IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FATTY AND OILY MATTERS TO PREPARE THEM FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SUCH TREATMENT
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Cornelius Burke, of Upper Distillery, Bandon,
in the County of Cork, Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE TREATMENT OF FATTY AND OILY MATTERS TO PREPARE THEM FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR
SUCH TREATMENT."
Sealed the 4th March 1870, and dated the 13th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Cornelius Burke at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th September 1869.
I, CORNELIUS BURKE, of Upper Distillery, Bandon, in the County of
Cork, Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FATTY AND OILY MATTERS TO PREPARE
THEM FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND POR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR SUCH TREATMENT," to be as follows:-
Heretofore the stearic acid, oleine, and glycerine contained in fatty
and oily matters have been separated generally either by saponification
by means of alkaline matter such as lime in open vessels and subsequent
boiling by free steam with certain proportions of sulphuric acid in open

page_text: vessels, or by the ordinary process of heating in copper or cast-iron
vessels (with or without domes) with open fires and free and superheated
steam, or with either, for acidification and subsequent distillation, both
of which processes are very wasteful.
Now my Invention consists in certain improvements herein-after
described in the processes and apparatus by which stearic acid for the
manufacture of candles and other purposes may be produced from the
other components of fatty and oily matters more economically and with
less waste than is the case by the methods usually adopted.
According to this Invention the substances under treatment are con-
fined in superheated coils or closed chambers, and while so ct fined
they are prepared for the subsequent saponification or release of the
glycerine and separation of the oleine and stearine as distinguished from
the ordinary processes, in which the vessels containing the materials
under treatment are open or domed and heated with open fires and super-
heated steam together or separately.
The apparatus in which the steam is superheated during its passage
from the boiler to the coil in which the fatty matters are treated
consists of an improved double coil of pipe having only one inlet and
one outlet, and specially designed to economise fuel. It is set over a
small furnace and is arranged so that the steam after passing from
the boiler and being conducted to the lower part of the coil is led by a
continuation of the pipe to the upper part of the furnace, thence down to
the lower part thereof, and again to its upper part through a second spiral,
which forms a continuation of the first coil. By these means the
steam becomes thoroughly superheated and the heat evolved by the
burning fuel is fully utilized. The fatty matters are conducted from a
suitable reservoir by a pipe or pipes, by preference, to a force pump,
which forces the materials into a coil which is placed within a suitable
closed chamber, made by preference of cast iron, and this coil is heated
by the superheated steam which passes from the superheater already
described into the chamber containing the coil through which, the fatty
matters pass;
this box or chamber is farther heated by the products of
combustion from the furnace of the superheater whose flue surrounds
the chamber. Whilst the fatty matters are confined in the coil, if
required, atmospheric air is introduced to mix therewith and to pass with
them through and be superheated in the coil, from whence the materials
under treatment afterwards pass away, and when thought proper are put

page_text: under suitable pressure by a spiral valve leading to a closed vessel into
which air is forced (when necessary), and in this vessel the superheated
steam which has been used to heat the coil is admitted into direct
contact with the materials from the coil, and they are mixed together,
and when necessary, on their leaving this chamber, caustic alkali is added
through a suitable pipe or pipes, after which the combined materials are
conducted by a pipe or pipes into a suitable receptacle. When the
matters under treatment are to be acidified instead of admitting caustic
alkali, as described, I conduct them through a suitable pipe or pipes to
an acidifying tank, and admit sulphuric acid to mix with them during
their passage into the tank.
Various processes may be conducted according to this Invention, thus,
for instance, stearic acid may be produced without the use of any
chemical agent by heat, air, water, and pressure in the apparatus, or it
may be produced by the use of caustic alkalies and acids, such, for
instance, as caustic soda and sulphuric acid, or by sulphuric acid
only. Hard or soft soap may be produced by the employment of
alkaline matter, such, for example, as caustic soda or caustic potash, and
pure fatty acid may be produced from various matters simply by the
action of the apparatus with or without chemical agents. Where
sulphuric acid and caustic soda or caustic potash are brought into
contact with the materials under treatment I cover the vessels containing
these liquors to prevent back action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Cornelius Burke in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CORNELIUS
BURKE, of Upper Distillery, Bandon, in the County of Cork, Ireland,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Cornelius Burke, Her special licence
that I, the said Cornelius Burke, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Cornelius Burke, my executors,

