CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF NITROGEN, PARTICULARLY CYANOGEN, AMMONIA, AND THEIR COMPOUNDS, AND THE USE OR APPLI- CATION IN THESE MANUFACTURES OF A SUBSTANCE OR SUBSTANCES NOT HITHERTO SO EMPLOYED
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
BINKS, of Friars Goose House, in the County of Durham, 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 Third day of November, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Christopher Binks, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Christopher Binks,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Christopher
Binks, my exors, adññors, and 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, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF NITROGEN,
PARTICULARLY CYANOGEN, AMMONIA, AND THEIR COMPOUNDS, AND THE USE OR APPLI-
CATION IN THESE MANUFACTURES OF A SUBSTANCE OR SUBSTANCES NOT HITHERTO SO
EMPLOYED;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Christopher Binks, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my 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.

page_text: 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, I, the said
Christopher Binks, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hercunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say)—.
'
My Invention consists, in the first place, in employing in the manufacture of
cyanogen, and as a convenient form and economical source of the carbon
which enters into the composition of that body, the vapour or gaseous or
volatile products resulting from the application of heat to one or more of the
following substances, namely, coal or other tar, tar oil, naptha, napthaline,
turpentine, and resin, and in an improved method or methods of supplying to
the carbon contained in such vapours or gaseous or volatile products, the
other element of cyanogen, namely, its nitrogen.
My Invention consists, in the second place, in employing in the manufacture
of cyanogen, and as a convenient form and economical source of the carbon
which enters into the composition of that body, one or other of the following
compounds, namely, carburetted hydrogen gas, or olefiant gas, and in an
improved method or methods of supplying in this case the nitrogen requisite
for the formation of the cyanogen.
My Invention consists, in the third place, in a certain process or processes,
to be used in manufacturing cyanogen from the elements of that substance
contained in coal, and liberated by the action of heat, and whether the coal be
distiller for the special purpose of producing the cyanogen or the production
of the cyanogen be incidental to or an adjunct of the manufacture of coal gas
for the purpose of illumination, or incidental to or an adjunct of the manufac-
ture of coke from coal.
My Invention, in the fourth place, consists in a method or methods of
obtaining cyanogen and its compounds by the mutual action and reaction of
common wood, charcoal, or coke, and nitrogen gas or atmospheric air on one
another.
My Invention, in the fifth place, consists of certain improved processes and
kinds of apparatus to be used in the manufacture of cyanogen and ammo-
niacal products from whatsoever sources its elements may be obtained, or
whatever may be the modes of manufacture employed in other respects.
My Invention, in the sixth place, consists in certain methods of treating or
preparing guano when that substance is made use of in the manufacture of

page_text: compounds of nitrogen, particularly prussiates of potash or soda, and such,
nitrogen compounds-as yield oxalic acid or oxalates.
As to the first part of my Invention.-Firstly, I mix with the vapour
and gaseous or volatile products of any one or more of the substances
herein-before named as those acted upon in this the first part of my Inven-.
tion, atmospheric air, and heat the mixture to decomposition. The result.
when the operation is conducted with the precautions and under the
conditions about to be described, is the formation of cyanogen, partly free
and partly in combination with hydrogen, in the form of hydrocyanic acid,
along with a little water, carbonic oxide, and a large proportion of free
carbon, or what is commonly known by the name of lamp black. I do not
confine myself in this part of my Invention to the use of any definite propor-
tions of air and the hydrocarbon, as the proper proportions to be employed
will depend upon the products finally intended to be obtained, as these vary
within certain limits with the relative proportional quantities of the two
generating or elementary bodies. If the air be to a certain extent in excess,
I find that a great proportion of ammonia and ammoniacal salts is produced,
but when the air is comparatively deficient, and the hydrocarbon in excess,
then little, if any, ammonia results, and the nitrogen present is mainly con-
verted into cyanogen compounds. When therefore the obtaining of such
compounds is the main object, I find it economical to add only as much air as
is suflicient, on a theoretical view of the matter, to convert by the oxygen
contained in it the hydrogen existing in the hydrocarbon into water. I do
not mean to say that this is the transformation finally effected, for the oxygen
will be found to distribute itself in certain proportions between both the carbon
and the hydrogen, but it affords an easy and generally a good practical formula
of the relative quantities to be employed, whatsoever be the kind of hydro-
carbon operated upon. By observing this rule, cyanogen and hydrocyanic
acid, mixed not unfrequently with hydrocyanate of ammonia and other com-
pounds, will be abundantly produced, whilst, on the other hand, if the final
products desired be chiefly ammoniacal, then this proportion of air must be
increased, but in no case should it go beyond, or as far as that necessary to
convert by the oxygen present the whole hydrogen of the hydrocarbon into
water, and its carbon into carbonic acid or oxide. If the proportion go as
far as or beyond this, neither ammonia nor cyanogen (in at least any useful
quantity) will be produced, only carbonic oxides with water and free
nitrogen. But by taking care in all cases to keep the carbon in excess,
and very greatly so when cyanogen compounds alone are required, the

