IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DISTILLATION AND TREATMENT OF PETROLEUM AND OTHER LIKE OILS TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS THERE- FROM, AND IN THE APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREPOR, PARTS OF WHICH CAN BE APPLIED FOR DISTILLING OTHER LIQUIDS.
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John McInnes, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, and Elijah Freeman Prentiss, of Birkenhead, in the County
of Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DISTILLATION AND
TREATMENT OF PETROLEUM AND OTHER LIKE OILS TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS THERE-
FROM, AND IN THE APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREPOR, PARTS OF WHICH CAN BE
APPLIED FOR DISTILLING OTHER LIQUIDS.".
Sealed the 12th June 1863, and dated the 16th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John M° Innes and
Elijah Freeman Prentiss at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents
with their Petition, on the 16th December 1862.
We, JOHN MINNES, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and ELIJAH
FREEMAN PRENTISS, of Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DISTIL-
LATION AND TREATMENT OF PETROLEUM AND OTHER LIKE OILS TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS
THEREFROM, AND IN THE APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREFOR, PARTS OF WHICH CAN BE
APPLIED FOR DISTILLING OTHER LIQUIDS," to be as follows (that is to say):
This Invention has for its objects the distillation and treatment of petroleum.
and other like oils by a continuous process, and in a film or shallow layer or
layers, and consists in evaporating the oil upon a series of heated inclined planes
of various temperatures, and which surfaces may be covered or partially covered
with a layer of cast-iron filings, borings, or turnings, or any other suitable

page_text: It is also
metal or other good conductor or conductors of heat, to increase the heated
surfaces into which the oil to be distilled is brought into contact.
preferred in some cases to use a thin layer or stratum of mineral or vegetable
charcoal, lime, burnt clay, sand, or other deodorizing or partially deodorizing
and purifying material, resting upon the heated inclined planes. Each of these
heated inclined planes are enclosed in or form the bottom of an air-tight vapour
chamber (as herein-after explained). The gases from each of the vapour
chambers pass through a suitable pipe or passage to the condensers, which
may be of any suitable kind, but it is preferred to use the system of condensers
described in the Provisional Specification of the said Elijah Freeman Prentiss
and Robert Adam Robertson, of Liverpool, aforesaid, and for which they
obtained Provisional Protection, dated 31st July 1862, and numbered 2170,
and in some cases, to facilitate the evaporation, an air pump is used in con-
nexion with the condensers.
The inclined planes may be heated by steam, superheated steam, hot air, by
sand baths having flues passing therethrough, as herein-after described. And
after the oil has been passed over the heated surfaces herein-before described,
the residue is conveyed into an evaporating vessel of a peculiar description
heated by steam, superheated steam, hot air, or both, or by a naked fire, as
herein-after described. In the early stages of evaporation, the hot water
may be used as the heating medium.
An apparatus, constructed according to this Invention, may consist of any
number of parallelogramical (or other suitably shaped) boxes or chambers
formed of cast iron or other suitable material, each of (say) ten feet long by
(say) three feet wide, and from, say, ten to fourteen inches deep. Some of
these boxes are cast or formed with a double bottom for the admission of
steam or heated air between the upper and lower plates. The upper plate of
the bottom is constructed to form a longitudinal inclined plane at a slight angle
to the horizon, and when formed of cast metal, the upper and lower plates of
the bottom are connected by a number of vertical stud pieces or longitudinal
or transverse vertical feathers to increase the strength to resist the required
pressure. The other boxes or chambers are cast or formed with a single
bottom inclined at an angle similar to the upper plate of the double-bottomed
vessels. The single-bottomed chambers are mounted upon sand baths heated
by brick or tiled flues..
'This part of the apparatus is arranged as follows, (that is to say): --Suitable
brick or tile hot-air flues are constructed on the foundation, and which are
packed in with sand, or other suitable conductor of heat, upon which is placed,
say the first of the single-bottomed chambers described; which is closed in

