AN IMPROVED MODE OF PURIFYING WHALE AND SEAL OILS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Arkell, of Stockwell, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PURIFYING
WHALE AND SEAL OILS."
Sealed the 23rd March 1855, and dated the 22nd January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Arkell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
January 1855..
I, PETER ARKELL, of Stockwell, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE
OP PURIFYING WHALE AND SEAL OILS" to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to purify whale and seal oil, and render it
suitable for lubricating and illuminating purposes. To this end, I first prepare
à prime or oleaginous compound, and this I mix with the oil that is to undergo
the purifying process. Into an iron still I pour whale or seal oil, and mix
therewith sal-ammoniac, gamboge, and rosin, or turpentine, and this mixture
I subject to a heat sufficient to drive over the oil, and leave a kind of black
pitch in the still.
I then add to every six gallons of the oil to be purified one gallon, more or
less, of this "prime" or distilled preparation, and distil over in a still of silver
or other material which will impart no color to the oil, and thus obtain a
pure limpid oil and a stiff black residuum. This oil, which possesses a very

page_text: pungent odor, I submit to a heated solution of alum, calcined salt, and borax,
keeping it in combination therewith by violent agitation. The heat I gradually
reduce, and allow the mixture to subside, after which I run off the oil, which
is now fit for the market. The still which I prefer to employ for the puri-
fying process is constructed as follows:-I provide a shallow iron vessel, which
I line with silver, platinum, or other metal not easily oxidizable (or I use a
copper vessel lined with glass), and this vessel I insert into another vessel,
interposing between the two a lining of lead. The cover or still-head I also
line with silver, or other suitable material, and I connect it to the flange of the
vessel by means of clamps, making the joint secure by plaster of Paris. The
use of the clamps is to permit of ready access to the interior of the vessel to
clean it, and the plaster I use because it imparts no color to the oil. In this
vessel I insert bars of metal coated with silver, for the purpose of conducting
heat through the body of oil under operation. The pitchy residuum I draw
off from the still by an exit pipe at the bottom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Arkell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARKELL, of Stockwell, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Peter Arkell, Her special license that I, the said Peter
Arkell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Peter Arkell, 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 MODE OF PURIFYING WHALE AND SEAL OILS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Peter Arkell, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Arkell, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
The object of the present Invention is to render whale and seal oils more
suitable both for illumination and the lubrication of machinery.
',
The Invention relates, firstly, to the preparation of a compound matérial
employed in the purification of the oil. In the preparation of this material I
proceed as follows:-Into an iron still I pour any convenient quantity of whale
or seal oil, say, one hundred and twenty gallons, and I mix therewith sal-am-
moniac three pounds, gamboge a quarter of a pound, and of rosin or turpentine
about three pounds. These ingredients I cause to be thoroughly incorporated
by stirring, and I then apply heat to the still, so as to distil over the mixture;
a peculiar oil is the result of this distillation, and a kind of black pitch remains
in the still. Sometimes I add alum to the materials specified above, and I
employ this substance either alone or previously mixed with the sal-ammoniac.
I find that the addition of the alum, particularly when combined with the
sal-ammoniac, tends to remove the strong odour of the distilled oleaginous
compound, and it likewise assists in diminishing in some degree the specific
gravity of the oil. I vary the proportion of alum and sal-ammoniac according
to the density of the oil I intend operating upon. From two pounds and a
quarter to three pounds of each to one hundred and twenty gallons of oil is
the proportion I prefer, but of course this must be sometimes varied to meet
peculiar circumstances. The oil obtained by distilling the mixture described
above I term the "prime," and it is this material which I. employ as the
medium of purification. In carrying on the purifying process by means of
the oleaginous fluid or "prime," mentioned above, I prefer to make use of a
distillatory apparatus of a peculiar construction, which I shall now describe."
I provide a shallow iron vessel, which I cause to be lined with silver,
platinum, or any other metal difficult of oxidation; or I use a copper vessel
lined with glass; either of these vessels I cause to be placed within another
vessel or jacket, and between the two I interpose a lining of lead. The cover
or head of the still I line with silver or other material which will not impart'
a color to the oil, and I connect the head to the flanch. of the still by means'
of clamps, the joint being luted and made tight with plaster of Paris. In'
the inside of this still I cause to be arranged bars of metal coated with silver,
for the purpose of conducting the heat rapidly through the body of oil under

page_text: treatment. The still is also furnished with an exit cock, by which the residual
matter can be drawn off.
In the process of purifying the oil, I charge the still just described with the
proper quantity of oil (either whale or seal), and to every six gallons of such
oil I add from one to one and a half gallons of the "prime," according to the
degree in which I wish the specific gravity of the distillate to be reduced.
The oil is then distilled over, the heat being applied with as much uniformity
as possible. A very limpid oil will be the result of this distillation. and a thick
black tar-like substance will be left in the still. The limpid oil produced in
this process is possessed of an exceedingly pungent odour, and to remove this
I subject the oil to the action of a heated solution (say, two hundred and fifty
gallons) of alum, salt, and borax, adding, for every twenty gallons of water,
about half a pound of alum, half a pound of salt, and a quarter of a pound of
borax. I violently agitate the oil in this solution, or wash for a considerablo
time, the effect of which is to remove the pungent odour of the oil. After
the wash liquor has been used for the disinfection of the oil in the manner
just described, it will be found impregnated with the odorous principle which
it has abstracted from the oil; I therefore cause the wash liquor which has
become thus impregnated and infected to be run into a boiler, and there boiled
for a short time, by which means the wash liquor is again rendered quite fit
for use upon further portions of the newly distilled or purified oil. After the
action of the wash upon the distilled oil, I find it advisable to allow the
mixture of oil and wash liquor to cool very gradually, as by this means
the separation of the two is more readily and completely effected. When this
separation is complete the oil is fit for the market. I find that by simply
exposing the oil in shallow vessels to the action of the atmosphere, the pungent
odour will soon pass out of the oil; but I prefer effecting the same object by
means of the wash, above mentioned, as the removal of the objectionable odour
is then much more rapid and complete. With regard to the residue left in
the still after the distillation of the oil (according to the process I have
described), I subject that to a further distillation from an iron still, which I call
the waste still; this is of precisely the same shape and construction as that I
before described. The result of the distillation of the black residue is a limpid
oil, which is, however, of a very dark color; this limpid oil I run into the
vessel or still in which I prepare the "prime," and I there produce from it, in
the same manner and by the same process as if it were whale or seal oil, a
quantity of "prime," as described, in connection with the first part of my
Invention. The residue of this operation is a hard black pitch. With regard
to the oil intended to be purified, I find it advisable to heat it to about two
'

page_text: hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, in order that it may be entirely
deprived of all trace of water before it is run into the still for the purpose of
purification.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Mode
of Purifying Whale and Seal Oils," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that, under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, I claim,
First, the preparation of the compound material or "prime," and the
employment of the same in the purification of whale and seal oil, in the manner
above set forth.
Secondly, the use of the improved distillatory apparatus above described,
whereby the process of distillation may be carried on without imparting a
color to the oil.
Thirdly, treating the distilled oil with the "wash liquor" above described,
for the purpose of removing the pungent odour with which it is endued.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Arkell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
0 Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
PETER ARKELL. (L.S.)