The First American Patent - Turning Ash Into Gold


	The First American Patent - Turning Ash Into Gold

Rustee

5-22-2008 12:35 AM

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tags:

history, invention

Rustee says:

We don't get the potassium salts we need from wood anymore. But for a long time, Hopkins had put us at the center of a great chemical process industry. So our first patent was one of the great American patents after all.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/b7a41e90-094a-427a-b1c4-4ecf3c9d55fd/127D0757-F67A-4D58-BD76-3E205E53871F/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi565.htm" href="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi565.htm" style="font-size: 11px;">www.uh.edu</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi565.htm"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.uh.edu/img/1B109C85-6AE5-4A16-912A-BD8CB5AB2720" alt="Engines of Our Ingenuity" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi565.htm"><FONT size="+3">T</FONT>he U.S. Patent Office has
                issued five million patents since it opened in
                1790.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi565.htm">A whole lot of chaff
                surrounds the real nuggets of accomplishment. So
                what about the first American patent? We might
                expect to find chaff there, but we don't.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi565.htm">Samuel Hopkins
                received the first one on July 31st. Both George
                Washington and Thomas Jefferson signed it. Hopkins
                had created a new process for making potash.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi565.htm"><P>
                We derive the word potassium from potash. Potash is
                an impure form of potassium carbonate. We use it to
                make soap, glass, fertilizers, and gunpowder. It's
                a very important substance. It was our first
                industrial chemical.
              </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi565.htm">
                During the mid-1700s potash-making became an
                American cottage industry. We used the burned-out
                ashes from wood fires. We leeched them in big iron
                kettles. Then we boiled the liquid</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi565.htm"><P>
                Hopkins used a furnace to reburn ashes. His process
                greatly improved the yield of potash as well as its
                purity. For the next 70 years America was the
                world's main potash producer.
              </P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/127D0757-F67A-4D58-BD76-3E205E53871F/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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