IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Smith and Charles Lavers Smith, both of
Corbets Court, Spitalfields, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturing
Chemists, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF .
Sealed the 16th August 1859, and dated the 26th March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Smith and
Charles Lavers Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 26th March 1859.
We, BENJAMIN SMITH and CHARLES LAVERS SMITH, both of Corbets Court,
Spitalfields, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturing Chemists, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARA-
TION OF CERTAIN COLORING MATTER APPLICABLE FOR DYEING AND PRINTING," to be
as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in the preparation of a certain coloring
matter applicable for dyeing and printing relates to a novel mode of preparing
archil or solution of cudbear so as to admit of the coloring matter being sold
in a concentrated or solid form. In carrying out our Invention we take archil
liquor, or extract of archil, or solution of cudbear, prepared in any of the
ordinary and well-known ways, or in any way in which the required extract
or color may be obtained, and to this liquid coloring matter we add any

page_text: chemical ingredient, which, by reason of its affinity for the ammonia or other
agent which has been employed in extracting the coloring matter from the
lichens will decompose the liquid, and throw down or precipitate the coloring
matter therefrom. The chemical agents which will be found to act most
beneficially on the liquid extract are common salt, the sulphates or hydro-
chlorates of soda or potash, common aluni, the acid salts, or the acids
themselves. The addition of any of these to the liquid coloring matter will
throw down or separate the coloring matter from the liquor in which it is
held in solution, or the precipitate may be collected in the form of a paste,
either of which preparations may be used in the arts, either alone or in
combination with other colors or substances for dyeing, staining, or printing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Smith and Charles Lavers Smith in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 24th September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, BENJAMIN
SMITII and CHARLES LAVERS SMITH, both of Corbets Court, Spitalfields, in the
County of Middlesex, Manufacturing Chemists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Benjamin Smith and Charles Lavers Smith, Her special license that we,
the said Benjamin Smith and Charles Lavers Smith, our exccutors, administra-
.tors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Benjamin Smith and Charles
Lavers Smith, our executors, administrators, 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
PREPARATION OF CERTAIN COLORING MATTER APPLICABLE FOR DYEING AND PRINTING,""
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Benjamin Smith
and Charles Lavers Smith, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Benjamin Smith and Charles Lavers
Smith, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention of improvements in the preparation of a certain coloring
matter applicable for dyeing and printing relates to a novel mode of preparing
archil. Heretofore the coloring matter commonly known as archil or orchil
has usually been sold to consumers in the form of a liquid or solution. Our
Invention consists in reducing to a concentrated or solid form ammoniacal
solutions of archil obtained in the ordinary way. In carrying out our
Invention we take archil liquor, or extract of archil of commerce, or the coloring
matter of archil held in solution by ammonia; to this liquid coloring matter we
add any chemical ingredient, which by reason of its affinity for the ammonia or
other agent which has been employed in extracting the coloring matter from
the lichens will decompose the liquid and throw down or precipitate the coloring
matter therefrom. In order to produce a good result we find it advantageous
to use such solutions of archil as contain the smallest quantity of gummy,
fibrous, or mucilaginous matter, as we find that any thick nucilage prevents
or greatly retards the precipitation and filtration of the coloring matter or
useful product required. The chemical agents which will be found to act
most beneficially on the liquid extract, are common salt, the sulphates or
bydrochlorates of soda, potash, lime, or magnesia, common alum, the acid
salts or the acids themselves, such as sulphuric and hydrochloric acid. The
addition of a suitable quantity of any of these chemical agents to the liquid
will precipitate the coloring matter, and will throw down or separate it from
the liquor in which it is held in solution. When the precipitate has settled
down it may be filtered and collected in the form of a paste, which must be
washed to remove any salts that it may contain; then, if desired, it may be
dried and pulverized. Either the wet or dry preparation may be used in the
arts, and they may be employed either alone or in combination with other
colors or substances for dyeing, staining, or printing. When the solution of
archil or archil liquor to be operated upon (for the purposes of our Invention)
is found to contain an inconvenient quantity or proportion of gummy, fibrous,
or mucilaginous matter, we find it advisable to heat the precipitate with a
slight excess of acid, when it may be filtered, washed, dried, and pulverized,
as above mentioned.
Having now described our Invention of "Improvements in the Preparation
of certain Coloring Matter applicable for Dyeing and Printing," and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, we would observe, in

page_text: conclusion, that we are aware that archil has been heretofore prepared in a
peculiar manner and by peculiar processes, for.the purpose of imparting certain
peculiar qualities to the coloring matter, and that such preparation has been
concentrated or brought into a solid. form; we do not therefore mean or
intend to claim as of our Invention any process for extracting the coloring
matter from the lichen or woody fibre; but that which we consider to be new
in the above-described process or operation, and therefore desire to claim as
the Invention secured to us by Letters Patent, is precipitating the coloring
matter from ordinary archil liquors of commerce, so as to obtain from them
the coloring matter in a concentrated or solid form as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Benjamin Smith and Charles Lavers
Smith, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-third day
of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-nine.
BENJ. SMITH.
(L.S.)
C. LAVERS SMITH.
(L.S.)
Witness,
FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.