IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING, BLEACHING, AND REFINING OILS AND OILY AND FATTY MATTERS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen White, of Suffolk Grove, Southwark, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING, BLEACHING, AND REFINING OILS
AND OILY AND FATTY MATTERS."
Sealed the 23rd June 1863, and dated the 3rd January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen White at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
January 1863.
I, STEPHEN WHITE, of Suffolk Grove, Southwark, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING, BLEACHING, AND REFINING
OILS AND OILY AND FATTY MATTERS," to be as follows:-
I place the oil or oily or fatty matter together with a reagent in a vessel
having small orifices or perforations in its sides, and revolving within a larger
vessel which is open to the atmospheric air. When the smaller vessel revolves
the oil or oily or fatty matter combined with the reagent will be projected
through the orifices in the sides of the smaller vessel, and driven into and
against the sides of the larger vessel, and will thus be presented in an atomic
state or dewy form to contact with the light and the atmospheric air.
My improved apparatus in the form and arrangement which I recommend
for the foregoing purpose consists of a round open vessel, wider at bottom
than at top, and having within it a revolving vessel or drum open at top and
[Price Sd.]

page_text: perforated with small holes at the sides. Rotary motion is communicated to
this revolving vessel by a vertical axis, to which it is attached by an internal
conical piece. I generally prefer to support and drive this axis in the fol-
lowing manner, according to which it is stepped in a transverse stay or
support extending across the larger vessel, and rises through another such
support to the outside of the larger vessel, and there carries a horizontal
pulley driven by a strap. A pipe or pipes is or are carried down the larger
vessel into the revolving or smaller vessel, so as to convey to the latter the oil
or oily or fatty matter to be operated on, and the reagent by which it is to be
trented. Pipes proceeding from vessels containing those bodies may all lead
into one common supply pipe passing into the smaller vessel. The reagents
which generally prefer to use in my process are as follows:-For fish or
other animal oils or matters I prefer agents containing tannic acid. such as
saturated infusion or decoction of galls, or catechu, or shumac, or other similar
substance containing tannin. For vegetable oils or matters I prefer sulphuric
acid combined with bichromate of potash, permanganate of potash; or chlorate
of potash, or other similar reagents producing or evolving oxygen when in
contact with the oily or fatty matters may be used. For artificial or natural
mineral oils or matters I prefer sulphuric acid with potash. or soda, or other
similar reagents.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Stephen White in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
July 1863.
;
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
WHITE, of Suffolk Grove, Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors. give and grant unto
me, the said Stephen White, Her special licence that I, the said Stephen
White, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I
the said Stephen White, my 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

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS POR PURIFYING, BLEACHING,
AND REFINING OILS AND OILY AND FATTY MATTERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Stephen White, ny executors 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 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 Stephen White, 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 accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said improvements consist as regards the method of purifying, bleaching,
and refining oils and oily and fatty substances in introducing the oil or oily or
fatty matters, together with a reagent calculated to eliminate or separate the
impurities contained in them into a vessel having small orifices or perforations
in its sides, and revolving rapidly, as herein-after described, within a larger
vessel, which is open to the atmospheric air, so that when the smaller vessel
revolves the oil or oily or fatty matter combined with the reagent, which is
used with it for the purpose of purification, will be projected through the
orifices in the sides of the smaller vessel in thin streams, which will be driven
against the internal sides of the larger vessel, and thereby be scattered and
subdivided, and will thus be presented in a partially or approximatively atomic
state, or in a dewy form to contact with the light and the atmospheric air,
by which exposure of the oil or fatty or oily matters in a minutely subdivided
state the light and, in particular, the oxygen of the atmosphere produce an
improved purification of such oil or oily or fatty matter. And as regards the
apparatus for effecting such purification my Invention consists in the arrange-
ment and combination of mechanical parts and things which I have shewn
in the Drawings hereto annexed, and in the description thereof herein-after
contained.
Figure 1 on the annexed Drawings is a vertical section of parts of my
apparatus, parts of it being shewn in full; and Figure 2 is a view, partly
sectional, of particular parts detached.
A, A, is a strong circular wood vat or vessel hooped with iron and lined
with thick sheet lead; I find that to attain the most satisfactory commercial
results this vessel should be about five feet in diameter and about four feet

