A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF EXTRACTING OR MANUFACTURING FROM A CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCE CERTAIN MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO THE PURPOSES OF AFFORDING LIGHT AND OTHER USES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
TINDALL, of Cornhill, in the City of London, Merchant and Ship Owner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under Her Privy Seal, bearing date at Westminster, the Nine-
teenth day of January, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Tindall, my
exors, adiňors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Tindall, my exors, admors, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said William Tindall, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW AND
IMPROVED METHOD OF EXTRACTING OR MANUFACTURING FROM A CERTAIN VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCE CERTAIN MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO THE PURPOSES OF AFFORDING LIGHT
AND OTHER USES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that I, the said William Tindall, shall particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and should
cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Tindall, do, in and by this Instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed. And I do hereby declare
that the following is a correct account or statement thereof:―
My Invention consists in expressing in this country cocoa-nut oil of various
degrees of consistency from a substance called or known by the name of
copperah, which I import into this country from Ceylon, the Malabar Coast,
and other foreign parts, and in producing from the residue of such copperah,
when pressed, a sweet and fresh cocoa-nut oil cake.
The substance called copperah consists merely of the kernel of the nut of
the cocoa-nut tree (which is a species of palm tree called the Cocos Nucifera),
cut into pieces and died abroad in the sun, and such dried pieces of the kernel
of the cocoa-nut are known in Ceylon, on the Malabar Coast in India, and
elsewhere, by the common name of copperah. In order to import the copperah
into this country perfectly fresh, and in such good condition that cocoa-nut oil
of the best quality may be made here from it, I have found it best to import
it in large iron tanks, which I have had made to fit the holes of such of my
vessels as I employ in the Ceylon and India trade. In these tanks the
copperah or dried kernel of the cocoa-nut is stowed as soon as possible after
it has been purchased abroad, and when as much has been placed therein as
can be, the tanks are filled up with cocoa-nut oil, which, being in a liquid
state, owing to the height of the ordinary temperature of Ceylon and other
parts of India, flows into and occupies all the spaces intervening between the
pieces of copperah. The circular openings of the tanks are then closed by
iron coverlids, which are screwed down upon listings dipped in. tallow, and
thus the tanks are rendered air-tight, and their contents protected from the
atmosphere. The object in filling up the tanks with cocoa-nut oil after as
much copperah has been placed therein as they will hold, is, that all the
pieces of the kernel of the cocoa-nut may be imbedded in a substance
of their own oily nature, and thereby be preserved in all their freshness.
When the copperah imported in the manner before mentioned arrives in this
country, I cause it to be taken out of the tanks, together with the cocoa-nut
oil in which it is imbedded. In the ordinary temperature of this country, in
the spring, autumn, and winter seasons, the copperah and cocoa-nut oil are
combined together, owing to the congelation of the latter, and form a solid
mass, and it is therefore necessary that the combined mass should be cut out

page_text: of the tanks with iron or some other strong tools. In the summer season,
however, the cocoa-nut oil is frequently in a liquid state, and will then run
freely off the copperah when ladled out of the tanks, and and in this state
both can be easily separated. Should the copperah upon arrival in this
country be united to the cocoa-nut oil, owing to the coolness of the atmo-
sphere, the first process which I adopt is to separate the cocoa-nut oil from
the copperah by the application of heat; and for this purpose the mass, as
taken from the tanks, is placed in an iron or in any other metal vessel, which
is slightly heated in a hot room. The cocoa-nut oil is thereby easily melted, and
the copperah can then be readily ladeled out of the vessel, and thus separated
from the liquid cocoa-nut oil. This process is of course unnecessary if the
cocoa-nut oil, owing to the warmth of the atmosphere, be in a liquid state
when the tanks are opened in this country, for then the copperah can be at
once separated from it. The copperah being thus freed from the cocoa-nut
oil in which it was imbedded in the tanks, I next place it in a mill, and there
subject it to the action of some sharp and notched rotary steel knives, by which
it is cut into very small particles. Having been thus cut up into small parti-
cles, the copperah is next put into another mill, constructed of large upright
edge stones or runners of rough Derbyshire grit, of great weight and power,
and which revolve in the ordinary way, as well upon their own axis as upon
the common centre, and thus perform a double motion. I subject about 168
pounds weight of the cut up copperah to the action of this mill at one time,
and for the space of about ten or fifteen minutes, in order that the copperah
may thus be thoroughly crushed and ground. This mill, when working,
should be kept constantly supplied by the addition, from time to time as
requisite, of further portions of cut up copperah. When the copperah has in
this manner been thoroughly crushed and ground, I cause it to be spread
with a common plasterer's trowel in layers upon flat square-shaped mats, in
superficial size about two feet square, so as to fit the bed of the hydraulic
press in which they are inserted, as afterwards mentioned. The mats used by
me are composed of a material called coir yarn, which is a substance spun from
the outside coating or fibre of the cocoa nut. The layer of the ground copperah
upon each mat should be about an inch thick, and should contain seven
pounds weight of the crushed copperah or thereabouts, according to the super-
ficial size of the mats which are used and of the bed of the hydraulic press in
which the copperah is subjected to pressure, as afterwards mentioned. For
the purpose of regulating the superficial size and thickness of the layers of
the ground copperah, and keeping them all uniform in size, I have recourse to
a.common square wooden frame, within the four sides of which, when placed

