IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND PURIFICATION OF GLYCERINE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND
PURIFICATION OF GLYCERINE."-A communication from abroad by
Dr. Karl Kraut, of Hanover, in the Kingdom of Prussia.
Sealed the 22nd September 1871, and dated the 1st April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st April 1871.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE AND PURIFICATION OF GLYCERINE," to be as follows:-
Glycerine was considered uncrystallizable until a few years ago, when
a certain quantity imported from abroad was found to have become
converted accidentally into a crystallino mass, but all attempts to

page_text: recrystallize the mass after it had been melted, or to convert other
glycerine into a crystalline form, have hitherto failed altogether.
Now it has been discovered by my communicant, firstly, that the
crystallization of glycerine can be effected at will, resulting in the
production of crystals of glycerine perfectly free from impurities;
secondly, that by the aid of a small quantity of such crystallized
glycerine, the manufacture of perfectly pure glycerine from the impure
glycerine of commerce may be effected on a large scale, the intro-
duction of such crystals having the effect of inducing the formation of
other crystals in the mass; and lastly, it has been discovered that in 1
place of crystals of glycerine, any isomorphous substance may-be
employed for producing the last-named results.
For producing crystals of glycerine in the first instance, distilled
glycerine of 30° Beaumé is kept in closed vessels for a week or
more at a temperature of from 32° to 43° Fahrenheit, when crystals of
pure glycerine will have formed themselves out of the mother liquor.
For manufacturing perfectly puro glycerine from the ordinary
glycerine of commerce such glycerine of 30° Beaumé is first cooled down
under exclusion of moisture to from 82° to 43° Fahrenheit, after which a
small quantity of the before-mentioned crystallized glycerine, or of an s
isormorphous substance is introduced, and the glycerine is allowed to
stand at a low temperature such as above-described, for some days where-
upon the crystallization of the glycerine will ensue. When the crystal-
lization is found to proceed no farther the crystals are separated from the
remaining mother liquor, first by decantation, and then by the action of
a centrifugal drying machine, and lastly by steeping in cold water or in
pure liquid glycerine. Should it be desired to carry the process of puri-
fication still further, the crystals may be melted down and then recrys-
tallized by the above-described process. The mother liquor obtained
by such process may also be submitted to the same process over again.
- The crystallized glycerine produced as above described will be found
to be perfectly pure and to correspond in its composition with the
chemical formula of this substance, whereas the purified glycerine as
heretofore obtained by distillation is found to contain foreign substances
produced by the process of distillation, and which are separated from
the glycerine by the above-described process of crystallization.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th September 1871.
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Ohancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her special licence that
I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE AND PURIFICATION OF GLYCERINE," a communication to me
from abroad by Dr. Karl Kraut, of Hanover, in the Kingdom of Prussia,
upon the condition (amongst others) that the said Charles Denton
Abel, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
'
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
.Glycerine was considered uncrystallizable until a few years ago, when
a certain quantity imported from abroad was found to have become
converted accidentally into a crystalline mass, but all attempts to
recrystallize the mass after it had been melted, or to convert other
glycerine into a crystalline form, have hitherto failed. altogether.

page_text: Now it has been discovered by my communicant, firstly, that the
crystallization of glycerine can be effected at will, resulting in the
production of crystals of glycerine perfectly free from impurities, and
secondly, that by the aid of a small quantity of such crystallized
glycerine, the manufacture of perfectly pure glycerine from the impure 5
glycerine of commerce may be offected on a large scale, the introduction
of such crystals having the effect of inducing the formation of other
crystals in the mass.
i
For producing crystals of glycerine in the first instance, distilled
glycerine of 30° Beaumé is kept in closed vessels for a week or more at 1
a temperature of from 32° to 43° Fahrenheit, when crystals of pure
glycerine will have formed themselves out of the mother liquor.
For manufacturing perfectly pure glycerine from the ordinary
glycerine of commerce, such glycerine of 30° -Beaumé is first cooled
down under exclusion of moisture to from 32° to 43° Fahrenheit, after 1
which a small quantity of the before-mentioned crystallized glycerine
is introduced and the glycerine is allowed to stand at a low temperature,
such as above described, for some days, whereupon the crystallization
of the glycerine will ensue. When the crystallization is found to
proceed no farther the crystals are separated from the remaining 2
mother liquor, first by decantation, and then by the action of a centri-
fugal drying machine. Should it be desired to carry the process of
purification still further the crystals may be melted down and then
recrystallized by the above-described process. The mother liquor
obtained by such process may also be submitted to the same process
over again.
:
2
The crystallized glycerine produced as above described will be found
to be perfectly pure and to correspond in its composition with the
chemical formula of this substance, whereas the purified glycerine as
heretofore obtained by distillation is found to contain foreign substances 3
produced by the process of distillation, and which are separated from
the glycerine by the above-described process of crystallization.
The glycerine may, before being subjected to the above crystallizing
process, be treated with animal charcoal for removing the colour, or
the slightly-coloured crystals obtained in the first instance may be so a
treated, for which purpose the same processes are employed as are usual
in refining sugar or glycerine,

page_text: The crystallizing process may also be applied to distilled glycerine
and permits of its introduction into commerce in cold weather in a new
form, and also serves to free it from any impurities that it may still
contain. When applied to crude glycerine the said process either
enables a considerable quantity to be converted into pure glycerine
without distillation and with a great saving of animal charcoal, in which
case the last remaining mother liquors may be used either for refining
in the usual manner or for distilling. Or if the use of animal charcoal
be preserved, the said process yields products which are remarkable for
their fine appearance and purity of flavor when compared with the
ordinary article of commerce.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, what I claim is,―
First. Effecting the crystallization of glycerine by means of crystals
of the same substance substantially as herein-before set forth.
Second. Effecting the purification of glycerine by the process of
crystallization substantially as set forth.
Third. The commercial manufacture of perfectly pure crystallized
glycerine, the composition of which corresponds with that required by
the chemical formula of this substance, substantially as herein-before
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-