IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING SALTS OF SODA
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SEPTIMUS LOSH, of Wreay Syke, in the County of Cumberland, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of July,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Septimus Losh, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Septimus
Losh, my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Septimus Losh, my exors, adiñors, or 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 Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING SALTS OF SODA;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Septimus Losh, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Septimus Losh, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention.
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in obtaining Salts of Soda by treating the waste
residuum of the ordinary process of soda making (commonly known as alkali
waste tank stuff, or vat residuum, or solutions thereof,) with soda, which will
combine with the sulphurous portions of the same, thereby producing certain
And
salts of soda, namely; hyposulphite of soda and sulphite of soda.
in order to explain the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed
I will describe the mode of proceeding which I prefer to adopt :-I take
alkali waste of the residuum produced in the ordinary process of soda making,
which is a substance so well known as to require no further description,
and lay it up in heaps as it comes from the vats. Such heaps may contain
from two to three tons of alkali waste in each, and this I find a convenient
quantity, but the heaps may contain more or less. After remaining for a few
days exposed to the action of the atmosphere, a saline efflorescence will be
produced on the surface of the heaps, and this effect will generally result
after about a week's exposure. At the expiration of this time the alkali waste
is to be transferred to a vat or vats composed of iron or other suitable material,
where water is run upon it in sufficient quantity and at a proper temperature
to dissolve or wash out the whole or greatest part of the sulphurous com-
pounds contained in the alkali waste, which dissolving or washing out will
be facilitated by frequent stirring. After the stirring the materials are allowed
to settle, and the clear supernatant liquid is run or drawn off into another vat
or other vats where a solution of caustic soda or carbonate of soda is added,
until salts of soda are formed, which will be readily ascertained by a precipi-
tate ceasing to fall when the addition of soda solution is continued. The
salts of soda thus formed in solution are obtained in a solid state by evapo-
rating the liquid up to a suitable strength (say until a specific gravity of 1.370
or thereabout is indicated), and then crystallizing in the ordinary manner.
The salts of soda obtained by this process (which are principally sulphite of
soda and hyposulphite of soda) may be purified still further, if desirable, by
subjecting them to a second crystallizing process.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim in respect
thereof is the obtaining of salts of soda by treating alkali waste, or the

page_text: residuum produced in the ordinary process of soda making (or solutions
thereof), with soda, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Septimus Losh, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.