IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF RANGOON NAPHTHA, AND OTHER VARIETIES OF PETROLEUM
Year: 1857

page_text: by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas William Keates at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
January 1857.
I, THOMAS WILLIAM KEATES, of Chatham Place, in the City of London,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE TREATMENT OF RANGOON NAPHTHA, AND OTHER VARIETIES OF PETROLEUM,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention, of improvements in the treatment of Rangoon naphtha, and
other varieties of petroleum, relates to an improved method of treating these
substances, so as to obtain therefrom certain fluid or solid products.valuable in.
commerce.
These improvements consist, first, in subjecting the crude materials to the
action of steam under particular conditions, for the purpose of separating
the most volatile of their constituents; secondly, in distilling the residue in a
still, or rather a distillatory chamber, of a peculiar and novel construction.
In first operating upon the naphtha or petroleum by means of steam, in
order to remove the volatile portions thereof, instead of placing it in a still in
the ordinary manner, I cause it pass or fall downwards, drop by drop, or in a
small stream from the top to the bottom of a closed chamber of convenient
size and form, furnished internally with a greater, or less number of shelves or

page_text: transverse partitions, perforated or otherwise, which will prevent the direct
descent of the material to be distilled. While the material thus divided is
descending in the manner described, I cause a current of steam to enter
through the chamber or still and pass through in a contrary direction, that is,
from the bottom to the top instead of from the top to the bottom.
The steam is admitted by a pipe, which enters the chamber at its lower part,
and conveys the steam from any ordinary-steam-generating apparatus. The
steam in ascending through the chambers comes in contact with the descending
naphtha or other similar material, and extracts therefrom all such matters as
become volatile in steam at about 212°. By thus traversing the whole of the
chamber from bottom to top successive portions of steam act upon successive
portions of the raw material, and remove therefrom the volatile matter, and
the steam mixed or combined with these volatile matters finally passes out
through a pipe applied to the top of the chamber, and playing the part of a
still head, thence the steam and volatile matters are conveyed to a worm or
refrigerator of any convenient and suitable form, where they are, condensed;
and can afterwards be separated in the usual manner.
The exhausted residue of this process, which falls to the bottom of the still,
passes away by a pipe arranged as a syphon at the bottom of the chamber,
and will there run off spontaneously, or may be drawn off at pleasure during
the progress of the steaming.
In afterwards distilling the residue, mentioned above, to extract the fluid and
solid constituents that boil at a high temperature, and are not capable of being
volatilized by means of common steam, I employ a still or distillatory chamber
of a peculiar construction. The shape of this still is a long oval or oblong, and it
is so constructed and arranged in the furnace that its two ends can be raised to
and maintained at different temperatures. Near the end most heated the top
of the still is furnished with an eduction pipe connected with a worm or
refrigerator. Instead of placing the fluid or solid matter to be distilled in the
still in a body or mass in the first instance, I cause it to pass in a small
stream with greater or less rapidity, according to the progress of the
distillation; the fluid runs in through a pipe provided with a regulating cock,
and is adapted to the end of the still at which the temperature is lowest.
The still is so constructed that its bottom is not level, but some inches higher
at one end than at the other; the depth of the still at the ends is consequently
unequal. The highest part of the bottom is that which is heated least, and the
material to be distilled as it runs into the still impinges first upon the elevated
and least heated part of the bottom, over which it runs (spreading as it goes)
towards the lower and hotter part. In its course, the material to be distilled

page_text: meeting momentarily with a higher temperature is volatilized, and passes off
in vapor by the pipe already mentioned connected with the refrigerator. It
will be seen that by the arrangement described the material operated on is
subjected as it runs over the bottom of the still or retort to a varying but
constantly increasing temperature, which can be regulated with great nicety.
The process of distillation is continuous, and the still is not charged with
the matter to be distilled before commencing.
The products, first, of the steaming, and secondly, of the distillation of the
residue, are purified according to the means generally known and practised.