METHOD OF PREPARING BARILLA AND KELP, AND THE NEUTRAL SALTS OBTAINED THEREPROM
Year: 1803

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
NEWSTEAD, of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the County of York, Chemist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of
June, in the forty-third year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Newstead, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His
especial license that I, the said Thomas Newstead, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, 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, my new-invented "METHOD OF PREPARING
BARILLA AND KELP, AND THE NEUTRAL SALTS OBTAINED THEREPROM;" in which
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas
Newstead, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
four calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part

page_text: recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto nau,
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Newstead, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following, that is to say:-
How Barilla and Kelp is to be Prepared for Soap Making, Bleaching, and
Alum Making. First, I prepare barilla and kelp to obtain the alkali they
contain in a concentrated state, by lixiviation, and separating the neutral salts
from the alkali. Second, I decompose the sulphate of potash and the sulphate
of soda (neutral salts), separated from barilla and kelp. Third, I prepare the
muriat of potash, which I separate from barilla and kelp for the use of the
alum manufacturer. Fourth, I separate the neutral salts contained in soap-
makers' spent lie, their salts prepared from spent lie, and the black ash prepared
from their salts or spent lie. Fifth, I decompose the sulphate of potash and
sulphate of soda contained in the soapmakers' spent lie, and their salts pre-
pared from their spent lie, and the black ash prepared from their salts or
spent lie.
Sixth. How I apply the Alkalies and Neutral Salts to Soap
Making, Bleaching, and Alum Making.-First, to concentrate the alkali con-
tained in barilla and kelp, I grind it very small; then saturate any quantity of
water my pan will conveniently boil (which is a flat bottomed cast-iron pan).
I add barilla or kelp by a small quantity at a time till the boiling water is
quite saturated. I then turn the liquor over into a vat provided with sand to
filter. I add about half as much water to the remains in the pan as I had
at first, and allow it to boil, and then turn it into the vat to filter. I then,
fill up the pan with fresh water, and boil the remaining barilla or kelp for a
short time. Then draw or damp the fire to allow the residue of the barilla or
kelp to fall to the bottom of the pan, which I take out with a proper draining
shovel, and consider it worth nothing more than for manure or the use of the
glass manufacturer. I then saturate this water or weak lie with fresh barilla,
or kelp, and go on as above. Next, I take the filtered liquor and fill up a
flat bottomed iron or lead pan, and boil till a strong pellicle is formed; that is
to be tasted to know what neutral salt it is; it is mostly sulphate of potash,
but is easily known by being very insoluble in the mouth, and feeling like
sand between the teeth. When sulphate of potash appears first, which know
from the pellicle; I boil slow, and take out the salt as it falls to the bottom of
the pan, frequently tasting the pellicle to discover when it is formed of muriat
of potash, which is the next salt to appear, as barilla or kelp. is never found
free of it, and is known by it's strong salt and disagreeable bitter taste. As
soon as I find the pellicle formed of muriat of potash, I draw the fire and

