A METHOD OF CLEANSING OR PURIFYING AND TREATING SOAP SUDS OR WASH WATERS SO AS TO FIT THEM TO BE AGAIN USED FOR THE WASHING OF WOOLS AND OTHER SIMILAR MATTERS."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Birkett, of Manningham Mills,
Bradford, in the County of York, Chemist, for the Invention of
"A METHOD OF CLEANSING OR PURIFYING AND TREATING SOAP SUDS
OR WASH WATERS SO AS TO FIT THEM TO BE AGAIN USED FOR THE
WASHING OF WOOLS AND OTHER SIMILAR MATTERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Birkett
nt the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st July 1853..
I, WILLIAM BIRKETT, of Manningham Mills, Bradford, in the
County of York, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A METHOD OF CLEANSING OR PURIFYING AND TREATING
SOAP SUDS OR WASH WATERS SO AS TO FIT THEM TO BE AGAIN USED
FOR THE WASHING OF WOOLS AND OTHER SIMILAR MATTERS" to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in the application of slacked lime to refuse
soap suds or wash waters, which has the effect of clearing and
throwing down the dirt and heavy particles, and may be used in
greater or less quantity, according to the wish of the..user. The

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Birkett in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 21st January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM BIRKETT, of Manningham Mills, Bradford, in the County of
York, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Birkett, Her special
licence that I, the said William Birkett, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Birkett, my exe-
cutors, 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 "A METHOD OF
CLEANSING OR PURIFYING AND TREATING SOAP SUDS OR WASH WATERS SO
AS TO FIT THEM TO BE AGAIN USED FOR THE WASHING OF WOOLS AND OTHER
SIMILAR MATTERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Birkett, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, 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 Birkett, 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 thereof, that is to say:
My Invention consists in the addition or application of slacked lime

page_text: to refuse soap suds or wash waters, which has the effect of clearing
and throwing down the dirt and heavy particles, and may be used
in greater or less quantity, according to the wish of the user, and.in
adding carbonated or other alkali to the soapy matters remaining from
such clearing.
In a suitable vessel or pan I add about one part of slacked lime to
one hundred parts of soap suds or wash waters, whereby the soapy
matters will be precipitated, and I increase or decrease the quantity of
slacked lime according to such precipitation. I draw off the watery or
more liquid matters and apply heat to the pan, which has the effect of
throwing up a quantity of water remaining in the soapy deposit, and
which I again draw off. To the matters left in the pan I add carbon-
ated or other alkali in solution in proportions varying with the more or
less greasy nature of such matters, but always in such proportions as
when combined will form a soap. I apply heat to the pan; the alkali
will combine with the soapy matters, and will precipitate the lime and
dirt, which being removed leave a substance fit for use for the washing
of wool and other similar substances. Should the soap so obtained
be required more solid, it may be submitted to evaporation until the
desired consistency is obtained.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
The treating of soap suds or wash waters so as to render them fit
to be again employed for the washing of wool and other similar
matters in the manner herein-before described, that is to say, by
the addition thereto of slacked lime and of carbonated or other
alkali.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Birkett, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of January, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four
WILLIAM BIRKETT. (L.s.)