CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN CHEMICAL AGENTS USED IN DYEING AND PRINTING OF COTTONS, WOOLLEN, AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
GREENWOOD, of Church, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist,
JOHN MERCER, of Oakenshaw, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist and Calico
Printer, and JOHN BARNES, of Church, in the same County, Manufacturing
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of July, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said John
Greenwood, John Mercer, and John Barnes, our exors, adiñors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said
John Greenwood, John Mercer, and John Barnes, our exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Greenwood, John Mercer, and
John Barnes, our exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times 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, our Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN CHEMICAL AGENTS
USED IN DYEING AND PRINTING OF COTTONS, WOOLLEN, AND OTHER FABRICS;" in

page_text: which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said John
Greenwood, John Mercer, and John Barnes, or some or one of us, should
cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, wc, the said
John Greenwood, John Mercer, and John Barnes, do hereby declare that the
nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
Our Invention has for its object the manufacturing stannate, and staunite of
soda or potash in a dry, crystalline, or pasty state, and in producing the tin
preparing liquor of dyers and printers by dissolving the same in water.
It is well known to dyers and printers that in making tin preparing liquor
or stannate of soda, it has been heretofore usual to take at the rate of one
gallon of what is known in the trade as oxymuriate of tin, and adding thereto
twelve, sixteen, twenty, or more gallons of dilute caustic soda, and this con-
stitutes their tin preparing liquor or stannate of soda, or the stannate of soda
when potash is used in place of soda. Now, according to our Invention, the
stannate is made into a dry state or in crystals or in a pasty state, so as to
pack in a small compass, and then the parties using it prepare therefrom the
desired tin preparing liquor by dissolving the same in water.
And in order that, our Invention may be fully understood, we will proceed
to describe the means pursued by us.
We take twenty-two pounds of caustic soda (one gallon weighing thirteen
and a half pounds) and put it in an iron, crucible, heated to a low red heat
by a fire under it; when evaporation has taken place so as to produce (or
nearly so) what is called hydrate of soda, that is, until watery vapours cease to
be evolved, we then add eight pounds of nitrate of soda and four pounds of
common salt (chloride of sodium). When the mixture is at or near the fluxing
heat, we add ten pounds of feathered block tin; we stir the materials together
with an iron stirrer, the mass becomes dark-colored and pasty, and ammonia
is given off, the tin decomposing both the water of the hydrated soda and part
of the nitrate of soda; the stirring is continued as well as the heat under the
crucible, until ignition or deflagration takes places, and it becomes red or
white hot and of a pasty consistence; this product is stannate of soda. We

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then take it out of the crucible, and when cold we grind it into powder, and it
is dry stannate of soda, suitable to be packed and sent out to the printer and
dyer; but if it is desired to have it in a more pure state, we merely dissolve the
dry stannate of soda in water, and allow any impurity it may contain to settle.
We take the clear liquor and evaporate down to crystalization in an iron
boiler, and as the crystals form at the bottom of the pan we take them out and
dry them on hot iron plates; or we evaporate all down to a pasty state, not
quite dry, but so dry as not to let any fluid run from it.
Should stannite be desired in place of stannate, then we take four pounds of
common salt, one gallon of caustic soda weighing thirteen and a half pounds;
one pound of nitrate of soda, and four pounds of feathered block tin; we put
all these at once into a hot iron crucible over a fire, and stir and boil to dry-
ness, still stirring the dry powder so long as any ammonia is given off. We
then consider the process finished. We now remove the contents from the
crucible, and it is what we call stannite of soda in a dry state, differing from
stannate, inasmuch as the tin contains only half the quantity of oxygen.
In order to obtain tin preparing liquor, we take the stannate of soda and
dissolve it in boiling water, about three pounds to one gallon, and add three;
four, or five gallons of cold water to it, to form the strength required for the
different styles of work, according to the discretion of the printers. This solu-
tion of stannate of soda is to be used for and in lieu of what is known in the
arts of printing cottons and delaines as tin preparing liquor or stannate of
soda liquor, and we apply the stanuite in the same way, and as is well under-
stood.
If stannate or stannite of potash be desired, then potash will be employed
in place of soda, and the chemist, from the directions above given for soda, will
readily prepare the stannate or stannite of potash.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the best means we
are acquainted with for performing the same, we do not confine ourselves to
the means above described, so long as the stannate or the stannite of soda or of
potash be produced in a dry state or in crystals or in the state of paste, so as to
pack in a small compass for ready and convenient transport; and we would
wish it to be understood that what we claim is,-
First, the manufacturing of stannate and stannite of soda and potash in a.
dry state or in crystals or in a state of paste.
Secondly, we claim the manufacturing of stannate and stannite of soda and
potash by fluxing nitrate of soda or potash and tin.
And, thirdly, we claim the making tin preparing liquor for dyers and

page_text: printers by dissolving in. water stannate or stannite. of soda or, potash, which
has been manufactured in a dry; crystaline, or pasty state.
Inwitness whereof, we,uther said. John Greenwood and John Mercer,
have. hereunto set our hands: andiseals, this Fifth day of January, in
...the year of our Lord. One thousand-eight hundred and forty-six.
JOHN (LS) (GREENWOOD
JOHN (L.S:) MERCER.
AND BE IT. REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of January, in the
year of our Lord.1846; the aforesaid John: Greenwood and. John. Mercer came
before our said Lady the Queening Her Chancery, and; acknowledged the
Specification-aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification Laforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
"thousand eight hundred and forty-six.