IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID, HYDROCHLORIC ACID, AND AMMONIA, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Clarke, Doctor of Medicine, and Edward Smith,
Fellow of the Chemical Society, both of Torquay, in the County of Devon,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC
ACID, HYDROCHLORIC ACID, AND AMMONIA, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN."
Sealed the 7th February 1879, and dated the 16th November 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Clarke and Edward
Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th November
1878.
THOMAS CLARKE, Doctor of Medicine, and EDWARD SMITH, Fellow of the
Chemical Society, both of Torquay, in the County of Devon. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID, HYDROCHLORIC ACID, AND AMMONIA,
AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Our Invention has for its object utilizing the component elements of atmospheric
air and water, viz., nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen gases by first getting them
into a nascent or atomic condition and making therefrom by a new and direct
method sulphuric and hydrochloric acids and ammonia.
In carrying out our Invention in order to effect this object we first construct a
furnace (which we shall call No 1 or the steam generating and ammonia-making
furnace) of the necessary dimensions, the proportion of the diameter being, say,
about one third of the height of a fire clay tube or lining around the outside of which
is coiled a strong (pressed) copper or wrought iron pipe having a slow inclination
downwards. This pipe is protected from the direct action of the fire, not only by
the fire clay tube mentioned, but by its being imbedded in Stourbridge fire clay or
other heat resisting material. A space or chamber is left between this cement and
the outer brickwork enclosing the whole, and which we call the "hot chamber."
This hot chamber communicates with the interior of the furnace by a funnel
shaped entrance projecting well into it near the bottom and filled with platinised

page_text: pumice stone or other porous substance, while a communication with the outside is
inade by two pipes furnished with taps inserted into the upper part, one for
the admission of the gases to be presently mentioned when the double operation is
going on, and the other to regulate a supply of air, if required, when ammonia
alone is being made. This furnace is supplied with fuel from the top by means of
a hopper, and there are two flues, the one for waste at the upper part opened or
closed at will. A moveable slide in a small door for lighting enables the fire to be
stirred and cleared of ashes which fall into an ashpit underneath and which can
also be closed by a damper.
The coiled pipe acts a a high pressure boiler generating and then superheating the
steam, the water to produce which is supplied by a tap on a small pipe entering the
coiled pipe at a convenient distance from the top of the furnace. A steam tap near
the lower end of the coil enables any pressure of steam to be used at will, and the
degree of heat obtained depends of course on the number of coils used. This tap
supplies oxygen from the decomposed steam in the No 2 furnace for the sulphuric
acid process. Immediately above this tap a smaller steam pipe is inserted into the
coiled pipe and which is also furnished with a tap. This second or subsidiary steam
pipe opens by the funnel shaped entrance into the No 1 furnace, and is used partly
as a blast and partly to supply steam for decomposition by the platinised porous
substance in the entrance before it enters the furnace when ainmonia is made
separately.
On reaching the bottom of the furnace the superheated steam pipe passes
through another small furnace No 2 where it enters a red hot earthenware or other
tube or chamber termed the "decomposer" filled also with some suitable porous
body, such for example, as pieces of platinized pumice stone in a condition of great
heat, and by which the superheated steam is decomposed into nascent or atomic
oxygen and hydrogen gases. At this point and at the moment of dissociation these
gases are brought into contact with sulphurous acid gas (which has been produced
in the ordinary way from the combustion of sulphur or other of its compounds,
such for example as pyrites, with due admission of air) either in the sulphur
burning chamber itself, or the tube conveying the sulphurous acid gas may be made
part of the walls of the second furnace and the union take place apart from that
chamber. The sulphurous acid gas combines with the oxygen of the decomposed
superheated steam and forms sulphuric acid gas which passes directly into one or
more towers sufficiently high, filled with pieces of pumice stone or coke on which
fine sprays of water from a pipe are constantly dripping from above. By this
means the sulphuric acid gas is entirely absorbed or condensed, and passes down
(after being cooled as may be required) into suitable receptacles to be concentrated
or not as is necessary. It is an advantageous mode of concentration however to
convey the weak acid of previous operations to the top of the first tower and use it
instead of plain water. Care should always be taken that there is excess of super-
heated steam decomposed so that none of the sulphurous acid gas may escape
unconverted into sulphuric acid gas.
If preferred the steam may be supplied to the coiled pipe from a separate high-
pressure boiler and which requires only a small quantity of fuel, or it may be other-
wise obtained or applied; an essential feature of our Invention consisting in the
preparation of sulphuric acid by direct combination of the sulphurous acid gas
with the nascent or atomic oxygen of newly decomposed water (instead of
from the oxygen of the air) either when in the form of common or superheated
steam.
It will now be understood that the products escaping from the top of the
sulphuric acid towers consist essentially of hydrogen (the other element of the
decomposed water) and nitrogen mixed with some atmospheric air, and perhaps
some aqueous vapour, which last may or may not be condensed and eliminated.
The non-condensed gases are now conducted from the top of the towers and brought
by a pipe to the upper part of the No 2 furnace around which it is coiled, and the
heat from which forces them into the hot chamber of the No 1 furnace, through the

page_text: pipe left for this purpose in the upper part, and whence they pass in a still more
heated condition through the funnel shaped entrance into the interior of the furnace,
aided or not as may be necessary (or mixed) by the superheated steam jet from the
subsidiary steam pipe to form a blast. Any air necessary in this case can be
admitted and regulated by the damper in front of the ash pit as a precautionary
measure.
The chemical fuel used in the No 1 furnace for the second part or the ammonia
forming operation, is prepared as follows:-Any suitable form of carbon, as coke,
charcoal, anthracite coal and the like, or mixture of the same, is ground to a fine
powder, and which if we prefer to use a non-volatile base is intimately mixed,
say with ten per cent. of a carbonate of that base, such, for example, as barium,
sodium, potassium, or calcium, although we find the first the most suitable. A
sufficient quantity of tar or other adhesive matter (but preferably a certain propor-
tion of peat) is added and the mass, after being allowed to harden somewhat, is
pressed by hydraulic or other power into cakes or bricks which are finally broken
into smaller pieces fit for the furnace. When the steam of gases passing through
the funnel shaped entrance, as already described, impinges upon this intensely
heated prepared fuel nitrogen is rendered nascent and mediately or immediately
unites with the hydrogen (again become nascent) and forms ammonia, this action
being repetitive as long as any of the carbon remains unconsumed. The operation is
aided by passing the gases as they escape from the furnace through a tube con-
taining a sufficient length of pieces of platinised pumice stone or other suitable
agents which not only produces some degree of pressure and assists the condensation
of the two gases into half their volume, as ammonia, but also by the usual catalytic
action upon gases which it is well known that platinum in this form possesses. It
should be noted that the base falling into the ashpit after having served its
cyanogen forming purpose can be readily recovered and used over and over
again. The useless products of the combustion are allowed to escape into the air.
If however a volatile base is preferred, such for example as zinc, mgnesium, or
strontium, of which we by preference take the first from the fact of its volatilising
sooner, calamine as pure as possible occupies the place of the fixed base, and in this
case by a slight rearrangement the zinc can be ultimately volatilised as an oxide
and carbonate, and sold as "zinc white," or it may be made to revolve as a cyanogen
forming vehicle through a defined zone of temperature short of absolute volatilisa-
tion out of the furnace. If sulphuric acid alone is made any ordinary fuel may be
used.
By mixing common salt with the fuel instead of baryta or the like, and feeding
the furnace as before with the gases of the decomposed superheated steam, hydro-
chloric acid gas is formed, and may be collected and condensed in the usual way,
leaving the soda ash to be heated and purified by any of the ordinary processes.
