AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF CONCENTRATING THE COLOURING MATTER OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Joseph Hughes, of the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF CONCENTRATING THE COLOURING MATTER OF
CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 17th March 1857, and dated the 1st November 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Joseph Hughes.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st November 1856.
I, EDWARD JOSEPH HUGHES, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF CONCENTRATING THE COLOURING MATTER OF
CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in subjecting barks, berries, and other vegetable
substances containing colouring matter, or any preparations or combinations
thereof, to the action of sulphuric acid, either in a concentrated state or very
slightly diluted with water, keeping the mixture perfectly cool during the
operation, in contradistinction to the methods at present known, in which heat'
up or near to the boiling point is indispensable. The object of this Invention
is to apply to these substances the same principle as that for which Patents
were granted to me in October 1852, No. 298, and November 1853, No. 2776,
respectively, for purifying and concentrating the colouring matter of madder
munjeet, spent madder, or any preparations thereof. The advantages of my

page_text: process over those hitherto known being that I obtain the colouring matter in
a purer state and in a much more concentrated one by the destruction of the
fibrous and other substances through the action of the much stronger or less
diluted acid which I use, and all possible avoidance of heat or heating during
the time the said action acts on the substances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Joseph Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
JOSEPH HUGHES, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Ier reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Joseph Hughes, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Joseph Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
1, the said Edward Joseph Hughes, 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
"AN IMPROVED MODE OR METHOD OF CONCENTRATING THE COLOURING MATTER
OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
J, the said Edward Joseph IIughes, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 Offico within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Joseph Hughes, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in subjecting barks, berries, and other vegetable
substances containing colouring matter, or any preparations or combinations.
thereof, to the action of sulphuric acid, either in a concentrated state or very

page_text: slightly diluted with water, keeping the mixture perfectly cool during the
operation, in contradistinction to the methods at present known, in which heat
up or near to the boiling point is indispensable.
The object of this Invention is to apply to these substances the same
principle as that for which Patents were granted to me in October One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-two, No. 298, and November One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three, No. 2776, respectively, for purifying and concentrating
the colouring matter of madder, munjeet, spent madder, or any preparations
thereof; the advantages of my said process over those hitherto adopted being,
that I obtain the colouring matter in a purer state and in a much more con-
centrated one by the destruction of the fibrous and other substances through the
action of the much stronger or less diluted acid which I use, and all possible
avoidance of heat or heating during the time the said action acts on the
substances.
Having thus described 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,
the subjecting of barks, berries, and other vegetable substances containing
colouring matter, or any preparations or combinations thereof, to the action of
sulphuric acid, either in a concentrated state or very slightly diluted with
water, keeping the mixture perfectly cool during the operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Joseph Hughes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-soven.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named Edward Joseph Hughes, in the
presence of
EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES,
17, Cross Street, Manchester.
E. J. HUGHES. (L.S.)