IMPROVED APPARATUS AND PROCESSES FOR DECOMPOSING NEUTRAL FATTY BODIES OR MATTERS INTO FATTY ACIDS AND GLYCERINE, AND FOR THE DISTILLATION THEREOF
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Delafield, of Brussels, in the King-
dom of Belgium, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS AND PROCESSES
FOR DECOMPOSING NEUTRAL FATTY BODIES OR MATTERS INTO FATTY ACIDS AND
GLYCERINE, AND FOR THE DISTILLATION THEREOF."-A communication from
abroad by Louis Martin, of No. 209, Rue Saint Jacques, Paris.
Sealed the 22nd June 1860, and dated the 5th April 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Thomas Delafield, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
April 1860.
I, EDWARD THOMAS DELAFIELD, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
AND PROCESSES FOR DECOMPOSING NEUTRAL FATTY BODIES OR MATTERS INTO FATTY
ACIDS AND GLYCERINE, AND FOR THE DISTILLATION THEREOF," communicated to me
from abroad by Louis Martin, of No. 209, Rue Saint Jacques, Paris, to be
as follows:-
This Invention is designed for obtaining, either with or without the aid of
distillation, products similar to those at present obtained by the well-known
processes of calcareous saponification, and in larger quantities than heretofore.
propose to effect the objects of this Invention in the following manner, and
by the following means:-
I
First, for effecting the process of decomposing tallows, and other neutral

page_text: fatty bodies or matters, either animal or vegetable, into fatty acids and glycerine,
I employ an apparatus composed of a vat, lined with lead and closed by a
cover, and impart heat thereto by a worm, in connection with which said vat
is a pyrometer, a safety valve, and a pump; and suppose, for example, it is
required to operate upon three tons of tallow, I proceed as follows:-I first
place in the vat a quantity of sulphuric acid, in the proportion varying from
10 to 25 per cent. I then add water thereto to reduce it to the strength of
30°; I then introduce the above weight of tallow, the vat is then closed, and
steam forced into the worm aforesaid. The acidulated water and tallow are
next heated to 120° to 125° centigrade =248° to 257° Fahrenheit. The pump
is then brought into action to draw off the acidulated water which is under
the tallow, and to force it back again through a tube, which distributes the
said water by means of a rose or perforated nozzle, thereby causing the water
to penetrate the whole mass. of tallow in a molecular condition, and constantly
renewing the points of contact; the heat should be kept up to 120° to 125°
centigrade =248° to 257° Fahrenheit, for about 14 hours. If the operation
be carefully conducted the acidulated water will by that time have combined
with the glycerine, and formed sulpho-glyceric acid or sulphate of glycerine; a
sample drawn off through a cock will shew whether the saponification is
partial or complete, and if needful the operation may be prolonged. Deconi-
position having thus taken place, I draw off the fatty acids, (which are
identical with those at present produced by the use of alkalies,) then wash
them in water, press and clarify them. I next proceed to extract from the
residuum the stearic and margaric acid, which I obtain in much larger
quantities than by the method of calcareous saponification at present employed.
I propose to operate upon the refuse matter by subjecting the same to acidi-
fying and concreting processes during the distilling operation presently
described.
I now proceed to describe an apparatus, which I propose to employ for trans-
forming, acidulating, and preparing fatty substances for self-acting continuous
distillation and concretion. This apparatus is composed of a boiler or vat
furnished with a funnel and supply pipe for fatty matters, a pyrometer, a pipe
and cock for drawing off contents of the vat, and a furnace for heating
same. The fatty substances are admitted into the boiler by the cock aforesaid
and raised to a temperature of 325° to 337° centigrade = 617° to 638°
Fahrenheit, which should be kept up for about 2 hours; the heat is then
allowed to subside to 110° centigrade = to 230° Fahrenheit, and the fatty
substances then pass into an apparatus composed of an iron cylinder lined
with lead, capable of holding about 650 pounds weight or more of sulphuric

