A CERTAIN NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS OR PROCESSES BY THE USE OF WHICH THE QUALITIES OF A CERTAIN GELATINOUS SUBSTANCE OR CERTAIN GELATINOUS SUBSTANCES CALLED ISING- GLASS MAY BE IMPROVED
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
NELSON, late of Leamington Priors, but now of Milverton, both in the County
of Warwick, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late Majesty King William the Fourth did grant unto
me His Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of May, in the
seventh year of His reign, for using, exercising, and vending, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A CERTAIN NEW
OR IMPROVED PROCESS OR PROCESSES BY THE USE OF WHICH THE QUALITIES OF A
CERTAIN GELATINOUS SUBSTANCE OR CERTAIN GELATINOUS SUBSTANCES CALLED ISING-
GLASS MAY BE IMPROVED;" subject to the usual proviso, obliging me to describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Nelson, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in manner following,
that is to say:-
The gelatinous substances to which I apply my Invention are the several
kinds of inferior or impure isinglass, such as those usually called honeycomb,
pipe or tongue, block or lump, samovy book and samovy leaf, which, as they
are imported into this country, are much less soluble and much less pure than
the superior kinds, such as those called Russian leaf and staple, which, as
imported, are sufficiently soluble and sufficiently pure for the purposes to

page_text: which isinglass is applied. I perform my Invention in the following manner
(that is to say) I soak these isinglasses to which my Invention is applicable
as aforesaid in clean cold water until they are sufficiently saturated to soften
and cleanse them, and to enable the removal of the skin and external
impurities of those having a skin or impurities, and to enable me to cut open
or divide those requiring to be cut open or divided, as, for instance, the pipe or
tongue and the block or lump requiring to be cut open, and the samovy book
to be divided in the thick part, which.accordingly I cut open or divide when
sufficiently saturated or softened, as before mentioned, and after this saturation
or softening; and as to those requiring it being cut open or divided as afore-
said, I also carefully remove the skin of those having a skin, as, for instance,
the honeycomb, the pipe or tongue, and the block or lump; but others, as, for
instance, the book and leaf, do not require this; and as to all the said glasses,
I remove all impurities, and I cut any pieces which are materially thicker in
one part than in another into separate pieces, and I separate the thicker from
the thinner pieces, and macerate together pieces of the same or nearly the
same thickness. I macerate them in a caustic solution of alkali, usuing for
this purpose shallow earthenware vessels, or brick vessels lined with cement
in the ordinary manner; and these vessels, which I call the macerating vessels,
must be covered with some lid excluding the general atmosphere; any vessels
which are not acted upon by the alkali might be used. The time required
for maceration will vary according to the thickness of the pieces, twenty-four
hours being sufficient when the pieces are very thin, and from two to six or
eight days, or even a longer, period, being required when they are thicker; but
it is ascertained whether, the maceration has been sufficiently completed by
passing a fork or any other similar instrument through them. If the piece
is sufficiently macerated, the fork or other instrument will pass easily through
it; but.if it is not, there will be the ordinary hardness or resistance. When
the pieces are very thin, I draw off the solution altogether at the end of the
twenty-four hours; but as, to others which are found to require more than
twenty-four hours for, the purpose of maceration, I draw off the solution from
thin pieces at the end of the first day, and from thick pieces requiring several
days for maceration at the second day. I fill up the vessel again with fresh
solution as to the pieces requiring more than twenty-four. hours for maceration,
as before mentioned,, but not as to those requiring only twenty-four hours
maceration. The alkali which I prefer, for my solution is potash, and I
prepare my solution in the ordinary method, using two parts American potash
or three parts American pearlash, with one part of fresh burnt lime to thirty.
parts water, or any quantity of fresh burnt lime sufficient to render the

page_text: solution caustic may be used. When the process of maceration is sufficiently.
complete, as already pointed out, I draw off the solution by means of a cock.
inserted for that purpose in the lower part of the vessel, and I place the
pieces before- mentioned, each separated from the others, upon trays formed.
of coarse canvass stretched over wooden frames, having cross rails under them,
to enable each tray to rest upon the other at a small elevation, or so as to
keep each tray separate. I place these trays in a water vessel filled with
clean cold water sufficiently to cover the trays and the pieces on them; in;
this stage of the process I prefer soft water. I cause a current of the water,
to be kept up by means of an aperture in the bottom of the vessel at one end
and a pipe at the top at the opposite end, through which pipe the clean cold
water is continually supplied. I leave the trays in this water vessel until the
alkali is completely washed from the pieces, for which purpose I generally
find about thirty-six hours a sufficient period, and I then remove the trays
with the pieces into a wooden closet, constructed in the ordinary manner to
prevent the escape of gas, and there expose the pieces to the action of
sulphurous acid gas produced by the combustion of sulphur within the closet.
I continue the pieces thus exposed to the sulphurous acid gas for several
hours, varying according to the thickness of the pieces, six hours being suffi-
cient for the thin pieces and twenty-four hours being required for the thickest::
I then replace the trays with the pieces in the water vessel replenished with
fresh water, and continue them as before in a fresh current of clean cold
water for four or five hours; I afterwards dry them upon the trays by exposure
to a current of cool dry air. I prefer a temperature of about sixty-five'
degrees of Fahrenheit for this purpose, and when they have been thus com-
pletely dried they are fit for use. It sometimes occurs, on drawing off the
solution, as before pointed out as the completion of the maceration, that some
pieces will be found still not sufficiently macerated to pass the fork through.
In this case I lay these pieces together, saturated as they are, in the macerating
vessel without the solution until they become sufficiently soft to pass the fork
through, and I then proceed with them as I have already detailed with regard
to the other pieces on taking them from the macerating vessel. It frequently
occurs also that after the process of drying has gone on for the first or second
day, it is discovered that some portions of the skin, which I have already
mentioned I remove of those requiring it, have not been completely removed
in the operation of removing the skin above pointed out. In this case the
portions of skin so remaining are to be taken off after the first or second day's
drying.
I do not claim as my Invention the preparation or application of any

page_text: particular caustic alkaline solution; but I claim as my Invention the novel
application of a caustic solution of alkali and the sulphurous acid gas to the
several gelatinous substances called isinglass, herein-before mentioned (that is
to say,) to the inferior or impure isinglass, as herein-before mentioned, for the
purpose of rendering the same more pure and more soluble and more
generally useful than they are in the state in which they are imported into this
country, it being already observed that the superior isinglass, as, for instance,
the best Russian leaf and staple, possess these qualities without the application
of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth
day of November in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred