IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE WASTE LIQUORS OBTAINED IN BLEACHING CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Harold Potter, of the City of Manchester, Com-
mission Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE
WASTE LIQUORS OBTAINED IN BLEACHING CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."
WASTE LIQUORS OBTAINED IN BLEACHING CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Harold Potter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
March 1865.
I, HAROLD POTTER, of the City of Manchester, Commission Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING THE WASTE LIQUORS OBTAINED IN BLEACHING CERTAIN VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in boiiling the waste liquors obtained in
bleaching jute, straw, and the waste of flax, commonly called "shove" or
"shew," with lime or magnesia or their carbonates, or with a metallic oxide,
in order to recover the soda which is used in the process of bleaching the
before-mentioned vegetable substances.. About twelve pounds of lime is required
with one hundred gallons of the waste liquor containing soda, when this
liquor is of the strength of four degrees of Twaddle's hydrometer, but the
proportion may be varied. The boiling or evaporation is continued until the
liquid assumes a pasty consistence or until it becomes dry. This paste or dry
mass is then placed in a reverberatory or other suitable furnace, the organic
matter from the vegetable substances acting as fuel, and when the evolution

page_text: of combustable gasses has ceased the mass is withdrawn from the furnace, the
resulting compound is then lixiviated in the usual manner, or the waste liquor
may be boiled with lime and afterwards allowed to settle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Harold Potter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HAROLD
POTTER, of the City of Manchester, Commission Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Harold Potter, Her special license that I, the said Harold
Potter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Harold Potter, 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
TREATING THE WASTE LIQUORS OBTAINED IN BLEACHING CERTAIN VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Harold
Potter, 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 Harold Potter, 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 (that is to say):
These improvements consist in boiling the waste liquor obtained in
bh aching jute and the waste of flax, commonly called "shove" or "shew,"
with lime or magnesia or their carbonates, or with a metallic oxide, in order
to recover the soda which is used in the process of bleaching the before-
mentioned vegetable substances.

page_text: In performing my Invention I run or pump the hitherto waste alkaline ley
of the bowking or boiling keir into an evaporating pan, where it is evaporated
until on cooling it assumes a pasty consistency, or of such a consistency that
it may be introduced into a reverberatory or other suitable furnace, and there
heated without excessive ebullition. When the ley has been evaporated to
the extent above specified it is run into the furnace, which is highly heated,
and I prefer to employ a reverberatory furnace, but do not limit myself
thereto. During the firing up or heating of the furnace the mixture must be
frequently stirred as the mass thickens to assist in consuming the combustible
gases given off, thereby greatly facilitating the burning process. The mass is
withdrawn from the furnace as soon as the gas ceases to be evolved, and it
is then allowed to cool.
The compound thus obtained is lixiviated or washed in water in the usual
manner, and the liquor so obtained is an almost pure solution of carbonate of
soda, that is to say, soda ash, which is then boiled in a vat by steam and
rendered caustic by the addition of slaked lime; after this the liquor may be
allowed to settle and cool.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described a convenient
mode of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the details given, I would also observe that I make no claim to
recovering the soda from the waste liquors obtained in bleaching, excepting
when bleaching the particular vegetable substances above named; but what I
do claim is, recovering the soda from the waste liquor obtained in bleaching
jute and the waste of flax, commonly called "shove" or "shew."
In witness whereof, I, the said Harold Potter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.
HAROLD POTTER. (18.)