page_text: acid, and 220 pounds of fatty matters drawn off from the boiler of the last
described apparatus. I also employ a tube and cock for conveying the
matter to the bottom of the iron cylinder, also a funnel and cock for supplying
acid to said cylinder, and other cocks for drawing off the acid, and likewise
the supernatant fatty acid from the surface of the liquor in another boiler
herein-after described.
In connection with the above, I employ an apparatus for decomposing
azotic acid by the aid of organic matter or for decomposing sulphuric acid by
an excess of sulphur; I also employ a tube fitted with a cock for conducting
the disengaged vapours to the bottom of the above-mentioned iron cylinder,
and further I use a tube and cock for the introduction of matters intended to
produce said vapours, also a discharging cock, a worm fed with steam for
heating the apparatus, and a cock and tube with a rose head for sending back
the superfluous vapours to the bottom of the aforesaid boiler or vat.
In connection with the above-described apparatus, I employ another
boiler or vat lined with lead and furnished with a worn heated by steam. At
the bottom of this boiler or vat is a discharge pipe for the passage of the fatty
matters or supernatant fatty acids, floating on the surface of the liquor, in the
iron cylinder, as before stated; I next proceed to wash the products thus
obtained in another vat containing water. The pipe of the iron cylinder afore-
said being opened, the fatty matter runs in at the bottom of said cylinder, then
rises in a molecular state through the column of acid, and floats on the surface
thereof. The nitrous or sulphurous vapours generated in the apparatus
employed for decomposing azotic acid escape by a cock into the bottom of the
iron cylinder aforesaid, and rising through the column of acid undergo a gradual
process of purification; said vapours reach the layer of fatty acid which has been
allowed to accumulate in the iron cylinder, and during their passage they trans-
form the oleine and eleic acid into elaidine or elaidic acid, concretion being
produced in a few minutes, I then allow the fatty acid to run off by a pipe and
cock into the boiler or vat, before mentioned, containing the fatty matters or
acids, which have passed from the iron cylinder aforesaid, and repeat the
whole process as often as required. The fatty acids are again washed this
time with pure water; the superfluous vapour is sent back to the bottom of
the reservoir by a pipe and cock. The raw material I employ, whether con-
sisting of fatty matters transformed at the above temperature acidulated and
concreted, or being the refuse from the presses after decomposition treated in a
similar manner, having been brought to the point above described, are raised
to a drying apparatus placed above the self-acting distilling apparatus above
described. For the regeneration of the sulphuric acid previously employed

page_text: in the decomposition of tallow, I employ an apparatus composed of a filter
lined with lead containing the sulpho-glyceric acid resulting from the decom-
position. This acid passes through animal charcoal placed between two
perforated leaden columns and runs out by a cock into a vat employed for the
reception of the filtered sulpho-glyceric acid. I also employ a cast-iron
receiver, lined with lead, placed over a fire-place. The sulpho-glyceric acid
passes througth the aforesaid filter, and is drawn off into the vat aforesaid;
steam is then forced into a worm, and the acid is concentrated to 50° by evapo-
ration. To every half ton of this acid, I add 220 pounds of sulphuric acid at
66° heated to 150 centigrade = 302° Fahrenheit. During this reaction
the sulphuric acid decomposes the sulpho-glyceric acid by burning the gly-
cerine, and the sulphuric acid formerly combined with it is regenerated and
rendered again fit for use.
I now proceed to describe another apparatus which I employ for distilling
purposes; this apparatus is composed of a wooden vat, lined with lead, and a
worm discharging on the outside, said vat containing the material for feeding
the distilling apparatus, also a supply cock for feeding the apparatus mechani-
cally by a self-acting regulator, a ballcock, a ball or float, a rod, a supply
worm, a cast-iron retort, and a pipe to convey superheated steam to a steam
distributor. Or I employ a continuous self-acting distilling apparatus composed
of a cast-iron receiver heated by an open fire. The operations of the aforesaid
distilling apparatus are as follows:-The retorts or distilling apparatus are
filled with, say, one ton of matter taken from the reservoir, (but at the begin-
ing of the process of distillation I dispense with the self-acting feeding
mechanism,) heat is applied, and when the temperature has risen to 220° to
235° centigrade = 428° to 437° Fahrenheit, and about 220 pounds have been
distilled, the product begins to come over white. I then replace in the reser-
voir the first quantity distilled, and now begin to use the self-acting feeding
apparatus, that is to say, I so regulate the float thereof that only as much
matter enters the retort as is distilled through the worm, so as to keep the
matter under distillation at a uniform height in the still, and allow the
superheated steam to act both mechanically and chemically with unvarying
regularity.