IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS SERVING THE PURPOSES BOTH OF SAPONIFICATION AND OF DECOMPOSING NEUTRAL FATTY SUB- STANCES INTO FATTY OR OILY ACID AND GLYCERINE,
Year: 1858

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Thomas Hughes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
May 1858. A communication from Jean Boullenger and Louis Jacques
Martin, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
I, EDWARD THOMAS IIUGпES, of the firm of Hughes & Son, Patent Agents,
193, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS SERVING
THE PURPOSES BOTH OF SAPONIFICATION AND OF DECOMPOSING NEUTRAL FATTY SUB-
STANCES INTO FATTY OR OILY ACID AND GLYCERINE," as communicated to me by
Jean Boullenger and Louis Jacques Martin, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
to be as follows:-
By this Invention, neutral fatty substances, whether animal or vegetable,
produce fatty acid and glycerine, by putting them in contact for some hours at
a high temperature, 1st, with ordinary water; 2nd, with ordinary water, to
which is added one or two per cent. of alcohol, to facilitate the dissolution of
the glycerine; 3rd, with water, and five or six per cent. of the spirits of wood,
dissolved very powerfully; 4th, with a mixture of sulphor of carbon, the
essence of terrebenthine and the essence of lavender in equal parts. In these
different cases the saponification will be partial or complete, according to the
condition of the matter and the time of contact with the water, &c.
When the basis is obtained, the manner of operation is as follows:-A

page_text: cylinder, made of iron, brass, or other suitable metal or material is placed
vertically in a furnace. Through the man-hole of the apparatus is poured the
water or the dissolvent to be employed in treating the fatty substance; the
mixture is then raised and maintained for some hours at a high temperature,
corresponding to a pressure of about 6 to 15 atmospheres. At the lower part
of the apparatus there is a pipe to carry off the liquid which collects there,
and returns through a pipe to the upper part, or it may be injected by any
suitable means.
On the upper part of the fatty matter, pressure is used by a force pump,
assist the action of heat and to force the dissolved liqued to mix with the fatty
substances escaping from the glycerine, and falling to the bottom of the
apparatus, or it may be again raised through the pipe, and the operation
repeated.
The force pump should have its buckets made so as to be very tight and
safe, by having a spring to keep the orifice closed when the piston is lifted.
A tube extends from the top part of the pump to the upper part of the appa-
ratus, which maintains below the piston the same pressure which exists in
the apparatus, and consequently under the piston when it is raised. The
apparatus is furnished with safety valves, indicators, &c. After the operation,
the matter drawn off no longer possesses the character or property of the
neutral fatty substance, but that of fatty acids deprived of the glycerine,
which remains in solution in the water or other agent which has been used.
The cake of fatty acid thus obtained may be pressed and made into candles,
or used for other purposes.