AN APPARATUS AND OVEN FOR THE CARBONIZATION AND DISTILLATION OF ALL ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS "
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sebastien Botturi, of Paris (France), Rue de la
Roquette, 140, for the Invention of "AN APPARATUS AND OVEN FOR THE
CARBONIZATION AND DISTILLATION OF ALL ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sebastien Botturi at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th August 1857.
'I, SEBASTIEN BOTTURI, of Paris (France), Rue de la Roquette, 140, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN APPARATUS AND OVEN
FOR THE CARBONIZATION AND DISTILLATION OF ALL ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS,"
to be as follows:―
An Invention for the construction of ovens to be used for the distillation of
animal and vegetable matters, viz., blood, night soil, turf used as a fuel, refuses
of all kind, and, in a word, all those matters which may be carbonized. These
ovens are constructed in a manner so as to extract all the chemical properties
contained in these matters which are to be treated and subjected to distillation,
and division of fluids, gas, &c., which are therein found, and conducted to an

page_text: apparatus so disposed as to utilise them or to cause them to evaporate or to
bring them into use as combustibles.
The ovens may be used with great advantage for baking bread, plaster,
lime, &c., and for extracting the chemical properties existing in them by the
action of the fire. The same ovens have an incontestible advantage for the
making of wood charcoal, for till now in the making of charcoal all the
chemical properties existing in the wood are completely lost, while by my
system I extract, 1st, the carbonic gas, which is so hurtful to the health of
those persons who make use of it; 2nd, the tar, the oil, and, in a word, all the
chemical properties which may be extracted.
The Inventor reserves to himself' the employment of these ovens and
apparatus, if he thinks fit, to other uses than those herein-before described.
CONSTRUCTION OF MR. BOTTURI'S OVENS.
These ovens are constructed with bricks. To join the bricks to the centre
of the fire-place, I make use of clay, but for the two lateral pipes A & B,
Fig. 2, conductors of the flame, I act differently. The side of the bricks
which is exposed to the flame I fix by means of clay, while the other side
I fix with Roman cement. The bricks are superposed, and care must be
taken to place them transversally to each other, so as to, consolidate the work.
Under the ash-hole G is a vase, containing water to preserve the bars of the
fire-place D, Fig. 2. The interior of the oven is covered with Roman cement, to
prevent the vapour from penetrating through or between the bricks.
I place
in the interior of the oven a safety-valve E, giving warning when the vapour
is in too large quantity. At this moment the whistling of the safety-
valve indicates that the vase being too full you must allow escape of the vapour.
When the flame has passed over the base of the oven under the basin, it
divides itself and penetrates into the two chimneys which are to the right and
left side of the oven, and after having penetrated the two chimneys, of which
the first. A brings the flame in front of the oven, and the second B brings it to
the back; there the flame is reunited, once more to be divided again to the
right and left into the two chimneys F & G; after having travelled over these
two chimneys, the flame having lost its strength, disappears by the discharging
chimney. The wall H which divides the chimneys equally serving to support the
refracting basin which forms the basis of the oven. To each extremity of the
chimneys I place a cork I, which I can t take away at will when I wish to
clean the pipes. The interior of the oven which I may make square, oval, or
circular, I place a box J to receive the matters; this box must be in harmony
with the size of the oven, so as to leave an interval or space between each

