AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RENDERING FATTY OR OLEAGINOUS MATTER, AND DELIVERING THE SAME
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Adams Knight, of No. 4, Symonds' Inn,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex Patent Agent for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RENDERING FATTY OR OLEAGINOUS
MATTER, AND DELIVERING THE SAME."-A communication from abroad by
Wellington Lee, Esquire, residing at No. 197, East 19th Street, New
York, United States of America.
Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RENDERING FATTY OR OLEAGINOUS
MATTER, AND DELIVERING THE SAME."-A communication from abroad by
Wellington Lee, Esquire, residing at No. 197, East 19th Street, New
York, United States of America.
Sealed the 4th March 1862, and dated the 14th September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Adams Knight
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th September 1861.
I, JOHN ADAMS KNIGHT, of No. 4, Symonds' Inn, Chancery Lane, in or
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RENDERING FATTY OR OLEAGINOUS
MATTER, AND DELIVERING THE SAME," being a communication to me from abroad
by Wellington Lee, Esquire, a person resident at No. 197, East 19th Street,
New York, United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved apparatus for rendering fatty or
oleaginous matter, and delivering the same. By the so-called close steam
process hitherto practised in "rendering " fats, the rough fat is subjected to the
action of steam with a pressure of about fifty pounds to the square inch in the
tank or digester for ten or twelve hours before it is completely rendered or set
free, and the large proportion of fat which is rendered within the first one or
two hours is partially saponified, changed, or separated by the long and con-
tinued exposure to the intensity of the steam or heat and water which holds

page_text: in solution corrupt and putrescent animal matter, while the residue or small
portion yet unrendered is being sot free or melted, and is thereby injured in its
nature, hardness, colour, and grain, and is consequently greatly depreciated in
value. Similar injury and losses are sustained by the so-called open steam,
heat, or acid processes, together with a loss of the volatile constituents of the
product which is made volatile by the action of the heat. The object of my
Invention is to remove the fluid fat or product from the action of the heat as
fast as "rendered," either by pressure, suction, or like power, without allowing
the steam or volatile contents to escape from the tanks, also preventing the
escape of the offensive and unhealthy vapors, which justly constitute a serious
nuisance to the neighbourhood. My apparatus consists in its most essential
feature of a flexible or jointed pipe and a float, which carries the mouth of the
pipe just below the surface of the melted fat in the tank or pan. The fluid
fat is thus forced by the pressure of the steam, or by suction, or like means from
the tank or boiler through the pipe to any desired point as soon as it has been
rendered, and before it can be damaged by over heating, as before stated, at
the pleasure of the operator, and consequently becomes harder on cooling, has
higher and more lively colour and nature, and is kept free from the foreign
substances incident to the ordinary rendering processes, consequently the
pressure of steam, which melters using close steam tanks have been restricted
to, about fifty pounds weight to per square inch of boiler surface may be
increased to within the limits of the strength of the apparatus, and the same
thus caused to perform a much greater duty than it otherwise would do.
The emptying of the boiler, as fast as the contents are made ready, is a
desideratum which saves the necessity of "waiting to gently draw off steam
and for the fat to settle," to enable you to slowly draw or dip off the fluid in
the usual ways, which desideratum saves in time and labor a large proportion
over that required to effect the same. The fluid contents may by the same
force and means be delivered to any desired locality or height on the premises,
thus enabling the "renderer" to cleanse with water as often as he chooses in
its descent without any handling, as its own gravity delivers itself from one
vessel to another without handling until it finally descends to the package in
which it is packed for market. The mechanical parts used to effect the object
to be attained are as follows:-To an ordinary steam or water-tight tank, pan,
or boiler, which may be supplied with steam or heat, and provided with a door
for admission to the interior, and pipes sufficient to admit or draw off the
contents, I will admit or attach a pipe, which is made flexible, by a joint or
joints or means substantially the same, to the end of which, inside the tank,
can be attached a float of sufficient buoyancy to sustain the weight of the

