CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA BY THE DECOMPOSITION OF CHLORIDE OF SODIUM AND OF SULPHATE OF POTASSA BY THE DECOMPOSITION OF CHLORIDE OF POTASSIUM."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gossage and Frederick Herbert Gossage,
both of Widnes, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing
* Chemists, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA BY THE DECOMPOSITION OF CHLORIDE OF SODIUM
AND OF SULPHATE OF POTASSA BY THE DECOMPOSITION OF CHLORIDE OF
POTASSIUM."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gossage and
Frederick Herbert Gossage at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 25th October 1871.
We, WILLIAM GOSSAGE and FREDERICK HERBERT GOSSAGE, both of
Widnes, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemists, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA BY THE DECOMPOSITION OF

page_text: its fall or flow through the mixture of gases and vapours, facilitate and
expedite the decomposing action to which the chloride is exposed. The
sulphate produced becomes deposited, and the hydrochloric acid gas can
be conducted away to be applied to well known useful purposes. This
mode of working is also continuous.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Gossage and Frederick Herbert Gossage
in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 20th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, WILLIAM
GOSSAGE and FREDERICK HERBERT GOSSAGE, both of Widnes, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Gossage and Frederick Herbert
Gossage, Her special licence that we, the said William Gossage and
Frederick Herbert Gossage, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said William Gossage and Frederick Herbert
Gossage, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHATE OF SODA BY THE DECOMPOSITION
OF CHLORIDE OF SODIUM AND OF SULPHATE OF POTASSA BY THE DECOMPOSITION OP
CHLORIDE OF POTASSIUM," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said William Gossage and Frederick Herbert Gossage, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
1

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Gossage, on behalf of
myself and of the said Frederick Herbert Gossage, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
It is a well-known fact that when chloride of sodium is exposed at a
red heat to the action of a mixture of sulphurous acid gas, atmospheric
air, and vapor of water the chloride of sodium becomes decomposed,
producing sulphate of soda and hydrochloric acid gas. The same action
takes place when chloride of potassium is similarly exposed, the products
being in that case sulphate of potassa and hydrochloric acid gas.
The object of our Invention is to facilitate and expedite the de-
composition of the chloride employed, and for this purpose we present
the chloride in an attenuated or in a finely mechanically divided state to
the action of the heated mixture of gas, air, and vapour of water.
One mode of working is to vaporize by heat the chloride of sodium or
chloride of potassium (which we desire to decompose) and when so
vaporized to expose the chloride to the action of a heated mixture of
sulphurous acid gas, atmospherical air, and vapor of water. These
gases and vapors are in such a state of molecular division as greatly
facilitates their mingling with each other, and as such mingling takes
place the decomposition of the chloride employed proceeds with much
rapidity, the sulphate produced becoming deposited either in the solid or
fluid state, whilst the hydrochloric acid gas can be conducted away to be
applied to well-known useful purposes. This mode of working is con-
tinuous, the gases and vapours being regularly supplied to the vessel or
chamber in which the action takes place and the products abstracted
therefrom.
Another mode of obtaining the object of our Invention is to present
the chlorido of sodium or chloride of potassium (which we desire to
decompose) to the action of a heated mixture of sulphurous acid,
atmospheric air, and vapor of water at a suitable temperature while in
a state of fine mechanical division or in a state of fusion by heat by
causing it to fall or flow from the upper part of a vessel or chamber of
considerable licight at the same time that the said mixture of gases and
vapor are caused to pass through such vessel or chamber. This vessel
or chamber may be either filled with picces of flint or other suitable
-

page_text: material, or it may be left without such filling. The state of division of
the chloride employed and the continual change of surfaces and currents
caused by its fall or flow through the mixture of gases and vapors,
facilitate and expedite the decomposing action to which the chloride is
exposed. The sulphate produced becomes deposited either in a solid
or fluid state, and the hydrochloric acid gas can be conducted away to
be applied to well-known useful purposes. This mode of working is also
continuous.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same should be performed so, that others
may carry the same into effective operation, we claim as the Invention
secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent,—
Firstly. The decomposition of chloride of sodium or chloride of
potassium when such chlorides are in the state of vapours by causing
such vapor or vapors to become mingled with a heated mixture of
sulphurous acid, atmospherical air, and vapour of water, and thereby
produce sulphate of soda or sulphate of potassa (as the case may be).
Secondly. The decomposition of chloride of sodium or chloride of
potassium by causing such chlorides when in a state of fine mechanical
division or in a stato of fusion by heat to fall or flow through a heated
mixture of sulphurous acid, atmospherical air, and vapour of water, and
thereby produce sulphate of soda or sulphate of potassa (as the case
may be).
may be).
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gossage, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-two.
WILL
COSSACT Gal