IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ALUM AND IN OBTAINING BY-PRODUCTS THEREPROM SUITABLE FOR MANURE."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Spence, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ALUM AND IN OBTAINING
BY-PRODUCTS THEREPROM SUITABLE FOR MANURE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Spence at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd October 1871.
I, PETER SPENCE, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ALUM AND
IN OBTAINING BY-PRODUCTS THEREFROM SUITABLE FOR MANURE," to be as
follows:

page_text: dated 9th June, 1870, No. 1676, and whereby I obtain and additional
quantity of alum therefrom, and by separating an increased quantity of
alumina contribute to the value of the by-products referred to in the
aforesaid Specification.
means.
For these purposes I take the mother liquors arising from the practice
of my said previous Invention and reduce their temperature by artificial
The method I propose is to place them in a deep vessel of lead
or other suitable material, which vessel is provided with a series of pipes
or other such arrangement connected with a freezing machine con-
structed upon any ordinary principle, and thus the said mother liquors
are reduced to a low temperature, say 40° Fah., and I find that
at this reduction alum is crystallized from the liquors in additional
quantity to that obtained according to the treatment specified under
my aforesaid Patent.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Spence in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
SPENCE, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturing Chemist, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Peter Spence, Her special license
that I, the said Peter Spence, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Spence, my exccutors,
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 ALUM AND IN OBTAINING BY-PRODUCTS THEREPROM
SUITABLE FOR MANURES," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the
said Peter Spence, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,

page_text: 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 Peter Spence, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to that method of making alum and obtaining
by-products therefrom, for which Letters Patent were granted to me,
dated the Ninth day of June, One thousand cight hundred and seventy,
Number 1676, whereby I obtain an additional quantity of alum, and also
by thus separating an increased quantity of alumina, contribute to the
value of the by-products referred to in the aforesaid Specification.
In carrying out my Invention I take the mother liquors (arising from
the practise of my previous aforesaid Invention) from the coolers in which
the first crystals of the alum, as they are ordinarily called, have been
deposited and place them in large shallow headed tanks and allow them
to remain for some days, during which period more crystals of alum arc
deposited. I then pass the liquors in a continuous stream through
channels of lead, on the outsides of which, but in the opposite direction,
I cause to pass a stream of solution of chloride of calcium or other
suitable solution which has been cooled down in any ordinary refri-
gerating machine, as is well understood, the said solution after having
cooled down the mother liquors being returned to the refrigerating
machine again, to be used as before. The alum liquor having been thus
reduced in temperature to from 20 to 24 Fahrenheit is accumulated in a
deep and large leaded vessel, surrounded with thick walls or other
non-conducting medium, so as to prevent the communication of heat
to the liquors, and in a few hours a considerable quantity of alum crystals
are deposited, being in addition to all that could be extracted by mere
atmospheric cooling; and not only do I by the practice of my Invention
obtain more alum, but I also by the abstraction of alumina render the
mother liquors more valuable for the production of fertilizers or salts of
phosphoric acid, as described in the Specification of my former Patent
aforesaid. The cooled liquors may be transferred by a pump, or by
simply flowing from an elevated position from the refrigerating apparatus

page_text: to the aforesaid vessel, where they are to accumulate, and this transfer-
ence may be regulated in speed accordingly as it is found that the desired
temperature is being attained.
I make no claim and do not limit myself to the use of any
specific refrigerating apparatus, as there are several well-known i
methods by which that object may be accomplished, nor do I limit
myself to any form of apparatus in which the liquors are placed
or through which they are caused to flow while being cooled, but I
prefer to pass them as stated through channels against the outer parts of
which the refrigerating fluid passes in the opposite direction; the
condensing part of a distilling apparatus would answer the purpose, but
it will be understood that the surfaces should be of lead.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited 1
Letters Patent and for the purposes above set forth, the application of
an artificial cooling or refrigerating process to such mother liquors as