AN IMPROVED MODE OF TREATING OILS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF GAS AND VOLATILE OILS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred. Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF TREATING OILS FOR
THE PRODUCTION OF GAS AND VOLATILE OILS."-A communication from
abroad by the "Societe Parisienne pour l'Eclairage au Gaz," of Paris, in
the Empire of France.
Sealed the 11th October 1860, and dated the 16th May 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition. on the
16th May 1860.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF TREATING OILS FOR
THE PRODUCTION OF GAS AND VOLATILE OILS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the application of heavy oils to the pro-
duction of gas and of light or volatile oils, or essences, such as benzole.
The principle of this manufacture consists in the treatment of these heavy
oils by. a methodical application of heat.
The apparatus employed for this purpose is composed of a retort of any
suitable form, provided at its two extremities with openings diametrically

page_text: opposite to each other; one of these openings serves for the introduction of
the oil, and the other for the escape of the tar and gas which pass down
through a pipe into a water chamber situate below the retort. From this
apparatus the gas passes into refrigerators similar to those employed for
coal gas.
The operation is conducted as follows:-The retort being heated to a
temperature approaching a bright red. the oil is caused to flow, and its decom-
position is effected. The gas evolved passes into the water chamber, where
it deposits the products which are not very volatile (heavy oil No. 1). The
light liquids (heavy oil No. 2,) are condensed in the refrigerators. The
liquid products of the decomposition are, therefore, divided into two parts.
The last (oil No. 2) on being submitted to rectification furnishes essences
at 25°, and the first (heavy oil No. 1), which is but slightly volatile, and when
passed back into the retort again, furnishes by decomposition, heavy oils. light
oils, and gas. A third treatment of the oil condensed in the water chamber
will again produce gas, light oils, and a residuiim of heavy oil. A series of
retorts might be employed, arranged in such a manner that each shall receive
the heavy oils condensed in the water chamber of the preceding retort, the
light oils and gas being separated as in the ordinary manner.
In gas works the flame which escapes from the distilling furnaces may be
utilized for the purpose of effecting the decomposition of these oils, by being
caused to pass through other furnaces where the retorts for the decomposition
of the tar are arranged in upright rows.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents. 66. Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, 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 sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign.
did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators. and assigns, or such others' as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: 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 L■.
PROVED MODE OF TREATING OILS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF GAS AND VOLATILE OILS,"
being a communication, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal. should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton. do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed.
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me from abroad. relates to the treat-
ment of what are known as heavy oils for the production of gas for illumination,
and of light or volatile oils, or essences, such as benzole. by a methodical
application of heat; the object being to act upon a body of a homogeneous
nature, to which it is possible with great advantage to subject to special
treatment. It is well known that by the distillation of coal. schistus. or hog-
head at a high or low temperature, gas, ammoniacal water. and lar are
obtained. The treatment of lars thus derived furnishes successively by
careful distillation, first. products lighter than water, and boiling at a tem-
perature which varies from 70 to 150° centigrade. These products are volatile
oils, which are employed for various industrial purposes, as illumination,
scouring of fabrics, painting, as well as in the manufacture of coloring matters,
which result from the transformation of the benzole contained in greater or
less quantity in these volatile oils. Second, liquid products heavier than water,
composed generally of a mixture of phenic or picric acid, naphthaline, and
other neutral hydrocarbons, the boiling point of which varies from 150°
to 250° centigrade. These heavy oils, which form on the average from 25
to 30 per cent. of the weight of the tar, have hitherto been employed for the
manufacture of grease, for painting, and under certain conditions for illumi-
nating purposes. Third, a pitchy residuum of a resinous appearance, and solid
at the ordinary temperature, and which is employed in ship building, and for
the manufacture of artificial fuel.
Now, this Invention consists in the treatment of these heavy oils in the

page_text: manner to be presently described, in order to convert them into gas fit for
illuminating purposes, and into volatile oils rich in benzole.
The apparatus employed for carrying out the process is shewn in longitudinal
section in the accompanying Drawing, wherein a, a, is one of a series of
retorts. which may be made of cast iron or earthenware. as thought most
desirable. These retorts are mounted in a furnace b, b. in such manner that
the flame and heated gases of the fire-place may circulate freely around them.
At one end each retort is fitted with a removable cover. which allows of access
to the interior for the purpose of cleaning it, and near the other end is a cross
partition for arresting the flow of the oil. Beyond this partition the retort
communicates, by means of a pipe c placed at the under side of the retort, with
a closed water chamber d. This chamber is in communication with a
refrigerating apparatus e, of any well-known construction. into which the
volatile products are to be passed to effect the condensation of the oil and to
cool the gas, which is driven over prior to its passing away to be collected in
an ordinary gasometer.
The treatment of heavy oils for their conversion into gas and volatile oils is
as follows: The retorts having been heated to a bright red heat, a continuous
stream of heavy oil is supplied to them by means of a syphon f. fitted to the
front end of each retort, and furnished with a funnel-shaped termination to
receive the oil from a tap in an elevated oil tank g. The oil as it flows
through or along the retorts is partially vaporized, and the remainder is
converted into solid products, as lamp-black, and graphite (which remain in
the retort). The vaporized products of the oil (which pass over altogether)
consist of a tarry liquid and permanent gas. As these products enter the
water chamber a separation takes place, a heavy and not very volatile product.
which may be termed oil No. 1, being condensed in the water chamber, while
the remainder passes to the refrigerators. The reduction of temperature
which the vaporized products here experience will have the effect of bringing
down a light volatile oil, which may be termed oil No. 2, and the remainder.
which is permanent gas, passes off by the pipe h. The oil No. 2 on being
submitted to distillation in an ordinary still, furnishes light volatile oils rich in
benzole. The oil which is first deposited (in the water chamber) does not
contain volatile oil: it is, therefore, to be again passed through the red-hot
retorts, whereby more gas and light oils will be obtained. This first deposited
oil may, if desired, be mixed with fresh heavy oils, and then again passed
through the retorts. The stages of the process of thus converting heavy oils
into gas and volatile oils may, therefore, be characterized as follows:-Action
of red heat upon oils flowing continuously. Separation of the products of the

page_text: decomposition; 1st, into heavy products mixed with undecomposed oil;
2nd, into light products rich in volatile oils; 3rd, into gas. Passage again
of the heavy products of the water chamber, either alone or after their mixture
with fresh heavy oil. Rectification of the light oils condensed in the re-
frigerators, in order to obtain therefrom volatile oils rich in benzole.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of an improved mode of
treating oils for the production of gas and volatile oils, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that
the novelty of the Invention consists in the treatment by heat in retorts, fitted
as above explained, of streams of heavy oils, and in general of the different
products obtained by the fractional distillation of tar derived from coal or
schistus, each of these products being taken separately and submitted to the
heat which is most suitable for its conversion into volatile oils rich in benzole
and gas. For it should be observed that the temperatures at which the
decompositon of the different bodies constituting the tar is effected are very
various, and, therefore, by operating in the manner hitherto practised upon
raw tar, results cannot be obtained comparable to those furnished by the
novel process.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)