IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFacture of OIL, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Lloyd at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
August 1870.
I, JAMES LLOYD, of the Firm of Lloyd, Burnay, and Company, of
Lisbon, in the Kingdom of Portugal, but now of 4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFacture of
OIL, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture
and production of oil suitable for various uses, more especially for
illuminating and for conversion into gas, and consisting of hydrocarbon
and hydrocarburet distilled from wood, capable of being mixed with
other oils, and being non-explosive; and in the machinery or apparatus
by which such oil is produced.
Various descriptions of wood may be used in the manufacture, but
wood containing a large proportion of resinous matter is preferable,
such as pine and the roots of pine and the lowermost parts of the

page_text: wee, remaining
Most part
resinous matter. The wood is first to be cut in pieces of convenient
size, after which it is placed in cradles or travellers supported on a
traversing wagon ready for charging a cylindrical retort or retorts.
The travelling cradles are mounted on rollers and rest on rails fixed
and stayed on the traversing wagon, which runs on rails at right angles
to the line of the cradle rails; so that when the loaded traveller is
brought into position for delivery to the cylinder it meets corresponding
rails fixed in the interior thereof.
The apparatus by which the oil or hydrocarburet is manufactured,
consists of two cylinders set horizontally in brickwork and heated
externally by the flame and heat produced from a furnace grate beneath,
passages being left between the bricks of the vault, and a refractory
jacket being applied over that portion of the cylinder on which the
first action of the heat would occur in order that the temperature may
be distributed as uniformly as possible throughout the cylinder; the
flame and products of combustion then escape by suitable flues without
coming in contact with the gutter or trough which is riveted to the
bottom of the cylinders. Iron doors are applied to close the cylinders on
both sides; one door in front is moveable on hinges, the other being
bolted to the after part, which is provided with two apertures, one at the
highest point for the introduction of steam, the other at the lowest point
for the outlet of the products; this outlet branches into two tubes, one
forming an hydraulic fastening, penetrating vertically into a bucket or
tank, the other conveying the more volatile products to a refrigerator
composed of vertical tubes surrounded by water, where the products are
condensed and the gasses alone are conveyed under the furnaces of the
apparatus, after having passed through a water purifier. The separation
of the hydrocarburet from the water containing pyroligneous products is
self-acting, and takes place in a vessel beneath the purifier, the water
flowing off by a tube, and the hydrocarburet oil by a tap or cock into a
reservoir, and ultimately into tanks, where it forms, with the addition of
the products collected in the bucket, the oil required. The refuse or
acid water may then be employed for any salts of pyroligneous acid.
Assuming the cylinders to be in a heated state, as they would be if
the manufacture were regular or constant, the cradles are passed along
the rails within the cylinders and the doors are luted and fastened, and
the products begin to flow into the vessel below the purifier at the end

page_text: of about one hour. A boiler is set close or contiguous to the apparatus
in order to generate steam, which is admitted in the manner before
mentioned for about 5 hours within the cylinders, the heat being
maintained at an uniform temperature of 300° centigrade, for about six
hours after the supply of steam has ceased, so that the temperature
being always the same the wood becomes completely charred; the
doors are then opened, the cradles are withdrawn and pass over two
short iron rail bridges from the cylinders over the traversing wagon,
and thence into the cooling cylinders, where they are left to cool with
their contents, and a new charge being immediately introduced to the
retort cylinders, a new operation begins.
It will thus be evident that by the sustained heat of the cylinders and
the introduction of steam to a certain extent during the process, the
wood will yield its oily products partly in the form of liquid hydrocarbon
and partly as hydrocarburet capable of condensation by refrigeration ;
this product may be used alone, or it may be mixed with other suitable
oils for illuminating purposes, for conversion into gas, or for other
purposes.