page_text: desired results will, with a little practice, be always easily commanded. The
cyanogen or its compounds, obtained as aforesaid, I then manufacture into
other articles of commerce, as follows:-I cause it' or them to be brought
into contact with melted alkali, as, for example, with carbonate of potash or
soda, or with a strongly heated mixture of charcoal and the alkali, which pro-
duces a cyanide of the kind of alkaline base employed, or I convey the
cyanogen or its compounds into water, or a saline solution or solutions of some
metallic salt with which they are capable of combining, and by the application
of other well known processes convert them into the articles desired to be
manufactured. For example, the hydrocyanate of ammonia, when passed
into a solution of a salt of iron, gives cyanide of iron and a salt of ammonia;
and the cyanide of; iron when treated with an alkali is converted into a
ferrocyanide of the kind of alkaline base employed; or if the hydrocyanate of
ammonia, when formed, is passed into an alkaline solution in which is suspended
oxide or carbonate or sulphuret of iron, this produces a ferrocyanide of the
kind of alkaline base employed, and ammonia or a salt of ammonia.
Secondly, in place of using atmospheric air itself, I sometimes prefer to
employ nitrogen gas, derived from air or from any other source, to mix with
the vapour of the hydrocarbon, and in like manner I heat this mixture to
decomposition, and collect or treat the products as before described.
Third, in place of using either atmospheric air or nitrogen gas itself,
I sometimes prefer to employ an oxide of nitrogen along with the hydro-
carbon, as, for example, the protoxide of nitrogen or the deutoxide of
nitrogen, or nitrous acid or mixtures of one or other of these by whatsoever
name designated, or the vapour of nitric acid itself. The result of the action
and reaction on one another under a decomposing temperature and other
conditions herein-after more fully detailed, of the bydrocarbons and of these
substances, one or other of them, is the formation of cyanogen and of ammonia
in several forms of combination, but more especially in those of hydrocyanic
acid and hydrocyanate of ammonia, together with water, carbonic oxides, and
of abundance of free carbon or lamp black, which are treated or disposed of
as before described.
Fourth, in place of using atmospheric air or nitrogen gas, or oxides of
nitrogen, I sometimes prefer to employ ammonia itself, or a salt of ammonia,
to mix along with the hydrocarbon as the source of the nitrogen in the forma-
tion of the cyanogen or its compounds; and among the salts of ammonia so to
be used, I prefer the nitrate, but the carbonate, the sulphate, the urate, and
the oxalate form also valuable and often convenient sources of nitrogen when

page_text: used, as hereafter stated, conjointly with the hydrocarbons. When in any of
these processes, or in those yet to be described, I use nitrogen gas itself,
I obtain it by one or other of the following methods, namely:
First, from the chambers ordinarily employed in the manufacture of lamp
black, and during the process of its formation, I withdraw the air and gases
contained in them, and which consist chiefly of carbonic oxide and nitrogen,
and this mixture I employ as an economical source of nitrogen in the manu-
facture of cyanogen or ammoniacal compounds, and particularly when used in
conjunction with the hydrocarbons or other processes herein described.
Second, I pass atmospheric air over or through red hot metallic iron con-
tained in any convenient vessel, and thus form oxide of iron and free nitrogen
gas; and I find it convenient to obtain the metallic iron so used from some
oxide of iron (particularly red hæmatite) which has been finely ground or
divided, then heated in an iron or earthenware cylinder or retort to redness,
and has had hydrogen gas or carburetted hydrogen gas, or the vapour of some
hydrocarburet, passed through it in quantity sufficient for the reduction of the
oxide to the state of metal. The atmospheric air being passed through the
mass of finely divided metallic iron or spongy iron so produced, and whilst hot
the oxygen is abstracted, an oxide of the metal reformed, and free nitrogen
liberated. In practice, I find it convenient to employ two retorts or cylinders
in which to conduct these operations, each furnished with its proper supply of
oxide of iron, and so arranged that the process of reducing the oxide can be
carried on in the one whilst the process of deoxidizing the air is conducted in
the other, and so also that each of the retorts may be used alternately either.
as a reducing or deoxidizing apparatus. The gases or vapours generated in
the act of reducing the oxide are allowed to pass off through a waste outlet
pipe, whilst the nitrogen liberated by the deoxidation of the air is collected
in a gasometer, or conveyed into or through the furnaces or decomposing
cylinders herein-after described, in which, along with the hydrocarbon, it is
operated on for the manufacture of the cyanogen and other compounds.
Third, I pass hydrogen gas along with atmospheric air, and mixed in proper
relative proportions, through a red hot cylinder or pipe filled loosely with pieces
of brick or other inert or incombustible material intended to increase the heating.
surface, and obtain as the result vapour of water and free nitrogen. The
water I separate by condensation or by absorption, as for example, by passing
the products of this operation through dry chloride of calcium before trans-
mission of the nitrogen into the gasometer or decomposing cylinder. And,
Fourthly, I mix along with atmospheric air, either coal
gas, or other
hydrocarburet, or vapour of any hydrocarbon, as, for example, tar or naptha;
gaseous,

