IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBONATES AND BICARBONATES OF SODA AND POTASH, THE SOLUBLE AND INSOLUBLE SILICATES OF SODA AND POTASH, AND MURIATIC ACID FROM CHLORIDES OF SODIUM AND POTASSIUM
Year: 1866

page_text: TTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBONATES AND
BICARBONATES OF SODA AND POTASH, THE SOLUBLE AND INSOLUBLE SILICATES
OF SODA AND POTASH, AND MURIATIC ACID FROM CHLORIDES OF SODIUM AND
POTASSIUM," A communication from abroad by Haydn Mozart Baker,
Joseph Henry Poole, and William Ralph Stace, all of Rochester, in the
State of New York. United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton"
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th August 1866..
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAR-
BONATES AND BICARBONATES OF SODA AND POTASH, THE SOLUBLE AND INSOLUBLE
SILICATES OF SODA AND POTASH, AND MURIATIC ACID FROM CHLORIDES OF SODIUM
AND POTASSIUM," to be as follows:-
This Invention depends upon the high degree of affinity of silicic acid
and for alkalies and bases at elevated temperatures and the correspondingly
low degree of affinity of this acid for the alkalies and bases at common or
Price Bd.1

page_text: low temperatures. It consists in the employment of silicic acid in fluxing
either nitrate of soda or potash at elevated temperatures in a clay retort or
glass-house pot provided with a suitable appendage for conducting away
and condensing the liberated nitric acid as fast as the acid is disengaged or
displaced by the silicic acid, and in the use of the so disengaged or displaced
nitric acid for the decomposition of chloride of sodium or potassium, thereby
forming nitrate of soda or potash and free muriatic (hydrochloric) acid,
which is distilled out and condensed, while nitrate of soda or potash remains
in the still and may be used with new quantities of silicic acid for the
purpose of forming silicates of soda or potash and nitric acid for the decom-
position of new quantities of chloride of potassium or chloride of sodium.
It also consists in saturating a solution of silicate of soda or potash with
carbonic acid under pressure and evaporating the same to dryness, and in
the subsequent solution of the carbonate of soda or potash thus formed, and
the final evaporation of the same after its separation from the precipitated
silicic acid. As the reactions of sodium and potassium chlorides are the
same it will be only necessary to describe the process as performed with one
of them, and we therefore select chloride of sodium.
We take equivalent proportions of nitrate of soda and sand (silicic acid)
and mix same together intimately, and charge the mixture into a clay retort
called No. 1; heat is applied and the sand unites with the soda, forming
silicate of soda, while the nitric acid of the nitrate of soda is expelled from
the retort and condensed. The nitric acid is next used to decompose an
equivalent proportion of common salt, chloride of sodium, and water, forming
nitrate of soda and hydrochloric acid. This decomposition is effected in a
clay retort, called No. 2, to which heat is applied at a temperature sufficient
to distil out the muriatic acid. Nitrate of soda is left in the retort and may
be used with new quantities of sand for the formation of silicate of soda and
nitric acid. The silicate of soda remaining in retort No. 1 is immersed
in water while in a heated condition to facilitate.solution; this solution of
the silicate of soda is saturated with carbonic acid under pressure until the
whole of the alkali is saturated or neutralized, and the sand or silicic acid
precipitated or set free. The whole is then evaporated to dryness and then
submitted to lixiviation in pure water, the carbonate of soda dissolving in
that menstruum, and the silicic acid or sand remaining as a precipitant;
this acid or sand may be used again with new quantities of nitrate of soda
as above described. The carbonate solution may now be evaporated to
dryness and is ready for the market. If the bicarbonate be required, the
stream of carbonic acid should be continued until that object is attained.
1

page_text: For the manufacture of glass and nitrate of soda simultaneously the nitrate
of soda and silicic acid are mixed in such proportions as to form an insoluble
silicate; the disengaged nitric acid is conducted to a mixture of chioride of
sodium and water; decomposition of water and chloride of sodium is occa.
sioned by the pressure of the nitric acid (catalysis), the hydrogen of the water
combining with the chlorine of the sodium forming muriatic acid, which may
be distilled out and condeused for commercial uses, and the oxygen of the
water combines with the sodium, forming soda, with which the nitric acid
unites, forming nitrate of soda, and this may be evaporated and crystallized
out and mixed with new quantities of sand, and the above operation repeated
ad infinitum. The saine reactions occur using chloride of potassium, but the
products are muriatic acid and nitrate of potash.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent. filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th February 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of August, 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 William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 law-
fully 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 CARBONATES AND BICARBONATES OF
SODA AND POTASH, SOLUBLE AND INSOLUBLE SILICATES OF SODA AND POTASH, AND
MURIATIC ACID FROM CHLORIDES OF SODIUM AND POTASSIUM," being a commu-
nication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in