page_text: dependent pipe and strainer, in which the said float and end of pipe should be
enveloped to prevent the filling of the end of the pipe with the undried or
unmelted fat by the use of which means the opening in the end of the pipe is
protected from the solid pieces and refuse when inserted below the surface of
the fluid fat. The pipe should be provided with a cock to allow the renderer
to let on or off the fluid contents at pleasure. The pipe may be attached in
many different ways, and this part of my Invention or discovery may be carried
out in any convenient manner, so that there is a flexible or yielding connection
between the stationery pipe and the moveable pipe, and when the inside end of
the same is provided with suitable protection to prevent the opening to the
pipe from closing when the same is used with or without the float, as the
latter can be dispensed with by using other mechanical' means, or a man to let
it down into the tank as the fluid contents settle, that it may skim or take off
the grease or upper stratum of the fluid contents. When this apparatus is in
operation, the boiler is filled with "the rough," and the heat or steam applied
in the usual manner, but instead of the melted product remaining in the tank
until the fat is entirely rendered, it is forced or drawn through the pipes to
any point it is desired to deliver it by simply running the pipe to that locality
and opening the cock located in the latter to regulate the flow in the same as
the fat melts. When the float is attached, it should be of sufficient weight and
buoyancy to overcome the friction of the joints or stuffing box (if such be
used), and carry the weight, lowering and keeping the end of the pipe immersed
to receive the hot and melted contents. The risk of fire attendant upon the
usual modes and apparatus used is by the use of my apparatus almost entirely
removed, as neither the fat nor its fumes are allowed to come in contact with
the fire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Adams Knight in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ADAMS KNIGHT, of No. 4, Symonds' Inn, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the

page_text: said John Adams Knight Her special licence that I, the said John Adams
Knight, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Adams Knight, my executors, 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 "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RENDERING FATTY OR OLEAGINOUS
MATTER, AND DELIVERING THE SAME," a communication to me from abroad by
Wellington Lee, Esq., a person resident at No. 197, East 19th Street, New
York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Adams Knight, 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 John Adams Knight, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object an improved apparatus for rendering fatty
and oleaginous matter, and delivering the same, and consists in the employment
of a close boiler or vessel of any suitable construction, but by preference of a
cylindrical form, capable of sustaining the pressure of high-pressure steam,
together with other apparatus, as herein explained. This vessel is provided
with a man hole for admitting the supply of fatty or other oleaginous matters
to the vessel; it is also provided with a safety valve, also a steam pipe leading
from a suitable steam boiler; also with a cock or outlet to draw off the residue
and impurities, and also a cock or outlet for drawing off condensed water or
fluid. This apparatus is so arranged that the fluid, fat, or oleaginous matter
as it becomes melted and suitable to be drawn off may be removed from near
the upper surface, and this is effected by preference by means of a pipe, the
lower end of which is supported by a float, whilst the upper end of the pipe
moves on a joint, to which is connected, exterior of the vessel, another pipe on
which there is a cock or valve to shut off or regulate the passage of the fluid
through it. By this pipe the fluid fat may be raised or conducted to any part
of the factory. The arrangement of the apparatus for removing the fluid fut
or oleaginous matter from the vessel may be varied so long as it is arranged

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a vertical section, and Figure 2 a side elevation, of the
apparatus in the form in which it is preferred to be constructed. A, A, is the
close vessel, into which the fatty or oleaginous matters are to be introduced
through the man-hole a. When the vessel has been supplied, steam, by
preference of from 50 to 60 lbs. on the square inch is to be allowed to flow
from a boiler by the pipe c into the bottom of the vessel, by which the melting
and rendering will be quickly performed to a part of the fatty or oleaginous
matter, and when the workman finds that it runs bright, clear, and sweet, he
may allow it to flow away by the pipe i, and so long as it continues to do so;
but it is preferred that so soon as the fluid appears turbid or otherwise
unsatisfactory, he should close the pipe. And in this manner the process is
conducted till the whole of the oil or oleaginous matter has been removed
from the charge in the vessel, the mouth m of the pipe k being at all times
kept near the surface p, p, of the fluid matter by the float / or such keeping of
the mouth m of the pipe by which the fluid is conveyed away out of the vessel,
may be accomplished by other convenient means. h is a sieve or apparatus
for filtering the fluid before it can arrive at the mouth m of the outlet pipe.
The cock d is for drawing off any excess of condensed water. The residue is
removed through a man-hole e, or by a discharge cock, according to its nature.
By these means the rendering and delivering of fatty or oleaginous matters is
by high-pressure steam in a close vessel, and the apparatus is at the same
time so arranged as to draw off the fluid constantly from near the surface.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the parts of the apparatus separately; but what I claim is the combined
apparatus herein described for rendering and delivering fatty and oleaginous
matters.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Adams Knight, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year
of our Land One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two
JOHN ADAMS KNIGHT. (L.S.)