This operation may take place in the No 2 furnace, and the process may be aided.
by introducing some sulphurous or sulphuric acid gases into the draught of air
supplying this furnace.
It will now be seen that our No 1 furnace is both a closed retort, a crucible,
and a furnace, all combined in one, and capable of being varied in form as may be
deemed advisable, that it is, under the most perfect-control as to the manipulation of
its contents and the regulation of its temperature, while its heat fulfils the several
purposes of generating and superheating the steam forming cyanogen and aiding
the decomposition of the chloride of sodium. It may also be mentioned that by
very simple means pressure can be readily relieved at any part of the circuit so
as to obviate all danger, and the rapidity of the current can be increased as may
be desired, common steam if advisable may be also admitted at any part of it.
But it is to be specially observed that though here described as one continuous
and conjoined process it can yet be kept so distinct and separate that each product
may be made independently of the other; thus, if from any cause it is not con-
venient to make sulphuric acid that part can be completely shut off while ammonia
is being made in the No 1 furnace and hydrochloric acid in No 2, each being supplied

page_text: with the requisite hydrogen from their own "decomposers," and each being easily
made self contained. Indeed such control is there over the whole (combined or
separate) that a variety of actions are possible such as the union of the acid gases
with that of the ammonia and the usual salts, whether carbonate, sulphate, or
hydrochlorate formed therefrom.
The circuit of the conjoined processes will also now be easily understood. The
sulphurous acid gas is brought into contact with an excess of freshly dissociated
and therefore nascent or atomic oxygen of the decomposed superheated steam;
sulphuric acid gas is formed and absorbed by water or weak acid in the acid
towers; while the hydrogen and other gases escaping at the suminit are heated
by the No 2 furnace, and then pass through the hot chamber into the No 1 furnace
for the production of ammonia or hydrochloric acid which are respectively absorbed
by being washed with fine sprays of water and collected in the usual way. If the
hydrogen is not employed as described in the No 1 furnace it can be collected and
utilised for any of the purposes for which that gas is valuable.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Clarke and Edward Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th May 1879.
THOMAS CLARKE, Doctor of Medicine, and EDWARD SMITH, Fellow of the.
Chemical Society, both of Torquay, in the County of Devon. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SULPHURIC ACID, HYDROCHLORIC ACID, AND AMMONIA,
AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Our said Invention has for its object utilizing the component elements of atmo-
spheric air and water, videlicit, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen gases, by first
getting them into a nascent or atomic condition and using these bodies for making-
by a new and direct method sulphuric and hydrochloric acids and ammonia.
In order that our said Invention may be perfectly understood we shall now pro-
ceed particularly to describe the same, and in so doing shall refer to the two Figures
on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, which represent an apparatus which may
be advantageously employed in carrying out the said Invention, Figure 1 being a
longitudinal section, and Figure 2 a horizontal section of the said apparatus.
In carrying out our said Invention, in order to effect the object before men-
tioned, we construct what we shall call No. 1, or the steam-generating and ammonia-
making furnace, the general shape of which is that of an ordinary iron blast furnace
constructed of the usual fire resisting materials A. Within the outer walls A¹ of
this furnace, and around the inner walls A is coiled a strong (pressed) copper or
wrought iron pipe B having a slow inclination downwards, which pipe is protected
from the direct action of the fire not only by the interior wall A of the furnace, but
by its being embedded in Stourbridge fireclay or other heat resisting cement or
material a.