page_text: on one of the coir yarn mats, the layer of ground copperah is spread. Upon
the surface of each layer when spread on the coir yarn mat, and when the
wooden frame is removed, another coir yarn mat of precisely the same descrip-
tion should be placed; and thus the crushed copperah is put up into packages
for the purpose of being subjected to pressure. I then place these packages
in a hydraulic press, the bed of which they exactly fit, and pile one over the
other, inserting between each package a smooth flat iron plate, about one
quarter of an inch thick, and of the same size square surface as the coir yarn
packages. I sometimes pile up as many as sixty or even more of these
packages in one press, according to the size thereof, which as soon as suffi-
ciently filled I set to work. In the first place, I apply the pressure slowly
and gradually to the packages, at whatever may then be the temperature of
the copperah and that of the atmosphere.. In summer as well as in winter
the operation can be carried on, as I do not confine or limit myself to any
particular degree of temperature, either in first applying the pressure or in
any of the subsequent stages thereof. When the pressure is first applied, an
oil is expressed, which is received in cans placed for this purpose at the bottom
of the press. As soon as this oil ceases to flow, I cause the temperature of
the room in which the press is worked to be raised by the artificial means of
steam or hot-water pipes, or fire in stoves, or otherwise, and the pressure is
continued, by means whereof and of the increased temperature a further
portion of oil is expressed, which is also received in cans, and such further
portion of oil can of course, if desired, be kept distinct from what was
expressed in the first stage of pressure. In the same manner I raise the
temperature of the press-room from time to time, and to such different degrees
as I may prefer, and by such means, and by continuing the pressure at such
different temperatures, further quantities of oil are expressed, which can be
received in cans, and each quantity expressed at the distinct temperatures can
be kept separate, if it be wished to do so. Ultimately, by subjecting the
packages to pressure, in the same press, at a temperature exceeding
120 degrees of Fahrenheit, I extract the whole or nearly the whole of the
remaining oily matter existing in the copperah, which remaining oily matter,
as expressed, I cause to be also received into cans, as before, and it can be
kept separate from the quantities of oil expressed in the previous stages of
temperature. As soon as the last stage of pressure is completed, which is
known by the circumstance of the oil ceasing to flow, I cause the packages
to be taken from the press, and the coir yarn mats to be removed from the
intervening substance, which is a dry cake. All the oily matter expressed from
the copperah at the different stages of temperature herein-before referred to

