IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PHOSPHORUS, AND IN ECONOMIZING RESIDUAL PRODUCTS OF THE SAID MANUFACTURE
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jacob Hort Player, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PHOSPHORUS, AND IN ECONOMIZING RESIDUAL PRODUCTS OF
THE SAID MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 27th August 1867, and dated the 10th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacob Hort Player at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th April 1867.
I, JACOB HORT PLAYER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PHOSPHORUS, AND IN ECONOMIZING RESIDUAL
PRODUCTS OF THE SAID MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary manufacture of phosphorus a solution of phosphoric acid or
acid phosphate of lime is mixed with oak or other wood or peat charcoal,.
and the mixture first evaporated to dryness and afterwards heated in a,
distillatory apparatus to the temperature requisite to effect the deoxidation of

page_text: the phosphoric acid of the charcoal and the consequent liberation of vapour
of phosphorus, which vapour is condensed in water.
In manufacturing phosphorus according to my Invention I substitute coal
or coke for the said oak or other wood or peat charcoal, and I conduct the
manufacture of the phosphorus in the following manner :-I reduce coal or
coke to a fine powder and mix it with a solution of phosphoric acid or acid
phosphate of lime obtained by treating bone ash or mineral or other phosphate
of lime with hydrated sulphuric acid. I heat the mixture in a distillatory
apparatus at a temperature not exceeding a low red heat. There are thereby
driven off acid vapours containing much sulphurous acid, together with tarry
and other volatile matters which are condensed. After the mixture has been
subjected to this treatment for a length of time sufficient to draw off all the
volatilisable acid I expose it in a furnace to a somewhat higher temperature
so as to thoroughly deprive it of all tarry matter. The residuum is finally
introduced into clay or other retorts and heated to a sufficiently high
temperature to distil out the phosphorus which is condensed in water in the
usual way. The acid liquid obtained may be used for treating a further
portion of phosphate of lime, and the tarry matter may be applied to any of
the purposes to which coal tar is or may be applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jacob Hort Player in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACOB
HORT PLAYER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Jacob Hort Player, Her special licence that I, the said Jacob Hort
Player, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Jacob Hort Player, 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

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PHOSPHORUS, AND IN ECONOMIZING
RESIDUAL PRODUCTS OF THE SAID MANUFACTURE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Jacob Hort Player, 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 Jacob Hort Player, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:-
In the ordinary manufacture of phosphorus a solution of phosphoric acid
or acid phosphate of lime is mixed with oak or other wood or peat charcoal,
and the mixture first evaporated to dryness, and afterwards beated in a
distillatory apparatus to the temperature requisite to effect the deoxidation of
the phosphoric acid by the charcoal, and the consequent liberation of vapour
of phosphorus, which vapour is condensed in water.
In manufacturing phosphorus according to my Invention I substitute coal
or coke for the said oak or other wood or peat charcoal, and I conduct the
manufacture of the phosphorus in the following manner:-I reduce coal or
coke to a fine powder and mix it with a solution of phosphoric acid or acid
phosphate of lime obtained by treating bone ash or mineral or other phosphate
of lime with hydrated sulphuric acid. I heat the mixture in a distillatory
apparatus at a temperature not exceeding a low red heat. There are thereby
driven off acid vapours containing sulphurous acid, together with tarry and
other volatile matters which are mostly condensed. After the mixture has
been subjected to this treatment for a length of time sufficient to drive off all
the volatilisable acid I expose it in a furnace to a somewhat higher tempera-
ture, so as to thoroughly deprive it of all tarry matter. The residuum is
finally introduced into clay or other retorts and heated to a sufficiently high
temperature to distil out the phosphorus, which is condensed in water in the
usual way. The acid liquid obtained may be used for treating a fresh portion
of phosphate of lime, and the tarry matter may be applied to any of the
purposes to which coal tar is or may be applied.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
the manner in which the same is to be performed.

page_text: I conduct the manufacture of phosphorus according to my Invention in
the manner practiced in the ordinary manufacture of phosphorus with the
following modifications:-In place of the charcoal ordinarily employed I use
coal or coke reduced to a fine powder; to every one hundred parts by weight
of the solution of phosphoric acid or acid phosphate of lime having at
a temperature of 120 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer the strength
indicated by 90 degrees of Twaddell's hydrometer, or having a specific
gravity 1.45, I add 31 parts by weight of coal in fine powder, or. 25
parts by weight of coke in fine powder. I heat the mixture in a distil-
latory apparatus or in an open boiler at a temperature not exceeding a
low red heat. When this heating is effected in a distillatory apparatus the
sulphurous acid vapour and tarry matter are condensed, and the acid so
obtained may be employed as herein-after explained. I afterwards expose
the dried mixture to a somewhat higher temperature, so as to thoroughly
deprive it of all tarry matter. This last heating I prefer to effect in a brick
reverberatory furnace. The residuum is heated in clay or other retorts and the
phosphorus distilled out in exactly the same way as is practiced in the
ordinary manufacture of phosphorus. The acid liquid obtained when the
first beating of the mixture of coal or coke dust and solution of phosphoric
acid or acid phosphate of lime is effected in a distillatory apparatus may be
added to the acid used for treating a fresh portion of phosphate of lime, and
when coal has been used the tarry matter distilled over with the said acid
liquid may be separated therefrom by decantation and applied to any of the
purposes to which coal tar is or may be applied. Although I have found
the proportions of coal or of coke described answer well in practice, yet I do
not limit myself to the said proportions, but I believe the use of lower
proportions of coal or coke will be attended with a diminished product of
phosphorus, and that proportions of coal or coke materially higher than
those given will have no beneficial effect.
!.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as
my Invention, firstly, the improvements in the manufacture of phosphorus
herein-before described, that is to say, the employment of powdered coal or
coke, in place of the wood charcoal ordinarily employed for effecting by the
agency of beat the reduction or deoxidation of phosphoric acid.
Secondly, economizing in the manner herein-before described the residual
products obtained in the said manufacture of phosphorus, that is to say,
applying the acid liquid given off when the mixture of the solution of

page_text: phosphoric acid or acid phosphate of lime and powdered coal or coke is
heated to the treating of a fresh portion of phosphate of lime, and when
powdered coal is used separating the tarry matter from the said acid liquid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jacob Hort Player, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
JOSEPH GILL,
Clerk,
Oldbury.
JACOB HORT PLAYER. (L.S.)