IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESSES OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING AND PURIFYING THE REFUSE ⚫ PICKLE OF TIN PLATE WORKS, ALSO IN TREATING THE SULPHURIC ACID OBTAINED, AND IN PURIFYING THE * SCOURING WATER' USED AT SUCH WORKS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William John Pughsley, of Kidwelly, in the
County of Carmarthen, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PROCESSES OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING AND PURIFYING THE REFUSE
⚫ PICKLE
OF TIN PLATE WORKS, ALSO IN TREATING THE SULPHURIC ACID
OBTAINED, AND IN PURIFYING THE * SCOURING WATER' USED AT SUCH
WORKS."
,
Sealed the 25th March 1875, and dated the 19th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William John Pughsley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th December 1874.
I, WILLIAM JOHN PUGHSLEY, of Kidwelly, in the County of Car-
5 marthen, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESSES OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING AND PURIFYING
THE REFUSE PICKLE' OF TIN PLATE WORKS, ALSO IN TREATING THE SULPHURIC
ACID OBTAINED, AND IN PURIFYING THE * SCOURING WATER USED AT SUCH
WORKS," to be as follows:-
)
,
This Invention relates to certain improvements in connection with
the Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the

page_text: 21st day of June, A.D. 1864, No. 1530, for Improvements in
Obtaining Sulphuric Acid from the Refuse Pickle' used in Tin
Plate Works."
In lieu of bottling the sulphuric acid obtained from the refuso
"pickle" according to my said Invention direct from the lead tank
for the use of the picklers by the present improvements, I cause it
to run or I pump it into a filter constructed of wood, and divided into
two compartments by a transverse division. The upper compartment
of the filter forms a cistern into which the sulphuric acid is fed through
a suitable receiving pipe, and from which it escapes (through a coarse
flannel strainer having a perforated copper plate at its top) to and
permeates a deep-layer of charcoal in the lower compartment, and then
through a layer of small pebble stones obtained from fresh water, and
lastly escapes from the filter through a square perforated wooden
chamber at the bottom of the lower compartment, and a wood tap
fixed therein into a glass bottle or other suitable receptacle, and it is
then ready for reuse. This treatment of purifying by filtering will
prevent a very general cause of complaint as all extraneous matters
which accumulate in the different processes (such as dust arising from
smoke), and impregnate the vitriol and prevent its proper working will
be entirely removed. After this treatment the purified sulphuric acid
will be of sufficient strength and can be reused either by white or black
picklers as previously.
The very objectionable and prejudicial discoloration of river or other
stream water adjacent to tin plate works is caused by the "scouring
water" used at such works in a tank or tanks containing which the
plates are placed after having been taken out of the "pickle" until
the acid is removed from them, and this discoloration arises from such
water becoming oxidised with iron and a small quantity of acid, which
in extensive works most injuriously affects any adjacent stream or brook
having a comparatively small supply of water.
To prevent or obviate these ill effects I construct a filtering apparatus
in the watercourse of the " scouring water," and cause the latter to
pass, firstly, through a layer of limestone of (say) about two feet in
thickness, which will retain any dirt or filth that may have accumulated,
and so will prevent any from passing into the filter, which is placed
below the limestone, which should be freed from the dirt as often as

page_text: necessary. This filter I construct of bricks, and form it of an upper
layer of charcoal separated by a perforated elm plank from a lower layer
of burnt bones. The bones absorb the acid and prevent any from
escaping to the stream, brook, or river. About every twelve months
they may be removed and can then be used as a most valuable and
fertilising manure.
The white pickle, which is not so strong as the black, and not much
impregnated with oxide of iron, but more so with sawdust and such like
foreign matters, I run into a tank instead of into the river or stream,
in which I allow it to settle, and subsequently flow over into a filtering
apparatus of the construction hereafter described, and thence to the
black plate picklers to be reused, mixed with best vitriol for pickling,
I thus cffect a saving of about half a pound of the best vitriol to every
box of plates pickled; subsequently I cause all the black and white
pickle to pass through the processes described in the Specification of
my above referred to Letters Patent, so as again to obtain the sulphuric
acid from the extraneous matters with which it has become mixed for
reuse; the processes of purifying herein described are then repeated as
occasion may require.
The tank lastly above referred to may be made of brick or of
any suitable substitute, such as a palm oil cask arranged so as to
receive the pickle from the picklers' pot, and when about half full
of sawdust and other extraneous matters it should be cleared out.
The filtering apparatus I construct of wood of a sufficient size for the
works and the number of plates pickled with a filtering medium of
charcoal only. I also provide it with a wood tap by which the filtered
acid can be withdrawn for the black picklers.
The useful and very beneficial results of adopting the above-described
processes will be that there will be no necessity whatever for throwing
the acid into the rivers or streams; but the recovered acid will be a great
gain to the tin plates makers for reuse, and the rivers or streams will be
freed from such pollution.