page_text: is cocoa-nut oil; and if the portions thereof expressed from the said copperah
at the different stages of temperature be kept distinct and separate one from
another, the consistence of such portions will be. found to vary with the tem-
perature at which each portion is expressed, that portion *being liquid, or of
a lesser state of consistence, which is expressed at the lesser degree of tem-
perature, while each of the other portions increase in consistence with the
increased degree of temperature at which it is expressed. Thus the cocoa-
nut oil expressed from the said copperah in the manner herein-before specified
at the first stage of the pressure, and at what was the then temperature of
the said copperah and of the atmosphere, will remain in a liquid state at such
temperature, whatever that may be, and at any higher degree thereof; and if
therefore such cocoa-nut oil be expressed in the winter season, when the said
copperah and the atmosphere are at a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit,
it will remain fluid thereat, and at higher temperatures, while cocoa-nut oil
expressed from the said copperah in the manner herein-before specified at the
last stage of the pressure, and at a temperature exceeding 120 degrees of
Fahrenheit, assumes a considerable degree of solidity and consistence. When
the cocoa-nut oil has been expressed from the copperah in the manner herein-
before specified, it can be purified by being filtered through cotton or woollen
bags; but it is not always essential to subject it to such process of filtration,
as it will generally settle fine by itself if put into a cistern and kept for a
short there in a hot room. The portion of the copperah which remains between
the coir yarn mats after the cocoa-nut oil has been expressed therefrom in the
manner herein-before specified is a dry cake, and a valuable substance for the
purpose of feeding various sorts of animals and poultry.
For the purpose of explaining in as clear a manner as possible the precise
method adopted by me for expressing the cocoa-nut oil from the said substance
called copperah, I have thought it best to add the following account of an
operation which I effected in the month of May last at my manufactory,
situate at Mill Wall, Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, and upon a quan-
tity of ground copperah amounting together to 420 lbs. I cause this quantity
of ground copperah to be placed in sixty of the coir yarn packages which I
have before described. Each of these packages contain 7 lbs. weight of the
ground copperah. The sixty packages were then placed in a bed of a hydraulic
press, piled one over the other, and there subjected to pressure at the following
different stages of temperature; that is to say, the first stage was from 58 to 59
degrees of Fahrenheit, the then temperature of the copperah aud of the
atmosphere in the press-room; the second stage was at 65 degrees; the third
at 75 degrees; the fourth at 85 degrees; and the last at 120 degrees. Each

page_text: quantity of cocoa capressed me a copperan a
aforesaid different stages of temperature was kept distinct from the others, and
the following is a correct statement of each quantity thus expressed:-
The copperah pressed at from 58° to 59° yielded 85 lbs. of cocoa-nut oil.
Ditto
ditto
65°
Ditto
ditto
75°
Ditto
** ditto
85°
Ditto
ditto
120
ditto 13
ditto.
ditto 21
ditto.
ditto 26
ditto.
ditto 91
ditto.
238 lbs.
Total quantity of cocoa-nut oil expressed
The cake which remained in the coir yarn mats after the copperah had
undergone this pressure, weighed altogether 155 lbs. The 238 lbs. weight
of cocoa-nut oil and the 155 lbs. of copperah cake make together 393 lbs.,
which is only 26 lbs. less than the entire quantity of 420 lbs. of copperah
subjected to this operation. The 26 lbs. deficient consisted of cocoa-nut
:oil which could not be collected in the cans during the progress of the work,
bút ran off the hydraulic press into a common reservoir placed beneath the
-press for the purpose of receiving and collecting all the oil which escapes in this
manner. None of the above five different quantities of cocoa-nut oil were
filtered, purified, or in any way operated upon, except by the hydraulic press,
but still at the temperature of 68 degrees of Fahrenheit, which was the tem-
perature of a sitting-room in the afternoon of the Fifteenth day of this instant
July, One thousand eight hundred and forty-two. The portion of cocoa-nnt
oil which was expressed in this operation at the first stage of temperature, viz.,
that from 58 to 59 degrees, is quite liquid and bright, as is the case also with
that portion which was expressed at the second stage, viz., 65 degrees; while
that portion expressed at the third stage of temperature, viz., 75 degrees, is
only partially liquid, and is not transparent; and that expressed at the fourth
stage of temperature, viz., 85 degrees, is quite set, is of a consistent solid form,
and of a dirty white color; and that expressed at the fifth and last stage of
temperature, viz., 120 degrees, is of a considerable degree of consistence,
firmly set, and of a fine white color.
After the said copperah has undergone the pressure of the hydraulic press
in the manner before described, it will be found that the outer edges or
borders of each cake remaining between the mats have not felt the full
effect of the pressure, as some of the oily matter will be still remaining in
such edges or borders, as will be evident by the darker appearance thereof
When compared with the interior. In order to extract what oily matter

