INVENTION OF A NEW METHOD OF DEPURATING AND IMPROVING OF ANIMAL OIL
Year: 1792

page_text: GOWER'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
GOWER, of Oriel College, Oxford, Master of Arts, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of April, in the thirty-second year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Gower, His especial licence,
that I, the said Charles Gower, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my "INVENTION OF A NEW METHOD OF
DEPURATING AND IMPROVING OF ANIMAL OIL;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Charles Gower, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same (relation being thereunto had) will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Gower, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in manner
following, that is to say :-
The coarser animal oils are ever liable to chill on the approach of cold weather,
owing to the superabundant water of the gelatenous substance they contain.
Gelatinous substances which are prepared from the mucous parts of animals,
in the same manner as true mucelage is prepared from vegetable matter, are
highly soluble in water, but are considerably aided in the solubility by acids

page_text: and by alkalis. Acids are somewhat preferable to alkalis, as attacking the
true gelatinous parts only, whereas the alkali is apt to attack the oil also, and
with it to form a soapy coagulum, rendering the combination too strong to
obtain the oil pure and by itself by any decomposition. The above are the
principles on which this Patent is chiefly founded, and the process whereby
these principles are put in practice is as follows:-Take any quantity of oil,
and about an equal quantity of water that has been previously acidified (any
acid will do, but vitriolic acid will be the cheapest), or if the alkaline process
be preferred, lime water will come the cheapest; put these quantities of oil
and acidified or alkalizato water into any kind of receptacle or utensil, in
which a perfect admixture of their parts may take place. The most con-
venient mode of admixture seems to be by the repeated revolution of a barrel,
in which dashes have been placed, somewhat resembling a barrel churn.
This churn, as it may be now called, can be turned by fire, water, air, or the
power of draught animals, or other mechanical powers, and may be so varied
in its forms and so differently constructed as to admit of no precise description.
Nor is any attempt made here at securing the Invention of the churn, it being
of very old date, and described only for the purpose of shewing how and by
what modus an admixture of these fluids might be made the more conveniently
to take place. A very few revolutions will be sufficient to unite the fluids
together. When this is effected, the liquor is to be passed from the churn into
the pans, made of any convenient and fit materials, in order that the solution
of the gelatinous parts may go on, and the water subside to the bottom of the
pan. The oil is now to be drawn off, by a cock placed just above the water,
which may easily be done; because, if the water and oil be in equal pro-
portions, or nearly so, the cock must be placed half way, provided the utensil or
pan be an equal sided figure. As a manufacture of this sort is likely to be
carried on at all seasons of the year, and as the degrees of heat on the
thermometer differ according to the changes in the season, it will be advisable
to have each pan placed within another, about four inches or more from the
sides of each, upon the principle of a water bath. By lighting a fire in a
grate placed under the pan, the water in the outer pan is heated and
administers heat to the oil and water in the inner pan, aiding the solution of
the gelatinous matter by its warmth, and clarifying the oil from the chill it
had previously undergone. If the oil be turbid, or contain any ropy matter,
or straws, sticks, ct., then proceed as follows:-Put an equal quantity of oil
and fair pure water together into the churn, give them a few revolutions, and
add to them a sufficient quantity of fresh yeast or any other substance capable
of exciting an intestine motion and fermentation; convey it from the churn

page_text: into the
pan, and let the whole, by the heat of the water bath, be brought to
ferment. The feculencies will subside, and the oil float on the top. Draw off
the clear oil.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Gower, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-two.