IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ALOM
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richardson, of Portland Place, Newcastle
on Tyne, for the Invention, of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
ALOM."
Sealed the 1st September 1854, and dated the 8th June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richardson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th June 1854.
I, THOMAS RICHARDSON, of Portland Place, Newcastle on Tyne, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF ALUM" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing sulphate of alumina, by heating
together (in contact with air) alum shale or other alumina mineral, and
cither artificial or natural pyrites. Also, in treating roasted alum shale with
sulphuric acid, to obtain sulphate of alumina. In both cases the sulphate of
alumina is converted into alum in the ordinary manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Richardson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RICHARDSON, of Portland Place, Newcastle on Tyne, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Richardson, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Richardson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thomas Richardson, my executor, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ALUM," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Richardson, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and scal, 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 I, the said Thomas Richardson, 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):-
My Invention consists in manufacturing sulphate of alumina, by heating
together (in contact with air) alum shale or other alumina mineral, and either
artificial or natural pyrites. Also, in treating roasted alum shale with sulphuric
acid, to obtain sulphate of alumina. In both cases the sulphate of alumina
is converted into alum in the ordinary manner.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same. The alum shale of the Yorkshire
coast yields sulphate of alumina by being exposed to slow combustion, but in
consequence of the small per-centage of iron pyrites present the produce is
very low; I therefore increase the quantity of pyrites, by mixing either natural
or artificial sulphuret of iron with the shale, in the proportion of about ten per

page_text: cent. The pyrites is previously ground to a fine powder and scattered over the
shale, when the mixed materials are treated in precisely the same manner as at
present. The refuse, after lixiviating the calcined material, is now thrown away
as useless, but I have found that it contains a large per-centage of alumina, in a
condition peculiarly adapted for solution in acid; I therefore take the exhausted
alum shale, and mix therewith, at the rate of about fifty per cent. of sulphuric
acid, of 1.600 specific gravity, in shallow leaden pans, either cold or assisted by
heat, in a manner similar to that now practised when pool or other clays are
employed.
This crude sulphate of alumina is then lixiviated, either with fresh water, or
by means of the present weak liquors obtained from the pits of calcined shale,
and the whole allowed to settle. The subsequent evaporation and treatment is
conducted precisely as at present, either for the manufacture of alum or
common sulphate of alumina.
I claim the use of natural or artificial sulphuret of iron, in the manner
described, for encreasing the produce of sulphate of alumina; I also claim the
use of sulphuric acid and calcined alum shale, either before or after lixiviation,
for the same purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Richardson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
WILL. CHATER,
Solicitor,
Newcastle Tyne.
THOMAS RICHARDSON. (L.B.)
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