In the lower part of the walls of the furnace is provided an annular space or
channel C which communicates with the interior C¹ by a funnel shaped entrance D
projecting well into it near the bottom of the enlarged portion. This channel (which
we designate the superheated steam decomposer) is filled for a sufficient length with
platinum foil, or platinised pumice stone, or other suitable substance, and a commu-
nication into this channel is made from the outside by a pipe E furnished with a
tap for the introduction into it of the gases to be presently mentioned when the
combined operations hereinafter referred to are being carried on, whilst another
pipe F, Figure 2, regulates a supply of air by blast or otherwise-to the interior C¹
of the furnace, thus affording nitrogen for the ammonia and oxygen for combustion
as may be required; such air may however, if preferred, be supplied by a valve in
the door of the ashpit G. This furnace may be supplied with fuel from the side, or
(as shown) from the top by means of a hopper H, and there. are two flues I and J,
the one I (which can be opened and closed at will) being for waste into a chimney,
whilst the other J is for the escape of the ammonia gas. A moveable slide in a
small door K. (for lighting) enables the fire to be stirred and cleared of ashes, which
fall into an ashpit underneath.
"
The coiled pipe B acts as a high pressure boiler, generating and then superheating
the steam, the water to produce which (and having a sufficient pressure) is supplied
by a tap on a small pipe L entering the coiled pipe at a convenient distance from
the top of the furnace. A steam tap M, Fig. 2, on the pipe B near the bottom of
the coil, supplies superheated steam for decomposition in the decomposer," for this
No. 1 or ammonia furnace, which steam is serviceable also as a blast to blow into it
the gases (when such are utilized) from the acid towers, as hereinafter explained.
Immediately above this tap is inserted into the coiled pipe another steam pipe
which divides into two branches O, O', one of which O also having a tap N passes'
into the No. 2 furnace, and supplies superheated steam to the coil or decomposer P
for decomposition for the sulphuric acid process, whilst the other branch O₁ pro-

page_text: "
vided with a tap N₁ also passes into the No. 2 furnace and supplies superheated
steam to be decomposed in the receptacle P¹ for making hydrochloric acid in a retort
or other furnace, so that, as will be seen, each process can have its own special
"decomposer" supplied with superheated steam from one main pipe, the action of
each being precisely similar.
We shall now proceed to describe in detail the combined operations, and first,
that for sulphuric acid:-On reaching the lower end of the No. 1 furnace the super-
heated steam pipe-which has its own tap N, passes into the No. 2 furnace, where it
enters its "decomposer" P, as already mentioned. This" decomposer" consists of a
red-hot earthenware fire brick or other duly protected channel similar to the
decomposer" C, and filled with the decomposing agents already described in a
condition of great heat, and by which the superheated steam is decomposed into
oxygen and hydrogen gases. At the moment of dissociation these gases are brought
into contact with sulphurous acid gas, which has been produced in the ordinary
manner from the combustion (in a separate chamber) of sulphur or its compounds,
such, for example, as pyrites, the admission of air being so regulated that there may
be as little excess of atmospheric oxygen as possible. In this first or or indirect mode,
where the oxygen of the sulphurous acid gas is derived from the atmosphere, the
sulphurous acid gas is conducted by the pipe Q¹ into the "decomposer" P, whero
it meets with the decomposed superheated steam and becomes converted into sul-
phuric acid gas, in order to contribute to which result and the more thoroughly to
mix the gases, the decomposing channel is prolonged much beyond the point of
junction. The sulphuric acid gas so produced (with the other gases with which it
is mixed) passes directly by the pipe T into one or more towers or leaden chambers
constructed with all the modern improvements so as to ensure the most thorough
and perfect condensation and solution of the gas, which may then be concentrated or
not, as is necessary. It is a well known and advantageous mode of concentration
however to convey the weak acid of previous operations to the top of the first tower
and use it instead of plain water. Care should always be taken that sufficient
superheated steam is decomposed to convert the whole of the sulphurous acid gas
into sulphuric acid gas.
In lieu of this first or indirect mode of operation however atmospheric air may be
entirely or partially excluded, and the gases of the decomposed superheated steam
may alone be passed into the sulphur burning chamber, so that the sulphuric acid
gas may be produced by the direct union of the oxygen with the sulphur, since the
oxygen of the decomposed superheated steam is sufficient in most cases for the com-
bustion of the sulphur charge, and in this way the excessive volume of atmospheric
nitrogen may be avoided. The gases so evolved, as a matter of precaution, are
passed through another " decomposer" to ensure the conversion of all the sulphurous
acid produced into sulphuric acid gas, and which is to be condensed and collected
as before.