page_text: at the top by a suitable metallic lid bolted down so as to make a perfectly air-
tight joint. On the lid of the first chest, a second bath, heated by hot-air flues,
is constructed to receive a second single-bottomed chamber, the inclined bottoni
running in a counter direction to the first, and so on in any required number.
The hot-air flues are provided with dampers to regulate the amount of heat
and the upper and lower sets of flues may communicate with each other, or
otherwise, as may be found most convenient. Again, above these single-
bottomed chambers are mounted any required number of the double-bottomed
chests, taking care that the inclined bottoms fall in alternate directions. The
lower boxes are heated from a furnace placed in any convenient position, but
avoiding a too close proximity to insure safety. The upper chambers are
heated by hot air, steam, superheated steam, or hot water passing through the
cavities between the upper and lower plates of the double bottoms, hot water
being preferred for the upper vapour chest, which is inclosed on the top with
plain lid bolted down to make an air-tight joint, or a double lid may be used
to allow heat to be applied above in the same way as below. This upper
chest is bolted to the one immediately below it by screw bolts passing through
external flanges cast or formed near the lower edge of the upper chamber and
near the upper edge of the next chamber, and so on through the whole series of
double-bottomed chambers, by which arrangement the bottom of each chamber
forms a heated top for the one immediately below it. The second and third
chambers it is preferred to heat by steam, and the remainder of the double-
bottomed vessels by superheated steam, but the mode of heating will entirely
depend upon the substance to be operated upon. Each vapour chamber it is
preferred to form with a port opening at each end to obtain ready access to
the interior for introducing and withdrawing the charcoal or other deodorizing
and purifying, substances or beat-conducting material; suitable air-tight
covers are used to close these openings during the time the apparatus is in
operation.
The oil or other liquid to be operated upon is conveyed from a tank or other
vessel placed at a higher level than the upper vapour chamber, and into which
it is carried and discharged through a pipe, which at the portion within the
chamber is perforated in the side to allow the oil to fall on to the upper end of
the bottom of the chamber when it gradually descends down the bottom,
passing through the charcoal or other substance until the portion that is not
evaporate darrives at the lower end, where it passes through an S-pipe in at the
upper end of the vapour chamber immediately below it, and so on through the
whole series until it arrives at the last, from whence any residue then remaining
is conveyed through a pipe to an evaporating vessel of a peculiar construction,

page_text: placed at a considerable distance, and there to be further treated.. The S-pipe
is so arranged that the residium may be entirely drawn off, or a portion retained
as may be found most advantageous. The evaporating vessel last alluded to
consists of a vertical, cylindrical, semi-spherical ended metal vessel, by
preference formed of cast iron, and in one piece, having a man-hole at
the top and an internal cylindrical open topped pipe extending from the
bottom vertically upward for a given distance, and into or on to which is fitted a
sliding tube capable of being elevated or depressed any required distance above
the stand pipe, to which it is fitted by means of a screw, or in any other
convenient way. This stand pipe is used to draw off the vapours from or as
near the surface of the contents of the still as possible, from whence they are
conveyed through a pipe to the condensers. This vessel can be heated by
a naked fire, or may be surrounded by a jacket for heating by steam or
superheated steam, and which jacket may also be surrounded by a heated
air chamber or flues.
In some cases, in order to further increase the surface over which the oil
or other liquid to be operated upon has to travel, it is proposed to place one
or more plates of metal within the vapour chamber, these plates having
thier longitudinal edges turned up, and are placed in an inclined position.
In some cases it may be found more convenient to form the parallelogramica!
part of the apparatus into more stacks than one, as herein-before described,
and the pipes for the conveyance of the oil or other liquid from vapour
chamber to vapour chamber, can be so arranged that one or more of the
chambers as desired can be cut off. And in some cases it may be desirable to
fit supply pipes to more of the vapour chambers than the upper one, and also
it may be found advantageous to introduce a jet or jets of steam into one or
more of the vapour chambers during the evaporation of the oil.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Mc Innes and Elijah Freeman Prentiss in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 16th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
MINNES, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and ELIJAH FREEMAN
PRENTISS, of Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of

page_text: Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Mo Innes and Elijah Freeman Prentiss, Her special licence,
that we, the said John Me Innes and Elijah Freeman Prentiss, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Mc Innes and
Elijah Freeman Prentiss, our 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DISTILLATION AND TREATMENT OF PETROLEUM AND OTHER
LIKE OILS TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS THEREFROM, AND IN THE APPARATUS TO BE USED
THEREFOR, PARTS OF WHICH CAN BE APPLIED FOR DISTILLING OTHER LIQUIDS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Elijah Freeman Prentiss
and John Me Innes, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, 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 we, the said John M° Innes and Elijah Freeman
Prentiss, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
:-.
This our said Invention has for its objects the distillation and treatment of
petroleum and other like oils by a continuous process, and in a film or shallow
layer or layers, and consists in evaporating the oil upon a series of heated
inclined planes of various temperatures, and which surfaces we prefer to cover
or partially cover with a layer of cast-iron filings, borings, or turnings, or any
other suitable metal, or other good conductor or conductors of heat, to increase
the beated surfaces into which. the oil to be distilled is brought into contact.
We also proposed in some cases to use a thin layer or stratum of mineral or
vegetable charcoal, lime, burnt clay, sand, or other deodorizing or partially
deodorizing and purifying material, resting upon the heated inclined planes.
Each of these heated inclined planes are enclosed in or form the bottom of
5 an air-tight vapour chamber (as herein-after explained). The gases from each
of the vapour chambers we pass through a suitable pipes or passages to the
condensers, which may be of any suitable kind; but we prefer to use the
system of condensers described in the Specification of the said Elijah Freeman
Prentiss and Rob.rt Adam Roberston, of Liverpool, af resaid, and for which