page_text: "
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 TREAT-
MENT OF FATTY AND OLLY MATTERS TO PREPARE THEM FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
CANDLES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SUCH TREATMENT,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Cornelius Burke, 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 Cornelius Burke, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manuer the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Heretofore the stearic acid, oleine, and glycerine contained in fatty
and oily matters have been separated generally either by saponification
by means of alkaline matter such as lime in open vessels and subsequent
boiling by free steam with certain proportions of sulphuric acid in open
vessels, or by the ordinary process of heating in copper or cast-iron
vessels (with or without domes) with open fires and free and superheated
steam, or with either, for acidification and subsequent distillation, both
of which processes are very wasteful.
Now my Invention consists in certain improvements herein-after
described in the processes and apparatus by which stearic acid for the
manufacture of candles and other purposes may be produced from the
other components of fatty and oily matters more economically and with
less waste than is the case by the methods usually adopted.
According to this Invention the substances under treatment are con-
fined in superheated coils or pipes, and while so confined they are
prepared for the subsequent saponification or release of the glycerine
and separation of the oleine and stearine as distinguished from the
ordinary processes, in which the vessels containing the materials under
treatment are opened or domed and heated with open fires and super-
heated steam together or separately.

page_text: The apparatus in which the steam is superheated during its passage
from the boiler to the coil in which the fatty matters are treated consists
of an improved double coil of pipe having only one inlet and one outlet,
and specially designed to economise fuel. It is set over a small furnace,
and is arranged so that the steam after passing from the boiler and
being conducted to the lower part of the coil is led by a continuation
of the pipe to the upper part of the furnace, thence down to the lower
part thereof, and again to its upper part through a second spiral, which
forms a continuation of the first coil. By these means the steam
becomes thoroughly superheated and the heat evolved by the burning
fuel is fully utilized. The fatty matters are conducted from a suitable
reservoir by a pipe or pipes, by preference, to a force pump, which forces
the materials into a coil which is placed within a suitable closed chamber
made by preference of cast iron, and this coil is heated by the super-
heated steam which passes from the superheater already described into
the chamber containing the coil through which the fatty matters pass;
this box or chamber is farther heated by the products of combustion
from the furnace of the superheater whose flue surrounds the chamber.
Whilst the fatty matters are confined in the coil, if required, atmospheric
air is introduced to mix therewith, and to pass with them through and
be superheated in the coil, from whence the materials under treatment
afterwards pass away, and when thought proper are put under suitable
pressure by a spiral valve leading to a closed vessel into which air is
forced (when necessary), and in this vessel the superheated steam which
has been used to heat the coil is admitted into direct contact with
the materials from the coil and they are mixed together, and when
necessary on their leaving this chamber caustic alkali is added through
a suitable pipe or pipes, after which the combined materials are conducted
by a pipe or pipes into a suitable receptacle.
under treatment are to be acidified instead of admitting caustic alkali,
as described, I conduct them through a suitable pipe or pipes to an
acidifying tank, and admit sulphuric acid to mix with them during
their passage into the tank.
When the matters
Various processes may be conducted according to this Invention, thus
for instance, stearic acid may be produced without the use of any
chemical agent by heat, air, water, and pressure in the apparatus; or it
may be produced by the use of caustic alkalies and acids, such, for
instance, as caustic soda and sulphuric acid, or by sulphuric acid only.

page_text: Hard or soft soap may be produced by the employment of alkaline
matter, such, for example, as caustic soda or caustic potash, and pure
fatty acid may be produced from various matters simply by the action
of the apparatus with or without chemical agents. When sulphuric
acid and caustic soda or caustic potash are brought into contact with
the materials under treatment I cover the vessel containing these
liquors to prevent back action.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is a longitudinal
section of the improved apparatus; Fig. 2, a vertical section of the cast-
iron chamber containing the coil thro' which the fatty matters pass;
and Fig. 3 a plan of the same with its cover removed.
a is the furnace whose flue a¹ surrounds the cast-iron coil chamber; b,
the improved double coil superheater; b', inlet for steam from a boiler;
b², outlet for superheated steam entering the cast-iron chamber; c, cast-
iron chamber or box provided with flanged inlet and outlet passages as
shewn; d, coil in which the fatty matters are treated; this coil is held
in position at its respective ends by transverse tie bars e and vertical
standards e provided with supporting bolts to the under portions of the
coil pipe, as shewn. These standards reach to the bottom of the cast-
iron chamber, keeping the coil, say, six inches from the sides thereof. f
feeding tank containing fatty matters to be treated; this tank is divided
longitudinally into two compartments or chambers by means of a
vertical partition and a branch pipe passing across this partition is
provided with two cocks 12 and 13 placed one over each of the two
compartments or chambers in each of which there is a perforated worm
communicating with said cocks. g (colored yellow) is the outlet pipe
from the feed tank through the force pump g' into the coil d; h (colored
blue) the outlet from the coil & past the pressure valve d to the cast-
iron mixing vessel ; i,, (colored green) the air pump and its con-
nections; and (colored red), the pipe by which the superheated steam
which has been used to heat the coil d is conducted from the cast-iron
chamber c to the mixing vessel 7; m, acidifying tank for containing
fatty acid; n, sulphuric acid tank; o, pipe from the mixing vessel / to
the feeding tank f; p, soap discharge pipe; q, waste steam pipe; r, pipe
for conducting steam to a leaden coil for heating the sulphuric acid in
the tank n; 8, pipe for admitting sulphuric acid to mix with the fatty
matters as they pass thro' the pipe t and its perforations into the
acidifying tank. The red arrows indicate the course of the steam, the