page_text: or napthaline, in quantity sufficient to deoxidize the air by the formation of
water and carbonic acid or oxide. The water I separate by condensation or
absorption as aforesaid, and the carbonic acid by absorption in lime water
or an alkaline solution. Of the several hydrocarbons herein-before named
as those the application of the gases or vapours of which in this manufacture
I claim as my Invention, I prefer that commonly called tar oil, consisting
of a mixture of coal tar, naptha, napthaline, pitch, &c. &c., and in the
following description of the several processes followed I shall assume tar
oil to be the article employed, though of course it will be understood that
these processes are equally applicable to all the other hydrocarbons of the
same class.
.
First process. Through a pipe or cylinder of iron or fire clay, called a
decomposing cylinder or retort, heated to redness, I cause to pass a current of
the vapour of the tar oil mixed with atmospheric air or nitrogen gas, or one or
other of the several nitrogen-giving substances before enumerated. In order
to extend the heating surface within this cylinder it is desirable (though not
absolutely necessary) to fill it loosely with pieces of some inert and incom-
bustible substance, as, for example, pieces of fire brick. The tar oil may be
contained in an ordinary retort or still, the neck of which is connected with
the decomposing cylinder, as shewn in Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed.
A is the still containing the tar oil; B, the neck of the still. C, C, is the
decomposing cylinder within, and connected with which is the pipe D for the
admission of air or other substance. E is the portion of the decomposing
cylinder, which is heated by the action of the fire placed beyond the point F.
By the action of an air pump or other exhausting apparatus fixed and acting
beyond the point H, a current is made to pass through the whole arrangement
in the direction of the arrows. The tar oil being heated in A is vapourized
and drawn into the cylinder C along with a current of air or other substance
admitted by the opening at D. The tar oil vapour and air become mixed at
the point a, and under the influence of the high temperature of the cylinder
at that point the required decomposition is gradually and safely effected, even
if the mixture should be highly explosive. When the object to be gained is
chiefly the formation of cyanogen or its compounds, and the relative proportions
before indicated be observed between the air or other nitrogen-giving substance
and the vapour of the oil, the result is the simultaneous formation of abundance
of lamp black, which is carried along with the current into the chamber G, and
there deposited, whilst the gases or volatile products are drawn onward through
the outlet H. Beyond this point the gaseous or volatile products may be received
in or passed through a cylinder containing melted alkali or alkalized carbon

page_text: strongly heated, and thus become fixed in the form of a cyanide of the kind of
alkali used; or they may be carried forward and passed into and through any
alkaline or metallic solution, and be there transformed into the kind of product
deşired, and by the application of well known processes. The decomposing
cylinder, instead of being in a vertical, may be placed in a horizontal or any
other convenient position, and in place of a still or retort, in which to heat and
vapourize the oil, the same operation may be performed by causing the oil to
run directly into the decomposing cylinder itself, and be then vapourized by
impinging upon its heated surface or upon any material placed within it, as
shewn in Figure 3. In this Figure, D is the decomposing tube into which the
tar oil or other hydrocarbon flows gradually through the pipe. A is the tube
or opening for the admission of air, and C that in connection with the exhaust-
ing apparatus for the withdrawal of the gaseous or volatile products. «
denotes the point of intermixture and decomposition. I sometimes prefer to
use a cylinder heated externally, as shewn in Figure. 2, and charged with
charcoal or with alkalized carbon, into the midst of which the oil or other
hydrocarbon is admitted, either in a fluid or gaseous state, or in that of vapour,
whilst at the same time there is drawn or forced in the requisite proportion of
air or nitrogen gas, or other nitrogen-giving substance, and when the cyanogen
products are not fixed by the action of the heated alkali present, they are
drawn off and employed or treated as already stated. In Figure 2, A
represents the decomposing cylinder, in which is held the charcoal or alka-
lized charcoal, which is introduced by a door at B. The solid materials
passing through the cylinder are removed from the bottom by the action of
a revolving screw C, and are deposited in the chamber D, whence they are
removed from time to time through the opening E provided with a door
fitting air-tight. F is the aperture through which the tar oil or other
hydrocarbon, either in a liquid state or in form of gas or vapour, is admitted.
G is an aperture for the admission of air, which is furnished with a regulating
valve; H is the outlet pipe, through which are withdrawn, by means of an
exhausting apparatus, the gases or vapours produced in the process; I is the
flue in connection with the fire for the purpose of heating the cylinder in
manner similar to that adopted in Figure 1. Again, in place of using closed
cylinders, in which to effect these decompositions and combinations, I some-
times use furnaces of the kind shewn in Figure 4 of the Drawings annexed,
in which case the tar oil is made to run gradually in, or its vapour to pass in
along with some one or other of the several nitrogen-giving substances herein-
before named, as atmospheric air, nitrogen gas, oxides of nitrogen, ammonia, or
the vapour of salts of ammonia, &c. &c. In Figure 4, A represents the fire-