page_text: they obtained Letters Patent, dated 31st July 1862, and numbered 2170.
And in some cases, to facilitate evaporation, we use an air-pump in connexion
with the condensers.
The inclined planes may be heated by steam, superheated steam, hot air, or
by sand baths having flues passing therethrough, as herein-after described.
And after the oil has been passed over the heated surfaces herein-before
described the residue we convey into an evaporating vessel of a peculiar
description beated by steam, superheated steam, hot air, or both, or by a
naked fire, as herein-after described. In the early stages of evaporation the
hot water may be used as the heating medium.
An apparatus constructed according to this our said Invention may consist
of any number of rectangular (or other suitably shaped) boxes or chambers
formed of cast iron or other suitable material, each of (say) ten feet long by
(say) three feet wide, and from (say) 10 to 14 inches deep. Some of these
boxes are cast or formed with a double bottom for the admission of steam or
heated air between the upper and lower.bottom plates. The upper plate of
the bottom we construct so as to form a longitudinal inclined plane at a slight
angle to the horizon, and when formed of cast metal the upper and lower
plates are connected by a number of vertical stud pieces, or longitudinal or
transverse vertical feathers to increase the strength to resist the required
pressure. The other boxes or chambers are cast or formed with a single
bottom inclined at an angle similar to the upper plate of the double bottomed
vessels described. The single bottomed chambers are mounted upon sand
baths heated by brick flues.
This part of the apparatus is arranged is follows (that is to say) :-Suitable
brick or tile hot-air flues are constructed on the foundation, and which are
packed in with sand or other suitable conductor of heat, upon which is placed
(say) the first of the single bottomed chambers described, which is closed in
at the top by a suitable metallic lid bolted down so as to make a perfectly
air-tight joint; or the sides, top, and bottom may be formed in one piece. On
the lid or top of the first chest a second bath heated by hot-air flues is
constructed to receive a second single bottoned chamber, the inclined bottom
running in a counter direction to the first, and so on to any required number.
The hot-air flues we provide with dampers to regulate the amount of heat,
and the upper and lower sets of flues may communicate with each other or
otherwise as may be found most convenient. Again, above these single
bottomed chambers are mounted any required number of double bottomed
chests, taking care that the inclined bottoms fall in alternate directions. The
lower boxes are heated from a furnace placed in any convenient position, but

page_text: avoiding a too close proximity to insure safety. The upper chambers are
heated by hot air, steam, superheated steam, or hot water passing through
the cavities between the upper and lower plates of the double bottoms, hot
water being preferred for the upper vapour chest, which is enclosed on the
top with plain lid, bolted down to make an air-tight joint; or a double lid may
be used to allow heat to be applied above in the same way as below. This
upper chest is bolted to the other immediately below it by screw bolts passing
through external flanches, cast or formed near the lower edge of the upper
chamber and near the upper edge of the next chamber, and so on through
the whole series of double bottomed chests, by which arrangement the bottom
of each chamber forms a heated top for the one immediately below it. The
second and third chamber it is preferred to heat by steam, and the remainder,
of the double bottomed vessels by superheated steam; but the mode of heating
will entirely depend upon the substance to be operated upon.
Each vapour
chamber we prefer to form with a port opening at each end to obtain ready
access to the interior for introducing and withdrawing the charcoal or other
deodorizing and purifying substances or heat-conducting material; suitable
air-tight covers being used to close these openings during the time the appa-
ratus is in operation.
The oil or other liquid to be operated upon is conveyed from a tank or
other vessel placed at a higher level than the upper vapour chamber, and into
which it is carried by a pipe, which, at the portion within the chamber, is
discharged through a pipe perforated in the side to allow the oil to fall unto
the upper end of the bottom of the chamber, when it gradually descends
down the bottom, passing through the charcoal or other substance until the
portion which is not evaporated arrives at the lower end, where it passes
through an S-pipe, in at the upper end of the vapour chamber immediately
below it, and so on through the whole series until it arrives at the last, from
whence any residue then remaining is conveyed through a pipe to an
evaporating vessel of a peculiar construction placed at a considerable dis-
tance, and there to be further treated. The S-pipes are so arranged that the
residue may be entirely drawn off or a portion retained as may be found
most advantageous. The evaporating vessel last alluded to consists of a
spherical, vertical, cylindrical, semi-spherical ended metal vessel, by preference
formed of cast iron, and in one piece, having a man-hole at the top and an
internal cylindrical open-topped pipe extending from the bottom vertically
upward for a given distance, and into or on to which is fitted a sliding tube
capable of being elevated or depressed any required distance above the stand
pipe, to which it is fitted by means of a screw, or in any other convenient