When sulphuric acid is made in this direct manner especially when made alone-
it is more convenient to decompose the superheated steam in two separate furnaces,
one at the entrance and the other at the exit of the sulphur burning chamber;
indeed it will now be readily seen that as steam is used in the ordinary process for
making sulphuric acid with scarcely any addition to the expence, we simply super-
heat and decompose this steam (and which it is well known can be very easily
effected) and we thus avoid the excessive dilution of the gas, the cost of the nitrates
usually employed, and the cumbrous and costly apparatus required at present for
concentrating the solution of the gas to form the acid of commerce, while the
bydrogen gas remains as a residual product.
We may also observe that we employ the sulphuric acid gas made in either of
these ways for the manufacture of hydrochloric acid (salt-cake remaining in this
case as a residual product), but we prefer that made by this direct method because,
as will be seen, the conjoined gases as they issue from the "decomposer are
specially adapted for this purpose, consisting of oxygen, hydrogen, and sulphuric
"

page_text: acid. They are therefore a most concentrated and powerful agent in decomposing
the common salt, and the great difficulties arising from the volatilisation of the salt
are also obviated, while the high temperature of the gases is an important adjunct
and economises any further heat required. Again, when used in this way the
necessity of condensing the sulphuric acid gas in the acid chambers is avoided.
Indeed with some modifications of what are known as Oxland's revolving furnaces
the actions would not only be regular, but almost automatic and continuous.
->
If preferred the steam to be superheated may be supplied from a separate high
pressure boiler to the coiled pipe at b, and the spare heat of the No. 2 furnace may
be utilised for the production of such steam, or the steam may be otherwise obtained
or supplied, an essential feature in our said Invention consisting in the preparation
of sulphuric acid by the direct combination of the sulphur or sulphurous acid gas
as the case may be with the nascent or atomic oxygen of newly decomposed water
when in the form of superheated steam-instead of from the oxygen of the air.
It will now be understood that in the first case, that is to say, when the oxygen
for the sulphurous acid is derived from air the products escaping at the top of the
sulphuric acid towers or chambers-say, for example, at R and which are used, as
about to be described for the artificial production of ammonia, consist essentially of
hydrogen (the other element of the decomposed water) and nitrogen, mixed perhaps
with a small proportion of atmospheric air, and some aqueous vapour, which last
may or may not be condensed and eliminated. The noncondensed gases are now
conducted from the top of the towers and brought by a pipe to the upper part of
the No. 2 furnace, around which the pipe is continued and coiled, as shewn at S.
The heat from this furnace (which is lined with fireclay tubing A³) forces the gases
into the "decomposer "C of the No. 1 furnace, through the pipe E forming a con-
tinuation of the coiled pipe S, and whence they are blown through the funnel
shaped entrance D into the interior of the furnace by the decomposed superheated
steam jet from the pipe M, as already described. In the second case, viz., where
the oxygen of the sulphuric acid is derived entirely from the decomposed super-
heated steam, there will be an absence of nitrogen, and the necessary nitrogen
therefore with any further oxygen required for combustion can be admitted through
the air pipe F or the valve in the ash pit door G.
It is to be specially observed however in connection with the foregoing that
while one of the essential purposes of the No. 1 furnace (by means of the double
or treble blast) is to heat the nitrogen of the atmosphere to as high a temperature
as possible, because it is only when at an intensely high temperature that atmo-
spheric nitrogen becomes nascent or atomic, and so is rendered capable of entering
into combination we do not bind ourselves to this particular form of furnace or
the manner of obtaining intense heat. We also reserve to ourselves the right to
pass the nitrogen and hydrogen gases for the formation of ammonia either as they
escape from the sulphuric acid towers, or however they are obtained or supplied
through a sufficiently prolonged white heat produced by galvanic action or the
magneto electro arc, and to promote their union by passing them afterwards
through platinised foil or other platinised body, as next herein-after explained.