page_text: black arrows show the course of the products of combustion from the
furnace to the damper and shaft. The connection at x with No. 14
cock will facilitate the cleaning when required of the interiors of the
pipes after treating any inferior stuff, and it will be observed that it is
important to keep the arrangement clean inside. The greater part of
this cleaning can be effected when steam is on by opening cock No. 14
and cock No. 1, and shutting cocks Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 15, the rest of
the pipes being cleaned by opening such of the cocks as may be
necessary to direct the course of the steam as required.
I now proceed to describe the manner of performing my Invention
as applied to, first, the production of stearic acid without the use of any
chemical agent; second, the production of stearic acid by caustic soda
or potash and sulphuric acid; third, the production of stearic acid by
the use of sulphuric acid only; fourth, the production of soap, hard or
soft, by the use of caustic soda or caustic potash; fifth, the production
of a pure fatty acid by means of the improved apparatus from Yorkshire
grease, cotton seed, foots, or other fatty substances containing so much
impurity as to render it very difficult to treat them chemically in open
vessels, as heretofore usually practised.
According to the first-named process the tallow or other fatty matter
under treatment must be fed into the feeding tank and brought to
boiling point, then pumped through the coil of pipes d in the cast-iron
chamber c, the fatty matter at this time containing from four to five per
cent. of water at boiling point. Air is to be forced by the pump i and
its connections thro' the stuff, either as it passes with water and
steam through the coil d, or during its subsequent passage thro' the mixing
chamber before it is discharged into either of the compartments of the
feeding tank thro' No. 12 or No. 13 cock, as the case may be, and through
the perforations in the worm of the same, thereby bringing the oxygen
into contact with every particle of the matter. The process is to be
continued until the substance is bleached sufficiently white, for which
purpose it will have to be passed four or more times through the coil;
during this time the temperature of the steam in the superheating coil b
is to be gradually raised until it reaches 400 degrees of Fahrenheit's
thermometer, but in all cases the rapidity with which the temperature is
raised must be guided by the progress of the bleaching action. When the
substance under treatment is considered sufficiently white, which may be
ascertained by looking into the feed tank, then if the desired temperature

page_text: has not been reached the feed cocks 5 and 6 are to be closed and the force
pump and air pump stopped, so as to let the material rest in the tank
until the temperature required is reached. During this time after the
coil has emptied itself into the feeding tank the necessary cocks being
open steam passes from the chamber c past cock No. 14 and thro' the
yellow pipe coil d and mixing chamber 1, and escapes by the waste pipe.
When the required temperature is reached the pressure valve d' is set
to a pressure of from forty-five to sixty pounds on the square inch. The
fat and water are now forced through the pipes at a temperature of 400
degrees Fahrenheit's thermometer, and after passing through them the
entire compound will consist of glycerine water and fatty acid, and must
be left to settle for three or four hours in a clean tank, and the glycerine
water run off; then the matter is to be boiled with 5 pounds of sulphuric
acid to the ton of matter and allowed to settle for eight hours, after
which it will be ready for caking for cold hydraulic pressure, and will
yield good candle stuff and lubricating oil, or it may be distilled for
candle purposes, and will give fine products. During the raising of the
temperature of the steam as above mentioned when the steam must pass
through the superheating coil b and cast-iron chamber c it can be
utilized if desired for boiling the contents of any vessel forming a part
of the plant by letting it (the steam) pass thro' No. 7 cock.
In producing stearic acid by the use of caustic alkali and sulphuric
acid, according to the second process hercin-before referred to, the
temperature of the material under treatment, be it palm oil, tallow, or
other fatty matter not containing a large amount of impurity, is raised
to 260 degrees Fahrenheit in passing through the coil d; as it passes
through the mixing vessel / caustic soda is admitted by the alkali pipe
from a tank connected therewith in the proportion of 2 lbs. of caustic
soda of the gravity of 48 degrees on Twaddle's hydrometer to every
hundredweight of matter of fair average quality. The pipe may be
carried to any convenient length, not less than, say, from thirty to forty
feet, and at the end of this course sulphuric acid, gravity 1800
degrees on the ordinary acid hydrometer, is to be allowed to run into the
pipe in the proportion of four pounds of the sulphuric acid to every
hundredweight of the matter. The pipe from this point should be con-
tinued for a length of about twenty feet before reaching the fatty acid
receiver, giving the acid time to more effectually separate the compound.
The compound is then to be left to settle for three hours, then run off