page_text: way. This stand pipe is used to draw off the vapour from or as near the
surface of the contents of the still as possible, from whence they are conveyed
through a pipe to the condensers. This vessel can be heated by a naked fire,
or may be surrounded by a jacket for heating by steam or superheated steam,
and which jacket may also be surrounded by a heated air chamber or flues.
In some cases in order to further increase the surface over which the oil
or other liquid to be operated upon has to travel, we place one or more plates
of metal within the vapour chambers; these plates having their longitudinal
edges turned up, and are placed in an inclined position.
In some cases it may be found more convenient to form the rectangular
part of the apparatus into more stacks than one, as herein-before described,
and the pipes for the conveyance of the oil or other liquid from vapour
chamber to vapour chamber can be arranged that one or more of the
chambers, as desired, can be cut off. And in some cases it may be desirable
to fit supply pipes to more of the vapour chambers than the upper one. And
we have also found it of advantage to introduce a jet or jets of steam into one
or more of the vapour chambers during the evaporation of the oil.
That this our said Invention may be more readily sean and understood
we have hereunto annexed sectional Drawings of so much of one modification
of our improved apparatus as will be requisite to illustrate the practical
application of the Invention. Like letters and like figures marked on the
Drawings are used to indicate similar parts.
Figure 1 is a transverse sectional elevation of one modification of our
improved distilling apparatus; Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of
the double-bottomed boxes or chambers (c, c¹, c³, c³, c,) into which the oil or
other substance to be operated upon first enters, and which chambers are kept
at a temperature of from one hundred and forty to three hundred and fifty
degrees Fahrenheit, by means of hot water, steam, or hot air, introduced
between the upper and lower plates of the double bottoms, when the oil or
other liquid being operated upon, which is not volatilized at the temperature at
which this first set of chambers are kept, escapes through the S-pipe (9)
into the supply pipe (k) into the first of the second series of chambers, which
it is proposed to heat by hot air; Figure 3 is a longitudinal elevation of one
of the second series of chambers (L) and hot-air flues (m), the evaporating
chamber being seen with two longitudinal shelves or trays to increase the
surface over which the oil or other material to be operated upon has to travel,
and Figure 4 is a plan of the hot-air flues used for heating the second series of
evaporating chambers.
A, tank for containing the supply of oil or other matter to be operated upon,

