IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF CYANOGEN."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Binks, of the City of London, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF CYANOGEN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Binks at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd January 1857.
I, CHRISTOPHER BINKS, of the City of London, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF CYANOGEN," to be as follows:-
The primary object of my Invention is to effect the conversion of an
alkali of an alkaline carbonate, or of an alkaline carburet, or of elements
yielding these, into a cyanide or cyanuret suitable for being afterwards used
for various industrial purposes, or for the preparation of other compounds.
For this purpose I place the materials, namely, the alkaline matter, or the
materials for yielding it, and its associated charcoal, or other matter capable
of yielding carbon, and the fuel used to give the requisite temperature, in a
cupola, blast, or other furnace, in which a high temperature and the reducing
action of an ordinary iron or other reducing furnace under the action of a
blast of atmospheric air is applied, in order to produce the requisite bigh
temperature to effect the reduction of the alkali, and, through the combination
with the nitrogen of the air and carbon, its transformation into the cyanide.
Or, the same kinds of materials may be placed in furnaces or kilns or ovens

page_text: constructed and worked similarly to ordinary coke ovens as regards the
admission of atmospheric air, for the support of combustion of so much of
the carbonaceous matter present as is equivalent to maintain the degree of
heat required, and to furnish the nitrogen for the formation of the cyanogen,
but not to consume the entire quantity of carbon, or materially chymically to
affect the desired or cyanogen product after its formation. Or, the same
kinds of materials may be placed and worked in kilns constructed and
arranged as lime kilus, and in which alternately with the material to be
chymically altered, are placed layers of fuel, and the air is admitted in
quantity chymically sufficient to keep up the requisite temperature, and by its
nitrogen to form cyanogen, and thence the cyanide, but not to affect the final
chynical condition of the product.
To the furnaces employed for these purposes may be appended wells or
sunken receptacles for receiving the product as it is formed and falls through
or runs down, and which wells or receptacles are best situated below the
orifices or tuyeres, or other inlets through which the air finds its way or is
forced into the furnaces; these sunken parts or wells being intended to keep
the final product before its removal from the furnace out of reach of contact
with the oxgenized air as it enters, and consequently to preserve the product,
that is, the cyanide, from injurious chymical action that might follow upon
such contact.
a
The same results may be obtained from the same kinds of materials by
piling them up in beds or heaps on the ground, and without the aid of
furnaces, or kilns, or ovens, as before. The alkalized charcoal, or mixtures of
alkali and carbonaceous and other matter, are placed in layers alternately with
fuel, and surrounded with fuel so arranged as to give admission to air in
quantity sufficient to maintain a slow combustion of the fuel, and give to the
materials the requisite heat and nitrogen to form the cyanide. The outsides
of these heaps may be covered with some non-combustible material, or with
à layer of coal or other fuel damped, so as when the fuel at the bottom is
ignited to cause the products of the combustion, the deoxidized air, or nitrogen,
.&c., to permeate throughout the entire mass. In like manner, as before, the
ground upon which these heaps stand may be hollowed out, in order to receive
and protect the cyanide after its formation. The alkali or the alkali-yielding
materials and the carbon or carbon-yielding materials may be mixed with
.coprolites, or bones, or other phosphate of lime or materials yielding phos-
.phorus, and exposed to the action of a high temperature, and to deoxidized air,
or nitrogen, and to carbon, and the decomposition of the phosphates of lime
or other phosphorus compound effected simultaneously with the formation of

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Binks, of the City of London, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF CYANOGEN."
Sealed the 23rd June 1857, and dated the 3rd January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Binks at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd January 1857.
I, CHRISTOPHER BINKS, of the City of London, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF CYANOGEN," to be as follows:-
The primary object of my Invention is to effect the conversion of an
alkali of an alkaline carbonate, or of an alkaline carburet, or of elements
yielding these, into a cyanide or cyanuret suitable for being afterwards used
for various industrial purposes, or for the preparation of other compounds.
For this purpose I place the materials, namely, the alkaline matter, or the
materials for yielding it, and its associated charcoal, or other matter capable
of yielding carbon, and the fuel used to give the requisite temperature, in a
cupola, blast, or other furnace, in which a high temperature and the reducing
action of an ordinary iron or other reducing furnace under the action of a
blast of atmospheric air is applied, in order to produce the requisite high
temperature to effect the reduction of the alkali, and, through the combination
with the nitrogen of the air and carbon, its transformation into the cyanide.
Or, the same kinds of materials may be placed in furnaces or kilns or ovens