page_text: by
six inches deep; it is supported on beams B, B, let into the ground to a depth
of two or three feet to steady the vat when the machinery is in motion; C, C,
are strong beams or stays made of oak or other hard wood passing through the
vat A, and supported by the framework B, to which they are firmly secured by
iron screws. I prefer to construct the vat A, framework B, and stays C of hard
wood;
and I cover the beams C with thick sheet lead. Within the, vat A, A,
is a smaller vat a, a, made of sheet iron covered with sheet lead, leaving a
space round and underneath it between it and the wooden vat A, A, the
purpose of which will be hereafter explained. e, e, is a cylindrical frame com-
posed of square copper bars of about
of an inch thick. It is covered
up to about fourteen inches from its upper end with fine copper wire gauze
D, D, and I find that proper proportions for effective operation are that in a
val of the size mentioned the cylindrical frame e, e, should be about 21
inches deep and fifteen inches in diameter, and that the wire gauze sur-
rounding its lower part should have about 1,200 to 1,600 openings per square
inch; the portion of the cylindrical frame covered with wire gauze extends to
a height of 14 inches, and above that the cylindrical frame is covered with a
plate, so as to form a close cylinder; the cylinder thus formed by the frame e, e,
and the wire gauze D, and the plate is closed at top by a cover screwed to
it steam-tight, and the bottom end of the cylinder is of strong sheet copper
without openings, so that the parts e, e, and D form in effect together with
the aforesaid plate a cylinder closed at the top and bottom, the sides of it
being also closed for a small portion of its length, and the rest of its length
being perforated with a very great number of very small holes. The cylinder c, e,
and D is supported within the vat A on a pivot or short shaft y, stepped in a
socket. ' in the lower beam C, and the cylinder is caused to revolve by means
of a hollow wrought-iron or steel shaft t fixed to the upper end of the cylinder, to
which shaft rotary motion is communicated by a pulley r driven by a strap z,
which is set in motion from a steam engine or other prime moving force. The
shaft & passes through stuffing boxes s and u fitted in the two upper beams C. I
coat the shaft t with sheet lead at the parts which are exposed to any vapors
rising from the vat A, a, to protect it from the oxydizing influence of acid or
other oxydizing vapours. w is a cock for drawing off the materials from the appa-
ratus after treatment; p is a service pipe, which descends through the hollow
shaft and opens at bottom into the cylinder e, e, D. The pipe p passes
through a stuffing box q, fitted on the upper end of the shaft t, and is sta-
tionary though the shaft t revolves round it. I prefer to construct the pipe p
of stout copper of about inch bore and inch thick, and to turn it true
and polish it outside. This pipe p communicates through a junction and

page_text: pipe o with the pipes g, h, i, j; g is a pipe for the conveyance of steam fur-
nished with a stop-cock k, and constructed preferably of copper; h is a pipe
furnished with a cock 1, and preferably of lead, for admitting the oils or other
matters to be refined, purified, or bleached; i is a pipe, preferably of lead, and
furnished with a cock m, and intended for admitting the reagents or purifying
materials; is another lead pipe, furnished with a cock n for admitting a
second reagent or purifying or refining material when more than one is to
be used. The pipes g, h, i, j, lead from the vessels from which they are
respectively fed, and communicate through the junction and pipe o with the
pipe p, so that the materials contained in the pipes g, h, i, and j, may be
conveyed together through the pipe p into the cylinder e, e, D.
Although I have shewn only four pipes g, h, i, j, more may be used if
required. The end portions 1, 2, 3, of the pipes h, i, j, are formed of glass
to allow of an inspection of the materials as they pass into the junction x.
The materials to be treated, and the matters for treating them, pass through
their respective pipes g, h, i, j, into the pipes o and p, and thence into the
cylinders e, e, D, and rapid rotary motion being communicated to the cylinder,
the said materials will be combined therein, and will be projected through the
meshes of the wire gauze, above described, against the internal sides of the
vat a, a; they are thus presented in an atomic or partially atomic state or
dewy form to the light and the continuous oxydizing influence of the atmo-
spheric air, by which means most of the albuminous or gelatinous and such
like impurities contained in the oils and oily and fatty matters will be pre-
cipitated.
In order more fully to enable a workman to perform my said Invention, and
to apply it to the purification of the various oils and oily and fatty matters,
which require purification, I will more minutely describe, by way of example,
my mode of operating in certain instances, and, first, supposing I have to
purify fish oil, or other animal oils, I cause the oil to flow from an elevated
tank or reservoir through the pipe h at the rate of about 20 gallons per hour,
regulated by the cock l. I cause a strong infusion or decoction of oak bark,
nut galls, catechu, or other similar material containing tannin, to flow from
another reservoir through the pipe i, regulating the flow by the cock m, in the
proportion of about 50 per cent. of the oil under operation. In a third vessel or
tank I place a solution of a metallic salt, preferring a solution of sulphate of zinc
or sulphate of copper of specific gravity 1200 or thereabouts, and I convey this
through the pipe in the proportion of about 20 per cent. of the oil, and
regulate it by the cock n. These three materials meet and mix in the junc-
tion, and pass through the pipes o and p to the cylinder e, e, D, which is

