IMPROVED METHOD OF STORING AND HOLDING PETROLEUM AND OTHER OILS, NAPHTHA, AND OTHER PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION CONTAINING ESSENTIAL OILS
Year: 1863

page_text: -LETTERS PATENT to Theodore Bourne, of the City, County, and State
of New York, United States of America, for the Invention of an
"IMPROVED METHOD OF STORING AND HOLDING PETROLEUM AND OTHER OILS,
NAPHTHA, AND OTHER PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION CONTAINING ESSENTIAL
OILS." A communication from Seth Haskell Ingalls, of the City of
New Bedford, County of Bristol, and State of Massachusetts, United
States of America..
Sealed the 23rd February 1864, and dated the 27th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Theodore Bourne at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th August 1863.
I, THEODORE BOURNE, of the City, County, and State of New York,.
United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVED METHOD OF STORING AND HOLDING PETROLEUM AND
OTHER OILS, NAPHTHA, AND OTHER PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION CONTAINING ESSEN-
TIAL OILS," to be as follows:-
Petroleum, naptha, and other oils and spirits distilled from resinous or
bituminous substances are now mainly held in barrels or packages made
of wood, and consequently subject to loss by leakage and evaporation. The
risk from fire is also great. From naphtha, spirits of turpentine, and crude
petroleum there arises constantly an inflammable vapour, which becomes highly
explosive on being mixed with the oxygen of the air.

page_text: To prevent leakage, and to reduce the fire risks on these oils, become there-
fore objects of the highest importance. The large tanks of wood or metal
which have been erected but imperfectly effect these objects. Barrels or cans
of metal are expensive, and give little security against fire, since the oil becomes
more readily heated in metal than in wood.
To secure more fully the requisite protection against leakage, evaporation,
fire, and explosion, I provide a reservoir for water, in which I place a tank con-
structed of wood, metal, or masonry. The tank is held down by anchors, or by
weights, or by a system of beams secured to the walls of the reservoir, so that
the tank and oil which it contains shall be completely surrounded and covered
by water. I thus afford security against fire, and also against leakage through
slight imperfection of seams, since the oil and water will not readily pass each
other through capillary spaces.
I provide for the introduction of water into the tank, so as to sustain
the oil compactly against the top thereof, and so as to allow no space for
the accumulation of gas or vapour. For refined petroleum there may be found
necessary some modification of this last-named provision to allow the escape
of vapour arising from the water, and which tends to fog the oil when it retains
any trace either of the acids or alkalies which have been used in the treatment
or process of refining.
I provide a pipe for introducing the oil into the tank; I also provide a
pipe with stop-cock for discharging the oil. The oil is discharged by the
pressure of the water either into packages for transportation, or through
a pipe directly on shipboard, or is conveyed to tanks adjacent or distant,
or to lamps and burners when arrranged for local use in buildings or
streets.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Theodore Bourne in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THEODORE ?
BOURNE, of the City, County, and State of New York, United States of America,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself,--Her heirs.and successors, give and grant unto me,

page_text: the said Theodore Bourne, Her special licence that I, the said Theodore
Bourne, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Theodore Bourne, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should;
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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-:
PROVED METHOD OF STORING AND HOLDING PETROLEUM AND OTHER OILS, NAPHTHA, AND
OTHER PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION CONTAINING ESSENTIAL OILS," (communicated to:
me by Seth Haskell Ingalls, of the City of New Bedford, County of Bristol,>
and State of Massachusetts, United States of America, the Inventor,) upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Theodore Bourne, my execu-
tors 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 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 I, the said Theodore Bourne, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,'
that is to say:-
Petroleum, naphtha, and other oils and spirits distilled from resinous or
bituminous substances are now mainly held in barrels or packages made of
wood, and consequently subject to loss by leakage and evaporation. The risk
from fire is also great. From naphtha, spirits of turpentine, and crude.
petroleum there arises constantly an inflammable vapor, which becomes highly
explosive on being mixed with the oxygen of the air.
To prevent leakage, and to reduce the fire risks on these oils, become there-'
fore objects of the highest importance. The large tanks of wood or metal'
which have been erected but imperfectly effect these objects. Barrels or cans
of metal are expensive, and give little security against fire, since the oil
becomes more readily heated in metal than in wood.
:
:
To secure more fully the requisite protection against leakage, evaporation,
fire, and explosion, I provide a reservoir for water, in which I place a tank
constructed of wood, metal, or masonry. The tank is held down by anchors,'
or by weights, or by a system of beams secured to the walls of the reservoir;
so that the tank and oil which it contains shall be completely surrounded and'