page_text: constructed and worked similarly to ordinary coke ovens as regards the
admission of atmospheric air, for the support of combustion of so much of
the carbonaceous matter present as is equivalent to maintain the degree of
heat required, and to furnish the nitrogen for the formation of the cyanogen,
but not to consume the entire quantity of. carbon, or materially chymically to
affect the desired or cyanogen product after its formation. Or, the same
kinds of materials may be placed and worked in kilns constructed and
arranged as lime kilns, and in which alternately with the material to be
chymically altered, are placed layers of fuel, and the air is admitted in
quantity chymically sufficient to keep up the requisite temperature, and by its
nitrogen to form cyanogen, and thence the cyanide, but not to affect the final
chyinical condition of the product.
To the furnaces employed for these purposes may be appended wells or
sunken receptacles for receiving the product as it is formed and falls through
or runs down, and which wells or receptacles are best situated below the
orifices or tuyeres, or other inlets through which the air finds its way or is
forced into the furnaces; these sunken parts or wells being intended to keep
the final product before its removal from the furnace out of reach of contact
with the oxgenized air as it enters, and consequently to preserve the product,
that is, the cyanide, from injurious chymical action that might follow upon
such contact.
a
The same results may be obtained from the same kinds of materials by
piling them up in beds or heaps on the ground, and without the aid of
furnaces, or kilus, or ovens, as before. The alkalized charcoal, or mixtures of
alkali and carbonaceous and other matter, are placed in layers alternately with
fuel, and surrounded with fuel so arranged as to give admission to air in
quantity sufficient to maintain a slow combustion of the fuel, and give to the
materials the requisite heat and nitrogen to form the cyanide. The outsides
of these heaps may be covered with some non-combustible material, or with
à layer of coal or other fuel damped, so as when the fuel at the bottom is
ignited to cause the products of the combustion, the deoxidized air, or nitrogen,
.&c., to permeate throughout the entire mass. In like manner, as before, the
ground upon which these heaps stand may be hollowed out, in order to receive
and protect the cyanide after its formation. The alkali or the alkali-yielding
materials and the carbon or carbon-yielding materials may be mixed with
.coprolites, or bones, or other phosphate of lime or materials yielding phos-
.phorus, and exposed to the action of a high temperature, and to deoxidized air,
or nitrogen, and to carbon, and the decomposition of the phosphates of lime
or other phosphorus compound effected simultaneously with the formation of

page_text: the azotized compounds, and thus may be obtained a combination or mixture
of phosphorus, carbon, and nitrogen, constituting a compound of cyanogen,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Christopher Binks in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
BINKS, of the City of London, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Christopher Binks, Her special licence that I, the said Christopher
Binks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said.
Christopher Binks, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING CERTAIN COMPOUNDS OF CYANOGEN," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Christopher Binks, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six calendar mouths
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Christopher Binks, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The primary object of my Invention is to effect the conversion of an alkali-
of an alkaline carbonate, or of an alkaline carburet, or of any elements
yielding these or one or other of them, into a cyanide or cyanuret suitable.
for being used for various industrial purposes, or for the preparation of other
compounds.
And my Invention, in the first place, consists in placing the materials,

page_text: namely, the alkaline matter, or the materials for yielding the alkaline matter,
along with the proportion of associated carbon, namely, charcoal, or other
carbonaceous matters or materials capable of yielding carbon, and the fuel
needed to give the requisite temperature to the mixture, in cupola, blast, or
other furnace, in which a high temperature under the action of a blast of atmo-
spheric air is applied to effect the reduction of the alkali, and, through the
combination with the nitrogen of the air and some of the excess of carbon
present, its transformation into a cyanide.
The kind of alkali that I prefer to use is common carbonate of soda
dissolved in water, and I prefer to saturate charcoal with this solution. This
(so called) alkalized charcoal is then mixed with the proportion of fuel, (which
may consist of charcoal, or of common coal, or of coke, or of peat, or of raw
wood, or of any carbonaceous matter or other fuel) needed to maintain the
whole at a full red or white heat on application to the furnace of the blast.
In place of the carbonate of soda as the alkaline element, carbonate of
potash, or any elements yielding an alkali and alkaline carbonate or carburet,
may be used, and these kinds of elements are well known.
When the final products are to be applied to purposes wherein sulphur or
phosphorous would be injurious, as in the purification of iron or the conversion
of iron into steel, then the alkali or alkaline-yielding materials must be
selected from such as are free from sulphur or phosphorous compounds (as,
for example, the carbonate of soda should be free from all sulphate of soda,
and so on); but when the final products are to be applied (for example) as
manures, then the selection of such pure alkaline matter is not needed, but,
on the contrary, the presence of such elements as sulphur and phosphorous is
of advantage. Therefore an impure carbonate of soda, or one to which
sulphate or sulphite of soda or any compound of phosphorous is specially
added, may be selected as the alkaline base. In place of impregnating the
carbonaceous matter with the alkaline solution, the alkaline matter may be
mixed with it dry, either by grinding the two together or by roughly mixing
them together. The relative proportions of alkaline and of carbonaceous
matters should be from about 5 to 20 of the former to 100 of the latter.
The furnace is first charged with ordinary fuel, the blast applied, and the
whole fully ignited and heated before addition of the alkalized carbon, or of
the alkali, and its proportion of carbonaceous matter. The furnace is con-
veniently formed, charged, and worked in a similar manner to that of an
ordinary iron-making blast furnace, and is furnished with a well below the
tuyeres holes for reception of the fused cyanide as it is formed, and as it falls or
runs down through the other materials to the bottom.