page_text: caused for the purpose of purifying such oils to revolve at the rate of about 800
to 1,000 times per minute, and the materials are driven through its wire gauze
periphery against the internal sides of the vat a, a, and thereby presented in
an atomic state or dewy form to the influence of the air, as before described,
whereby most of the albuminous or gelatinous and such, like impurities con-
tained in the oil will be precipitated. The oil is then drawn off by the cock w,
and placed in a subsiding vessel of ordinary construction, and after three or four
days the albuminous or gelatinous impurities will have settled to the bottom
of the vat, and the clear supernatant oil may be drawn off and passed through
the ordinary process of filtration. The filtering medium I prefer is cotton or
ground and sifted charcoal.
When oil contains a large proportion of impurities, and when it is desired
to procure it very pure, and in order to test the correctness of the operation,
I take a small quantity of the filtered oil and agitate it for some time in a
glass tube or phial with about half its volume of the before-named purifying
materials, and if after it has stood for a few hours it shall have precipitated
further impurities I return the oil after subsidence into the tank before men-
tioned, and again subject it to a second treatment in the apparatus in a similar
manner to that before described, using, however, only one half part of the
reagents (solution of tannin and metallic salts). By this process the major
part of the foetid and disagreeable odour of the oils will be removed.
To remove the foetid or disagreeable odours from decomposed or rancid
animal or vegetable oils, fats, or oily or fatty matters, I sometimes proceed
as follows: I submit the matters to the influence of steam as well as atmo-
spheric air by passing a jet of steam regulated by the cock through the
pipe g, and I pass a stream of oil or oily or fatty matter through the pipe h
in the proportion of about 20 gallons per hour, and these pass together into
the pipe o, and thence through the pipe p into the cylinder e, e, D, through
which (the cylinder being caused to revolve, as above described), they are
driven and come in contact with the atmospheric air in manner herein-before
mentioned; they are then drawn off and subjected to an ordinary method of
subsidence to separate the condensed steam from the oily or fatty matter;
after this they are filtered.
It will be obvious that when concrete oils or fats or oily or fatty matters are
to be operated upon they should first be melted and maintained in a fluid state
by keeping them at an uniform heat. For this purpose I pass a steam pipe
through the body of concrete oils or oily or fatty matters in the oil tank or
reservoir, or I use an ordinary steam jacketed tank or reservoir. The matters
under treatment are kept warm and fluid in the vat a, a, after they pass

page_text: through the cylinder by introducing steam into the space 4, 4, herein-before
described; 5 is the steam pipe for introducing the steam; and 6 a cock for
drawing off the water of condensation. To bleach, refine, and purify animal
or vegetable oils or oily or fatty matters I sometimes employ a saturated
solution of bichromate of potash and diluted sulphuric acid, or of perman-
ganate of potash and diluted sulphuric acid, or of chlorate of potash and diluted
sulphuric acid, or other such like oxydizing agents.
In applying my process to rape seed oil I pass about 20 gallons of cold
saturated solution of bichromate of potash through the pipe i, and I pass
diluted sulphuric acid through the pipe j, in the proportion of about 9 pints
sulphuric acid and 9 pints water to every tun of oil. The various matters pass
through the pipes o and p, and are driven through the cylinder e, e, D, into
the vessel A, as before described; after which the oil is allowed to subside in
the usual manner, and is then drawn off through the cock w, after which I
return it to the elevated oil tank, and again pass it through the pipe h into the
apparatus e, e, D, and a, a, but this time in contact with a jet of low-pressure
steam brought through the pipe g, by which the oil is freed from most of its
parenchymatous or saline and acid matter in suspension; after this the oil is
allowed to rest for two or three days, and is then filtered, when it will be
found colourless, or nearly so.
To bleach beeswax or vegetable wax I place it (heated to a liquid state)
in the elevated tank, and thence carry it through the pipe h to the pipe o,
where I bring it into contact with a small jet of low-pressure steam from the
pipe g. The wax and steam pass through the pipe p into the cylinder e, e, D.
and are there operated on, as before described; I thereby expose the wax to
the combined influence of steam, light, and atmospheric air.
To refine drying oils, such as linseed oil, poppy seed oil, walnut oil, and the
like, I prefer to thoroughly incorporate the oil under treatment with dry
sulphate of lead in sufficient quantity to form a milky mixture, which I place
in a subsiding vessel, and therein subject it to frequent agitation for 7 or 8
days, and I then allow it to subside; after which I draw off the clear super-
natant oil, and place it in the before-mentioned oil tank or reservoir, in which
I subject it to the action of a solution of basic acetate of lead prepared by
dissolving one part of neutral acetate of lead in five parts distilled water, to
which one part of finely powdered litharge is added; these are allowed to
digest until the red color of the litharge has changed to a white colour; the
clear solution is then drawn off and mixed with its own weight of distilled
water, and passed with the oil under operation through the pipe p into the
ylinder e, e, D, in the proportion of 12 gallons of purifying agent to every

