CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CONVERTING FATTY AND OILY SUBSTANCES INTO FATTY AND OLLY ACIDS AND INTO SOAP
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy, Analytical
Chemist, of 67, Judd Street, Brunswick Square, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CONVERTING FATTY
AND OILY SUBSTANCES INTO FATTY AND OLLY ACIDS AND INTO SOAP"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alphonse René le Miro
de Normandy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th May 1855.
I, ALPHONSE RENÉ LE MIRE DE NORMANDY, of 67, Judd St., Brunswick
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Analytical Chemist, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CONVERTING FATTY
AND OILY SUBSTANCES INTO FATTY AND OILY ACIDS AND INTO SOAP" to be as
follows:-
The fat, grease, or oil to be converted into fatty acids is first mixed with hot
water, so as to form an emulsion, or else it is employed per se, but, if neces-
sary, it is first melted by heat. The emulsion of the fat or oil with water, or
the fluid fat or oil, if employed alone, is then transferred to a reservoir, com-
municating by an iron pipe, provided with a cock, with another iron pipe
connected with a steam generator capable of producing steam at a pressure

page_text: which may be as high as three thousand pounds per square inch, the rapidity
of the conversion of the fat or oil into the corresponding fatty acids being, I
believe, in proportion to the heat to the time during which the said fat or oil
is submitted to the treatment, and to the steam pressure employed. The pipe
above alluded to is also provided with a cock, placed between the oil pipe of
the reservoir and the steam generator; the first serving to regulate the flow of
the oil, the other to regulate the issue of the steam. The other end of the pipe
connected with the steam generator is left open, or if plugged it is provided
with a number of small holes round its periphery for a suitable length. The
method which I contemplate securing by Patent will perhaps be better under-
stood by saying, that, supposing a Perkins' steam gun to be procured connected
with a steam generator producing steam at a suitable pressure, the fat, grease,
or oil previously rendered fluid, if not already so, or the watery emulsion of
the said fats, oils, or grease, is intended to trickle down from a reservoir by
means of cocks or valves into the gun barrel or pipe, so that it may be first
exposed to the contact of the said steam in an intermediate reservoir, and then
shot or violently forced out by admitting the steam into the barrel or pipe,
(after the said fat, grease, or oil has flowed into it in convenient or proper
quantity,) either intermittently or in a continuous stream. The fat or oil,
however, may be at once allowed to trickle down into the barrel, and be shot
or forced out by the steam, without previous exposure to its contact. The gun
barrel or pipe which I intend using may be straight, but I prefer it coiled, and
instead of allowing the emulsion or mixture of fat with steam to be pushed out
at the full bore of the pipe, I prefer plugging the extremity of the said pipe,
and to allow its contents to issue through a number of small holes at the end,
of the said barrel or pipe, and I find that neutral fats or oils may be thus con-
verted into their corresponding fatty acids. The fatty acids, moreover, may be
purified, when necessary, by inclosing the barrel or pipe from which they are
shot or pushed out into a still, so that they may be volatilised as they issue
from the pipe into the still by the heat of the steam alone, or with the
assistance of a fire placed under the still, so that the volatilised fatty acids and
the glycerine condensing in the worm of the still may finally yield the acids in
a purer state.
As to the conversion of fatty and oily substances into soap, the process is the
same as that which I have just described, except that I replace the water
used to make an emulsion with the fats or oils by a suitable quantity of an
aqueous solution of potash or of soda.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 16th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALPHONSE
RENÉ LE MIRE DE NORMANDY, of 67, Judd Street, Brunswick Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Analytical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy, Her special licence, that I, the
said Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alphonse Rene le Miro de Normandy,
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CONVERTING
FATTY AND OILY SUBSTANCES INTO FATTY AND OILY ACIDS AND INTO SOAP," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alphonse René le Mire de
Normandy, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy,
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:-
The fat, grease, or oil to be converted into fatty acids is first mixed with
hot water, so as to form au emulsion, or else it is employed per se, but,
if necessary, it is first melted by heat. The emulsion of fat or oil with
water, or the fluid fat or oil if employed alone, with steam, is then trans-
ferred to a reservoir communicating by an iron pipe, provided with a cock,
with another iron pipe connected with a steam generator capable of pro-
ducing steam at a pressure which may be as high as three thousand pounds
per square inch, the rapidity of the conversion of the fat or oil into the

page_text: corresponding fatty acid being, I believe, in proportion to the heat to
the time during which the said fats or oil are submitted to the treatment,
and to the steam pressure employed. The pipe above alluded to is also
provided with a cock, placed between the oil pipe of the reservoir and
the steam generator; the first serving to regulate the flow of the oil, the
other to regulate the issue of the steam. The other end of the pipe con-
nected with the steam generator.is left open, or if plugged it is provided
with a number of small holes round its periphery for a suitable length, or it
may be closed.by a loaded valve. . The method which I adopt will perhaps be
better understood by saying, that, supposing a Perkins' steam gun to bo pro-
cured connected with a steam generator producing steam of a suitable pressure,
the fat, grease, or oil previously rendered fluid, if not already so, or the watery
emulsion of the said fats, oils, or grease, is intended to trickle down from a
reservoir by means of cocks or valves into the gun barrel or pipe, so that they
may be first exposed to the contact of the said steam for a greater or shorter
length of time, and then shot or violently forced out into a reservoir by
admitting the steam into the barrel or pipe (after the said fats or their emul-
sions have flowed into it in convenient or proper quantity), either intermittently
or in a continuous stream; and instead of allowing the emulsion, or the mixture
of oil or fat and steam, to be pushed out at once, I prefer plugging the extre-
mity of the said pipe with a loaded valve, or to allow its contents to issue
through a number of small holes drilled for a suitable length all round the
extremity of the said barrel or pipe; and I find that neutral fats may be thus
barrel may
converted into their corresponding fatty acids. The
be straight,
but I prefer it coiled, as it increases the friction, and saves room.
acids, moreover, may be purified, when necessary, by enclosing the
pipe from which they are shot or pushed out in a still, so that they may be
volatilized as they issue from the pipe into the still by the heat of the steam
alone, or if that be insufficient, with the assistance of a fire placed under the
still, so that the volatilized fatty acids and the glycerine condensing in the
worm of the said still may finally yield the acids in a purer state.
gun
The fatty
barrel or
I will now give a Drawing and description of an apparatus constructed on
the above-related principle, and which I conceive will answer the purpose
better and more economically than any other.
A, furnace containing a coil of pipe; B, B, generators containing a series of
hot-water pipes within the generator; C, C, hot-water pipes, circulating
according to Perkins' well-known principle of tubes closed in all parts; D
pump for injecting the oil and water; E, valve, loaded to the requisite pres-
sure; F, steam pipe, which carries steam into the mixture as it issues below

page_text: G; G, pipe for the exit of the steam and acidified fat; H, tank for receiving
the fatty acid, glycerine, and water.
As to the conversion of fatty and oily substances into soap, the process is the
same as that which I have just described, except that I replace the water used
to make an emulsion with fats or oils by a suitable quantity of an aqueous
solution of potash or of soda.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of
L. A. NORMANDY.
A. NORMANDY. (L.B.)