An Improved Process for the Production of Disinfecting Powder.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 24th Feb., 1900
[Communicated from abroad by the Firm of STACKMANN & RETSCHY'S CHEMICAL
WORKS, of Lehrte, Hanover, in the Empire of Germany, Manufacturers.]
An Improved Process for the Production of Disinfecting Powder.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement: -
Heretofore sulphuric acid has been mixed with anhydrous salts, for example,
the sulphate or phosphate of an alkali, of magnesia and the like, and then
allowed to crystallize so as to absorb the water from the sulphuric acid and thus
produce its anhydride. The preparations obtained by the above mentioned pro-
cess are only of subordinate importance for distribution in stables and as a means
for preserving the dung, for it is not capable of killing the bacteria of the air
which carry infectious diseases to the animals in the stables.
This necessary action is imparted to it according to this invention, by the aid
of the chloride of sodium contained in sulphates in which chloride is only an
admixture such for example as kieserite, anhydrite, polyhallite and so forth,
which are to be utilized in the preparation of disinfecting powders in such a
manner that, when mixed with the damp stable-dung, free (gaseous) hydrochloric
acid is formed.
This disinfecting action of the hydrochloric acid is well known and has been
described, amongst others, in Heiden's treatise on dung II page 72. The noxious
influence of the hydrochloric acid upon the animals, as mentioned in the said
treatise, can however only occur when large quantities of vapours of hydrochloric
acid are evolved which the air in the stables is unable to dilute to a sufficient
degree. For this reason such sulphates (for example kainite), in which the
chlorite forms a constituent part and which therefore produce a very violent
generation of hydrochloric acid when distributed in the stables, are found
unsuitable for the present purpose. This circumstance has been especially con-
sidered in the manufacture and in the use of the powder prepared according to
this invention.
The process consists in intimately mixing powdered kieserite, or an analogous
salt in accordance with the foregoing statements previously well dried, with
These
bisulphate, or with free sulphuric acid in any convenient manner.
strongly hygroscopic materials are reduced to a dry-powder which, on being
strewn on the damp stable-dung or a watery liquid, dissolves easily and completely
and thus render the sulphate of the kieserite effective. As however. kieserite
contains, beyond the main portion in sulphate of magnesium and 8
to 10% of water, also
to 2%
of
of chloride
sodium an im-
portant subre-action is produced in the mixing, viz. when mixing
the kieserite with bisulphate of sodium or of potassium, or sulphuric
acid there is formed either sulphate of sodium or of potassium and hydro-
1.5

page_text: chloric acid. By strongly drying the kieserite and the bisulphate before mixing
the generation of hydrochloric acid vapours during the manufacture is reduced
to a minimum.
The disinfecting powder produced by this process is supposed to contain 15
to 20% free sulphuric acid and for this purpose a mixture may be made of
60% of ground bisulphate of sodium or of potassium and 40% of ground
calcined kieserite-or
10% of ground bisulphate of sodium or potassium
25% sulphuric acid of 60° Beaume (1.71 specific weight) and
65% calcined ground kieserite. which may be mixed in any convenient
mixing machine.
The powder thus prepared is distributed in small quantities only so that the
hydrochloric vapours shall be sufficiently diluted by the aid as to exclude all
danger to the animals. It is furthermore recommended to cover the distributed
powder with a fresh layer of bedding so as to prevent the powder coming into
direct contact with the animals' bodies.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:-
Process for the production of disinfecting powder for use in stables and the
like, consisting in the mixing of previously well dried and ground commercial
kieserite, anhydrite, poly-hallite and the like containing chloride only as an
admixture, with the bisulphate of sodium, or potassium or free sulphuric acid
for the purpose of rendering the chloride of the said salts useful for disinfecting
purposes.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.