IMPROVED METHODS OF OR PROCESSES' FOR RECOVERING OXIDE OF MANGANESE AFTER IT HAS BEEN USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHLORINE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Balmain, of Saint Helens, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED METHODS OF OR PROCESSES' FOR RECOVERING OXIDE OF MANGANESE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Balmain
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st March 1855.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BALMAIN, of St Helen's, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED METHODS OF OR PROCESSES FOB RECOVERING OXIDE OF MANGANESE
AFTER IT HAS BEEN USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHLORINE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a new or improved process for the recovery of oxide
of manganese which has been used in the manufacture of chlorine. The process
is also applicable in all cases where oxide of manganese is dissolved in or acted
upon by acid for that purpose, whatever the oxide of: manganese. may be, and
to whatever purpose the chlorine may be applied; whether for the production of
chloride of lime, chloride of soda, chlorate of potass, red prussiate. of potass, or
to bleaching, or to any other application in the arts.

page_text: My Invention consists in attaining an economical recovery of the oxide of
manganese by carrying on the process in conjunction with the manufacture
of hydrochlorate of ammonia from the ammoniacal water formed in making
gas, and my mode of proceeding is as follows:-
coal
Into a convenient tank or pan I run a quantity of the ammoniacal gas water,
and add to it the solution of manganese produced in the manufacture of
chlorine, until a further uddition of the solution does not cause a precipitation
or thickening, or until the supernatant clear liquor does not effervesce with
acid. The mixture having been allowed to stand for some hours, the clear
liquor is drawn off and evaporated, for the purpose of crystallizing out the
hydrochlorate of ammonia contained therein. Water is then run upon the
sediment, which is agitated, and is then again allowed to stand until the sedi-
ment subsides, and loaves any remaining hydrochlorate of ammonia in the
supernatant clear liquor, which is drawn off and treated in the same manner as
the first liquor, in order to extract the hydrochlorate of ammonia therefrom.
The sediment is now removed to a bed of sand or cinders, and allowed to
lose as much water as will mechanically run off by drainage. It is then placed
upon a hearth or ordinary furnace bed and heated to redness, either by 'means
of an open fire or by flues above and below, until it ceases to burn like tinder,
and has become of a black color, by which time it will have been converted
into an oxide of manganese fit for use in the manufacture of chlorine, or for
any other purpose to which it might have been applied in its original form of
oxide of manganese.
When it is designed to use the oxide of manganese for glass making, I prefer
washing it with dilute hydrochloric acid, which will remove any iron with which
it may be contaminated.
When the manganese is to be used for producing chlorine, it is advisable to
mix lime with the sediment before drainage, or as soon as it dries upon the
hearth, and thus more or less convert it into manganese of lime, which increases
its power of eliminating chlorine.
When the gas water is in a town at a distance from the spot where the
solution of manganese is produced, I prefer to run the solution of manganese
into a pit, and neutralize the excess of acid with lime, or with alkaline waste,
or with undried sediment from a previous admixture with gas water, and then
boil down the mixture until it is of a convenient consistence for stowage in
casks, in which state it may be carried into the neighbourhood where the gas
water is produced, and after being re-dissolved it may be mixed and treated as
described in the first instance.
The oxide of manganese having been used a second time, may again be

page_text: recovered a third and fourth time, and if no lime or alkali waste have been
used in neutralizing the excess of acid, it may be recovered an indefinite
number of times.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by tlie said William Henry Balmain in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY BALMAIN, of Saint Helens, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Henry Balmain, Her special license that I, the said
William Henry Balmain, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Henry Balmain, 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 "IMPROVED METHODS OF OR PROCESSES FOR RECOVERING OXIDE OF
MANGANESE AFTER IT HAS BEEN USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHLORINE,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Balmain, 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Balmain, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a new or improved process for the recovery of oxide
of manganese which has been used in the manufacture of chlorine. The process
is also applicable in all cases where oxide of manganese is dissolved in or acted

page_text: upon by acid for that purpose, whatever the oxide of. manganese.may be, and
to whatever. purpose.the chlorine.may be applied; whether for the production of
chloride of lime, chloride of soda, chlorate of potass, red prussiate of potass, or
to bleaching, or to any other application in the arts.
My Invention consists in attaining an economical recovery of the oxide of
manganese by carrying on the process in conjunction with the manufacture
of muriate or hydrochlorate of. ammonia from the ammoniacal water formed in
making coal gas, and my mode of proceeding is as follows:-
Into a convenient tank or pan I run a quantity of the ammoniacal gas water,
and add to it the solution of manganese produced in the manufacture of chlorine,
antil a further addition of the solution does not cause a precipitation 'or
thickening, or until the supernatant clear liquor doès not effervesce with acid.
The mixture having been allowed to stand for some hours, the clear liquor is
drawn off and evaporated, for the purpose of crystallizing out the hydrochlorate
of ammonia contained therein Water is then run upon the sediment, which is
agitated, and is then again allowed to stand until the sediment subsides, and
leaves any remaining hydrochlorate of ammonia in the supernatant clear liquor,
which is drawn off and treated in the same manner as the first liquor, in order
to extract the hydrochlorate of ammonia therefrom. The sediment is now
removed to a bed of sand or cinders, and allowed to lose as much water as will
mechanically run off by drainage. It is then placed upon a hearth or ordinary
furnace bed and heated to redness, either by means of an open fire or by flues
above and below, until it ceases to burn like tinder, and has become of a black
color, by which time it will have been converted into an oxide of manganese fit
for use in the manufacture of chlorine, or for any other purpose to which it
might have been applied in its original form of oxide of manganese.
When the manganese is to be used for producing chlorine; it is advisable to
mix lime with the sediment before drainage, or as soon as it dries upon the
hearth, and thus more or less convert it into manganate of lime, which increases
its power of eliminating chlorine.
When the gas water to be operated upon is in a town at a distance from
the spot where the solution of manganese is produced, or when the recovered
manganese is to be used in the manufacture of glass, I boil down the liquid
chloride of manganese, and heat it in a furnace to such a temperature as will
render oxide of iron insoluble, in which state it is carried to the neighborhood
where the gas water is produced, and being re-dissolved in water is mixed and
treated as described in the first instance.
The oxide of manganese having been used a second time, may again be
recovered a third and fourth time, and if no lime or 'alkali waste have been

page_text: used in neutralizing the excess of acid, it may be recovered an indefinite
number of times.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention for recovering the oxide
of manganese, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent
I claim the recovering of oxide of manganese which has been used in the
manufacture of chlorine in conjunction with the manufacture of muriate or
hydrochlorate of ammonia, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Balmain, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
W. H. BALMAIN. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said William
Henry Balmain, in the presence of
H. GASKELL TAYLOR,
A Commissioner to administer Oaths
in Chancery in England.