page_text: place; B, the ashpit; C, a hearth, upon which is placed or allowed to flow
through the pipe D the tar oil or other substance employed in the process, the
products of which are made to pass along with the flame and heated air of the
fire into the decomposing chamber E, in which are placed the charcoal or
alkalized charcoal, or other substances supplied through the opening F. At
the bottom of the chamber is a screw S turning within a cylinder opening
into the chamber, through which the contents of the decomposing chamber
are thus discharged into the receiver R. The aeriform products of the opera-
tion are withdrawn through the passage P by the action of an exhausting
apparatus.
Another form of furnace also convenient in these operations is seen in
Figure 5. In this Figure, A is the decomposing chamber or cylinder, which is
placed in a horizontal instead of a vertical position, as in Figures 1 and 2. B
is the aperture for the admission of the gases or vapours; C, the aperture for
the admission of the air or other nitrogen-giving substance; D is the outlet
in connection with the exhausting apparatus, and through which the vapours
or gases are withdrawn, as before explained. Figure 6 exhibits a section of
another kind of furnace suitable for conducting the above operations. A is
the fireplace, which is fixed in an inclined position, and which in action is to
be filled with coke or charcoal admitted by the opening B; C, the fire bars;
B, the ashpit; E, an opening for the admission of the fluid bydrocarbons, &c.;
F is an extra air passage to be used when necessary; G is the outlet flue
through which passes the vapour of the hydrocarbons generated by the acting
of the fire upon those substances as they flow through the opening E into
the fire, and where they are intermingled with the nitrogen, &c. of the air
passing through the fire. These are decomposed in the fire flue G, and the
products conveyed away by the action of an exhausting or other apparatus
connected with G. H, H, is another flue proceeding from near the bottom of
the fire, and terminating in a chimney, and used for the purpose of heating
externally the flue G. Figure 7 represents a modification of the furnace last
described, in which the volatile products of the fire and imperfect combustion
of the hydrocarbons are not passed through a heated flue, as in G in Figure 6,
but are conveyed directly to the flues R or S, which are provided with
dampers T and V intended to regulate the direction of the current of products
from the operation. The lamp black, &c. produced by the imperfect com-
bustion of tar or tar oil, or other hydrocarbon, in this apparatus, can be con-
veyed by the flue R or S into any convenient receiver, or treated or disposed of
in any of the methods herein described. A modification of the preceding pro-
cesses, and one often of considerable value, consists in mixing directly with

page_text: the tar oil or other hydrocarbon, and before vapourization, the nitrogen-giving
substances to be used, and conducting the mixed gaseous and volatile products
through the heated tube or the decomposing cylinder, or into any of the
kinds of apparatus herein-before described, and in like manner, as herein-
before described, treating or disposing of the resulting products. I do not
confine this part of my Invention to the particular arrangements or dis-
position of apparatus herein-before described, so long as the conditions
essential to the successful practice of it are observed, namely, (1st), the mixing
together in proper proportions of the air or other nitrogen-giving substance,
and the tar oil or other hydrocarbon in a state of gas, or vapour; (2nd), the
decomposing of this mixture gradually and safely by causing a current of it to
flow continually through a heated tube or cylinder, or other apparatus; and
(3rd), the collecting or employing of the products of that decomposition, as
herein described. Neither do I confine this part of my Invention to the use
of an exhausting apparatus as the means of causing such currents, since the
same may be effected by forcing the materials through the apparatus, as when
the vapour of the hydrocarbon is generated in a retort, and the air or nitrogen
gas is supplied from a gasometer.
I do not, in so far as the present Patent is concerned, lay claim to the exclu-
sive employment of coal tar as an agent in the manufacture of prussiates, or
to the employment of atmospheric air, or of the nitrogen derived from the
atmospheric air, as the source of the nitrogen in the manufacture of cyanogen
or of ammonia, or to the employment of the protoxide or duetoxide of nitro-
gen or nitrous gas in the production of cyanogen. But what under this head
of my Invention I do claim is,-
First, the employment in the manufacture of cyanogen and its compounds
of tar oil, naptha, napthaline, turpentine, and rosin, to furnish the carbon which
enters into the composition of the cyanogen, as before described.
Second, the manufacturing of cyanogen and its compounds by operating.
upon the elements of the cyanogen, or the compounds containing its elements
wholly in the form of gas or vapour, instead of operating upon them as hereto-
fore in the solid or melted state, or partly in the solid or melted state and
partly in an aeriform state, as also before described.
:
Third, the several methods and kinds of apparatus herein-before described
as useful in the application of this part of my Invention in the general and
peculiar arrangement and combination of parts or processes of which each of
the same consists.
Fourth, the application of the several methods herein described of obtaining
nitrogen gas to the manufacture of cyanogen or ammonia, or their compounds.
Fifth, the manufacturing of lamp black by operating upon the vapours and

page_text: gaseous or volatile product of the hydrocarbons, and particularly those of coal
tar and tar oil, in the manner and by means of the apparatus herein described,'
and as produced concurrently with the nitrogen, or with the cyanogen or
ammoniacal compounds, in the processes aforesaid.
As to the second part of my Invention.-With carburetted hydrogen gas or
oléfiant gas. I cause atmospherific air to be intermixed, and the mixture to be
heated to decomposition by passing it through a heated tube or through a
decomposing retort or cylinder, and the resulting products (which are similar
to those obtained when in place of these gasses the vapour of tar oil or other
hydrocarbon is employed) are conducted into alkaline or other solutions, or
brought in contact with melted alkali or heated alkalized carbon, in one or
other of the ways already described; or in place of atmospheric air, as the
nitrogen-giving substance to be used along with these gases, I employ nitrogen
gas or any of the gaseous or volatile compounds of nitrogen or of ammonia
herein-before named, as applicable when the other hydrocarbons are employed.
If the nitrogen-giving substance selected to be used be an oxygen compound
of nitrogen, the relative, proportion of such compound and of the carburetted
hydrogen or olefiant gas will be determined by the same considerations which
have already been stated as necessary in reference to the processes wherein tar
oil or other hydrocarbon vapour is used, that is, the proportion taken must be
such that the quantity of oxygen present is not sufficient to convert fully the
elements of the carburetted hydrogen or olefiant gas, namely, their hydrogen
and carbon, respectively into water and carbonic acid or oxide. It must
always be so far below this that abundance of carbon shall be deposited from
the gaseous hydrocarbon in the act of decomposition. When this condition is
observed abundance of cyanogen and of ammoniacal compounds result along
with lamp black.. I prefer to conduct this operation in the kind of apparatus
represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the Drawings hereunto annexed, the
gaseous hydrocarbon being supplied either direct from the decomposition of
coal, or contained in and supplied from a gasometer, and the nitrogen-giving
substance in like manner supplied directly or through the medium of a
gasometer, the latter serving both as a reservoir and as a means of regulating
the rate of supply; and though I do not. confine this part of my Invention
strictly to this, I. prefer that the concentric pipe or tube apparatus, shewn in
Figures 3 and 5, should be employed, each pipe having such an area that
under a given uniform pressure it shall regularly and exactly supply the
measure of gas or vapour proper for the operation; or in place of effecting the
passage and intermixture of the substances here used by means of pressure,
the same may be effected by an exhausting apparatus, as already described
under the first bend or division of this Specification.

