A MODE OF SEPARATING THE PITCH AND SPIRITUOUS OILS FROM MATTERS CONTAINING THEM
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lewson Alexander and William Bryer Nation, of
"West Ham Lane, in the Parish of West Ham, Essex, for the Invention
of "A MODE OF SEPARATING THE PITCH AND SPIRITUOUS OILS FROM
MATTERS CONTAINING THEM."
Sealed the 24th January 1865, and dated the 26th September 1864. .
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lewson, Alexander and:
William Bryer 'Nation at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,.
with their Petition, on the 26th September 1864.
We, LEWSON ALEXANDER and WILLIAM BRYER NATION, of West Ham
Lane, in the Parish of West Ham, Essex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A MODE OF SEPARATING THE PITCH AND SPIRITUOUS OILS
PROM ALL MATTERS CONTAINING THEM," to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in boiling the matters to be treated in strong caustic
alkalis, and allowing the admixture after having been sufficiently boiled to
cool in the vessel in which it has been manipulated, when it will be found
after standing several hours that the separation of the pitch and spirituous
oils contained in the matters treated has been partially effected. By sub-
sequent boilings in acidulated water it will be found that the spirituous oils
will be obtained from the liquid portion of the first manipulation, and the
pitch from the dark coloured portion.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lewson Alexander and William Bryer Nation in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 24th March 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, LEWSON
ALEXANDER and WILLIAM BRYER NATION, of West Ham Lane, in the Parish
of West Ham, Essex, send greeting.
L
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Lewson Alexander and William Bryer Nation, Her special
licence that we, the said Lewson Alexander and William Bryer Nation,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Lewson Alexander and William Bryer, Nation, our executors, adminis
trators, 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 "A MODE OF SEPARATING THE PITCH AND SPIRITUOUS OILS FROM ALL'
MATTERS CONTAINING THEM,"_ upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Lewson Alexander and William Bryer Nation, our executors or
administrators, by, an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
our or their hands and seals, should particularly. describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 we, the said Lewson Alexander and William Bryer
Nation, do hereby declare, the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the, same is to be performed, to be particularly described and 'ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in the application of a few simple operations for
separating the pitch and spirituous oils from all matters containing them, but
more especially from the, leys usually thrown away by soap makers and grease
distillers, which operations are carried into effect in the following manner
First, we boil the matters to be treated in strong caustic alkalies for
several hours until a perfect saponification has been effected, and then allow
the mixture to stand in the vessel in which it has been manipulated for

page_text: fifteen or twenty hours, that is to say, until it be found that a large
portion consists of a kind of light soap, containing at the bottom a substance
of a pitchy nature, and that the remainder or liquid portion of the mixture
contains the spirituous oils.
Secondly, we boil the three products obtained by the first operation in
dilute sulphuric or other acid, and from the light soap a free grease will be
obtained, from the pitchy substance a pitch, and from the liquid portion the
spirituous oils, which oils on being distilled give a spirit which may be applied
either as a burning-spirit or as a dissolvent. The proportions of the materials
employed and the periods mentioned may be varied within limits that will be
easily ascertained by experience.
Having now described the nature and particulars of our said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be under-
stood that we do not claim the mere use of caustic alkalies, as they have been
before employed for partially saponifying matters boiled in solutions of them,
neither do we claim the use of dilute acids for neutralizing the alkali; but
what we claim is, the application of the operations of boiling the matters in
sufficiently strong solutions of caustic alkalies, and sufficiently long for them
to be so perfectly saponified as to enable the pitch or spirituous oils to be
separated previous to distillation, by means of which the products severally
mentioned are manufactured by a new process, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lewson Alexander, for and on behalf of
myself and the said William Bryer Nation, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
L. ALEXANDER. (L.S.)