The chemical fuel used.in the No. 1 furnace for the second part or the ammonia
forming operation is prepared as follows:-Any suitable form of carbon as coke,
charcoal, or anthracite coal, and the like, or mixtures of the same-is or are ground
to a fine powder, and (if we prefer to use a non-volatile base) the powder thus
obtained is intimately mixed with, say, ten per cent. of a carbonate or oxide, or any
compound of that base whose acidulous radical may be separated by the heat of
the furnace, such for example, as salts of barium, sodium, potassium, or calcium
(although we find the carbonate of barium the most suitable), and with or without
a sufficient quantity of any adhesive material (or even a certain proportion of pulpy
peat), and the whole is then pressed by hydraulic or other power into cakes or
bricks, which are finally broken into smaller pieces fit for the furnace. When the
stream of gases introduced as herein before described impinges upon this very

page_text: tinuous or repetitive as long as any carbon remains unconsumed. The operation is
aided by passing the gases as they escape from the furnace through the fluc or
channel J containing a sufficient length of platinum foil or pieces of platinised
pumice stone or other suitable agents, which as they are gradually cooled not only
produce some degree of pressure and assist the condensation of the gases into half
their volume as ammonia, but the combination is also promoted by the catalytic
action upon gases, which it is well known that platinum in this form possesses.
The ammonia gas as rapidly as formed may be collected in any of the usual
ways. It should be noted that the base falling into the ashpit of the furnace, after
having served its cyanogen forming purpose can be readily recovered and used over
and over again. The reactions in this process may in general terms be taken to be
as follows:
=
-
First. 2 Ba CO, + C (fuel) 2 Ba + 3 CO,.
Second. 2 Ba + CO, 2 Ba O + C (nascent).
Third. C, (nascent) + N, (nascent)
= 2 CN.
Fourth. 2 CN + Ba O + C (fuel) = Ba Cy 2 +
Fifth. Ba Cy, + 3 H₂ O + x C (fuel)
+ Ba O + x CO, and CO..
The useless products of the reaction CO, and CO are allowed to escape into
the air.
=
2 NH
CO.
If however a volatile base is preferred, such for example as zinc, magnesium, or
strontium, of which we by preference take the first, from the fact of its volatilising
at a lower temperature. Calamine or carbonate of zinc occupies the place of the
fixed base previously indicated; and in this case by a slight modification the zinc
can be ultimately volatilised as oxide and carbonate, and sold as " zinc-white," or it
may be made to revolve as a cyanogen-forming vehicle through a defined zone of
temperature short of absolute volatilisation out of the furnace.
For the production of hydrochloric acid we employ a compressed brick composed
of common salt and powdered coke in varying proportions, and when at a suitable
temperature in a retort or other furnace the gases from freshly decomposed super-
heated steam as provided for the tap N' on the pipe O¹, are conducted into the said
furnace by the pipe U, and caused to pass through or over the heated mass. Hy-
drochloric acid gas is produced and volatilised, and may be collected and condensed
in the usual way, while the residual product in the furnace or retort (crude soda
ash) may be lixiviated, purified, or otherwise treated in any of the ordinary
ways.
The reaction in the furnace or retort is, however, as before stated, much facilitated
if the sulphuric acid gas at the moment of its formation be employed conjointly
with the other gases, that is to say, with the oxygen and hydrogen, but in this case
the residual product is sulphate of sodium or "salt cake," which may also be sub-
sequently treated in the usual way.