page_text: What I claim under this second head of my Invention is,-
First, the employment, as before described, of carburetted hydrogen gas or
of olefaint gas, or of the mixture of those gases which is found existing in the
gas usually obtained by the distillation of coal as the source of the carbon in
the manufacture of cyanogen and its compounds, and of. ammonia and. its
compounds.
Second, the method of obtaining cyanogen and its compounds or ammonia
and its compounds, by operating upon the elements of these substances or
upon the vapours or gases containing their elements, as before described.
Third, the several new combinations of materials before specified, by the
mutual action and reaction whereof the said compounds of cyanogen and
ammonia are advantageously produced; and,
Fourth, the several kinds of apparatus employed under this head of my
Invention in the general and peculiar arrangement of parts of which the same
consists, as before described.
As to the third part of my Invention.-It is well known that some descriptions
of common coal contain nitrogen in more or less abundance, and that the
existence of this clement as a natural constituent of coal is the cause of the
formation of certain ammoniacal and cyanogen compounds when coal is dis-
tilled, and particularly as that operation as conducted in the ordinary process
of the manufacture of gas for lighting. Now, the object of this part of my
Invention is to resolve the whole or the greater part of this nitrogen into
cyanogen compounds by the following methods of operating upon coal or the
gases or vapours produced by the distillation of coal. When the coal operated
upon is distilled to produce gas for illumination, I proceed by one or other of
the following methods:-First, when it is desired that the coal to be distilled
shall yield its coke as usual, but it is not essential that the tar produced shall
be collected, and when the process resorted to for the production of the
cyanogen must be such as shall not interfere with the manufacture of the coke,
I then proceed as follows:-From the retort in which the coal is distilled as
usual, the whole of the gaseous or volatile products of its distillation are passed
into and through another retort or cylinder of iron or fire clay (the latter being
preferable) containing a mixture of charcoal and alkali. If the heat be strong
enough the result is the separation from these products of all those matters
which are considered as impurities, when existing in coal gas intended for the
purpose of illumination and the formation of a cyanide of the kind of alkali
used, accompanied generally with sulphuret and some other compounds. The
cyanide is the product of most value, and it is afterwards treated in the usual
way for its separation from the other cognate products, and its transformation

page_text: (if required) into other compounds, the means of doing which being well
known need not be here particularly described. The gas which has passed on
through the second or decomposing retort will be found to be a tolerably pure
illuminating gas containing the usual elements of that product, but free or
nearly so from nitrogen, ammonia, cyanogen, or sulphur compounds, all or
nearly all of which will be found to have been absorbed by the alkali. If it
be desired that both the tar and the coke shall be preserved as usual in the
distillation of the coal, then the decomposing retort must be interposed at a
point beyond the position of the tar condenser, and the operation in all other
respects conducted as last before described. The decomposing retort is so
arranged that it can be charged readily with fresh alkalized carbon, as that
material becomes saturated with the formation of the cyanide, sulphuret, &c.,
and this arrangement may be such that a constant current or stream of the
alkalized carbon may be made to flow through the decomposing retort, so that
the process may not be interrupted in the intervals of charging or replenishing,
as shewn in Figure 2 and herein-before described. And in like manner I cause
the coal itself to be supplied by causing a continual stream or current of small
coal to be passed through the retort by the use of an apparatus of the
description shewn in the Drawing, Figure 10. Here A represents the
decomposing cylinder containing a screw revolving on its axis, being supported
through each end of the cylinder and moved by any suitable machinery
connected with the toothed wheel B. C is an opening through which the
charge of small coal or other material is gradually, introduced. D, D, D, are
vertical pipes connecting the cylinder with a common main pipe E, which
serves to carry off the gaseous or volatile products of the distillation of the
coal, &c. Upon motion being given to the screw the charge is progressively
moved forward in the direction of the arrows, giving off its volatile products in
its passage, and being finally ejected through the opening S. To the outlet G
may be appended a decomposing apparatus, such as represented in Figures
1 and 2, 4 and 5, and the products operated upon therein by any of the other
modes of treatment herein described. To S may be connected the chamber D,
Figure 2, or R. Figure 4, for the reception of the products from A. When it
is not material or not desired that the coke from the coal shall be obtained as
usual, then I proceed as follows:-I mix with the coal itself a certain propor-
tion of any alkale, say carbonate of soda, or of potash, and distil this mixture
in the retorts in the same manner as when coal only is distilled; or I pass this
mixture through the screw cylinder or retort apparatus already described, and
seen in Figure 10. The result is that after all gases and vapours have been
expelled in the act of distilling this mixture, the nitrogen and sulphar of the

