IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF BARYTA AND STRONTIA
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF
BARYTA AND STRONTIA."-A communication from abroad by Louis Pierre
Robert de Massy and Louis Robert de Massy, of Rue St. Sebastien,
Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 1st August 1864, and dated the 8th March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th March 1864.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF
BARYTA AND STRONTIA," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the production of baryta and strontia
suitable for the formation of saccharates in the manufacture and refining of
sugar and molasses, and for other purposes where baryta and strontia are
employed. These substances are obtained, firstly, by the transformation of
the sulphates of baryta and strontia into sulphurets; secondly, by the decom-
position of these sulphurets by means of oxides to form other oxides and

page_text: other sulphurets, a preference being given to the oxide of copper; thirdly, by
the roasting of these latter sulphurets in order to revivify or regenerate the
oxide, and at the same time utilizing the sulphurous acid that is formed, and
which may be employed in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. The sulphates
of baryta and strontia employed in carrying out the Invention are either the
natural or artificial sulphates, or that obtained by the decomposition of the
natural or artificial carbonates by means of sulphuric acid. From the above
it will be understood that the principal features of novelty in the improved
process are the production of baryta and strontia by the decomposition of their
sulphates into sulphurets, and the transformation of the sulphurets into
hydrates, by means of the oxide of copper or other oxide, then separating the
precipitates of the salts of baryta which become mixed with the oxide of
copper. This separation is effected by transforming the insoluble salt of
copper into a soluble salt. The sulphurous acid given off during the roasting
of the sulphurets is employed for the manufacture of sulphuric acid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the
said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF BARYTA AND
STRONTIA," being a communication to him from abroad by Louis Pierre Robert
de Massy and Louis Robert de Massy, of Paris, in the Empire of France,

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 William Edward Newton, 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 (that is to say) :-
This Invention has for its object the production of baryta and strontia
suitable for the formation of saccharates in the manufacture and refining of
sugar and molasses, and for other purposes where baryta and strontia are
employed. These substances are obtained, first, by the transformation of the
sulphates of baryta and strontia into sulphurets; second, by the decomposition
of these sulphurets by means of oxides to form other oxides and other
sulphurets, a preference being given to the oxide of copper; third, by the
roasting of these latter sulphurets in order to revivify or regenerate the oxide,
at the same time utilizing the sulphurous acid that is formed, and which
may be employed in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. The sulphates of
baryta and strontia employed in carrying out the Invention are either the
natural or artificial sulphates, or that produced by the decomposition of the
natural or artificial carbonates by means of sulphuric acid, either produced
from the sulphurous acid obtained by this process or by other means, or by
double decomposition. It is well known that the sulphates which are not
decomposed by heat are easily converted into sulphurets by means of charcoal,
and that the sulphurets of baryta and of strontia are converted into oxides by
means of certain oxides by the wet means and by double decomposition, the
oxygen of these latter replacing the sulphur in the others, and vice versâ ; it
will therefore only be necessary to roast the sulphurets to convert them into
oxides, and to introduce the sulphurous acid formed in lead chambers, which
may be effected in any kind of furnace, retorts, open or closed vessels, furnished
with a current or blast of air introduced either during the roasting either by
blowing or exhaustion, the essential thing being to supply the gas produced
in the lead chambers in a regular and continuous jet, which may be readily
effected either by the employment of several furnaces or by any other
suitable means, such as a receiver, the exit from which may be regulated by
a cock.

