IMPROVE- WOW IN MUD MANTRACTURE OF SALTS OF SODA AND POTASH
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Knowles Leather, of St. Helen's, in the County
of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
WOW IN MUD MANTRACTURE OF SALTS OF SODA AND POTASH."
Sealed the 21st May 1867, and dated the 24th November 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Knowles Leather
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th November 1866.
I, JOHN KNOWLES LEATHER, of St. Helen's, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SALTS OF SODA AND POTASH," to be
as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the condensation of such salts of
soda and potash as may have been volatilized when submitted to a furnace heat.
For this purpose I introduce into the flue leading from the furnace in which
the salts of soda and potash are to be volatilized a jet of steam for the purpose
of creating a draught and drawing forward the vapours and gases arising from
the furnace and discharging them into towers or condensing chambers.
The manner of proceeding will be somewhat as follows:-At any con-
venient distance from the furnace the flue will be narrowed, say, to twelve
inches diameter or thereabouts, at which point a jet of steam of, say, half an
inch in diameter, more or less, will be introduced and directed in a line
parallel with the course of the natural draught; beyond this point the flue is to

page_text: be widened either gradually or suddenly, but I prefer gradually, and by this
means I obtain a good steady draft. I am thus enabled to convey the vapour
and mixed gases to a condensing room and thence to a tower filled with coke
or bricks, and to pass away the uncondensed products of the furnace either
direct into the open air or to the chimney.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Knowles Leather in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th May 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KNOWLES LEATHER, of Saint Helen's, in the County of Lancaster, Manu-
facturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Knowles Leather, Her special licence that I, the said
John Knowles Leather, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Knowles Leather, my exécutors, 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 MANUFACTURE OF SALTS OF SODA AND
POTASH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Knowles
Leather, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Knowles Leather, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
:-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the condensation of such salts of
soda and potash as may have been volatilized when submitted to a furnace

page_text: heat. For this purpose I introduce into the flue leading from the furnace in
which the salts of soda or potash may be volatilized a jet of steam for the
purpose of creating a draft and drawing forward the vapours and gases
arising from the furnace and discharging them into towers or condensing
chambers.
The manner of proceeding will be somewhat as follows:-At any con-
venient distance from the furnace the flue will be narrowed, say, to twelve
inches diameter or thereabouts, at which point a jet of steam of, say, half an
inch in diameter, more or less, will be introduced and directed in a line
parallel with the course of the natural draft; beyond this point the flue is to
be windened either gradually or suddenly, but I prefer gradually, and by this
means I obtain a good steady draft. I am thus enabled to convey the vapour
and mixed gases to a condensing room and thence to a tower filled with coke
or bricks, and to pass away the uncondensed products of the furnace either
direct into the open air or to a chimney.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements in the
manufacture of salts of soda and potash, and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim the means above described for recovering
the portion of the salts of soda and potash which may be volatilized during the
manufacture of those salts.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Knowles Leather, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JOHN KNOWLES LEATHER. (L.S.)