page_text: coal are retained either mostly or entirely by the alkali in the form of cyanide
and sulphuret. This residual mixture from the retorts may be used for
manure or a variety of other purposes, or it may be treated for the formation
from its cyanide, &c., of other cyanogen products by the application of well-
known methods of operating. Again, in place of mixing the alkali along with
the coal in the same retort, a second retort may be attached containing a
mixture of alkali aud carbon in the form of charcoal or coal, through which,
when also strongly heated, the gaseous and volatile products from the first
retort may be passed; or the same retort may be in one portion filled with the
coal to be distilled and in another portion with the alkalized carbon through
which the gaseous products from the coal must be made to pass, as generated
by the action of the heat upon it, as shewn in Figure 9. In this Figure A, B,
is the retort, having doors at both the ends A and B of the construction usual
in gas retorts. C is the outlet for the gaseous and other volatile products.
D is the fireplace. E, the ashpit. In working this retort for the purpose
herein described, the portion of the retort between A and X is charged with
coal, and that between X and B is charged with alkalised charcoal or other
substance, as herein-before described. The gaseous and volatile products from
the coal are thus made to pass through the heated alkalized carbon, and so to
produce a cyanide, &c. of the alkali present, whilst the remaining gaseous
products are discharged through C. I do not in this part of my Invention
confine myself to any particular proportions, but I find that from five to ten
parts of alkali to one hundred parts of coal are economical proportions to be
used. The alkali may, in a dry state, be ground up along with the small coal,
or the coal may be drenched with a solution of the alkali, and again dried
before it is used. When the manufacture of coal into coke is the main object,
instead of allowing the incidental and residual products to go to waste, as
heretofore, I attach a decomposing tube or cylinder or retort charged with
the alkalised carbon to the ordinary ovens or other apparatus employed_in
making the coke, and cause the gaseous and volatile products evolved to be
drawn or forced through the decomposing tube or retort. The resulting
products are then treated in all respects in the manner already described.
With regard to the kind of alkalised carbon to be used in the operations last
described may be wood charcoal, containing from five to twenty per cent. of
alkali, or it may be one or other of certain mixtures described in the Specifi-
cation of former Letters Patent granted to me, of date the 7th April, 1845,
"For the Application and Use, as Manure, of Certain Substances or Com-
pounds not hitherto so employed, and for Improvements in Manufacturing
such Compounds."

page_text: I do not under this head of my Invention claim the producing of cyanogen
or its compounds from coal in the act of distilling or coking it, for that
such compounds are so formed is well known; but I do claim as my
Invention the particular accessory methods and processes herein described,
whereby the quantity of these products is greatly increased, or in other words,
whereby the whole or the principal part of the nitrogen existing in the coal is
converted into cyanogen or its compounds, instead of into ammonia or its
compounds, as heretofore.
As to the fourth part of my Invention.-Through a vessel, an earthenware
retort or cylinder being preferred, containing carbon in the form of wood
charcoal or coke, closed from the air and intensely heated, I pass dry nitrogen
gas, and I collect the cyanogen formed by the mutual action and reaction of
those substances in water, or in alkaline or metallic solutions. I am aware
that it has been proposed to form cyanogen by passing nitrogen gas through a
mixture of carbon. and alkali intensely heated in a retort, thereby producing a
cyanide of the kind of alkaline metal employed; but my process is distinguish-
able from that referred to in this, that I neither seek to induce the formation
of the cyanide by the presence of the alkali, nor to form the cyanide as the
immediate product; for, contrary to all existing theory, which leads to the
employment of the alkali, along with the carbon and nitrogen, as a thing
essential to the formation of the cyanogen, I have ascertained that the
cyanogen is readily produced by the direct action of nitrogen upon heated
carbon. The cyanogen so formed I collect and afterwards treat for the
formation from it of other compounds by the application of methods which
are well known and need not here be described. Again I pass into heated
carbon contained in an earthenware retort, or any other suitable vessel, a
mixture of atmospheric air and steam.; and I so apportion the relative
quantities of carbon and the other elements, that is, by having the carbon
greatly in excess, that the resulting product is cyanogen, or hydrocyanic acid,
or hydrocyanate of ammonia, or mixtures thereof. This product I collect in
water or in an aqueous solution of some alkali or metallic salt for the formation
of other cyanogen compounds, and by the application to them of well known
methods of treatment. I am aware that it has been proposed to pass steam
and atmospheric air through ignited charcoal in order to form ammonia, but
neither my object, nor the result of this part of my Invention, is the formation
of ammonia, but of cynogen or hydrocyanic acid, or hydrocyanate of ammonia;
and if the mass of heated carbon be so great compared with the quantity of
air and steam brought to act upon it, or their relative proportions be such that
the carbon is always greatly in excess, the result is the formation of these