page_text: From this well or receptacle the cyanide is run off, or is otherwise removed
from time to time as it accumulates.
My Invention, in the second place, consists on the application of one or other
of the following kinds of furnaces or apparatus, in which to effect the same
objects in the formation of alkaline cyanides. The same kinds of materials
herein-before mentioned are placed in furnaces or kilns or ovens, constructed
and worked similarly to ordinary coke ovens, as regards the admission of
atmospheric air, for the support of the combustion of so much of the car-.
bonaceous matter present as is equivalent to maintain the degree of heat
required, and to furnish the nitrogen for the formation of the cyanogen, but
not to consume the entire quantity of carbon, or materially chymically to
affect the desired or cyanogen product after its formation. Or the same kinds
of materials may be placed and worked in kilns constructed and arranged
similar to lime kilns, and in which alternately with the materials to be
chymically altered are placed layers of fuel, and the air is admitted in quantity
chymically sufficient to keep up the requisite temperature, and by its nitrogen
to form cyanogen, and thence the cyanide, but not to affect the final chymical
condition of the product. To the furnaces employed for these purposes may
be appended wells or sunken receptacles for receiving the product as it is
formed and falls through or runs down, and which wells or receptacles are
best situated below the orifices or tuyers, or other inlets through which the.
air finds its way, or is forced into the furnaces; these sunken parts or wells
being intended to keep the final product before its removal from the furnace
out of reach of contact with the oxygenized air as it enters, and consequently
to preserve the product, that is, the cyanide, from injurious chymical action
that might follow upon such contact. Or, the same results are obtained from
the same kinds of materials by piling them up in beds or heaps on the
ground, and without the aid of furnaces or kilns or ovens, as before. The
alkalized charcoal, or mixtures of alkali, and carbonaceous and other matters,
are placed in layers alternately with the fuel, and surrounded with fuel so
arranged as to give admission to air in quantity sufficient to maintain a slow
combustion of the fuel, and give to the materials the requisite beat and
nitrogen to form the cyanide. The outsides of these heaps may be covered
with some non-combustible, or with a layer of coal or other fuel damped, so
as when the fuel at the bottom is ignited to cause the products of the com-
bustion, namely, the deoxidized air, or nitrogen, &c., to permeate throughout
the entire mass. In like manner as before, the ground upon which these
heaps stand may be hollowed out, in order to receive and protect the cyanide
after its formation.

page_text: My Invention, in the third place, consists in combining or mixing with the
alkali or the alkali-yielding materials, and the carbon or carbon-yielding
materials, as above described, coprolites, or bones, or other phosphates of lime,
or materials containing and capable of yielding phosphorous, and in exposing
such mixture to a high temperature, and the conjoint action of nitrogen
derived from or in form of deoxodized atmospheric air and an excess of
carbon, in the manner and on one or other of the kinds of arrangements or
apparatus just described, as being applicable when a cyanide is to be produced.
Under this kind of treatment the phosphate is decomposed, and, simultaneously
with the production of the alkaline cyanide, there is obtained a combination
or mixture of that with phosphorous, or an alkaline compound or mixture of
phosphorous, carbon, and nitrogen, well suited for many useful purposes, but
more especially for manures.
What I claim as my Invention is,-
First, the application of a blast of atmospheric air to alkalized carbon, or
the application or employment of blast furnaces in the conversion of alkalized
matter into cyanides.
Secondly, in the application or employment in the same manufacture of
kilus or ovens worked similarly to coke ovens or to lime kilns.
Thirdly, the effecting the cyanizing of the alkali, by disposing and heating it
and its associated carbon or fuel in beds or heaps, as herein-before described.
Fourthly, the conjoint use of phosphates of lime or other phosphorous
compounds along with alkaline matters and carbon for the production of
compounds or mixtures of cyanides and phosphorous, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Binks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
RISTOPHER BINKS. (L..S.)
Witness,
HENRY FLETCHER, Patent Agent,
123, Chancery Lane, London.