IMPROVEMENTS IN. TREATING STICK LAC WHEN MANUFACTURING SHELL LAC AND LAC DYE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Alfred Pontifex, of Shoe Lane, in the
City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
TREATING STICK LAC WHEN MANUFACTURING SHELL LAC AND LAC DYE,"-
A communication from abroad by Thomas Frederick Henley, residing
at No. 37, Boulevard Malosherbes, Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 13th January 1865, and dated the 15th August 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on .
the 15th August 1864.
I, EDMUND ALFRED PONTIFEX, of Shoe Lane, in the City of London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN TREATING STICK LAC WHEN MANUFACTURING SHELL LAC AND LAC DYE,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating stick lac when
manufacturing shell lac and lac dye. Heretofore in treating stick lac it has
been generally ground and the color washed out with water. Now, by the
present Invention, stick lac is subjected to the action of spirit capable of dis-
solving out the resin or gum. The spirits which are preferred are the
pyro-spirits of organic matters and acids or ketones,acetone, lignone, tartrone,
and the like. Alcohol may be used, but is less advantageous, unless it be
previously distilled in contact with chloride of calcium, or possibly other lime
salt. Lime salts may also be employed in preparing other spirits for use.
In carrying out this Invention I take two stills, or one still having two
[Price 8d.1

page_text: compartments, and I cause them to communicato with one another. In the
first still or compartment I place the spirit, and in the second one the stick
lac to be operated upon. I then heat or boil the spirit till it evaporates and
some of it passes over into the still or compartment containing the stick lac,
where a portion will become condensed, the remainder passing away to a
worm or other convenient condensing apparatus, whence it is returned to the
stick lac or to the first still or compartment. The spirit thus brought into
contact with the stick lac will gradually dissolve out the resinous gum, and
when it has become sufficiently saturated with it I allow the spirit to return
to the first still or compartment, and by preference by forming a temporary
vacuum in the latter, though it may be by other convenient means. By
repeating this process pure spirit will pass into the second still or compart-
ment to be thero saturated with the resinous gum, and then returned to the
first still or compartment for re-distillation until the former contains only
the bodies of the lac insects, and the latter a saturated spirituous solution of
the resinous gum which has boen separated from them. I distil off, either in
the first still or in a separate vessel, the spirit from this resinous solution, and
preserve it for another operation. The resin when still warm may then be
passed through laminating rolls and made to assume the form of shell lac of
commerce. The spirit retained by the lac insects left in the second still or
compartment should be distilled off and saved. The coloring matter of the
insects may; when desired, be dissolved out, leaving the skins and other
matters behind,in like manner to that above described for dissolving the gum
lac, but using water and the vapour of water as the solvent instead of spirit.
It may be stated that alcohol and naptha have been used as a solvent for
shell lac for making varnish and for other purposes.
The poculiarity of this Invention consists in using spirits for the purpose
of treating stick lac and separating the shell lac from the lac insect with
which it is found in connection as stick lac, so as to produce shell lac
and lac dve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
ALFRED PONTIFEx, of Shoe Lane, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, Her special licence that I, the said
Edmund Alfred Pontifex, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and 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 TREATING STICK LAC WHEN MANUFACTURING
SHELL LAC AND LAC DYE," a communication to me from abroad of Thomas
Frederick Henley, a person resident at No. 37, Boulevard Malesherbes, Paris,
in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edmund Alfred Pontifex, 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 Edmund Alfred Pontifex, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating stick lac when
manufacturing shell lac and lac dye. Heretofore in treating stick lac it has
been generally ground, and the color washed out with water. Now, by the
present Invention stick lac is subjected to the action of spirit capable of
dissolving out the resin or gum. The spirits which are preferred are,
ketones, viz., the pyro-spirits of organic matters and acids, such as acetone,
lignone, tartrone, and the like. Alcohol may be used, but is less advan-
tageous, unless it be previously distilled in contact with chloride of calcium or
possibly other lime salt. Lime salts may also be advantageously employed in
preparing other spirits for use.
In carrying out this Invention I take two stills, or one still having two
compartments, and I cause them to communicate with one another. In the
first still or compartment I place the spirit, and in the second one the stick lac
to be operated upon. I then heat or boil the spirit till it evaporates and some

page_text: of it passes over into the still or compartment containing the stick lac, where
a portion will become condensed, the remainder passing away to a worm or
other convenient condensing apparatus, whence it is returned to the stick lac
or to the first still or compartment. The spirit thus brought into contact
with the stick lac will gradually dissolve out the resinous gum, and when it
has become sufficiently saturated with it I allow tho spirit to return to the
first still or compartment, and by preference by forming a temporary vacuum
in the latter, though it may bo by other convenient neaus. By repeating
this process pure spirit will pass into the second still or compartment to be
there combined or more or less saturated with the resinous gum. and then
returned to the first still or compartment for re-distillation until the former
contains only the bodies of the lac insects, and the latter a saturated spirituous
solution of the resinous gum which has been separated from them. The
arrangement of apparatus suitable for carrying out the Invention may be
varied, but the arrangement preferred to be used consists in a still or vessel
divided horizontally into two compartments by means of a perforated
diaphragm. In the upper compartment the stick lac to be treated is intro-
duced. The spirit (usually acetone, though others may be employed,) is
placed in the lower compartment, and is caused to distil over by steam or
other heat. The vapour of the spirit as it is distilled off in the lower com-
partment rises through the perforated diaphragm and mixes amongst and with
the stick lac. Any vapour which is not condensed passes out of the upper
compartment into a worm in a cooling tub or vessel, and the spirit condensed
in the worm returns back into the upper compartment and mixes with the
stick lac. When the process has been carried on for some time, so that
there is a considerable part of the spirit in the upper compartment, the dis-
tillation is stopped by ceasing to apply heat; then by obtaining a partial
vacuum in the lower compartment, which is readily done by allowing the
vapour therein to condense; when the spirit holding in solution a portion of
the resinous gum will filtor from the upper into the lower compartment of
the still. This process is to be repeated again and again till the resinous
gum has become separated to the extent desired or as completely as may be.
In practice it is found that about 20 gallons of spirit is required for 1 cwt.
of stick lac. Acetone is preferred by reason of its active power in dissolving
the resinous matters, whilst it has little solvent action on the coloring matters.
I distil off either in the first still or in a separate vessel the spirit from this
resinous solution, and preserve it for another operation. The resin when still
warm may then, as has before been done, be passed through laminating rolls
and made to assume the form of shell lac of commerce. The spirit retained by

page_text: the lac insects left in the second still or compartment should be distilled off
and saved. The coloring matter of the insects may, when desired, be dis-
solved out, leaving the skins and other matters behind, in like manner to that
above described for dissolving the gum lac, but using water and the vapour of
water as the solvent instead of spirit. It may be stated that alcohol and
naptha have been used as a solvent for shell lac for making varnish and for
other purposes.
The peculiarity of this Invention consists in using spirits, as herein
described, for the purpose of treating stick lac and separating the shell lac
from the lac insect, with which it is found in connection in stick lac, so as to
produce shell lac, and also lac dye or color, as herein described, more advan-
tageously than have heretofore been done.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
EDMUND A. PONTIFEX. (L.S.)