page_text: compounds and not of ammonia. And I do not collect or fix the cyanogen so
formed by means of the presence of an alkaline substance, but collect or fit it
by drawing or forcing the resulting gases or vapours through water or solutions
containing alkaline or metallic salts, as, for example, a salt of iron and solution
of potash. The subsequent processes are well known and need not therefore
be here detailed.
What I claim under this fourth head of my Invention is,―
First, the production of cyanogen, by the direct and simple action of
nitrogen gas and carbon under the influence of a high temperature, as before
described; and,
Second, the method of collecting cyanogen and hyrdocyanic acid produced
by the action of heated air, steam, and carbon in aqueous, alkaline, or
metallic solutions, as before described.
As to the fifth part of my Invention. In the manufacture of ferrocyanide
from the crude cyanides existing in what is technically called the "metals" of
prussiate makers, or in any other form of cyanide, I proceed as follows:-In
lixiviating the metal or other crude cyanide it is broken into small lumps and
packed round about the flanges of the lixiviating vat (herein-after described,
and shewn in Figure 11). This vat is then filled with water and the steam
put on and continued till the whole "metal" or crude cyanide is lixiviated and
transformed into ferrocyanide. As a convenient and valuable source of the
iron required to be supplied in this operation, I use the reduced or spongy iron
obtained by acting upon heated oxides of iron by means of hydrogen gas or
carburetted.hydrogen or olefiant gas, or common coal gas, or the vapour of any
bydrocarbon, as described under the first head of this Specification. This is
either mixed in the pots along with the melted potash or with the "metals" or
other cyanide when lixiviated, by which the cyanide is readily converted into
the ferrocyanide. I also use this kind of iron as an advantageous method of
separating sulphur when existing in combination with these cyanogen products
or in the alkaline liquors of their manufacture, for which purpose the iron is
macerated or boiled along with these solutions, and they are purified by the
formation of insoluble sulphuret of iron, which is separated by well known
methods. In some processes for manufacturing prussiates and ammoniacal
compounds, it is required to impregnate pieces of charcoal with solutions. of
alkali, and to again perfectly dry this alkalized charcoal. For this purpose I
use long cylinders of iron kept hot, through the centre of which is passed a
malleable iron shaft carrying a screw, and made to revolve on its axis by
any appropriate machinery (as shewn in the Drawing, Figure 10, and herein-
before described). Into one end of this cylinder the charcoal or other car-

page_text: bonaceous matter which has been previously impregnated with a solution of
alkali is made to fall by small portions at a time. The general effect of this
contrivance and operation is to dry the alkalized charcoal as it is progressively
moved forwards by the action of the screw through the heated cylinder, whence
it is discharged in a dried state through an opening left for that purpose in the
opposite end. I also apply this apparatus to the making of prussiates from
guano, both as that process is ordinarily conducted and as herein-after described,
in which last the apparatus is employed to mix guano, or prepared guano, or
other nitrogen-giving bodies with ground pitch or other carbonaceous matter.
My lixiviating apparatus is constructed as follows:-A, Figure 11, is a vat or
pan formed of iron, or stone, or wood. B is a cylinder of the same material,
placed in the centre of the vessel A, and into which opens a pipe C conveying
steam from a boiler. D is a dome or cover serving to deflect the upward
current in B, when set in motion by the action of the steam. The vat A is
filled with the materials to be acted on, and when the steam is turned on through
the pipe C, the effect is to excite a rapid and continuous motion or circulation
of the contents of the vessel, as shewn by and in the direction of the arrows,
and at the same time to heat their contents by the action of the steam.
I claim under this fifth head of my Invention,-
First, the use of reduced or finely-divided iron produced from any oxide of
iron by the action upon it, when heated, of hydrogen gas or the gas or vapour
of any hydrocarbon, as an advantageous means of purifying from sulphur the
liquors of prussiate makers, and of supplying the iron required for the conver-
sion of the cyanides (from whatsoever source obtained) into ferrocyanides.
Second, the direct application of steam to the crude cyanide or "metal" of
prussiate makers (by whatsoever contrivance effected), in treating the metal
both for the purpose of conversion into the ferrocyanide and for lixiviating it.
And, third, the lixiviating vat, and the other apparatus herein described, when
used and applied in the manufacture of the compounds aforesaid.
As to the sixth part of my Invention.-In manufacturing prussiate of
potash or soda from the nitrogen-giving substances contained in guano, it
is the present custom to use dry guano in its original or imported state, and
without any previous separation from it of such ingredients as may have an
injurious or prejudicial effect as regards the manufacture of the prussiates.
Now, in order to prepare the guano for this purpose, and to separate from it
all or the greater part of these injurious or prejudicial ingredients, and to
obtain for prussiate making the nitrogen-giving portion only, or as free as it
may be found practicable to obtain it from any other matter, I proceed as
follows:-I macerate the guano in cold water, and thus dissolve out of it all

