AN IMPROVED METHOD OF SEPARATING THE MINERAL OR FOSSILE ALKALI FROM THE MURIATIC ACID AS IT EXISTS IN COMMON SALT, AND ALSO IN SEPARATING THE FOSSILE OR MINERAL ALKALI FROM THE COMMON SALT AS IT EXISTS IN KELP, ALSO IN SEPARATING THE FOSSILE OR MINERAL ALKALI FROM THE MURIATIC ACID AS IT EXISTS IN SALT ROCK, COMMON SALT, BRINE, SEA WATER, IN THE COMMON OR NEUTRAL SALT OF NATRON, Sozo, SAL-ENIXON, CAPUT MORTUUM OP SPIRITS OF SALT, KELP, AND SALTS OBTAINED FROM SOAPER'S LYES
Year: 1797

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HODSON, of the City of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato
at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the thirty-seventh
year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said George Hodson, His
especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said George
Hodson, during the term of fourteen years therein expressed, should and law-
fully might use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the Kingdom of Great
Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF SEPARATING THE MINERAL
OR FOSSILE ALKALI FROM THE MURIATIC ACID AS IT EXISTS IN COMMON SALT, AND
ALSO IN SEPARATING THE FOSSILE OR MINERAL ALKALI FROM THE COMMON SALT AS
IT EXISTS IN KELP, ALSO IN SEPARATING THE FOSSILE OR MINERAL ALKALI FROM
THE MURIATIC ACID AS IT EXISTS IN SALT ROCK, COMMON SALT, BRINE, SEA WATER,
IN THE COMMON OR NEUTRAL SALT OF NATRON, Sozo, SAL-ENIXON, CAPUT MORTUUM
OP SPIRITS OF SALT, KELP, AND SALTS OBTAINED FROM SOAPER'S LYES;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said George
Hodson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as by the said

page_text: Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, may more fully and at large-
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Hodson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained as follows, that is to say:-
To obtain the fossile or mineral alkali from salt rock, common salt, brine,
and sea water, I proceed as follows:-Having prepared three hundredweight
of well-burnt quick lime, I slack the same with a strong brine, continuing to
sprinkle it therewith until the salt appears to be accumulating on its
surface. The lime thus slacked and saturated with salt must be spread into
thin layers until the evaporation is completed, and then thrown into the rever-
berating furnace, (see the Draught in the margin hereof) at the door E, to
which must afterwards be added three hundredweight of salt or salt rock, in a
shelly state, and the whole with a strong heat brought into a flux; when this
is effected, two hundredweight of gypsum, and two hundredweight of sal-enixon
are to be introduced, and by means of repeated stirring with the rake (see A in
the said Draught) the different materials must be as generally and as uniformly
I

page_text: distributed as possible. Two spades full of small coal, coaks, or charcoal must
then be thrown into the furnace, and by means of stirring ast before, intimately
united with the whole mass, and this-must be repeated at'intervals of the space
of one quarter of an hour; until two hundredweight of charcoal be consumed;
if, coaks are used,' until three hundred'; if-small coal, until four-hundredweight
be consumed. The process must then be continued without any further
admixture, with a strong heat, for three or four hours or more, according to
the degree of purity which it is designed the ash should possess; after which,
the fluid mass-is-to-be extracted by means of the rake at the door, (see E,
in-the Draught,) and when cold, broke up into lumps for use. -I-vary the pro-
cess -just described as follows: I cast into the furnace five hundredweight of
gypsum, previously broken into lumps, of about two pounds weight each, and
expose it for the space of two hours, to the action of..a violent heat;; I after-
wards) add three hundredweight; of salt; or, salt, rock in a shelly:state, which
having closely, united itself with the gypsum, I proceed to introduce one hundred-
weight of charcoal or coaks or small coak in the proportions stated in the first
process, stirring the whole mass frequently with the rake... When the combus-
tion of, the coal is. nearly extinct,. I throw into the furnace one hundredweight of
vegetable alkali, or two hundredweight of sal-enixon, or two, hundredweight
of black ashes, principally for the purpose of attenuating the mass. The union
of all the materials being accomplished, I add about two hundredweight of
charcoal, two spades full at a time, at intervals of the space of one quarter of
an hour each. The process is then to be continued for three hours or more,
&c., &c., as described in the former process. In order to obtain the fossile or
mineral alkali from the natural salt of kelp, from soza, and caput mortuum of
spirits of salt-Having previously reduced either of these articles into lumps
of about two pounds weight each, I throw into the furnace about ten hundred-
weight thereof, with four hundredweight of gypsum, or four hundredweight of
soaper's waste; I afterwards introduce two hundredweight of charcoal; at
intervals of the space of one quarter of an hour each, and continue stirring
the mass with the rake until the decomposition is effected, which will liappen
in about ten hours, computing from the commencement of the process. To
obtain the fossile or mineral alkali from the neutral salts of natron, and sal-
enixon, I throw into the furnace five hundredweight of natron, or of sal-enixon,
with four hundredweight of gypsum, or four hundredweight of soaper's waste.
To these, I add two-hundredweight of black ashes, or of salts obtained by
evaporation from soaper's lyes, four hundredweight, all which materials being
brought into strict combination, I add two hundredweight of charcoal, at
intervals of the space of one quarter of an hour each, and continue the process

page_text: for about ten hours, computing as before from the commencement of it. In
obtaining the fossile or mineral alkali from black ashes or other salts obtained
from soaper's lyes, I put into the furnace five hundredweight of black ashes, or
of uncalcined salts, nine hundredweight, together with four hundredweight of
gypsum or of 'soaper's waste. When these materials are completely fluxed,
I add two spades full of charcoal, at intervals of the space of one quarter of an
hour each, until two hundredweight thereof is introduced; the materials are
to be well united by means of the rake, and to remain in the furnace for about
eight hours from the beginning of the process, at the expiration. of which, the
mass must be drawn out of the door E, (see the Draught,) and after induration
broken up into lumps for use as in the first and all the subsequent processes..
In witness whereof, I, the said George. Hodson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of March, in the thirty-seventh year of the
reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God, of
Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, and
so forth, and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and
ninety-seven..
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year above written.