IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND PURIFYING OXALATE OF SODA, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF OXALIC ACID
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Walsh, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND PURIFYING OXALATE OF SODA, WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF OXALIC
ACID."
Sealed the 2nd November 1863, and dated the 5th May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Walsh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
May 1863.
I, WILLIAM WALSH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said.
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND PURIFYING OXALATE OF SODA,
WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF OXALIC ACID,""
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in submitting woody fibre or other organic sub-
stances to the action of caustic soda alone; I use caustic soda known as dry
or solid caustic soda containing from 60 to 70 per cent. of caustic alkali, and
submit it to a temperature of 450 to 800 degrees Fahrenheit, in a crucible or
cast-iron vessel, so that it can be liquified without admixture of water, and
thereby obtain a fluid of the before-mentioned strength. This fluid is removed
from the crucible to another vessel, and the woody fibre or other organic
substances placed in it and agitated by hand or machine. On account of the

page_text: great heat and strength of the caustic soda lixivation takes place, and forms
with the woody fibre a pulp, which is a crude oxalate of soda. This pulp is
afterwards dried and contains 20 to 30 per cent. of oxalate, which is purified
and converted into oxalic acid in the ordinary manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Walsh in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WALSH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Walsh, Her special license that I, the said William Walsh, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Walsh, 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 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 AND PURIFYING OXALATE OF SODA, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF OXALIC ACID," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Walsh, 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 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 William Walsh, 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 (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists in submitting woody fibre or other organic sub-
stances to the action of caustic soda alone. I use caustic soda known as dry

page_text: or solid caustic soda, containing from 60 to 70 per cent. of caustic alkali,
and submit it to a temperature of from 450° to 800° Fahrenheit, in a
crucible or cast-iron vessel, so that it can be liquified without admixture of
water, and thereby obtain a fluid of the before-mentioned strength. This fluid
is removed from the crucible to another vessel, and the woody fibre or other
organic substances placed in it and agitated by hand or machine. On account
of the great heat and strength of the caustic soda lixivation takes place, and
forms with the woody fibre a pulp which is a crude oxalate of soda. This pulp
is afterwards dried, and contains twenty to thirty per cent. of oxalate, which is
purified and converted into oxalic acid in the ordinary manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Walsh, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named William Walsh in
the presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
WILLIAM WALSH. (L.S.)