page_text: covered by water. I thus afford security against fire, and also against
leakage through slight imperfection of seams, since the oil and water will
not readily pass each other through capillary spaces.
I provide for the introduction of water into the tank, so as to sustain the
oil compactly against the top thereof, and so as to allow no space for the
accumulation of gas or vapor. For refined petroleum there may be found
necessary some modification of this last-named provision to allow the escape
of vapor arising from the water, and which tends to fog the oil when it retains
any trace either of the acids or alkalies which have been used in the treatment
or process of refining.
·
I provide a pipe for introducing the oil into the tank; I also provide a
pipe with stop-cock for discharging the oil. The oil is discharged by the
pressure of the water either into packages for transportation, or through a
pipe directly on shipboard, or is conveyed to tanks adjacent or distant, or to
lamps and burners when arranged for local use in buildings or streets.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a vertical section of a cylindrical.
tank Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the same; and Figures 3 and 4 aro
respectively vertical and horizontal sections of a rectangular tank both con-
structed according to this Invention. Similar letters refer to similar parts of
the Drawings,
a, a, are the subsills and floor joists to the bottom of the tank, to which the
sbeathing 1, 1, is attached, and b, b, are the studs to which the side sheathing is
also attached; c, c, are columns or shores secured to a plate d and sill e to
strengthen the top and bottom of the tank, and render it more secure against
external pressure; f, f, are plates into which the top joists are framed to
support the sheathing; 9 is a water receiving and escape pipe extending
from outside near the top nearly to the bottom of the tank; this pipe is fitted
with a movable jointed nozzle h, by which the pressure of the column of water
in the pipe is graduated to the depth of the oil in the tank; i is an oil
discharging pipe, with a branch j for receiving oil when the stop cock t is
closed; is a bulkhead or dam constituting a suitable place for discharging
oil below the top of the reservoir, and it also serves for the escape of waste
water. The dotted line at w shews the height of the water in the reservoir,
and the dotted line at where the oil and water maintain contact .near the
bottom when the tank is properly filled with oil, the space below the line
being filled with water, and loaded with gravel or other weighty material to
overbalance the pressure of water from beneath. Double sheathing may be
employed for the sides and bottom of the framework of the tank, and the
space between the two sheathings may be made to hold water, and serve in

page_text: the place of a reservoir; or ordinary tanks or casks may be submerged in
water, and provided with pipes, as above described. For storing refined oils
which retain any trace of the acids or alkalies used in the process of refining,
I slightly modify the arrangement of the pipe g for keeping the oil compactly
against the top of the tank, and allow sufficient vapor to escape to clear the
oil from the fog caused by the presence of the acids or alkalies in connection
with the vapor from water.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-When the tank is properly
arranged in the reservoir, water is let into the reservoir, and at the same time
into the tank through the pipe 9, or through an opening in the side of the
tauk near the bottom, or through the bottom of the tank, which may be left
open. When the proper quantity of water has been let in, the oil may be let
into the tank through the oil receiving pipe j, whereby the water becomes
displaced in the tank nearly to its bottom, and its place filled with oil. The
oil will now have risen in the oil receiving pipe nearly to a level with the
water in the reservoir, and thus the pressure will be nearly equal at the top of
the tank between the water outside and the oil inside thereof. But I prefer
to have a trifling pressure from the water without to be sustained by the sides
of the tank over the pressure of oil from within, for should there be any leak
in the tank it will be of water into the tank, and not of oil out of it, and any
leakage of water into the tank will pass off through the water pipe, the
opening of which is regulated so as to allow the waste water to escape at a
proper point below the surface of the water in the reservoir. To discharge
the oil, the stop-cock of the oil discharging pipe i is turned, which allows the oil
to run out; the opening for the escape of water is then closed or raised, so as
to continue the discharge of oil, water being supplied to the tank in sufficient
force to accomplish that object. Where tanks without bottom or with
apertures near the bottom are employed, the water supply and escape pipe
may be dispensed with, the oil in this case being sustained against the top of
the tank as long as the water is maintained in the reservoir, the oil being
discharged by simply turning the stop-cock.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, constructing tanks for storing and holding petroleum and other
volatile oils and spirits; of wood, metal, or masonry, and placing and adjusting
the same in a reservoir of water, as herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings.
Second, I claim the arrangement of the pipe g for introducing water into

page_text: and providing for its escape from the tank, as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
And, third, I claim the arrangement of the jointed nozzle h with the pipe g,
as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Theodore Bourne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
THEODORE BOURNE. (L.S.)