page_text: allow the liquor to be still for about ten minutes. I then take a draining
shovel, and take out all the salt that has fallen to the bottom of the pan,
which will be sulphate of potash. After this done, I turn the remaining liquor
into a cooler, and let stand till quite cold. I then return it into the pan to
be boiled again till a pellicle is formed, and then to be returned into the
cooler, having first taken out of the cooler all the crystals of muriat of potash
formed in the last cooling. They must be put into a box or basket to
drain dry, and then are in a proper state to be used by the alum manu-
facturer. Boiling and cooling is to be repeated till no more muriat
of potash is obtained. The remaining is dryed down, and consists of
carbonate of soda, some sulphat of soda, and a little muriat of soda.
Second, to decompose sulphate of potash I take its weight of carbonaceous
matters, such as charcoal, small coal, coke, sawdust, or fanner's waste bark,
and one third it's weight of carbonate of lime (chalk ground) or lime that has
been some time slacked. These are well mixed together, and put into a rever-
berating furnace, and frequently stirred till all the carbonaceous matters be
consumed, and the whole be in compleat fusion before drawn out, after which
it may be concentrated as in Article the First, only there will be some unde-
composed sulphate and sulphite of potash, as the only neutral salts, which will
be precipitated by boiling, as directed for separating the sulphate of potash, the
remaining liquor to be dried down, and will consist of carbonate of potash.
Sulphate of soda is to be decomposed by the same method as sulphate of potash,
after which it is to be lixiviated, filtered, and boiled till a pellicle is formed, and
then put into a cool dry place, and in a few days crystals of soda will be formed;
the liquor must be drawn from them, and returned to be boiled, and again cooled.
This is to be repeated till no more crystals of soda is produced. The remaining
liquors will consist of sulphate of soda, and sulphite of soda to be dried
down and again put into the furnace with carbonaceous matters.
Third, sometimes muriat of potash will be found in the cooler uncrystallized;
in that case it is to be dissolved in water to a crystallizing pitch, and turned
into a cooler, and crystals of muriat of potash will be obtained. This is the
best preparation of it for the alum manufacturer.
Fourth, to separate the neutral salts contained in soap makers' spent lie it is
to be filtered to deprive it of as many impurities as possible; then a pan is to be
filled up, and the liquor to be boiled, as in Article the First, to take away the
sulphate of potash; then the liquor is to be cooled and boiled till no more
muriat of potash is obtained, as in the First Article; the liquor will then consist
of sulphate of soda, and a little múriat of soda, to be dried down and decom-
posed, as also the sulphate of potash first separated. To separate the neutral

page_text: salts contained in salt prepared from soapmakers' spent lie I first make it into
black ash by running it through a fusing furnace; I therefore treat it as black
ash, and in separating the neutral salts contained in black ash prepared from
soapmakers' spent lie I grind it small, dissolve it, and filter it, then separate
the salts as I do in the soapmakers' spent lie above.
Fifth, to decompose the sulphate of potash and sulphate of soda contained in
soapmakers' spent lie, salts prepared from their spent lie, and black ash prepared
from their spent lie or salts; the sulphate of potash and sulphate of soda to be
décomposed and concentrated as in article first and second.
Sixth, in applying the concentrated alkalies to soap making nothing more is
wanted than to caustisise then with half their weight of quick lime, and use
the lie at a strength that it will easily unite with tallow. Any sulphate of
soda or muriat of soda not separated is found useful in the operation of soap
making in small quantities. In applying the concentrated alkalies to bleaching
they are to be caustised (when wanted to be used as potash) with half their
weight of quick lime, and a lie made which is to be boiled down to a dry salt,
and kept close for use. When wanted to be used as pearl or comby ashes
nothing more is to be done to them than to put them into a reverberating
furnace, and keep stirring them well till they come nearly to fusion, then
taken out and used. The muriate of potash crystalized is the most advan-
tageous way of using it in the making of alum; and no salt produces more
allum than it, except carbonate of potash. When pure, the muriat of potash
is to be used in the process of alum making as carbonate of potash.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Newstead, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of October, One thousand eight

page_text: Alexander Riston Ramage, Writer to His Majesty's Signet in Scotland,
and Notary Public, maketh oath and saith, that he was present and did see
Thomas Newstead, of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the County of York, Chemist,
and as his act and deed acknowledge and deliver a certain Deed Poll or
Instrument in writing hereunto annexed, bearing date the Eleventh day of
October instant, purporting to be a Specification to describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Thomas Newstead's Invention of Preparing Barilla and
Kelp, and the Neutral Salts obtained therefrom for Soap making, Bleaching,
and Allum making. And this Deponent farther saith, that the name and
character Tho Newstead, set at the foot of the said Deed Poll as the party
executing the same, is of the proper handwriting of the said Thomas Newstead.
And this Deponent farther saith, that the names "A. L. Ramage" and
"George Imlach, Ju," set and subscribed at the back of the said Deed Poll
or Instrument, as the witnesses to the signing and sealing of the Deed Poll,
are of the proper handswriting of this Deponent and of George Imlach; Junior,
as aforesaid.