''Mother Lye'

[ECD40]

I'm in the process of applying for a patent with the US Patent Office for a hydraulic transportation system. There is a UK patent issued in 1922 that refers to Mother Lye as the transport medium. This is causing the USPO Examiner some concern. Does anyone know the chemical composition of Mother Lye and it's use today.

 

[Compositepro]

Mother Liquor is a a more common but still archaic term for a water solution of chemicals that is used to process or treat other materials. I found one reference from a 1917 book that used mother lye when talking about sulfuric acid, although the lye we know today is sodium hydroxide, also known as 'caustic' or 'caustic soda'. 100-200 years ago the terms caustic, lye, acid, corrosive, were used somewhat interchangeably, to mean a chemical substance that could burn the skin on contact.

 

[IRstuff]

https://www.wordnik.com/words/mother-water

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_liquor

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[ECD40]

Thanks everyone that responded. Mixing today's terminology with archaic terminology is a problem at the moment.

 

[Artisi]

Mixing archaic words into modern patents sounds like a clever use of language as it helps to cover any missed compounds / liquors.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)