Improvements in or appertaining to the Utilisation of a Waste or Nearly Waste Product, and the Manufacture of a Useful Gum or Gummy Compound therefrom.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd May, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 30th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 3rd Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION:
Improvements in or appertaining to the Utilisation of a Waste or
Nearly Waste Product, and the Manufacture of a Useful Gum or
Gummy Compound therefrom.
We, JOHN HANSON, PETER CAMERON DOUGLAS CASTLE and JAMES HENRY
MORRISON all of 7, Temple Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Miller,
Produce Broker and Commission Agent respectively, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its principal object the utilization of a waste material.
The kernels or seeds of the locus bean have hitherto been thrown away or in rare
cases ground up for pig food. Pigs as a rule however. do not care for them if they
can get anything else and they are of little value for nutriment. Now we have
found that from these kernels we can extract an exceedingly valuable gum which will
take the place of gum-tragacanth and indeed can hardly be distinguished from it,
being quite equal if not superior to it in our opinion. This gum is also valuable for
culinary purposes and as a medium for medicines. We have found two modes
already for carrying our invention into effect. The kernels as they come from the
mill are
steeped in water for from twelve to twenty-four hours, the water being
preferably about 100 degrees Ft. but not hotter; the liquor is now drawn off, and
this contains the colouring matter which can be extracted from it in any convenient
manner. The residue is put into fresh cold water and heated to 212 degrees, F.
and then boiled for about thirty minutes; the solution drawn off contains the gum
and can if desired be evaporated down to dryness. To the residue we prefer to
add fresh steeped nuts and boiled again with water, when a fresh crop of gum is
secured and thus again go on till the material ceases to afford gum, finally boiling
them without fresh material being added. Another mode of procedure is to grind
the kernel to a fine powder and aspirate it through sieves. By this means the
cuticle is blown off or separated and in this cuticle all the colouring matter is
contained; the fiue ground kernel is now added by sprinkling with water and boiled
for about half an hour. This gum is applicable for dressing, stiffening, glazing,
sizing, and for use in dyeing, printing, and finishing various textile fabrics, paper
and other goods. The dye precipitated by alumina or other mordants makes an
excellent lake.
Dated the 1st day of May 1893.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or appertaining to the Utilisation of a Waste or
Nearly Waste Product, and the Manufacture of a Useful Gum or
Gummy Compound therefrom.
We, JOHN HANSON, PETER CAMERON DOUGLAS CASTLE and JAMES HENRY
MORRISON, all of 7 Temple Street, Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Miller,
Produce Broker and Commission Agent, respectively, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of this invention is to obtain a gum or mucilage which we call gum
ཟླ་'

page_text: tragasol, which shall supersede gum tragacanth, size and other like materials in
sizing or lubricating yarns for weaving cloth, putting the finish or gloss on cloth,
also for use instead of other gums or size in colour printing and dyeing.
There are numerous procedures for extracting the gum, all based on dissolving it
out, either without the extractive matter of the cuticle or with this extractive
matter if the latter, then means must be employed to keep it clear of iron as the
latter forms an ink with the tannin of the kernel.
.
Since filing our Provisional Specification, we have somewhat improved our
process in detail, and the best form of the process known to us is as follows:-
We take the kernels or beans from the pods of the locust or carob tree, a species
of acacia. These kernels must be split in two and the inside germ got rid of.
The splitting can be effected in pen or bean splitting machines and the germs got
rid of by riddling and aspiration. The split kernels must now be cleaned from all
foreign matter and particularly from any part of the sweet pod of the bean. This
should be done without the aid of water where practicable, and can be effected. by
aspiration in sieves. To a hundred kilogrammes of the kernels or beans, we add
625 kilogrammes of boiling water at 100 degrees centigrade, stirring the beans in
the water. We then leave them to steep for from 5 to 6 hours, some beans requiring
more time than others. The mass is now lightly stirred and 125 kilogrammes of
boiling water are added. The whole now remains for another 5 or 6 hours, the
temperature of the mass for the entire period being kept at about blood heat or
upwards. If the whole is not by this time one homogeneous mass, its state
dependent much upon the temperature employed and the variety or quality of the
bean, it must be again lightly stirred with agitators in the vat and left steeping until
it appears to be a homogeneous mass. It is now briskly stirred with agitators and
250 kilogrammes more boiling water are added during the agitation. The mass is
now left to rest for from 2 to 4 hours. It is now preferably run out of the vat
into another chamber in which powerful agitators rotate, and is again vigorously
mixed and agitated. It is now run into a powerful hydro extractor, the one which
we have used in our experiments so far being driven at about 1000 revolutions per
minute. This separates the gum, which passes through the fine wire gauze of the
agitator; the spent kernels being left behind but still saturated with water. This
gum is used in the form in which it escapes from the Kydro extractor, but it can, if
desirable, be evaporated to a thick paste, but it is not found advisable to go beyond
this, especially as, even in the state in which it escapes from the centrifugal
machine, it sets nearly solid and it can be kept good for about 10 days or more for
using as size. But if it be desired to keep it sweet and of the original consistency
for a much longer period of time, this can be done by adding antiseptic or other
preservative compounds. We prefer, however, when it is required that the gum
should be capable of being kept for a few months in this state, to vary its
manufacture a little. This variation consists in steeping the split kernels for
from 6 to 7 days at blood heat or upwards. By this means, the matter contained in
the cuticle of the bean is extracted and is in itself a preservative. Gum made in
this way has been kept sweet for over 90 days and is still good.
