Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1890-08-08


that wreck, next day, clasped closely in
the arms of her dead father Death had
come so suddenly that her face still wore
the look of holy rapture-of sweet peace |
had seen upon it last Surely the angels
had beekoned her, and the dear Lord had
answered her unconscious prayer and
drawn her nearer TO himself
Refining Oil.
Toledo Commercial
Few people IN Toledo know that Mr..
Homer T. Yaryan, whose inventions Of
processes for disiilling and evaporating
have made him world famous, was also one
oi the first to make discoveries in oil refin-
ing that have sioce revolntionized that in
dustry.
1t was In 1867 that Mr.. Yaryan turned
his attent on To the oil business, and it was
not long before he had invented process
by which be could produce splendid
quality Of burning oil from inferior crude.
At that time he lived in Nashville, Tenn,
and all his experiments were conducted
with the Tennessee crude, one of the most
difficult petroleums to refine in the world.
TO get more at the particulars of his in
yentions and their application, Com
mercial reporter called upon Mr.. Yaryan
at his beautiful ColIingwood avenue resi-
denee and requested an interview, which
the gentleman very cheerfully gave.
"My experience in oil refining was
peculiar one, said Mr.. Yaryan, 'Ior after
using my process Tor two years, and meet
ing with splendid success, L was made the
victim of betrayal. I guarded my secret
very carefully, no one except myself and
foreman, a man named Allyn, understand
ing how to work it. In September, 1862
the rogue left me and went to Canada,
where he gave up the secret and aided in
establishing two refncries in London. To
show yo1 what this betrayal meant within
a very short time after he commenced to
refine Canada oils by my process, the price
went up from so cents, at which price it
was then selling, to $l.50 per barrel A
New York broker. learning that Allyn had
come from Nashville, visited me in that
city and, on learning that it was my pro-
cess that was being used, made me a
proposition which | accepted. He was to
take all my papers and go to Canada to
negotiate with the London people and get
something out Of it for me. I willingly
turned over my papers, aud the fellow left,
but never heard of him again. | was so
disgusted with my ill-luck that | wrote in
September, 1860, to the Scientific AmericaR,
giving that publication complete descip-
ton Of the process, that the world might
have it"
Tell me something about that process,
Mr.. Yaryanl"
Certainly. To begin with, the Canada
oils required somewhat additional treat
ment to that required by the Tennessee
oils. While the latter yielded readily to
my treatment, and produced blgning oil
every bit as good as the Pennsylvania oil,
the Canada oil contained sulphur com
pound; that is, the sulphur is in combna-
tion with the carbon, whereas in the Ten
| nessee AID in part of the Ohio oils the
| sulphur is combined with the hydrogen.
1t was by subsequent treatment that /
was enabled to get at the oils in combina-
tion with the carbon compound. | found
that preliminary treatment was necessary
for the Ohio and Canada oils in order to
change from combination oi sulphur and
carbon to q combination of sulphur and
hydrogen, and ] accomplished this by
heating the heating the vapors of the oil
to very high temperature-say 500 de-
grees-in contact with water vapors or
steam. There is then an interchange Of
elements, the sulphur leaving the carbon
| and going over to the hydrogen. 1t then
yields TO the treatment as applied to the
Tennessee oils.
"At the time discovered my treatment
the chemists could not understand what
cansed the bad odors in the oil, and when
| found by analysis that it was the sui
phur, il was necessary to use chemical
that would cause the interchange of
elements without destroying the qualities
of the oil. / remembered that in my
laboratory experiments in purifying BIZ
sulphde Of carbon to remove foul odors, |
used plumbate of Soda combination of
lead and caustic soda. 1t occurred TO me
that would try it. The effect on the oil
was immediate, but it injured the color,
and in order to retain the color, | used a
sulphidc of soda. The oil was then distill-
cd and refined in the usual way and pro-
duced n valuable result. AS said before,
it is necessary to heat the oil vapors in a
close vessel to very high temperature,
and thus cause the interchange of elements
referred to above.
''All processes that | ever read about or
heard of, had, as con trolling element, the
heating of oil vapors to high temperature
and the results are too often attributed to
the wrong causes. Take, for instance, the
process known as the Pitt, in use by the
Paragon Refining Company. / have seen
their patents and can give ali there is to
them in very few words. The oil is heat
ed to high temperature while it is
brought in contact with metallic oxides,
and Paragon people credit The results to
an interchange of elements between the
oxides and the sulphur compounds, which
think is wrong 1t is simply due to heat
ing the oil in the water vapors, and pro-
ducing the results attained by my process"
"You have made recent inventions in
this line, have You nott"
Eyes, but it is not unlike the original
process. The heating to a high tempera-
turc is just as necessary, but | pass the
vapor through my distilling coils, and by
this arrangement the heating and distilling
is accomplished by one operation, while iu
other processes there are two distinct !
operations, and necessarily imperfect be
cause it is impossible for them to heat the |
vapors uniformly"
-"Oh, you needn't think you're the |
only feller around here" said her little |
brother contemptuously. II thought as
much, whispered Daggins to himself /
"Who is her" THE other fellowl Oh, I