CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING, CHANGING THE COLOUR OF AND OTHERWISE PREPARING, PURIPYING, AND REFINING TALLOW, AND CERTAIN OTHER ORGANIC SUBSTANCES, MIXTURES, COMPOUNDS, AND MANUFAC- TURES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HOUGH WATSON, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Consulting
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-first day of June, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry
Hough Watson, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Henry Hough Watson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Henry Hough Watson my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should agree with, and no other, 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, and in all the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, and also within all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING, CHANGING
THE COLOUR OF AND OTHERWISE PREPARING, PURIPYING, AND REFINING TALLOW,
AND CERTAIN OTHER ORGANIC SUBSTANCES, MIXTURES, COMPOUNDS, AND MANUFAC-
TURES;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
Henry Hough Watson, 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 Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
3

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Hough Watson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following explanation thereof, that is
to say:-
My Invention consists of improvements in bleaching, changing the color of
and otherwise preparing, purifying, and refining tallow, and certain other organic
substances, mixtures, compounds, and manufactures. The certain other organic
substances alluded to besides tallow are wax, and such other substances as are
of a greasy or oleaginous nature, whether unmixed, or the same being mixtures,
compounds, or manufactures produced by uniting any of the said several sub-
stances with each other. Such being the nature of my said Invention, I proceed
to describe the manner in which the same is to be performed. Having melted,
softened, or made fluid by heat the tallow or other substance to be operated
upon in a leaden or other vessel incapable of being dissolved by diluted
sulphuric acid, I add to and ultimately mix therewith a solution in water of
the article or compound known among chemists under the name of "mineral
chameleon," the same being constituted of manganesic or manganic acid and
potash or soda or other alkaline or earthy base. I then add gradually, and
intimately mix by stirring, sulphuric acid, diluted with four or five times its
bulk of water (or other diluted acid having a stronger affinity for the alkaline
or earthy base of the "chameleon than the manganesic acid constituting
with the base the "chameleon"), till, after being well stirred, the mixture
or the liquor which separates, on being allowed to stand at rest for a few
minutes, is sour to the taste; (or if preferred, the diluted acid may be mixed
with the tallow or other substance to be operated upon previously to adding
the solution of "mineral chameleon.") I then raise the temperature of the
mixture, and keep it at about 150°, or from that to 212°, and agitated for an
hour, after which I discontinue the application of heat and allow the mixture
to stand at rest, when the tallow, grease, oleaginous or other substance rises to
and floats upon the surface of the acid liquor, and some oxide of manganese,
off which while melted it may be skimmed, and afterwards applied to the use
for which it is required. By this process, the tallow, grease, oleaginous or
other substance is bleached or changed in colour, in degree according to the
quantity of the "mineral chameleon" used, and according to the less or greater
tinge of colour possessed by the substance before being operated upon. I find
that good "mineral chameleon," weighing one-twentieth of the tallow to be
operated upon, is sufficient in solution to make English tallow, of ordinary

page_text: quality, white.
"Mineral chameleon" may be made by fluxing together in an
iron crucible, or other suitable vessel, for an hour and a half, one part by
weight of peroxide of manganese and three of nitrate of potash or nitrate of
soda; but it and the methods of preparing it are well known among scientific
chemists, and are described and explained in the generality of books on
chemistry, and to these I refer the uninformed in chemistry for complete
directions for the manufacture of the article. The quantity of water to be
used for dissolving the mineral chameleon in, for bleaching the tallow or other
substance, is not material; I find water in weight twenty or thirty times that of
the "chameleon" convenient enough. Instead of mixing the solution of
mineral chameleon with the melted tallow or other substance and then adding
diluted acid, the solution of mineral chameleon may first have as much of the
diluted sulphuric or other acid mixed with it as is required for the saturation
of the alkali contained therein, or as is required to make the mixture sour to
the taste; the resulting liquor will be of a red, crimson, or purple colour, and
this liquor may then be mixed and agitated with the tallow or other substance,
kept melted, and at a temperature from 150° to 212° for an hour, or till the
desired whiteness or change of colour is produced. The colour of the tallow
or other substance may be tested at intervals during the operation by pouring
a few drops of it upon a clean cold metallic substance, when it will very soon
become stiffer, and its degree of whiteness or other colour be observable. If
diluted hydrochloric acid or nitric acid be used instead of sulphuric, it will not
be prudent to let the vessel in which the tallow or other substance is to be
operated upon, or other vessel to contain the acid, be made of lead, those acids
being powerful solvents of lead; the vessel should then be of wood or stone, or
such other material as hydrochloric acid or nitric acid has not a strong solvent
action upon. The tallow or other substance to be operated upon may be
melted, and the mixture of melted substance and chemical ingredients kept
heated, either by the vessel in which the operation is to be conducted (and
which I call the operation vessel) being immersed in another vessel containing
water made boiling hot, or heated by a fire underneath, as pans are usually
heated, or by the introduction immediately into and to the bottom of the vessel
in which the operation is to be conducted of a jet or current of steam issuing
out of a leaden or other pipe (incapable of being dissolved by the acid employed)
in connexion with and leading from the interior of a steam boiler or generator.
Between the steam boiler and the operation vessel there should be in the pipe
a stop-cock or valve, by which the steam may be let into the vessel and stopped
off at pleasure. Instead of a wide outlet at the extremity of the steam pipe
in the operation vessel, I find it better to have only a very small outlet

