IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH, BRITISH GUM, AND SIZE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Reckitt, George Reckitt, and Francis Reckitt,
of Kingston upon Hull, being people called Quakers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH, BRITISH GUM, AND
SIZE."
Dated the 26th February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Reckitt, George
Reckitt, and Francis Reckitt, at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 26th February 1856.
We ISAAC RECKITT, GEORGE RECKITT and FRANCIS RECKITT of Kingston
upon Hull being people called Quakers do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH BRITISH GUM:
AND SIZE" to be as follows;
This Invention has for its object the application of millet in the manufacture
of starch British gum and size preferring that description of millet known as
dari or dhurra. For these purposes the processes of manufacture in order to
obtain starch British gum and size from millet may be varied. One mode is
to steep the millet for some hours in warm water, to run off the water and
then again to add fresh warm water and then to allow the millet to stand again
for some hours. The millet is next to be passed between crushing rollers one of
each pair of rollers moving at a somewhat greater surface speed than the other.
The crushed or ground millet is again to be steeped in water the bran is to be
strained off or removed and the starch British gum or size separated by
running the fluid containing it down an incline. The quality of the starch
British gum or size thus obtained may be improved by subjecting the millet
after being crushed or ground as above explained to a process of fermentation
or to the action of acid to dissolve the gluten or other matters the product is
to be washed and strained and the starch British gum or size separated on an*
20939-2.

page_text: inclined plane as above mentioned. Or the starch British gum or size may
be obtained from millet by caustic alkali or caustic lime or by alkaline salts
after steeping and crushing or grinding the seeds as above explained the
products as before being washed in water and the bran separated. The starch
British gum or size is then obtained by an inclined plane as above. In each
case the starch British gum or size is finished in the ordinary manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Reckitt, George Reckitt, and Francis Reckitt, in the
Great Scal Patent Office on the 22nd August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME we ISAAC
RECKITT GEORGE RECKITT and FRANCIS RECKITT of Kingston upon Hull
being people called Quakers send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six in the nineteenth year of Her
reign did for Herself Her heirs and successors give and grant unto us
the said Isaac Reckitt George Reckitt and Francis Reckitt Her special
licence that we the said Isaac Reckitt George Reckitt and Francis Reckitt
our executors, administrators and assigns or such others as we the said Isaac
Reckitt George Reckitt and Francis Reckitt our executors, administrators
and assigns should at any time agree with and no others from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed should and
lawfully might make use exercise and vend within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland the Channel Islands and Isle of Man an Invention.
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH BRITISH GUM AND SIZE"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we the said Isaac Reckitt George
Reckitt and Francis Reckitt our executors or administrators by an instru-
ment in writing under our or their hands and seals or under the hand seal
of one of us or them should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said .Invention and in what manner the same was to be performed
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE that we the said Isaac Reckitt George Reckitt and
Francis Reckitt do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof that is to say

page_text: We
The Invention consists in the abstracting or producing starch from millet
particularly from the species known by the name of "dari." The advantage
being the production of a very high quality of starch at a moderate cost.
first steep the millet in warm water till sufficiently softened to be reduced to
fine smooth meal or pulp (by crushing rollers one of which moves at a some-
what greater surface speed than the other) or by an additional quantity of
water we reduce the whole to the consistence of cream by a levigating machine
we now take the meal or pulp and mix it with water and pass, it through
sieves for the purpose of abstracting the bran and any. fibrous matter. The
fluid is now ready (if the starch is only wanted for common manufacturing
purposes) to be passed over a slightly inclined plane which we prefer to be
twelve feet wide and thirty feet long so constructed as to allow the mixture to
flow over the whole surface of the incline and to descend slowly down it.
During this operation the starch will be deposited on the surface of the inclined
plane whilst the gluten and other foreign matters will pass off with the water
at the lower end of the incline plane. This deposit will not be equal from top
to bottom but thicker towards the top it is therefore desirable during the
deposit of the starch either to raise the lower end of the incline by wedges or
screws or what is better have a fillet of zinc or other material about three
inches wide put across the whole width of the inclined plane near the bottom
and fastened to it by a leather hinge so as to admit the fillet being raised or
depressed according to the thickness of the starch deposit and thus preserve
as nearly as possible an uniform degree of inclination on the surface of the
starch when a thickness of two or three inches of starch has been deposited it
may be taken off washed dried and boxed in the usual way.
When a fine quality of starch is required we take the meal or pulp from the
levigating machine and put it into steep for fermentation. When this process
is complete we proceed to abstract the bran in the usual way run the starch
down the inclined plane wash box and stove it. Though the simpler method
of separating the starch from the gluten and other extraneous matters by
fermentation is we think the best yet the same object may be obtained by the
well-known use of caustic alkali as applied to rice starch or by adding 3 lbs.
of acetic or hydrochloric acid to every 112 lbs. of the meal from the levigating
machine reduced to the thickness of thin cream by water this may remain for
a week during which it should be frequently stirred and then be proceeded
with as directed after fermentation.
An alkaline salt may also be used to separate the gluten in the following
To every 112 lbs. of millet meal add 112 gallons of water to which
has been added either 8 lbs. of carbonate of soda or 4 lbs. of carbonate of
manner.

page_text: ammonia or 4 lbs. of carbonate of potash the meal which has been added to
either of the above solutions must be kept stirred for about 24 hours when
the starch is allowed to settle the gluten and other matter which by this
process will have a considerable quantity of starch still mixed with it must be
taken off and run down the inclined plane which will perfect the separation
when the starch may be washed boxed and stoved &c. Caustic lime may also
be used in the following manner To every 112 lbs. of millet meal put 112
gallons of water and to this add as much caustic lime as it will dissolve stirring
the whole repeatedly for twenty-four hours then let the starch settle treating
it and the slimis &c. as before described.
To manufacture British gum from starch produced from millet the starch is
placed on iron plates and heated in an oven to about 300° of Fahrenhcit and
when slightly browned it is taken off and reduced to fine flour by mill stones.
For making size from millet the meal from which the bran has been sifted
is mixed with water according to the consistence or strength required and
boiled..
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and the manner of
performing the same we would have it understood that what we claim is the
manufacturing starch from millet also the application of a crushing or
levigating machine when manufacturing starch from millet also the applica-
tion of an inclined plane as a means of separating the starch from the gluten
of millet also the use of caustic alkali acetic or hydrochloric acid alkaline
salts and caustic lime when manufacturing starch from millet and also the
manufacture of British gum and size from millet.
In witness whereof we the said Isaac Reckitt George Reckitt and
Francis Reckitt have hereunto set our hands and seals this Eighteenth
day of August in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-six.
ISAAC RECKITT.
(L.S.)
GEORGE RECKITT. (L.S.)
FRANCIS RECKITT. (L.S.)