Another plan is by adding an antiseptic, more especially 2 to 5 per cent. of
chloride of zinc solution of a strength of from 96° to 100° Twaddle, and for
warmer climates an addition of from per cent. to 1 per cent. of pure carbolic acid.
This can only be done when the gum is to be used solely for manufacturing purposes,
chloride of zinc being poisonous. Except for this defect, however, it is admirable
in preserving the article, and is highly antiseptic in woven cloth.
In the foregoing, we have described the process of manufacture but not the plant.
We find that this gum is liable to be acted upon by certain metals injuriously; we
therefore line the vats and agitators with pure tin or lead according to the use to
which the gum is to be put, and, to keep up the temperature, employ steam jackets
round the vats. The agitators can, however, be of enamelled iron or steel or of oak
or other clean hard wood when the vessels are of moderate size, but in no case must
'the gum come into direct contact with iron or steel, copper or brass, otherwise it

page_text: will be discoloured and the iron or steel corroded. The bearings of the machinery
are preferably of white metal. The cage of the hydro extractor is of enamelleil
steel, and the outer frame is lined with tin, lead or a mixture of the two, and the
cage itself has its rim of pure perforated tin which is covered with galvanised
copper wire gauze.
The gum has not the slightest trace of starch in its composition as ascertained
by the iodine test.
It acts well as starch or dressing for cloth and when used for this purpose either
with or without additional starch, it has the property of preventing the flat iron
from sticking to the cloth. It has a very corrosive action on zinc, iron and other
metals, the presence of iron in a short time turning it almost black.
:
It will at
This gum is of great value for sizing yarns for the weaving of cloth.
one operation act as a size and without the addition of tallow (or with a much
smaller proportion of tallow for very heavy loading) where the size is loaded with
flour, farina, china clay or other similar substances giving elasticity and strength to
the yarn and cloth. It is not sticky like rosin but has the necessary adhesiveness,
and at the same time lubricates the yarn for the loom and gives a fine gloss or finish
to the cloth. It is a thick solution of almost the same specific gravity as water,
so much so that we have been unable to construct any hydrometer or other
measuring instrument that will show the difference.
It will be seen from the foregoing that where the gum has to be used soon after
it is made, the extractive matter of the cotyledons alone is used, whereas if it be
kept for some time, the extractive matter of the cuticle is also added to the gum.
Further, that it is only the cotyledon and the cuticle that must be employed as we
have found that the sweet matter of the pod and the extractive matter of the
germs have a very deleterious and fermentive action on the gum.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is-
1. The improvement in or appertaining to the utilisation of the beans or kernels
of the locust tree which consists in extracting a soluble gum therefrom and using
the latter for purposes substantially as described.
2. The process of manufacturing a gum from the beans of the locust tree which
consists in extracting the same by warm water and separating the gummy solution
from the insoluble residue.
3. As a new article of manufacture, a gum formed from the soluble matter of
the cotyledons of the beans of the locust tree dissolved in water, the said gum
being characterised as being of the almost exact specific gravity of water, as
containing no starch, and as acting strongly upon iron and zinc, the presence of
iron and other metals as aforementioned turning the gum nearly black and the said
gum also forming a somewhat stiff jelly, when containing about 20 per cent. less
moisture than when in its ordinary form when manufactured in the above described
manner and used as a size, which jelly has valuable medicinal and culinary
properties.
4. In the process of manufacturing gum from the beans of the locust tree
aspirating through sieves or otherwise winnowing the ground or broken kernels
before extracting the gum, whereby the germs and lighter matter are first
separated substantially as described.
DL: 00th Jan of Lan 1904
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, and London,
Patent Agents.