page_text: 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 William Edward Newton, 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):-
This Invention depends upon the high degree of affinity of silicic acid for
alkalies and bases at elevated temperatures and the correspondingly low degree
of affinity of this acid for the alkalies and bases at common or low tem-
peratures. It consists in the employment of silicic acid in fluxing either
nitrate of soda or potash at elevated temperatures in a clay retort or glass-
house pot provided with a suitable appendage for conducting away and
condensing the liberated nitric acid as fast as the acid is disengaged or dis-
placed by the silicic acid, and in the use of the so disengaged or displaced
nitric acid for the decomposition of chloride of sodium or potassium, thereby
forming nitrate of soda or potash and free muriatic (hydrochloric) acid, which
is distilled out and condensed, while nitrate of soda or potash remains in the
still and may be used with new quantities of silicic acid for the purpose of
forming silicates of soda or potash and nitric acid for the decomposition of
new quantities of chloride of potassium chloride of sodium. It also consists
in saturating a solution of silicate of soda or potash with carbonic acid under
pressure and evaporating the same to dryness, and in the subsequent solution
of the carbonate of soda or potash thus formed, and the final evaporation of
the same after its separation from the precipitated silicic acid. As the
reactions of sodium and potassium chlorides are the same it will be only
necessary to describe the process as performed with one of them, and I
therefore select chloride of sodium.
Equivalent proportions of nitrate of soda and sand (silicic acid) are mixed
together intimately and the mixture charged into a clay retort, which may be
called No. 1; this retort must be capable of sustaining a very elevated tempera-
ture, and be provided with suitable condensing apparatus; heat is applied, and
the sand unites with the soda, formning silicate of soda, while the nitric acid of
the nitrate of soda is expelled from the retort and. condensed in the apparatus
provided for that purpose. The nitric acid is next used to decompose an
equivalent proportion of common salt (chloride of sodium) and water, forming
nitrate of soda and hydrochloric acid. This decomposition is effected in a
clay retort called No. 2, and provided, with condensing appurtenances, and to
which heat is applied at a, temperature sufficient to distil out the muriatic

page_text: acid. Nitrate of soda is left in the retort and may be used with new quan-
tities of sand for the formation of silicate of soda and nitric acid. The
sulphates of potash and soda flux with sand and form soluble and insoluble
silicates, while the sulphuric acid is distilled out and may be used for
decomposing the chlorides precisely like the recovered nitric acid. The
silicate of soda remaining in retort No. 1 is soluble in water, in which men.
struum it is to be immersed while in a heated condition in order to facilitate
solution; it may be withdrawn from the retort by ladling or in any other con-
venient manner: After lixiviation in water, which is necessary to produce
a complete solution of the silicate of soda, the sume is saturated with car-
bonic acid under pressure (in a proper vessel provided with a safety valve)
until the whole of the alkali is saturated or neutralized with the carbonic
acid, and the sand or silicic acid thereby precipitated or set free. The
whole is then evaporated to dryness to insure complete precipitation of all
the silicic acid, and then submitted to lixiviation in pure water, 'the car-
bonate of soda dissolving in that menstruum, and the silicic acid or sand
remaining as a precipitant. This acid or sand may be used again with new
quantities of nitrate of soda as above described. The carbonate solution may
now be evaporated to dryness and is ready for the market. If the bicarbonate
be required the stream of carbonic acid should be continued until that object
is attained. The carbonic acid may be generated by burning limestone, or
oyster shells, or chalk, and forcing the liberated carbonic acid into the silicate
solution by means of steam or by a force pump; or if the operation be con-
ducted in a glass-house the carbonic acid may be taken from a pot where
glass is forming from sand and carbonate of soda or potash by the use of
any apparatus which will convey the carbonic acid to the silicate solution.
For the manufacture of glass aud nitrate of sola simultaneously the nitrate
of soda and silicic acid are mixed in such proportions as to form an in-
soluble silicate. The disengaged nitric acid is conducted to a mixture of
chloride of sodium and water; decomposition of water and chloride of
sodium is occasioned by the pressure of the nitric acid, the hydrogen of the
water combining with the chlorine of the sodium, forming muriatic acid,
which may be distilled out and condensed for commercial uses, and the
oxygen of the water combines with the sodium and forms soda, with which
the nitric acid unites and forms nitrate of soda; this may be evaporated and
crystallized out and mixed with new quantities of sand, and the above
operation repeated "ad infinitum." The same reactions occur when using
chloride of potassium,but the products are muriatic acid and nitrate of potash.
Chloride of potassium may be obtained from soap makers who use potash

page_text: for the manufacture of soap, and transform the same by double decompo-
sition with chloride of sodium into soda soap, the solution of chloride of
potassium being a waste product with them.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by
Letters Patent as aforesaid,.
-
First, the process herein described or its equivalent for decomposing
chloride of sodium and potassium with nitric acid, and the subsequent
recovery of such acid by displacement with silicic acid at an elevated
temperature.
Second, the recovery of the nitric acid from nitrate of soda or potash by
displacing such acid by silicic acid at elevated temperatures, and the sub-
sequent use of the so recovered nitric acid in the decomposition of chlorides
of sodium and potassium to form nitrate of soda or potash, as herein set
forth.
Third, the employment of carbonic acid with pressure, as herein set
forth, for the decomposition of silicate of soda or potash.
Fourth, the employment of the within-described process for forming
soluble and insoluble silicate of soda or potash in the manufacture of glass,
including the recovery of the nitric acid and the use of the same in the
decomposition of chloride of sodium or potassium.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of February, in the year of
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)