page_text: into a clean tank, and boiled with free steam for thirty-five minutes
with thirty per cent. of water, and after settling eight hours after this
boiling the same process is to be repeated in another clean tank, and
after the second boiling the material should be left to settle for nine
hours, it will then be ready for distillation, and will give splendid products
for candle making and other purposes.
The third process referred to, and which relates to the production of
stearic acid by sulphuric acid only is the same as the second process,
with this exception, that the temperature of the material must be raised
to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and the acid must be raised to boiling point
and let into the stuff at a gravity of 1800 degrees (ordinary acid
hydrometer) in the proportion of five pounds of acid to every hundred-
weight of the stuff, the further treatment proceeding as already described
with reference to the second process.
The fourth process relates to the production of soap (hard or soft) by
the use of caustic soda or caustic potash in such manner as to effect a
very considerable saving in time in the making of such soap. For this
purpose the material while passing through the superheated coil d is to
be raised to a temperature of 230 degrees Fahrenheit, and in passing
through the mixing chamber is there brought into contact with free
superheated steam and caustic soda or caustic potash admitted from a
tank through the alkali pipe into the mixing chamber in the proportions
of seven pounds of alkali per hundredweight of matter, the alkali having
a specific gravity of 42 by Twaddle's hydrometer. The material for
soap should contain from five to six per cent. of water on entering the
mixing chamber. The material is now forced from the mixing chamber
(by steam from chamber c) along the pipe for a length of, say, thirty feet,
and is discharged into a soap pan, in which it must be allowed to settle
for two hours; the glycerine water is then to be run off and the finishing
boil given. In making soft soap according to this process the gravity
of the ley is to be 38 Twaddle, and the quantity six pounds to the
hundredweight of fatty material.
According to the fifth process fatty matters, such, for instance, as
Yorkshire grease and cotton seed mucilage, are passed through the
apparatus at a temperature of 320 degrees Fahrenheit, and concentrated
sulphuric acid in the proportion of seven pounds to every one hundred-
weight of stuff is admitted in the usual way, thus preparing the fatty
matter for distillation; the matter is then to be distilled in the ordinary

page_text: manner. Fatty and oily matters containing a large amount of impurity
will on being distilled, after having been treated according to this part
of my Invention, be found to yield oil and hard matter far superior in
quality to those heretofore produced by their distillation in the ordinary
way without previous treatment.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I desire to remark that I am
aware that it has been proposed to pass fatty matters thro' a coil
placed over a furface, to which however I make no claim; I also wish
it to be understood that I do not lay claim to the separate portions of
the apparatus herein-before described, apart from the method of super-
heating the coil or pipe containing the matters under treatment by
means of steam superheated in a separate coil, and the arrangements for
bringing the steam, chemicals, and atmospheric air into contact with the
fatty and oily matters in a mixing chamber during the passage of the
matters through the apparatus. What I consider to be new and desire to
have secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
First. The treating fatty and oily matters in coils or pipes surrounded
by superheated steam for the production of stearic acid, hard or soft soap,
and pure fatty acid.
Second. The method of using superheated steam in treating fatty and
oily matters by causing it (whilst passing through a chamber surrounded
by flues) to surround and superheat the coil or pipe containing the fatty
and oily matters, and afterwards to come into direct contact with the
said matters in a separate chamber, substantially as described.
Third. The combination of parts forming the improved apparatus
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings
for treating fatty and oily matters in coils or pipes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Cornelius Burke, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.