page_text: there, and to have a score or more of small holes about the one-eight of an
inch in diameter distributed along the surface of that part of the pipe which
lies horizontally in the vessel, the pipe being so long as not only to reach
to the bottom of the vessel, but that being bent at an angle, one arm of it
extends almost from one end to the other of the bottom of the vessel and
along its upper surface. A pipe whose internal diameter is one inch is
sufficiently wide for the purpose. A vessel of five feet square and four deep
answers well for the operation vessel wherein to bleach a ton of tallow. Or
instead of using the solution of mineral chameleon or the compound or mixture
produced by mixing sulphuric or other acid with the solution of mineral
chameleon, as herein-before described, I act upon the tallow or other sub-
stance to be bleached or changed in colour by a solution containing the red
oxide or the deutoxide of manganese, or a solution containing manganese
combined with more oxygen than it has combined with it when in the state
of protoxyde. In carrying this part of my Invention into effect, I first
prepare some of the solution required, which may be done by putting into a
leaden vessel a quantity of sulphuric acid, which should be therein diluted
with water till its specific gravity (as found by testing a small quantity reduced
to the temperature of 60° Fahr.) is only about 1.70 or 1.66 and then
sprinkling therein (while hot) by little and little the peroxide or the red
oxide, or the deutoxide, or other oxide, not being the protoxide alone of
manganese (the peroxide I prefer), while the liquor is being stirred with a
leaden rod or stirrer. (It is better to do this in a place where there is a good
current of air rather than in a closed room, and the operator should stand so
that the spray, vapour, or gas escaping from the vessel will not be blown
towards him; and for greater protection, it is advisable that he have a wet
cloth bound over his mouth and nostrils to catch any acid spray, corrosive
vapour, or gas emitted from the mixture, and to prevent him from inspiring
the same.) The quantity of oxide and manganese should be greater than what
the diluted acid used (without the application of other heat than that generated
by mixing the acid and water) is capable of dissolving by long digestion. The
mixture should be allowed to stand for two or three days, being frequently
well stirred' to keep the oxide of manganese as much as possible in suspension;
after which more water should be added and the mixture well stirred till the
solution (which will have acquired a pink or crimson colour). When the excess
of oxide of manganese has been allowed to settle from it, by standing, is found
to be of about the specific gravity 1.35, the mixture should then be frequently
stirred daily for three or four days or a week, the specific gravity of the clear
liquor being tested each day with a hydrometer, and as often as it is found

