AN IMPROVED METHOD OR MEANS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF BURRS OR OTHER VEGETABLE OR LIGNEOUS MATTERS FOUND IN WOOL OR HAIR IN ITS RAW OR UN- MANUFACTURED STATE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Box, of No. 6, South Sea House, in the
City of London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OR MEANS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF BURRS OR OTHER VEGETABLE
OR LIGNEOUS MATTERS FOUND IN WOOL OR HAIR IN ITS RAW OR UN-
MANUFACTURED STATE."
Sealed the 23rd July 1869, and dated the 28th January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Box at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
January 1869.
I, JOHN Box, of No. 6, South Sea House, in the City of London,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MEANS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF BURES OR OTHER
VEGETABLE OR LIGNEOUS MATTERS FOUND IN WOOL OB HAIR IN ITS RAW on
UNMANUFACTURED STATE," to be as follows:-
I subject the wool or hair in its raw or unmanufactured state to the
effects of a current of chlorhydric acid gas, which entirely decomposes
or burns any vegetable or ligneous matters, such as the burr or any
other vegetable or ligneous matter which may have become mixed with

page_text: the wool or hair. Chlorhydric acid gas is made by decomposing
common salt, chlorure of sodium, by hydrated sulphuric acid, which
produces when heated to a certain degree the following formula or form
in chemistry, Na Cl+SO³, HO=NaO, SO3+HCL. The gas which flies
off during the operation of making of sulphate of soda is chlorhydric
acid gas. The wool or hair should be placed in a close vessel or
cylinder of iron or other metal lined with lead or enamelled, and should
be opened out as much as possible, so as to permit the gas to penetrate
in all parts of the wool or hair, but it would not be necessary to open
out the wool or hair provided the chlorhydric acid gas is made to enter
the vessel or cylinder under pressure so that the gas should circulate
well and completely through the wool or hair. The vegetable or
ligneous matters will then fall to pieces on being pressed, and will fall
from the wool or hair when beaten or shaken in the form of dust.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Box in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
Box, of No. 6, South Sea House, in the City of London, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Box, Her special licence that
I, the said John Box, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others, as I, the said John Box, my 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 "Ax IMPROVED METHOD OR MEANS FOR
THE DESTRUCTION OF BURRS OR OTHER VEGETABLE OR LIGNEOUS MATTERS FOUND IN
WOOL OR HAIR IN ITS RAW OR UNMANUFACTURED STATE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Box, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their

page_text: 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 Box, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
The burr and all other vegetable and ligneous matters can be destroyed
in wool or in hair in its raw and unmanufactured state by passing into
and through the wool or hair a current of chlorhydric acid gas, which
gas is produced by the saturation of common salt (chlorine of sodium)
by diluted sulphuric acid placed over a moderate heat. The wool of sheep
and the hair of goats are frequently greatly damaged in value by the
burr, which is the seed vessel of a plant common in England and in most
other parts of the world. This burr and other vegetable and ligneous
matters I can destroy by placing the wool or hair in a box or chamber
of sufficient size, in which box or chamber the wool or hair may be
advantageously placed on shelves of galvanized wire netting. The
quantity of gas necessary to be applied depends on the quantity of
burr or ligneous matter and the hardness or softness of the same.
Chlorhydric acid gas is evolved in the manufacture of sulphate of soda,
therefore it would be convenient to erect the apparatus for the destruction
of the burr or ligneous matter in the immediate neighbourhood of a
manufactory of sulphate of soda, this gas being a residue hitherto of no
value to the manufacturer.
I claim as my Invention, the destruction of the burr or other ligneous
matter either in wool or hair in its raw state by the use of chlorhydric
acid gas.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Box, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of
on Land Own thousand night hundred and siste mins