manufacture of sugar, as in the processes where salts of barium, calcium,
strontium, magnesium, or the like are used for the recovery of sugar from molasses.
Also for the removal of these salts, bases, acids, or other bodies from the carbo-
hydrates in any solution formed in the manufacture of any of the carbohydrates,
and for the separation of such salts, bases, acids, or other bodies which have been
used for the precipitation of impurities, such as the compounds of lead, zinc, tin,
aluminium, calcium, barium, strontium, or the like, also for the removal of those
substances or matters which give the peculiar taste to beet-sugars.
The said Invention may also be applied in the manufacture of brewers' saccharum
for the removal or elimination of the salts, bases, acida, colouring matters, organic
matters, and other impurities. It may also be used to arrest fermentation and for
the removal of the products of fermentation.
By our process the products of the carbonization of coal, bituminous shales, coal
tar, and the products of the distillation of organic substances may be acted upon as
in the case of carbohydrates. By our process we can decompose different electrolytes
as required, and can thus get at the anode and cathode oxidizing and reducing
agents, and these can be used to oxidize or reduce the various products of the above
or to form various substitution products or compounds. We can remove salts,
bases, acids, or other bodies as above specified from those products which are not
strongly acted upon by the electric current. . Moreover we may separate the acid
from the basic bodies in the above products.
Having thus fully described our said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, we wish it understood that we do not claim broadly or irrespectively
of the process above described the employment of electricity or galvanism in the
treatment of vegetable matters, as we are aware that its use has been already
suggested (as in the Specification of William Eathorne Gill's Letters Patent, dated
July 29th, A.D. 1872, No. 2261) for certain purposes, though not for the same
purposes as those herein specified. But we claim,
The improved process consisting in the use or application of electro-decom-
position or electrolysis for the treatment of organic or inorganic substances or bodies,
as above set forth, and for either or any of the above specified or analogous
purposes.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Henry Hodge, Arthur Bryant
Hodge, and John Joseph Eastick, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Twenty second day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand
WILLIAM HENRY HODGE. (LS.)
ARTHUR BRYANT HODGE. (L.S.)
JOHN JOSEPH EASTICK.
(L.S.)