page_text: remains in the edges or boarders of each cake, they should be cut off, reground
in the stone mill, and again subjected to pressure as before.
In the method herein-before specified for expressing the cocoa-nut oil from
the said copperah, I have confined myself to the description of one continued
pressure in the same hydraulic press, without removing the packages there-
from after they have been once placed therein; but sometimes it will be
found beneficial, in practice, particularly if the operation of pressure be com-
menced in very cold weather, to take the packages out of the press when the
pressure has been applied at the first stage of temperature, and then to remove
the mats from the intervening layers of copperah, and after having it reground
in the stone mill to subject it to pressure again. This slight modification of the
method of applying the pressure to the said copperah can be readily resorted
to as circumstances may direct, or as may appear in practice most expedient
to the party operating. As before stated, I do not confine myself to any parti-
cular degree of temperature, either in first applying the pressure to the ground
copperah, or in any of the subsequent stages of such pressure, but the pressure,
when applied to the said copperah, may be varied at pleasure to such different
stages of temperature as may enable the party operating to obtain cocoa-nut
oil of that particular consistency which may best suit the purpose, for which
it is required, either for use in this country or exportation abroad.. To
exemplify this, the ground copperah may be first pressed at a temperature of
40 degrees of Fahrenheit; a second stage of pressure may be at 45°; a third
at 50°; a fourth at 55°; a fifth at 60°; a sixth at 70°; a seventh at 80°; an
eighth at 90°; and the last at a temperature exceeding 120 degrees of
Fahrenheit. The cocoa-nut oil which will be expressed from the sail
copperah at the commencement of such operation, and at the first stage of
temperature, viz., 40°, will be fluid, and remain so at that temperature, or
thereabouts; that expressed at the last stage will be firm and solid, and of
considerable consistency, even at a temperature of 75 degrees or higher; while
each quantity of cocoa-nut oil expressed at the intermediate stages of tem-
perature will remain fluid at that particular degree of temperature at which it
was expressed, or thereabouts.
By my Invention I have succeeded in obtaining in this country, direct from
the said substance called copperah, two articles of value: -First, a good fresh
and sweet cocoa-nut oil, varying in its consistence according to the degrees of
temperature at which the said copperah is subjected to pressure; and,
secondly, a sweet and fresh oil cake, which is fit and valuable for feeding
various kinds of animals and poultry.
That portion of the cocoa-nut oil which is extracted from the said copperah

page_text: •
at a low degree of temperature is fit, either alone or when combined with
other oils, for burning in argand and other lamps, for use in woollen manu-
factures, and for other purposes which will readily suggest themselves to any
party acquainted with liquid oils, and the nature, qualities, and uses thereof.
For the purpose of rendering this portion of the said cocoa-nut oil better
adapted for burning in lamps, either alone or in combination with other
oils, it may be refined by the well-known modes adopted in this country for
refining oils.
That portion of the said cocoa-nut oil which is obtained from the said copperah
at the highest and last stage of temperature, and after the previous portions
have been extracted, may be used in combination with tallow, tallow stearine,
stearic acid of tallow, spermaceti, or wax, for making candles, and can be
adapted to other purposes which will readily suggest themselves to any parties
acquainted with the nature and qualities of fixed oils.
To render the last-mentioned portion of the said cocoa-nut oil in as good
condition as possible, it may be filtered in the usual way through cotton or
'other bags; although, if, when expressed, it be placed in a cistern in a hot room,
it will settle down fine, and can then be drawn off in a perfectly good
condition.
The sweet and fresh oil cake is a good thing for feeding various kinds of
animals and poultry; and it requires nothing to be done to it after it is removed
from the coir yarn mats, except that each cake should, for the reason before
stated, have its edges or borders cut off.
Having thus described the method adopted by me for expressing in this
country cocoa-nut oil from the before-mentioned substance called copperah, at
different stages of temperature, now I do not claim as my Invention the
particular process of hydraulic or any other kind of pressure, neither do I
claim the invention of the coir-yarn mats which I have herein-before particu-
larly described, nor the mode adopted by me in placing them in the bed of the
hydraulic press; but I do claim as my Invention the application of such
pressure and of the before-mentioned process to the said article called copperah,
and the expressing in this country from such copperah, at separate stages
and at different degrees of temperature, cocoa-nut oil of various qualities of
consistence.
And I also claim as my Invention the two before-mentioned products thereby
obtained in this country from such copperah, that is to say:-
First, a good, fresh, and sweet cocoa-nut oil, varying in its consistence
according the degrees of temperature at which the said opperah is subjected
to pressure; that portion of such cocoa-nut oil which runs from the copperah,

page_text: when expressed at any given temperature being fluid at that and any higher
temperature, and being adapted at such or any increased temperature, either
alone or in combination with other oils, for burning in lamps and other uses;
while that portion of such cocoa-nut oil which is of considerable consistence
may be used, in combination with other substances, such as tallow, tallow
stearine, stearic acid of tallow, spermaceti, and wax, for making candles,
and may be used either alone or in combination with other substances for
other uses.
And, secondly, a sweet and fresh oil cake, which is fit for feeding various
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid William Tindall came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two.