page_text: tun of oil. The mixed oil is allowed to subside and the clear oil filtered; the
deposit of sulphate of lead and of the solution of basic acetate of lead may,
however, be separated, and used in the treatment of another portion of
unrefined oil.
I have thus explained minutely my practical mode of treating certain oils
and oily or fatty substances, not for the purpose of stating the collateral pro-
cesses which I have so described as parts of my Invention, but for the purpose
of enabling the workman using my said Invention more completely to
manipulate and apply my said Invention to other oils and fatty substances.
The proportions of reagents to be used depend on the nature and colors of
the matter to be operated on. I generally use these agents in their chemical
equivalent proportions with a small excess of acid, it being well known to
chemists that almost every oil, fat, or fatty matter requires different propor-
tions of oxidizing agents to refine or purify them. I should also point out
that it may be sometimes necessary to vary the closeness of the wire gauze,
the use of which I have herein-before described. and also to vary the velocity'
at which the cylinder c, e, D, is caused to revolve, according to the nature of
the oily or fatty matter to. be purified. If the oil or fatty matter is much
more dense than fish oil, for instance, it may be found necessary that the
apertures in the wire gauze should be larger, and therefore fewer than at the
rate of 1,200 to 1,600 apertures per square inch, and it may be also necessary
that the cylinder should revolve at more than 800 to 1,000 turns per minute.
And per contra a finer or more fluid oil may require that the apertures of the
wire gauze shall be smaller and the velocity of the cylinder lower.
In using my said Invention for each particular kind of oil, the test by which
the workman will ascertain the proper fineness of the wire gauze and the
proper velocity for the cylinder will be to see that the oil or fatty matter and
the reagents contained in the cylinder are scattered by the action, herein-
before described, into minute particles, so as to come in contact with the air
contained in the vat a, a, in an atomic state, or a state as nearly as possible
approaching an atomic state before they drop to the bottom of the vat.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in. what
manner the same may be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
claim the application of steam or of atmospheric air, or of any of the above-
mentioned reagents taken separately for the purification of oils or oily or fatty
substances, nor do I claim the use of any of the parts of the apparatus which
I have described in reference to the Drawings hereto annexed taken separately;
but I claim,
First, the process of refining, bleaching, and purifying oils and oily and fatty

page_text: matters which I have described, and which consists in passing them mixed or
combined with oxidizing reagents, and with or without steam, or mixed with
steam only, as the nature of the oil or fatty matter may require through a vessel
pierced with small apertures, as above described, placed within a larger vessel
and set in motion, and by its motion discharging the materials in minuto
streams against the sides of the larger vessel, so that such materials are
subjected to the influence of the atmospheric air or of atmospheric air and steam
in an atomic or approximatively atomic state or dewy form, as above described
Second, I claim the particular arrangement and combination of fixed and
moving parts constituting the apparatus herein-before described in reference
to the Drawings hereto annexed. And save, as I have herein-before expressly
claimed, I do not claim any or either of the matters or things herein-
before described; but I wish it also to be understood, that though I have in
desrcibing the said apparatus referred to certain dimensions and certain
mtaerials, I do not confine myself to the use of those particular dimensions
or materials, but the same may be varied (so long as the combination of parts
that I have described remains the same), according to the nature of the oils
or fatty matters purified, and the reagents used for purifying them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen White, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
M. HENRY,
84, Fleet Street,
London.
STEPHEN WHITE. (L.S.)