page_text: .
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William John Pughsley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOHN PUGHSLEY, of Kidwelly, in the County of Carmarthen, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William John Pughsley, Her
special licence that I, the said William John Pughsley, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William John
Pughsley, my 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 PROCESSES OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING AND
PURIFYING THE REFUSE PICKLE' OF TIN PLATE WORKS, ALSO IN TREATING THE
SULPHURIC ACID OBTAINED, AND IN PURIFYING THE SCOURING WATER USED AT SUCH
WORKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William John
Pughsley, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William John Pughsley, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, and on reference being had to
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in connection with
the Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the
Twenty-first lay of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight

page_text: hundred and sixty-four, No. 1530, for "Improvements in Obtaining
Sulphuric Acid from the Refuse Pickle' used in Tin Plate Works."
<<
In lieu of bottling the sulphuric acid obtained from the refuse
pickle" (according to the said Invention) direct from the lead tank
for the use of the " picklers, by the present improvements I cause it
to run or I pump it into a filter (which is illustrated on the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings in Figure 1) constructed of a sufficient
size of wood, and divided into two compartments by a transverse
division 1. The upper compartment 2 forms a cistern into which the
sulphuric acid is fed through a suitable receiving pipe 3, and from
which it escapes (through a coarse flannel strainer 4 having a perforated
copper plate at its top) to and permeates a deep layer of charcoal 5, and.
then through a layer of small pebble stones 6 obtained from fresh water,.
both contained in the lower compartment, and lastly escapes from the
filter through a square perforated wooden box or chamber 7 at the
bottom of the lower compartment, and a wood tap 8 fixed therein into
a glass bottle 9 or other suitable receptacle, and it is then ready for
reuse. This treatment of purifying by filtering will prevent a very
general cause of complaint, as all extraneous matters, such as dust
arising from smoke which accumulate in the different processes, and
impregnate the vitriol and prevent its proper working will be entirely
removed. After this treatment the purified sulpuric acid will be of
sufficient strength and can be reused either by white or black picklers,
as previously.
The very objectionable and prejudicial discolouration of river or other
stream water adjacent to tin plate works is caused by the scouring
water used at such works in a tank or tanks containing which the
plates are placed after having been taken out of the "pickle" until the
acid is removed from them, and this decoloration arises from such water
becoming oxidised with iron and a small quantity of acid, which in
éxtensive works most injuriously affects any adjacent stream or brook
having a comparatively small supply of water.
To prevent or obviate these ill effects I construct a filtering apparatus
in the watercourse 10 of the scouring water (as shown in Figure 2), and
I cause the latter to pass, firstly, through a layer of limestone 11 of
(say) about two feet in thickness and one foot six inches, more or less,
deep, which will retain any dirt or filth that may have accumulated,

page_text: and so will prevent any from passing through 15 into the filter placed
below the limestone, which should be freed from the dirt as often as
necessary. This filter I construct of bricks or stone, and form it of an
upper layer of charcoal 12, separated by a perforated elm plank 13 from
a lower layer of burnt or calcined bones 14. The bones absorb the
acid and prevent any from escaping through the perforated iron plate
at 16 to the stream, brook, or river. About every twelve months they
may be removed, and can then be used as a most valuable and fertilising
This filter may have a covering of iron, wood, or stone, as
manure.
required..
The white pickle, which is not so strong as the black, and not much
impregnated with oxide of iron, but more so with sawdust and such like
foreign matters, I run into a tank (instead of into the river or stream)
in which I allow it to settle, and subsequently flow over into a suitable
filtering apparatus, which may be made of wood of a sufficient size
for the works and the number of plates pickled, and with a filtering
medium of charcoal only, and provided with a wooden tap by which
the filtered acid can be withdrawn for the black picklers to be reused,
mixed with best vitriol, I thus effect a saving of about half a pound
of the best vitriol to every box of plates pickled; subsequently I cause
all the black and white pickle to pass through the processes described
in the Specification of the above referred to Letters Patent, so as again
to obtain the sulphuric acid from the extraneous matters with which
it has become mixed for reuse; the processes of purifying herein
described are then repeated as occasion may require.
The tank lastly above referred to may be made of brick, or of
any suitable substitute, such as a palm oil or other cask arranged
so as to receive the pickle from the pickler's pot, and when about
half full of sawdust and other extraneous matters it should be cleared
out.
The useful and very beneficial results of adopting the above-described
processes will be that there will be no necessity whatever for throwing
the acids into the rivers or streams, but the recovered acid will be a great
gain to the tin plate makers for reuse, and the rivers or streams will be
freed from such pollution.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, together with the manner in which the

page_text: .
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect,
I have now to state that I claim as my Invention, the above-described
improved processes of and apparatus for treating and purifying the
refuse "pickle" of tin plate works; also the treating the sulphuric
acid obtained, and purifying the "scouring water" used at such works,
and the use or working thereof in connection with the Invention for
which the former Letters Patent, No. 1538, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, were granted to me, sub-
stantially as herein-before described, and as illustrated on the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William John Pughsley, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five
Witness,
A. T. WATERS.
W. J. PUGHSLEY. (L.S.)