page_text: side of the oven and the box, for at the moment of boiling the matters must
not escape, and only the volatile fluids be allowed to evaporate. When the
box, of which I know the amount of contents, is placed in the oven I shut
hermetically the oven door to prevent the air from penetrating. When I
want to fill up the box with matters which I have to treat I use a pipe K,
which goes near the bottom of the box and of a funnel L, the dimension of
which is calculated so as to have sufficient strength by its own weight to fall
in the box in proportion as the evaporation of the matters proceeds. At the
junction of the funnel and the pipe I place a cock M, which I open to give
passage to the matters, and shut it at will. I am not compelled to use this,
pipe, as the funnel and cock which allow the matters to be discharged in the
box is quite sufficient.
To take off the fluids which are less volatile, I place at each side of the
ovens the glass tubes N, which bring the contents into the bottles prepared
for that
purpose. I use glass tubes in preference to metal tubes, because the
metal always disengages its own sulphate, so as materially to interfere with the
experiments, while with the glass there is no danger of such an interference.
For the fluids which are more volatiles, I put on the oven a kind of glass
dome O, well covered with bricks and Roman cement. This dome has a
communication and brings the fluids to the apparatus P, also of glass, which
is called eking-piece, reaching bottle Q (three-necked bottle), the middle neck
receives the fluids, the right one has a serpentine glass tube of safety supplied
with sulphuric acid up to the first ball, the left neck has a syphon which
communicates with the following bottles. The number of bottles, which may
be either in glass or clay, must be in proportion to the dimensions of the
oven. The junction of the serpentine and the bottles is furnished with a white
lead stopper, with a piece of bladder firmly tied, so that nothing can evaporate.
I reserve to myself the exclusive proprietorship, 1rst, of the ovens and
apparatus for the carbonization and distillation of all matters whatever herein-
before described; 2nd, of the distillation of all fluids with or without carboni-
zation; 3rd, of the ovens and apparatus, which I can construct on a cart so
as to be easily brought at any given place for the carbonization of wood, char-
coal, turbe, &c., as well as for the distillation of any matter whatever (to be
called movable apparatus).

page_text: SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Sebastien Botturi
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SEBASTIEN
BOTTURI, of No. 140, Rue de la Roquette, in the City of Paris, and Empire
of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Sebastien Botturi, Her special licence that I, the said Sebastien
Botturi, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Sebastien Botturi, 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 and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN APPARATUS AND OVEN FOR THE CARBONIZATION AND DIS-
TILLATION OF ALL ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Sebastien Botturi, my 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 Sebastien Botturi, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My Invention consists in the construction of ovens to be used for the dis-
tillation of all kinds of matters, textile, vegetable, and animal, viz., bullocks'
blood, night soil, turf used as fuel, refuse of any kind, and, in a word, all
those matters which may be carbonized.
These ovens are constructed in a manner so as to extract all the chemical
properties contained in the matters which are to be treated; they are used
also for the distillation and division of the fluids and gases, which are con-
ducted to an apparatus so disposed as to utilize them either as a combustible for
fuel or for light, &c. They may be used also with great advantage for baking

page_text: bread, plaster, lime, &c., and to extract the chemical produce resulting from
this mode of baking them.
These ovens possess an incontestible advantage for the carbonization of
wood, for till now in the burning of charcoal all the chemical properties
existing in the wood have been completely lost, while by my system I extract,
1st, the gas, which is so hurtful to the health of those persons who make use
of it; 2nd, I extract the tar; 3rd, the oil, &c., and, in a word, all the
properties which can be extracted from it.
DESIGNATION OF THE OVENS, APPARATUS, AND THEIR ACCESSORIES.
A, B, F, G, chimneys or conductors of the flame and smoke; C, ash-pan;
D, fire-place; E, safety valve; H, party-wall which divides the chimneys;
I, stoppers which are placed at each extremity of the chimneys; J, box
which is placed in the interior of the oven to receive the matters; K, pipe
which serves to convey the matters into the box J; L, funnel to pour in the
matters; M, cock placed at the junction of the funnel L and the pipe K;
N, tubes which convey the fluids into the vases placed ready to receive them;
O, dome of the oven; P, continuation pipe to convey the fluids; Q, vases to
receive the fluids; R, V, Y, vases or bottles; S, discharging chimney; T,
syphons; U, stopper or apparatus; X, bottle; A, apparatus of the bottle X.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE OVENS.
These ovens are to be constructed with bricks. To join the bricks of the
fire-place I make use of clay; for the conductors of the flame and smoke
A and B, Fig. 1, I also make use of clay, as well as for the side of the bricks
which is exposed to the flame, and the other side by means of Roman cement.
The bricks are crossed one over the other so as to consolidate the work.
Under the ash-pan C a vase is placed containing water to preserve the bars
of the fire-place D. The interior of the oven is covered with Roman cement
to prevent the vapour from penetrating through or between the bricks. I
place in the interior of the oven a safety valve E, which gives warning when
the vapour is in too great quantity, and it is necessary to allow it to escape
into the vases prepared for that purpose. The flame pipes are constructed in
such manner that when the flame and smoke has passed through the base of
the oven under the platform they divide and penetrate into the two chimneys
which are on the right and left sides of the oven; after having passed through
each side of the two chimneys, of which the first A conveys it to the front of
the oven, and the second B conveys it to the back, then the flame is reunited
to be divided again to the right and left into the two chimneys F and G.

