A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS OF PREPARING PHOSPHORUS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS OF PREPARING PHOSPHORUS."
-A communication from abroad by Adolphe Pelhuche, of No. 64,
Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st July 1872.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS OF PREPARING
PHOSPHORUS," a communication to me from abroad by Adolphe Pelhuche,
of No. 64, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France, to be as follows:-
Steep or dilute say 100 parts of calcined bones or of trebasic phos-
phate of lime in ten times their weight of water; add to this mixture
from 96 to 100 parts of sulphuric acid at about 66° or the equivalent
о

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st December 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her‍
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Gedge, 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 "A
NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS OF PREPARING PHOSPHORUS," a communication to
me from abroad by Adolphe Pelhuche, of No. 64, Faubourg St. Martin,
Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Gedge, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Edward Gedge, 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:-
:-
Treat 100 parts of tribasic phosphate of lime with 100 parts of con-
centrated sulphuric acid diluted with 5 or 6 times its weight of water.
When the reaction is ended separate the acid solution from the
5 precipitate of sulphate of lime, evaporate it to a sirupy consistency, and
again separate the sulphate of lime which has deposited.

page_text: This acid syrup is mixed with about its weight of pulverized charcoal,
and this carbonaceous acid mixture is thoroughly dried in a cast-iron
boiler.
The distillation of the phosphorus is effected in the apparatus shown,
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawing.
For this purpose the carbonaceous acid mixture is introduced into the
obturator cylinder F, furnished with its protecting clay cylinder; set
this cylinder in the larger cylinder A, fitting this obturator cylinder
exactly by means of an adjusting screw.
Fit the condenser.
All the joints being luted, bring the cylinder A to a red heat and keep
it thus. When no more phosphorus disengages the obturator cylinder F
is withdrawn and replaced by another exactly similar previously charged
with carbonaceous acid mixture. The adjusting screw and the luting
are again applied. The fire is always kept at the same temperature.
When there is again no more disengagement of phosphorus this second
obturator cylinder is withdrawn, another charged cylinder is substituted,
and so on.
On arriving in the condenser I the phosphorus vapours condense and
fall to the bottom of the water in the receiver n.
When this receiver contains a proper quantity of phosphorus the
lower opening m of the condenser is stopped under water; the receiver
is withdrawn, and another is substituted full of water, into which again
dips the lower opening of the receiver, the stopper of which is then
removed.
This process permits the withdrawal of the whole of the phosphorus
contained in a phosphate of lime, say 20%, excepting always the small
losses inherent to every industrial operation.
Further, the arrangement of apparatus which I have set forth permits
the preparation of phosphorus to be made continuous instead of inter-
mittent as hitherto. Thence results a very great saving of time, of fuel,
and of labour, as well as great regularity in the operation.
The waters which have been used for washing the sulphate of lime
serve to dilute the acid in a further operation.
This mode of preparation is applicable to the treatment of all natural
phosphates of lime.

page_text: Apparatus for preparing phosphorus―
This apparatus is composed of two parts :-
1°. The distilling apparatus, Figure 1.
2°. The condensing apparatus and receiver, Figure 2.
In Figure 1-
A indicates a cast-iron cylinder open at the two ends and set hori-
zontally in a suitable furnace. The empty forepart G of this cylinder is
filled with charcoal in large pieces. Several of these cylinders may be
set in a same furnace like the cylinders used in the preparation of
lighting gas, but with the two ends opening outside. These cylinders
are protected from the action of the air and the fire by coating them
with fire-clay.
B, cast-iron disc closing one of the ends, and through the axis of
which passes a bent iron pipe C giving passage to the vapours of phos-
phorus and communicating with the condenser.
D, obturator cylinder closing the other end and formed of a sheet of
cast iron, to which is fitted a cylinder F of the same material entering
easily into the cylinder A and of a length equal to ½ of this latter.
These two obturators B and D are movable and fixed by means of an
adjusting pressure screw and cross bar.
-
To prevent the action of the carbonaceous acid mixture upon the
surfaces of the cylinder they are protected as follows: - Into this
cylinder is introduced another cylinder f of clay, earthenware, fire-clay,
or analogous substance. This cylinder of a thickness about equal to that
of the obturator cylinder is applied close against the inner surface,
thereof. The acid mixture is then introduced into the cavity of this
preservative cylinder.

page_text: m, lower opening plunging into the water in the receiver n.
!
n, receiver filled with water. It may be a tub, or pail, or other
receptacle.
Q, refrigerator continually filled with cold water by an inlet pipe P
and exit pipe Q.
This apparatus may be made of sheet iron or of tin and cylindrical or
prismatic, at pleasure. Its dimensions should be regulated by those of
the distilling cylinder.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.