CERTAIN PROCESSES FOR SEPARATING THE ALKALIS OF POTASH AND OF SODA FROM THEIR SULPHATES OR VITRIOLIC SALTS, AND FROM THEIR SULPHURETS OR COMBINATIONS WITH SULPHER, AS IN SOAPERS' BLACK ASH AND OTHER SIMILAR COMPOUNDS
Year: 1804

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY CLAYFIELD, of the City of Bristol, Wine Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Royal Letters Patent under His Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of November, in the forty-fifth year
of His reign, did grant unto me, the said William Henry Clayfield, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, His Majesty's special licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Henry Clayfield, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or
by mine and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I,
the said William Henry Clayfield, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make
use of, exercise, and vend my Invention of "CERTAIN PROCESSES FOR SEPARATING
THE ALKALIS OF POTASH AND OF SODA FROM THEIR SULPHATES OR VITRIOLIC SALTS,
AND FROM THEIR SULPHURETS OR COMBINATIONS WITH SULPHER, AS IN SOAPERS'
BLACK ASH AND OTHER SIMILAR COMPOUNDS," within that part of His Majesty's
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the
said William Henry Clayfield, my exors, admors, and assigns, or any of them,
should in their discretion seem meet, and that I, the said William Henry
Clayfield, my exors, admors, and assigns, should and, lawfully might have and
enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from time to time
coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the said Invention,
for and during the term of years therein mentioned, to have, hold, exercise;

page_text: and enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges,. and advantages therein-before
granted, or mentioned to be granted, unto me, the said William Henry
Clayfield, my exors, admors, and assigns, for and during and unto the full
end and term of fourteen years from the date thereof next immediately
ensuing, and fully to be complete and ended, according to the Statute in
that case made and provided; in which said recited Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that if I, the said William Henry Clayfield, should not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately
after the date thereof, that then the said recited Letters Patent, and all
liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease,
determine and become void, anything therein-before contained to the contrary
thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as in and by the said recited Letters
Patent, reference being, thereunto liad; will: more fully and at large appear:
NOW KNOW. YE, that. in compliance with the said proviso; I, the said
William Henry. Clayfield, do hereby declare that my said. Invention is
described in manner following, that is to say:-
.
In the first place I convert. the sulphates or. vitriolic salts into sulphurets
or livers of sulpher, by the common process; which is as follows:-I,introduce
into a flat-bottomed, reverberatory, furnace, nicarly, resembling a lead furnace,
or one of any other suitable construction, a. quantity, ofi sulphate of. potash,
sulphate: of soda,.or soapers black ash; either severally and alone; or otherwise,
by mixture. of. one or, more of the said sulphates and black. ash, as may be
most convenient or suitable to the intended purpose, and to the said substances
when in. the furnace I hdd .a. quantity of.charcoal, wood,.coal,.peat,,or. other
similar combustible matter:in small pieces or coarse powder, and expose the
mass.to a red. heat to bring: the: salts into fusion, and I maintain, and keep up
the fusion, and frequently-stir. the mass. with the addition of more .charcoal or
inflammable matter until..the greater part of the: sulphuric acid therein
contained becomes converted. intó sulpher; and a large proportion of sulphuret
is formed..
.
Having stated this process to be in common use, I cannot claim any
exclusive privilege for the use, of the same; the processes; which are the
object of my, Patent, are as follows:-The-sulphurets being formed from the
salts,.as, described above; and, the matter still, in a state, of fusion, Iadd a still
further, quantity, of charcoal or other.combustible matter to convert the mass
into a paste, and at the same time I add aquantity of lead in its-metallic.state,
litharge, or other, oxide or, calx, of lead, which metal or oxide unites with

page_text: the sulpher of the compound, forms an artificial galena or sulphuret of lead,
and leaves the alkalis united with a portion of carbonic acid, formed from the
coal and other inflammable substances made use of. It is essentially necessary
to the success of this decomposition that, the mass should be kept at a very
low red heat, frequently raked-about, with the addition of a further quantity
of charcoal or other combustible matter, and intermixed with the lead or
oxide as intimately as possible. (To check the. fusion of the mass more
effectually, and to facilitate the combination of the lead with the sulpher, I
occasionally make use of damp charcoal towards the end of the operation.
I do not, however, consider this variation in the process absolutely necessary).
The compound mass must then be withdrawn from the furnace, and frequently
sprinkled, with a small quantity of water, broke up and exposed to the action
of the atmosphere for a week or ten days, after which time the alkalis, being
nearly saturated with carbonic acid, may be separated, along with such other
salts as may be present, by lixiviating the mass, and the sulphuret of lead
will remain behind. The neutral salts may be separated from the above by
crystallization, after which the alkalis may be obtained by boiling down the
solution, or the soda may be first separated by a further crystallization; the
proportion of ingredients will depend on the substances mado use of. In
those cases where the sulphates of potash or of soda are used in a dry state,
about two thirds the weight of charcoal, and about five parts of lead to four
of the sulphate, will be required to effect the decomposition, but where soapers'
black ash is made use of a smaller quantity of the above materials will be
sufficient.
Lastly, I employ zine or its oxides instead of lead or the oxides of that
metal in the operations before described, but I give the preference to lead or
its oxides for their cheapness and facility of reduction.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Clayfield, have hereunto
subscribed and set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of
November, in the forty-fifth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord
George the Third, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, and in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and four.
WILLIAM HENRY (L.s.) CLAYFIELD.
Sealed and delivered in the presence
of
HATTE MONK,
THO³ GRUNDY,
Clerks to Mr Cooke, Att-at-Law, Bristol.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1804, the aforesaid William Henry Clayfield came
before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and speci-
fied, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt
according to the tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and four.