If a revolving or other furnace, wherein the materials are kept in constant motion,
be employed, there is no necessity to compress the charge into bricks, but it may be
used in the state of coarse or fine powder. As a chief function of the added pow-
dered coke is to disseminate the salt throughout the mass and thus facilitate and
shorten the process by enabling the gases to act more readily and perfectly as well
as at a lower temperature (thereby retarding or preventing incipient fusion or
volatilization of the salt); so any suitable substance in the form of powder may be
added to promote the same object. In general terms the reaction in the first case
may be said to be,-
2 Na Cl + H. O
-
Na, O2 H CI
and in the second case where sulphuric acid gas is added to be,—
2 Na Cl+S O₁ + H. O = Na, S O. + 2 H Cl

page_text: as may be deemed advisable, and according as the manufacture is carried on on an
extensive or a limited scale, that it is under the most perfect control as to the
manipulation of its contents and the regulation of its temperature, whilst its heat
fulfils the double purpose of generating and superheating the steam for all the three
processes and for creating the necessary conditions of forming and decomposing
cyanogen in making ammonia. The No. 2 furnace is almost equally important, for
it decomposes the steam for the manufacture of the acid, heats the gases passing
from the acid towers for making ammonia in the No. 1 furnace, furnishes heat for
the high-pressure boiler (if this is employed), and an extension of it provides heat
for the treatment of the salt in the manufacture of the hydrochloric acid and the
residual soda-compounds. It may be also mentioned that by very simple means,
such as suitable safety valves, pressure can be readily relieved at any part of the
circuit, so as to obviate any temporary inconvenience, and the rapidity of the
current can be increased as may be desired, common steam may also, if deemned
advisable, be admitted to any part of it. It is an important consideration that as
in the manufacture of the acids and the ammonia the process is a closed one no
nuisance or damage can arise from the operations.
But it is to be specially observed that though here described as one continuous
and conjoined process cach part of it can be kept so distinct and separate that either
product may be made independently of the other. Thus, if from any cause it
should not be convenient to make sulphuric acid that part can be completely shut
off, while ammonia is being made in the No. 1 furnace and hydrochloric acid and
soda in the retort or other furnace, each being supplied with the requisite hydrogen
from its own "decomposer "and each being easily made self contained. Indeed such
control is there over the whole (combined or separate) that a variety of actions is
possible, such as the union of the acid gases with that of the ammonia and the
usual salts, whether carbonate, sulphate, or hydrochloric be made therefrom. If the
sulphuric acid alone is manufactured the process is a very simple one and the
hydrogen when not employed as described can be collected and utilised either as a
source of heat or for any other purpose for which that gas is valuable.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, we would observe in conclusion that we do not confine ourselves to any
especial form or description of furnace, as any apparatus may be employed by means
of which the Invention can be economically and efficiently carried out, but what
we consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as our Invention secured
to us by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,—
First. The application and use to and in the several processes herein referred to
of nascent oxygen and hydrogen gases obtained from freshly decomposed
superheated steam, substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore
described.
Second. The rendering of atmospheric nitrogen gas nascent by submitting it to
the action of intense heat, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein-
before described.
Third. The system or mode of making ammonia by the employment of a blast of
decomposed superheated steam by using a fixed or a volatile base and causing the
gases to pass afterwards through platinised spongy material for compression
and combination, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein before
described.
Fourth. The making of sulphuric acid by direct union with nascent oxygen, either
in the sulphur burning chamber or furnace itself or apart from such chamber or
furnace, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein before described.
Fifth. The making of hydrochloric acid, either by direct union of the sodium with
the oxygen and the chlorine with the hydrogen of decomposed superheated steam
or with the aid of sulphuric acid gas added, substantially in the manner and for the
purposes herein before described.

page_text: Sixth. The preparation of the chemical fuel for the manufacturing of ammonia,
substantially in the manner hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Clarke and Edward Smith, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this First day of May, in the year of
our Lord Oue thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
TTONAS CLARKE
(ra)
THOMAS CLARKE (18)
EDWARD SMITH. (L.S.)