58 THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 



GRANULAR EFFERVESCENT SALTS. 



By Percy Remington^ Philadelphia. 



In the manufacture of effervescent salts on either the large or small 

 scale the most tedious and trouhlesome part of the process is the 

 handling of the salt after the reaction has begun and the material be- 

 comes a sticky, effervescing, cakey mass, and yet that is the psychologi- 

 cal moment to seize to form it into granules, and the resultant product 

 both in appearance and effectiveness is dependent upon the way the 

 batch is handled at this time. 



In all the processes used so far both in manufacturing establishments 

 and drug stores the mass is continuously stirred at this period to form 

 the granules and then they are forced by hand or power through sieves. 

 This results in the production of considerable Cjuantities of material 

 which are not in salable condition, some being too fine and powdery and 

 some in such large granules that they have to be subsequently broken 

 up. 



If the moist material could be converted into granules just as soon 

 as the water of crystallization has come out of the citric acid and fer- 

 mented the mass, and before the salt has lost its savor by the escape 

 of carbonic acid gas, and if this could be done without transferring the 

 sticky mass to another vessel, it would seem that a great gain had been 

 made in the time and labor required in making this troublesome pre- 

 paration. 



To accomplish this the writer devised a machine consisting of a sieve 

 of No. 6 mesh galvanized wire, mounted on a frame in such a wa}- as 

 to permit a solid bottom to be inserted. An ordinary pie roller com- 

 pletes the apparatus. It is to be used as follows : 



After preparing the mixture it is spread uniformly on the sieve wh'le 

 the bottom is in place. The sieve is then placed in a hot closet or oven 

 at the proper temperature and when the mass has begun to soften and 

 the water has thoroughly moistened it. it is removed and the frame is 

 placed over a receiving box, the pie roller is then passed over the mass 

 and this forces the salt through the sieve in such a wav as to cut it into 

 uniform particles. — Pcnna. State Phann. Assn. 