page_text: After having passed through these two chimneys the flame, having lost its
strength, escapes by the discharging chimney S.
The walls H which divide the chimneys serve also to support the platforms
of refracting earth which form the base of the oven. At each extremity of
the chimneys I place a stopper I, which I can take away at will, to clean the
pipes. In the interior of the oven, which I may make square, oval, or
circular, I place a box J to receive the matters; this box must be so pro-
portioned to the size of the oven as to leave an interval or space between all
the sides of the oven and the box, for at the moment of boiling the matters
must not escape, and only the gases, fluids, and liquids be allowed to
evaporate. When the box is placed in the interior of the oven I hermeti-
cally close it to prevent the air from penetrating. To fill up the box without
taking it out of the oven, I use, 1st, a pipe K, which is placed near the
bottom of the box; 2nd, a funnel L, the dimensions of which is calculated
so that the matters may by their own weight fall into the box in proportion
as the evaporation proceeds; at the junction of the pipe K and the funnel L,
I place cock M, which I open to give passage to the matters, and shut it
at will to prevent the air from penetrating into the box. To take out the
fluids which are less volatile I place at each side of the oven the glass tubes
N, which conduct the contents into the bottles prepared to receive them.
I make use of glass tubes, because métal tubes always draw forth the sul-
phate of the matters treated upon, whilst with the glass the products have not
any mixture.
For the fluids which are more volatile I put upon the oven a glass dome O,
covered with roman cement between the dome and the bricks; this dome has
a communication with and brings the fluids to the apparatus P, also of glass,
which is called a continuation pipe, and is placed in the three-necked bottle
Q; the middle neck receives the fluids, the right-hand one has a safety
syphon supplied with sulphuric acid up to the first ball; the left-hand neck has
a syphon which communicates with the following bottle. The number of bottles,
which may be either in glass or clay, must be in proportion to the dimensions
of the oven.
All the syphons, vases, or bottles are made in such a manner that neither
gas nor fluid can evaporate. To obtain such result, the vases and bottles R
have the necks exteriorly made of a spiral form either of glass or any other
material, while the syphons T have the interior of the necks made of a spiral
form which fits the exterior of the necks of the vases and bottles.
Whenever I wish to use the vase V, the two necks of which are of a spiral

page_text: form, I put on the middle neck a stopper U, of glass or metal, interiorly of a
spiral form; this stopper has a valve which when pressed allows the contents
to evaporate, so as not to be obliged to use the syphon T, which is also
furnished with a self-acting valve for emptying the vases; by this arrangement
I can indifferently use one or the other of the necks with the same result.
The vase Y, the neck of which is covered with metal, also of a spiral form,
is stopped in the same manner as the preceding. I can also stop it by means
of an apparatus Z, also of a spiral form interiorly, and inside of which I place
a stopper that enters the neck of the vase. The vase X, of which the neck
is stopped by a stopple, has a hole in one side so that the apparatus A.,
which is of a spiral form, and which is pierced in the same manner, and
perfectly closes the vase, and when it is required to empty it, the two side
holes must be put facing one another.
I claim the exclusive right, 1st, to construct or cause to be constructed the
ovens and apparatus herein-before described, to be employed for this or any
other purposes.
2nd, I claim exclusive property in the vases, bottles, and syphons of a spiral
form in the interior and exterior, and also the exclusive right to use the same.
3rd, to the distillation of all matters capable of being distilled by means of
my ovens and apparatus, and also the right to sell it totally or in part.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sebastien Botturi, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
S. BOTTURI. (L.S.)