page_text: above 1.35, more water being added, till it is reduced to that; ultimately the
liquor will be of a deep crimson or claret colour, when it will be fit for use.
I find it answers well in preparing this compound to use one hundred and
sixty pounds of good commercial per oxide of manganese to each five hundred
pounds of concentrated sulphuric acid and the requisite quantity of water.
Other acids, instead of or along with the sulphuric, may be used in forming a
solution containing the red oxide or the deutoxide of manganese, or a solution
containing manganese combined with more oxygen than it has combined
with it, when in the state of protoxide to be used in bleaching and changing
the colour of tallow and other greasy and oleaginous substances; but I have
given the above example shewing how the required solution may be formed
with sulphuric acid, because I find fewer inconveniences attending the prepara-
tion and employment of the solution when formed by the aid of sulphuric acid
than when other acid is or has been used in its stead or along with it. The
solution being prepared, I then melt the tallow or other substance to be
operated upon (if not already in a fluid state), by the introduction of steam or
otherwise in a leaden or other suitable vessel, similar to the operation vessel
described in the foregoing part of this Specification, and when its temperature
is about 120° Fahr., or from that to 130°, I add by little and little some of
the crimson or claret-coloured liquor or solution containing the red oxide or
the deutoxide of manganese, the tallow or substance under operation being
well stirred all the time, so as to keep distributed and suspended among it the
liquor added; this stirring should be continued for an hour, or till the tallow
or other substance is found, by pouring a few drops upon a clean cold metallic
substance or otherwise, to be sufficiently bleached or changed in colour. When
it is bleached or changed in colour to the satisfaction of the operator the
temperature may be raised to 155° or 160°, and then the stirring being dis-
continued, the liquor will in a few hours be settled, and the melted tallow or
substance under operation will float upon its surface, from which it may be
skimmed or otherwise removed, and applied to such purpose as it be required
for; I find that a ton of good English tallow may thus be made white by an
expenditure of one hundred and forty quarts of the crimson or claret-coloured
liquor of the specific gravity 1.35. The quantity required for the bleaching
of other substances besides tallow is more or less in relation to the depth of
colour possessed by the substance before being operated upon: When the
liquor, if clear, is mixed with the melted tallow, the mixture has at first a
pinkish or muddy crimson hue, produced by the liquor being in a state of
mechanical suspension or mixture in the tallow, but this vanishes as the tallow
becomes bleached, and the liquor is afterwards found to have lost its crimson

page_text: or claret colour. It is not indispensable that the liquor should be clear when
added, but it may have some of the undissolved oxide of manganese suspended
in it. The residuary liquor, from the surface of which the tallow or other
substance bleached or changed in colour has been removed, I use in pre-
paring and purifying, or "rendering," as it is frequently termed among
chandlers; other tallow or greasy substance, the tallow, greasy substance, or
fat as brought from the butchers or other source, that is, before being separated
from the cellular membrane, &c., which accompany it when obtained from the
carcase it is derived from, I put into the vessel containing the residuary
liquor, or into another vessel into which the residuary liquor or a portion of it
may have been or may thereafter be removed; I then apply heat to the
interior of the vessel containing the fat or greasy substance and the liquor,
either by the introduction of steam or in any other convenient manner; by this
the membrane becomes dissolved or the cells burst, and when the contents of
the vessel have been kept at about the temperature of 160°, or from that to
212°, for an hour, or two, the whole or the greater part of the tallow or grease
is liberated from the cells, and on the mixture being allowed to settle, by the
steam being stopped off and left indisturbed, the prepared or "rendered" tallow
or other substance floats upon the surface of the liquor, from which it may be
skimmed or removed, to be bleached in another vessel, or otherwise disposed of;
or, the liquor being drawn off from under it, it may be bleached in the
same vessel by the addition of the requisite quantity of fresh solution con-
taining the red oxide or the deutoxide of manganese. I find that the liquor
resulting from the bleaching of a ton of tallow is enough to complete
the preparing or "rendering" of a ton of fat fresh from the butchers.
If thought desirable, fat may be prepared and bleached or changed in
colour at one operation, by putting it as received from the butchers and the
requisite quantity of the crimson or claret-coloured liquor into the operation
vessel and heating the mixture (it being well stirred) to the temperature of
about 150° or 160° for an hour or two, and then up to about 212°. When
such is found requisite, for a short time the fat or tallow so prepared,
purified, refined, and bleached or changed in colour may, after having been
allowed to clear itself by standing at rest, be removed for use from the surface
of the liquor. For this preparing, and otherwise purifying, refining, and
bleaching at one operation, it is requisite to use somewhat more of the crimson
or claret-coloured liquid than what is required to produce the intended effect
so far as bleaching is concerned, when the liquor is applied to tallow which has
been previously prepared or "rendered." The utensils with which the mix-
tures of tallow, &c. and chemical ingredients are to be stirred or otherwise

