IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CASTOR OIL, AND OBTAINING PRODUCTS THEREFROM
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Fergusson Wilson, of Belmont, Vauxhall,
Managing Director of Price's Patent Candle Company, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CASTOR OIL, AND OBTAINING PRODUCTS
THEREFROM."
Sealed the 16th May 1854, and dated the 16th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Fergusson Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th January 1854.
I, GEORGE FERGUSSON WILSON, of Belmont, Vauxhall, Managing Director
of Prices Patent Candle Company, do hereby declare the nature of the In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CASTOR OIL. AND OBTAINING PRODUCTS
THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the treatment of castor oil, and obtaining
products therefrom which will be found useful for manufacturing purposes.
It has long been known by chemists that castor oil, when treated with hyponitric
acid, or nitrous acid, or sulphurous acid, solidifies, and what is called palmine
is produced, or which, when converted into the acid state, is called palmic
acid; but neither of these products has, I believe, even been obtained in a state
or at a cost to admit of its being applied in manufactures. And my Invention

page_text: consists of subjecting castor oil to the action of heat before or after sub-
mitting it to the action of the acid, by which the solidifying process is
improved.
The Invention also consists of boiling palmine or palmic acid in water, or
acidulated water, by the aid of free steam. The Invention also consists of
separating the more liquid from the more solid parts, by subjecting palmine
or palmic acid to pressure, (cold or hot, or both,) or by centrifugal or other
machines used for separating fluid from solid matters, without discoloring the
palmine or palmic acid in alcohol or ether. The Invention also consists of
causing palmine or palmic acid (which has been obtained by acting on castor
oil without previously heating it) to heat, and allowing it to cool slowly, in
order to crystallize the same, and thus to facilitate the separation of the
more fluid parts.
The Invention also consists of generating the acid gas used in a separate
vessel or apparatus, and conducting into castor oil, in order to solidify it,
in place of generating the gas by introducing the matters into the oil, as
heretofore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said George Fergusson Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th July 1854..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FERGUSSON WILSON, of Belmont, Vauxhall, Managing Director of Prices
Patent Candle Company, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Fergusson Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said George
Fergusson Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING CASTOR OIL, AND OBTAINING PRODUCTS THEREFROM," upon

page_text: the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 George Fergusson Wilson, 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 the treatment of castor oil and obtaining
products therefrom, which will be found useful for manufacturing purposes. It
has long been known by chemists that castor oil, when treated with hyponitric
acid, or nitrous acid, or sulphurous acid, solidifies, and what is called palmine
is produced, or which, when converted into the acid state, is called palmic acid;
but neither of these products has, I believe, ever been obtained in a state or
at a cost to admit of its being applied in manufactures. And my Invention
consists of subjecting castor oil to the action of heat before or after submitting
it to the action of the acid, by which the solidifying process is improved. The
Invention also consists of boiling palmine or palmic acid in water, or acidulated
water, by the aid of free steam.
The Invention also consists of separating the more liquid from the more
solid parts, by subjecting palmine or palmic acid to pressure, (cold, or hot, or
both,) or by centrifugal or other machines used for separating fluid from solid
matters, without dissolving the palmine or palmic acid in alcohol or ether.
The Invention also consists of causing palmine or palmic acid (which has been
obtained by acting on castor oil without previously heating it) to heat, and
allowing it to cool slowly, in order to crystallize the same, and thus to facilitate
the separation of the more fluid parts.
The Invention also consists of generating the acid gas used in a separate
vessel or apparatus, and conducting into castor oil, in order to solidify it, in
place of generating the gas by introducing the matters into the oil, as heretofore.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
It has been above stated that the production of palmine and palmic acid
from castor oil are productions known to chemists. I do not therefore claim
the same as being new; but, in order to purify palmine, it has been considered
necessary to subject it to the action of boiling alcohol, and to dissolve it in

page_text: alcohol, which is too costly to admit of the purified products being used for
manufacturing purposes. And I have found that unless the product (palmine)
obtained by treating castor oil with acid be purified it does not burn well.
And I have further discovered, that by subjecting it to hot water, or hot
acidulated water, and by separating the fluid from the more solid parts, that
valuable products may be obtained, and the use of spirit or ether solvents may
be avoided. In producing palmine I.employ hyponitrous acid for the purpose.
Castor oil may be treated with hyponitrous, acid or nitric acid, either being
added to the cold oil, or to oil previously heated to a temperature ranging from
120° to 150° Fahrenheit. Castor oil, however, which has been previously
heated, appears, when acted on by hyponitrous acid, to produce the best result,
whilst pure nitric acid acts best on cold castor oil.
When treating heated castor oil, a mixture of about four per cent. of nitric
acid, specific gravity 14, mixed with a sufficient quantity of treacle, (about
two ozs.,) should be stirred into the castor oil previously heated to 150°
Fahrenheit. The stirring is to be continued briskly for half an hour, and then
a quantity of boiling water, say about half the bulk of the oil, is poured into
the vessel, and the stirring continued a few minutes longer, which may be
conveniently done by free steam. By these means the oil when cold will be
found free from adhering acid, and the product is properly granulated for the
process of pressing. The quantity of acid used and the heat employed may
be varied, but on the whole I believe that the quantity of acid above named,
and the temperature mentioned, will be found the best. I would remark that
the water used may be slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, or it may con-
tain a solution of a sulphite.
Cold castor oil I treat by stirring in about four per cent. of pure nitric acid.
The stirring is kept up at intervals during twenty-four hours, or until the oil
begins to set or solidify; then hot water is stirred in, as in treating heated oil,
and when cold like results are obtained. If preferred, the hyponitrous acid
may be generated in a separate vessel, and conducted into and diffused amongst
the castor oil under process.
I find that when the palmine is produced by acting on cold oil, and not
acted on by hot water, that it is desirable, before subjecting the same to pres-
sure, to heat and melt the same, and allow it to cool gradually. The products
obtained are then subjected to pressure, or to a centrifugal machine, to have
the more fluid separated from the more solid parts. I prefer to use hydraulic
pressure for this purpose, and I place the granular product between mats, or in
bags; as is well understood when treating other fatty matters by pressure;- and

page_text: I use cold or hot pressure, according as I wish to separate more or less fluid
matter. By these means I obtain the best products, but I have found that
palmine from some castor oil burns well after treatment with hot water, without
having been subjected to pressure; but I prefer to employ pressure.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing of the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details here given. But what I claim is, the treatment and
manufacture of palmine herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
GEO. F. WILSON. (L.S.
Witness,