page_text: Decomposition of the sulphates into sulphurets.-The process is so well
known that there is no necessity for describing it; when, however, a sugar
manufactory or refinery is within reach, it is better to operate in closed vessels,
the reaction being more certain, and the carbonic acid produced by the decom-
position is utilized in order to carbonize the saccharates of lime, baryta, and
strontia.
Double decomposition of sulphurets and oxides:-The decomposition being
the same for all the suphurets as well as for all the oxides, I will confine
myself to the description of two of them, the sulphuret of barium and deutoxide
of copper. About an equivalent and a quarter of oxide of copper is poured
into a solution of sulphuret of barium, and on its being heated to the boiling
point hydrated baryta is quickly formed, which remains in solution, and also
sulphuret of copper, which is precipitated. The solution is separated in the
hot state from the precipitate by means of decanting or by washing. In the
cold state there would remain in the solution a quantity of soluble salts of
baryta which would render them unfit for the manufacture and refining of
sugar. The baryta may be utilized direct in this state for the manufacture
and refining of sugar, or for any other industrial purpose in which baryta in
the bydrated state may be employed, when any such manufactories are near.
It is evaporated and reduced to a less volume of hydrate of baryta when
it is required to be transported to any distance. The precipitated sulphuret
of copper is dried and then roasted as above mentioned, the gas produced
being conducted into lead chambers. The deutoxide of copper is put on
one side to serve for the succeeding operation, so that with the same
quantity of copper an indefinite quantity of sulphurets can be decomposed. I
would observe that in this reaction, whether it arises from the water employed,
or from the carbonic acid which exists in the atmosphere, or from the reaction
itself, or from the combination of all these circumstances, there is produced at
the same time as this decomposition a greater or less quantity of salts of
baryta carried off with the precipitate. In the roasting this precipitate is
transformed into sulphate of baryta, at the end therefore of a certain number
of operations there would be so large a quantity of a mixture of sulphate of
baryta and oxide of copper that the working of this latter would no longer
serve for industrial purposes, it is therefore important to effect their separa-
tion, which is done as follows:-After having regenerated the oxide of copper
the copper is dissolved by means of an excess of hydrochloric acid, which pro-
duces a solution of chloride of copper and a precipitate of sulphate of baryta
(we know that the salts of baryta were converted into sulphates by roasting);

page_text: these are separated by decanting and washing, and the sulphate of baryta
is again employed for the production of sulphuret of barium. The chloride
of copper is treated with sulphuret of barium, and precipitated in the
form of a sulphuret, the chloride of barium remaining in solution. These
two salts are separated in the usual manner. The chloride of barium
is converted into a sulphate by the ordinary process in order to be con-
verted into a sulphuret, the sulphuret of copper going the usual round
of operations. The presence of the sulphate of baryta in the oxide of
copper has already been noticed, which has been remedied, in a not very
rational manner, by dissolving before the roasting the salts of baryta by
means of hydrochloric acid diluted with water, by which means not only is
this separation obliged to be performed at each operation, but there is
sufficient deposit of salt of baryta in the salt of copper to be inconvenient.
By this improved process, on the contrary, the separation is not effected until
the moment the baryta salt saturates the oxide, and whereas the salts of baryta
have been hitherto acted upon by hydrochloric acid, this operation is effected
by acting upon the salt of copper. All the acids which will form a soluble
salt with copper would effect the same object, sulphuric acid being employed
by preference, because, first, it would allow of the easy separation of the
sulphate of copper from the sulphate of baryta, the one being soluble and the
other insoluble; second, the roasting of the sulphate of copper is performed as
well as that of the sulphuret; third, because it allows of the decomposition of
two chlorides, viz., that of copper and that of baryta, being dispensed with, and
if the employment of hydrochloric acid has been above mentioned it was only
to make better understood the demarcation which existed between what
has been already done and what is done under this Invention. It must be
understood that all these separations of the dissolved salts from the pre-
cipitated salts may be effected in any kind of vessels and by any methods of
filtering, decanting, washing, or pressing as will be found most suitable by
experience.
Having now described this Invention of "Improvements in the Manu-
facture or Production of Baryta and Strontia," and having explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondents, I desire it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim, the production of baryta and strontia by the
decomposition of their sulphate into sulphuret, and the transformation of the
sulphuret into a hydrate, by means of oxide of copper or any other oxide, by
separating the precipitates from the salts of baryta, which finishes by saturating

page_text: the oxide of copper, such separation being effected by transforming the
insoluble salt of copper, into a soluble salt of copper, and utilizing for the
production of sulphuric acid the sulphurous acid arising from the roasting of
the sulphurets.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto 5
set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)