AN IMPROVEMENT IN DISTILLING ASPHALTE, PITCH, TAR, AND OTHER BITUMINOUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Stuart, of Sly Kates Hill, Chatham, in the
County of Kent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN DISTILLING
ASPHALTE, PITCH, TAR, AND OTHER BITUMINOUS SUBSTANCES."
Scaled the 1st November 1858, and dated 26th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Stuart at the
Office of the Commissiouers of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
May 1858.
"
I, JAMES STUART, of Sly Kates Hill, Chatham. in the County of Kent, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for AN IMPROVEMENT IN DIS
TILLING ASPHALTE, PITCH. TAR, AND OTHER BITUMINOUS SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in distilling asphalte,
pitch, tar, and other bituminous substances. For this purpose the asphalte,
pitch, tar, or other bituminous substance, is first ground or intimately mixed
with lime or chalk, and then introduced into a suitable still or retort, and
products are distilled therefrom, and condensed by suitable condensing
apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Stuart in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
STUART, of ly Kates Hill, Chatham, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
[Price 8d.]

page_text: WHEREAS Her most excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Stuart, Her special licence that I, the said James Stuart, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said James
Stuart, my exccutors, 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 IMPROVEMENT IN DISTILLIN
ASPHALTE, PITCH, TAB, AND OTHER BITUMINOUS SUBSTANCES." upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Stuart, my executors or adminis
trators, 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 James Stuart, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in distilling asphalte
pitch, tar, and other bituminous substances. For this purpose the asphalte,
pitch, tar, or other bituminous substance is first ground or intimately mixed
with lime or chalk, and then introduced into a suitable still or retort, and pro-
ducts are distilled therefrom and condensed by suitable condensingapparatus.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method in which I
préfer to conduct the process.
The matter to be treated is ground by causing it to pass under crushing
rollers, and at the same time lime, dry or slaked, is added to it, so that during
the grinding the two substances become intimately mixed. When treating
asphalte, pitch, or tar, the lime is employed in the proportion of one part o
the same to two parts of asphalte, pitch, or.tar. And when treating other
bituminous substances, the quantity of lime employed varies according to
the nature of the substance, that is to say, according as it is more or less
bituminous in its nature, and also according to the proportion of sulphur it
contains. In place of line, chalk may be employed in somewhat increased

page_text: proportion, but it is better to employ lime. The mixture of asphalte, pitch,
tar, or other bituminous substance with lime or chalk is introduced into a,
retort, in such quantity as to fill about one-third of its capacity. The retort
may be formed like an ordinary gas retort, and should be heated by a furnaces
or in other convenient manner to a temperature of from 600 to 800° Fahren
heit; it is connected with a condensing worm immersed in cold water, and the
vapours passing from the retort are condensed in the worm into a fatty liquid
which escapes at its end, and is collected in suitable receivers. (The specific
gravity of the product should be between 925 and 960, if it be less the
temperature of the retort is too high.) The fatty matter may be purified, if it
is desired, by a second distillation, or by other methods employed for the
purification of similar substances; the harder portions of the product may
then be separated from the softer by pressure in the ordinary manner, and the
former may be employed in the manufacture of candles, and the latter for
lubricating and other purposes.
The substance which remains in the retort when the distillation is complete
is very suitable for use as a black pigment in the manufacture of printers' ink
and paint,and when it is to be so employed, it should be allowed to cool in the
retort, or if drawn while hot, then immediately plunged into water.
prepare it for use, it is ground to powder, and is employed in the manufacture
above mentioned in the same manner as other black pigments are employed.
To
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the exact details described, but what I claim is, the grinding
asphalte, pitch, tar, and other bituminous substances with lime or chalk,
and afterwards obtaining products by distillation from the substances so
prepared, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Stuart, have hereunto set my
haud and seal, this First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
W* GIBSON,
34, Great Winchester Street, E.C.,
London.
JAMES STUART. (L.S.)