page_text: and is connected by B, a pipe, to c, c¹, c², c³, c, a series of evaporating chambers,
which we prefer to form of cast iron, and connect the upper and lower plates
of the double bottoms by d, stud pieces or pillars to insure strength and
counteract the pressure of the steam; e, perforated pipes within the distilling
chambers for spreading the material to be operated upon over the top of the
inclined planes; f, vapour pipes (shown broken off), connecting the chambers
with condensers of any convenient form, and through which the vapours
generated in the various chambers are conveyed to the condensers; 9, pipes
through which the unvolatized oil or other liquid passes into h, stand pipes,
and thence through i, branch supply pipes; j, taps for regulating or cutting of
the supply; k, junction pipe connecting the first series of vapour chambers
through the branch supply and discharge pipes. L, L', L³, L³, and L' the
second set of evaporating chambers which are heated by means of, m, hot-
air flues, which receive their supply of rarefied air from a furnace placed in
an out-building or in any other convenient situation so as to ensure safety to
the premises in which the manufacture is carried on; n, steam supply pipes;
p, waste pipes; q, longitudinal inclined trays to increase the surface over
which the material to be operated upon has to travel; the longitudinal edges
of these trays are turned upward, so as to prevent the oil or other liquid from
falling over the edges, and these trays, as well as the bottoms of the chambers,
may be fitted with r, transverse ribs attached to the upper surface and
extending from one vertical side to the other, and with t, transverse bars which
also extend from side to side of the trays and sloping bottoms of the chambers,
but which are not in close contact. The object of these ribs and bars (r and t)
is to prevent the surface of the liquid from passing to the lower end of the
chambers or trays before it has been fully acted upon in the several chambers;
u, junction pipe for conveying any oil or other substance remaining in the
second series of evaporating chambers into the body of v, a spherical still, which
consists of w, a sphere of cast iron surrounded by x, another sphere of wrought
iron of large dimensions, so as to form a chamber for superheated steam
between the outer surface of the inner shell and the inner surface of the
outer shell of the still; y a vertical stand pipe, in which slides z, a tube, which
is actuated by z¹, a vertical rod. The object of this sliding tube is to allow
the vapours of distillation to escape from as near the surface of the liquid as
possible, the vapour passing through a, branch pipe, to b, a worm condenser ;
c, man-hole; a', tap for discharging the still; a³, vertical glass guage, to indicate
the height of the contents of the still; 6', hot-air flues surrounding the spherical
still to keep up the temperature of the superheated steam; c', lugs for
screwing the end on vapour chambers (L).

page_text: We will now proceed to describe the mode we adapt for treating the oil or
other substances to be operated upon for the purpose of obtaining products
therefrom (that is to say):-
We deposit the oil or other substance to be distilled in the cistern (A);
we then turn ou the tap on the supply pipe (B), when the oil or other liquid
passing through holes in the horizontal pipe (e) within the first evapora-
tion chamber (c) is equally distributed over the upper end of the bottom
of the chamber, when it gradually descends to the lower end. The
vapour generated passing out through the pipe (f), where the products
of distillation obtainable at the temperature at which the first box is kept
are condensed, and the remaining oil or liquid passes from the first chamber
through the S-pipe (g), and through the stand pipe (h) and the supply
pipe (i) into the second evaporating chamber, which is constructed and fitted
in the same way as the one immediately above it, except that their
inclined bottoms fall in opposite directions; this second chamber is kept
at a higher temperature than the first, and so on through the whole of
the stack to the last box (c'), whence the unevaporated residue passes
to the second stack of evaporating chambers heated by hot-air flues,
where it passes from box to box in the same way as in the first stack
of vapour chambers heated by steam, and the vapours of the several
chambers condensed in the same manner, after which any residue remaining
is conveyed through a junction pipe to the globular still which is heated
by superheated steam and hot air or naked fire, the vapour passing through
the slide pipe (a), vertical stand pipe (y), and branch pipe (a to the
'condenser b). Any residue remaining in the still may be drawn off by
closing the tap on the supply pipe and opening the discharge cock on the
outer end of the horizontal pipe at a¹.
.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this our
said Invention, and the best means. we are acquainted with to carry
out the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not confine ourselves to
the precise details, relative dimensions, or proportions, as it will be readily seen
that the same may be considerably varied without departing from the Invention,
but what we claim is,-
First, the distillation and treatment of petroleam and other like oils by a
*continuous process in a film or shallow layer or layers passing over inclined
planes of various temperatures, as herein-before described and set forth, or any
mere modification of the same.
• Secondly, covering or partially covering the heated inclined planes
with a layer of cast-iron filings, borings, or turnings, or other suitable

page_text: metal or other good conductor or conductors of heat, to increase the heating
surfaces with which the oil or other liquid to be distilled is brought into
contact, substantially and in the manner and for the purposes herein-before
set forth and described.
Thirdly, the use of a thin layer or stratum of mineral or vegetable charcoal,
lime, burnt clay, sand, or other deodorizing and purifying material, resting on
the heated inclined planes, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein-before described and set forth.
Fourthly, peculiar construction and form of the spherical still or any mere
modification of the same.
Fifthly, of taking out the products of evaporation through the bottom of the
distilling vessel, as herein-before described and set forth in contradistinction of
the ordinary still, where the vapours pass out at the upper end or head of the
still.
And, lastly, the general arrangement, peculiar form, and construction
of the various parts of the apparatus for the distillation of petroleum and
other like oils to obtain products therefrom, parts of which may be used for
the distillation of other liquids, as herein-before described and set forth, or any
mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said John McInnes, have hereunto set my
hand and affixed my seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER,
of 44, Castle Street,
Liverpool.
JOHN (L.S.) M°INNES.