page_text: matters that are soluble in cold water, including particularly oxalate and other
salts of ammonia.. The insoluble residue I macerate in dilute muriatic or
other acid, whereby I. further separate the phosphate and oxalate of lime and
ammonia from the urate, &c., and obtain as an insoluble residue a mixture,
consisting chiefly of uric acid, some undecomposed urates, and organic animal
matter. This residue is then dried and used for prussiate making. Or I
dissolve out from the guano all matter soluble in boiling water, and thus
obtain in solution oxalate, urate, and other salts of ammonia, and leave as an
insoluble residue the phosphate and oxalate of lime and organic matter, &c.
The saline solution is then evaporated to dryness, and used in prussiate
making, or for the manufacture of ammonia or its compounds; or I treat the
guano or the residue from the first operation with hot solutions of an alkali
or alkaline salt, as, for example, with a solution of potash or soda, or of
carbonate of potash or soda, and thus produce ammonia or salts of ammonia,
and a urate of the kind of alkali used. This urate I dry and use in prussiate
making, or I first separate from it the uric acid by any of the processes well
known to be applicable for this purpose, and use the latter product in prussiate
making. When the object in view is more particularly the manufacture from
the guano of ammoniacal compounds and their cognate products I proceed
as follows: To guano containing urate or other organic salt of ammonia,
and whether previously separated or not from the phosphates contained in it,
I add chlorine by treating the guano with an aqueous solution of chlorine,
or by passing chlorine into guano suspended or partly dissolved in water.
The result of this treatment is the indirect oxidation of the uric acid, with
the formation of oxalic acid and muriate of ammonia, &c., which remain
in a state of combination favourable for their separation one from the other,
by the use of the method herein-after described, or of others well known; or
in place of chlorine I employ a chloride, as chloride of potash, or soda, or lime,
or other base, and then produce an oxalate of the base of the particular kind
of salt used, together with muriate of ammonia, &c., the whole being in such
a state or form of combination as to admit of a ready separation, one froin
the other, by the application of the methods herein-after described, or of others
well known; or in place of chlorine, or of the compounds of it just specified,
I treat the urate of ammonia with dilute nitric acid, or nitro-muriatic acid,
and thus produce in like manner the corresponding salts of ainmonia, along
with oxalic acid, the whole being in a state of mixture or combination favour-
able for their subsequent separation, if required, by any of the methods herein-
after described, or which may be found suitable for the purpose. When it is
uric acid itself that is so operated on, whether that existing naturally in the
guano or separated from its combination with ammonia,.&c., then I act upon.

page_text: it for its conversion into oxalic acid, and oxalate it by treating it as follows :—
I previously heat the guano or the uric acid with caustic alkali, whereby it
is partly converted into oxalic acid, or into oxalate of ammonia mixed with
the oxalate of the alkali üsed. In this operation I take care that the heat
is not raised so high that it shall decompose the oxalate when formed, or tho
operation result in the total decomposition of the nitrogen compounds of the
guano. For this purpose I find that the continued action of a temperature of
from two hundred degrees to two hundred and twelve degrees of Fahrenheit is
most advantages, because though it may be carried higher, and when higher
the operation be more quickly finished, yet it is attended with some risk of
the destruction of the oxalate. Again, I treat the uric acid obtained or
existing as aforesaid when suspended in water along with peroxide of man-
ganese or of lead, or with red lead, or with manganate or permanganate of
potash, or of soda or other base, or with dilute nitric acid. The result is the
partial conversion of the uric acid into oxalic acid and oxalates of the kind of
alkali or other base employed, attended with the liberation of ammonia or salts
thereof, and the production of some other compound. The oxalic acid, or the
oxalates so obtained, may be treated with the barium or baryta compounds in
manner afterwards described, to obtain therefrom oxalic acid or oxalates, and
their cognate compounds, or by the application of other and well-known
processes for their separation the one from the other. Again, in the treatment
of guano in the manufacture of prussiates, it is now the practice to mix coal
tar along with the original guano. Now a further improvement in this branch
of manufacture consists in first distilling from the tar its naptha and other
volatile products, and in using along with the original guano, or with the
prepared guano or salts obtained from it, the residual pitch or tar. The
apparatus which I employ for effecting the intimate intermixiure of the pitch,
&c. and guano is represented in Figure 10 before referred to and before
described. To the oxalate of ammonia, or other oxalate, or to the mixture of
oxalic acid and other salts produced by one or the other of the modes of treat-
ment above described, or obtained by the action of water on the guano, I add
sulphuret of barium, and thus produce a solution of sulphuret of ammonia and
oxalate of baryta. Or to the oxalate of ammonia I add chloride of barium, and
thus produce muriate of ammonia and oxalate of baryta. Or, in place of the two
last-named barium 'compounds, I use baryta itself, and thus form ammonia
and oxalate of baryta. Or I employ any other of the soluble salts of baryta,
and so produce a salt of ammonia corresponding to the acid in combination
with the baryta in the salt of that substance-employed, and the oxalate of
baryta. From the oxalate of baryta so obtained, oxalic acid, or oxalates of
any base, can be readily obtained by adding sulphuric acid to the baryta salt,

page_text: thus forming sulphate of baryta and oxalic acid. Or by adding sulphate of
any base, as ammonia, potash, soda, &c., an insoluble sulphate of baryta and
oxalates of the alkaline base employed may be produced. I do not confine
these operations to the working upon oxalate of ammonia only, but proceed in
like manner when the salt obtained from the guano, as the results of its
treatment, as above specified or otherwise, is an oxalate of any other alkali, as
of potash or of soda. By the application of one or more of the before-named
baryta compounds, the oxalate of baryta and a salt of the alkaline base is
produced.
I claim under this sixth head. of my Invention,-
First, the method of separating from the guano, and before it is applied to
prussiate making, the whole or the greater part of the injurious or prejudicial
matters intermixed with it in its original or imported state, as before described.
Second, the using of pitch or tar oil, or the economizing of the tar at present
used in that manufacture, by the previous distillation from it of its volatile
products, as before described.
Third, the manufacture of oxalate of ammonia, and the several modes of
treating the guano, by which that product is obtained from it, as before
described. And,
Fourth, the manufacturing, by the particular methods herein-before speci-
fied, of nitrogen compounds from guano, whereby other valuable products,
such as oxalic acid, oxalates, &c., are incidentally produced, and the cost of
the said nitrogen compounds proportionally lessened.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Binks, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand sight h…..
CHRISTOPHER (L.s.) BINKS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Christopher Binks came before our 'said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand