quantity of olive oil, and for every 100lbs. of it, introduce 14lbs. of slaked and sifted quick lime, previously mixed with water to the consistence of cream. Into the said mixture admit steam through pipes laid at the bottom of the vat, which are perforated with holes ; cause the mixture to boil, stirring it occasionally, and maintain the boiling heat for some time, say from 12 to 20 hours; then cover up the vat, and leave the contents of it to settle. The substance which subsides should have a granular appearance if the boiling has been sufficient to produce the combinations called by chemists margarate, oleate, and stearate of lime.

Having taken out these compounds of oil and lime and dried them, they are to be crushed and sifted if need be to make them into a powder, and the finer the better. Into a second vat made of white wood introduce as much sulphuric nitric or hydrochloric acid as will serve to saturate the lime which has been used in the former operation or first process; and whichever acid is used it should be diluted with seven or eight times its weight of water. Sulphuric acid will probably be preferred as being the most economical, and of it about 18 lbs. will saturate 14 lbs. of the slaked quick lime. The relative proportions of the other two acids, the nitric and muriatic, depend upon their strength or specific gravity, as is well known to chemists. To the dilute acid in the vat made boiling hot by steam pipes, add the powdered compound of lime with the fat acids, and continue the heat till the lime is chemically combined with the mineral acid, and the fat acids are thereby disengaged or eliminated and float on the surface of the water, while the lime falls to the bottom of the vat in the state of sulphate of lime. When the whole have been left at rest for some time, (by turning off the steam,) then ladle or draw off, by a side pipe or otherwise, the supernatant fat acids, and wash them well with abundance of water in the progress of their cooling.

This washing is best performed in a leaden vessel. Then set a number of porcelain, glass, or stone ware vessels on a steam bath, put into each a quantity of the above washed fat acids, and after they are melted add for every 112lbs. of them, four ounces of nitric acid of specific gravity, 1.30 along with some small pieces of zinc and water to dilute the acid to about 30 or 4o baume,

which is from 1.020 to 1.027 specific gravity. Stir the said mixture with a white wood rod or spatula during five or six minutes, during which fumes of nitrous gas will be evolved by the action of the zinc upon the nitric acid. Continue the heat with occasional stirring for about two hours, and then remove the vessels from the steam; wash their contents well with abundance of water and let them cool in wooden vessels. The acid fat will have at the end of about thirty hours the appearance of tallow when quite cold.

The cold acid fat is placed in flat bags of hair cloth or twilled woollen cloth, or between layers of cloth madę from the fibres of the cocoa nut, and these bags or cloths being interstratified with wicker plates and plates of iron, are piled up on the sill of a screw or hydraulic press and exposed to a gradually increased pressure till the oleic acid has been expelled in a liquid state. The pressed cakes removed from the press will generally be found to have lost about twenty-five per cent. of their weight. They are next thrown into a boiler heated by steam or otherwise, and when melted, twenty per cent. of alcohol of about 48° over proof or wood-spirit, commonly called wood naphtha, is mixed with the melted fat, well incorporated by agitation; and the mixture is then drawn off into a vat and left to cool and crystallize during fifteen or twenty hours, the vessel being carefully covered all this time.

The solid fat acids thus obtained I subject to pressure in a similar manner as before described. A thin oily looking liquid will run off along with the spirits, and is to be received in proper vessels, from which it is to be taken afterwards and subjected to distillation, in order to recover the spirits for future use. The cakes now obtained in the press will consist of a mixture of margaric and stearic acids. These cakes are melted in a shallow leaden vessel along with water, and keeping the contents boiling by means of steam, while the surface of the melted fat acids is exposed freely to the air and sunshine, if practicable, during from fifteen to twenty hours. The concrete fat acids are bleached by subjecting each one hundred weight of them to the action of two pounds of sulphuric acid, diluted with eight pounds of water, mixed with four ounces of peroxide of manganese in fine powder. These substances, mixed in a vat, are steamed by means of a perforated lead pipe, in connexion with a steam-boiler; by this pro

cess the acid fats will be much whitened in the course of two hours.

In making mould candles I prefer glass moulds, and I expose the candles in these transparent moulds to bright daylight, which produces a bleaching effect on the surfaces. The candles may be made wholly from the above products of olive oil, or they may be mixed with wax, or other material.

Having now described the nature of my said invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood, that I make no claim to the processes herein described, except as applied to olive oil, similar processes having been before resorted to when treating other vegetable and animal matters; nor do I confine myself to the precise details above described. I would also remark, that the oleic acid may be used for the manufacture of soap in the same manner as oleic acid from tallow and other substances have before been used in the manufacture of soap. The oleic acid may also be used in substitution of other oils in the manufacture of wool. In conclusion, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the manufacture of candles by applying stearic and margaric acid of olive oil, and the treating of olive oil in the manner herein described for obtaining such acids for the manufacture of candles, soap, and other uses. In witness, &c.

Enrolled March 12, 1845,

JAMES POWER.

Specification of the Patent granted to FREDERICK RANSOME, of Ipswich, Caster, for Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Stone for Grinding, and other Purposes.-Sealed Oct. 22, 1844.

To all to whom these presents shall come, &c., &c.— My invention consists,

Firstly, of producing artificial stone for grinding, and other purposes, by employing a solution of silica as a means of cementing broken stone, sand, or other convenient earthy or metallic matters; and,

Secondly, my invention consists of causing artificial stone produced by cementing broken stone, sand, or other convenient earthy or metallic matters with a solution of

silica to be subjected to pressure in moulds by hydraulic or other mechanical pressure. And in order that my invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me, and in doing so I would at the outset state that the great object of my invention is to use a solution of silex as a cementing material for combining uncalcined materials into substances resembling stone, of different kinds, depending on the materials used and according to the pressure to which the substances are to be applied; thus, when for grinding purposes, I prefer to use pulverized or broken burr stone, and for imitating, Bath stone pulverized, or broken Bath stone, and for granite I use broken granite; and having such materials in a broken or pulverized state, I sift them so that the granular parts may be as equal as may be ; or other broken stone, or earthy matters, or sand, may be used, and mixtures thereof may be made in order to produce varied characters of artificial stone; and it is well known that in working all descriptions of stone much small cuttings are produced which is waste, and the same may be purchased at small cost, and waste is suitable for carrying out my invention. And these I combine and cement into masses, or produce more or less fluid mixtures, when required, from the finer particles for coating, or covering walls, and other surfaces. I will now proceed to describe the manner in which I prepare the solution of silica, or what I call a silicious paste, or cement, which is prepared in the following manner; that is to say, I dissolve 100lbs. of crystallized carbonate of soda, usually called subcarbonate of soda, or, in commerce, frequently termed merely soda, in about fifty gallons of water; I then render the carbonate of soda caustic, in the usual and well known manner, by means of lime; or instead of carbonate of soda, I employ about fifty pounds of carbonate of potash, usually called pearlash, and the requisite quantity of water, and render it caustic by means of lime. The caustic alkaline solution I reduce to about twenty or twenty-five gallons by heat; I then put this caustic alkaline solution with about one hundred pounds of finely-broken flints, or other convenient silicious substances into an iron boiler, or digester, and heat the mixture during ten or twelve hours up to a pressure of about sixty pounds to the square inch, frequently stirring the mixture. When the mixture is

sufficiently incorporated, which will readily be ascertained by the workman after a little experience, it may be removed from the boiler or digester, and passed through a suitable sieve, by which any undissolved stone may be removed from the paste or cement. The cement is then fit for use, or may be tempered to any required consistency, by the admixture of sand or finely powdered flint. I generally use for the purpose calcined flint; and if too thick for the purpose, the same may be reduced by adding water. For manufacturing mill-stones for grinding, I take of the silicious cement, one part of finely powdered flint, or powdered pipe-clay, one part; and of fragments of burr, or other suitable stone, three or four parts, which is regulated by the size of the fragments, which should be as uniform and free from dirt or earthy matter as possible. The above ingredients are to be well mixed and incorporated together, when it may be compressed in iron moulds, under mechanical pressure. When the stone thus formed is removed from the mould, it is to be allowed to dry, at common temperatures, for about twentyfour hours, when it may generally be removed into an oven or drying room, where the temperature is to be gradually raised to that of boiling water, or even beyond that point. In like manner, when manufacturing artificial stone for other purposes, I take granite, common sand, or fragments of any convenient silicious, or other hard stone or substance, and mix the same with from onefourth to one-sixth of the silicious paste or cement, so as to form, by trituration, a uniform mixture of the cement and silicious particles. This mixture, whilst moist, I subject to pressure, by means of a powerful press, in suitable moulds, composed of iron, or other proper material. After allowing the artificial stone, thus prepared, to dry at common temperatures for about twenty-four hours, I place it in an oven, and gradually increase the temperature to that of boiling water, or even above that point.

Having thus described the nature of my invention, and the best means I am acquainted with for performing the same, I would remark that I make no claim to the means herein explained, for obtaining a solution of silica, nor do I confine myself thereto, my invention not being for obtaining a solution of silica, but for its use as a cementing means for other matters, as herein described, in the manufacturing of artificial stone. I would have it