page_text: brought into contact, and the vessels used, should be of lead or of wood covered
with lead, and throughout this Specification I intend this remark to apply in
every instance where ingredients containing sulphuric acid are used; but when
the solution used has been formed by the aid of other acid than the sulphuric,
hydrochloric for instance, the utensils and vessels should not be of lead, but
of wood, stone, or other substance not capable of being acted upon by hydro-
chloric acid or the acid in the solution.
So far as this Specification his hitherto extended, I claim as my Invention
the application of a solution of "mineral chameleon," or compound of man-
ganesic or manganic acid and potash or soda, or other alkaline or earthy base,
to wax, tallow, or other greasy or oleaginous substance in a melted, fluid, or
softened state, by mixing the same therewith, and the previous or subse-
quent application of sulphuric acid (or other acid having a stronger affinity
than the manganesic acid for the alkaline or earthy base of the "chameleon")
to the said mixture, for the purposes of bleaching and changing the colour of
the tallow or other substance; and I claim for the same purposes the applica-
tion (by mixing) to melted, fluid, or softened wax, tallow, grease, or oleaginous
substance, of a solution or mixture formed by adding sulphuric acid or such
other acid, as first alluded to, to a solution of the "mineral chameleon," pre-
viously to either of them being added to the substance to be operated upon.
I also claim the application of a solution (made by the aid of acid) of the
red oxide or the deutoxide of manganese, or a solution containing manganese
combined with more oxygen than it has combined with it when in the state of
protoxide to melted or softened tallow or other fluid, or softened, greasy, or
oleaginous substance, by mixing the solution with the substance to be operated
upon, for the purpose of bleaching and changing the colour of the same, and
when applied to "unrendered" tallow or fat, for the purpose of bleaching,
changing the colour of and otherwise preparing, purifying, and refining the
same.
I likewise claim the application of the residuary liquor (left after the
bleaching or changing the colour of prepared or "rendered" tallow or other
substance) to "unrendered" tallow or fat, by heating and mixing the same
therewith for the purpose of preparing, purifying, and refining the tallow or fat.
I do not confine myself to the before-mentioned proportions of substance
to be operated upon and chemical ingredients or solutions to be used, nor
to the exact strengths or purity of the latter, nor to the particular methods
mentioned by which the same may be applied, nor to the exact temperatures
mentioned or alluded to, I having expressed particulars in such respects merely
to illustrate how in one or more instance and by what means and conditions

page_text: my invention may with cervanity, when que care is observed, be carried mito
practical effect, knowing that in some respects deviations, which it would be
burdensome herein to particularize, may be made from the instructions given,
without frustrating the production of the effects desired.
I do not claim any particular form, dimensions, or kind, of any of the vessels
or utensils employed, nor the materials of which they may consist, nor the
mode of applying or preserving the temperature during the operations when in
bleaching or changing the colour of tallow, grease, or oleaginous substance;
a maximum degree of whiteness is not required; and when great expedition is
not an object, I sometimes, instead of using the compounds herein-before
described, add to melted tallow or other greasy or oleaginous substance, in a
fluid or softened state, a quantity of oxide of manganese (it not being the prot-
oxide) alone in powder. I prefer the peroxide for this purpose; about one-
tenth in weight that of the substance to be operated upon is sufficient. I well
stir the mixture continuously or frequently for a few hours, keeping its tem-
perature at about 150°, after which the oxide of manganese is separated by
filtering, or it is deposited by the mixture being allowed to stand at rest and
kept warm. The tallow or other substance, after such separation; is removed,
and may be applied to such purpose as it may be required for; or I mix and
keep frequently agitated at the temperature of or about 212° till the desired
change of colour is produced, the tallow, grease, or oleaginous substance with
the oxide of manganese and sulphuric acid previously made so dilute as to be
incapable of charring organic matter. I prefer this process more particularly
when palm oil is the substance to be operated upon. Peroxide (which I
prefer) of manganese, in weight one-tenth that of the substance whose colour
is to be changed, and concentrated sulphuric acid, in weight, one-half that of the
oxide of manganese, diluted with its own weight of water, are ingredients
suitably proportioned for depriving palm oil of its deep yellow or reddish colour,
and for causing it to have only a pale yellow or greenish colour, in which state
it is preferred for some purposes. When the colour of the palm oil or other
substance under operation is found to be sufficiently changed, the agitation is
discontinued, but the temperature kept so high as for the substance under
operation to remain in a fluid state till the oxide of manganese and acid have
settled, and the substance operated upon is sufficiently transparent, after which
the latter may be removed for use. The oxide of manganese and acid may
either be mixed together previously to being added to the substance to be
operated upon or otherwise. The operation may be conducted in a vessel
similar to the operation vessel, herein-before described, and the contents of the
vessel heated by means also similar to those before stated
The several opera-

page_text: tions or processes last herein-before described for bleaching and changing the
colour of tallow, grease, and oleaginous substance, I claim as my Invention, not
claiming the use of any particular apparatus, utensils, or vessels, in carrying the
same into effect, nor confining myself to the particular temperatures, nor the
exact proportions of any of the several ingredients mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Hough Watson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Thirteenth day of Decem-
ber, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Henry Hough Watson came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of December in the year above written