IMPROVEMENTS IN DIS- TILLING FATTY AND OILY MATTERS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Fergusson Wilson, of Belmont, Vauxhall,
Managing Director of Price's Patent Candle Company, and George
Payne, of the same Place, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DIS-
TILLING FATTY AND OILY MATTERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Fergusson Wilson
and George Payne at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 24th July 1854.
We, GEORGE FERGUSSON WILSON, of Belmont, Vauxhall, Managing Director
of Price's Patent Candle Company, and GEORGE PAYNE, of the same Place,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLING
FATTY AND OILY MATTERS " to be as follows:-
In distilling fatty and oily matters, it has heretofore been usual to previously
acidify them by means of lime or direct sulphuric acid saponification, and then
to distil in steam introduced in its ordinary or superheated state, and it has
been proposed to distil neutral fats or oils in steam introduced in its ordinary or
superheated state. In these cases the distillation has heretofore been conducted
at so high a temperature as to leave the glycerine, with part of the fatty matter,
as a residuum in the still, or to cause the evolution of acroleine, the effect of
which last is, besides the loss of glycerine, to taint the fat acid products of
distillation. Now we have discovered that neutral or partially neutral oily

page_text: and fatty matters may be so distilled by heat when steam or vapor of water is
mixed and distributed amongst them as to cause the base to distil in the state
of glycerine along with the fat acids, but uncombined with them; and our
Invention consists of so distilling, oily and fatty matters that their base may
distil over in the state of glycerino along, but not in combination with, the
acids, and thus wasteful residuum may be avoided or diminished.
For this purpose the charge in the still, the temperature, and the supply of
steam or vapor of water, are so regulated as to develope the-base in such a
state as enables it to distil over with the acids in the form of glycerine; and for
most fats and oils we have found that a temperature of from about 550° to
600° Fahrenheit is suitable; and at present the best test we can give of the
satisfactory progress of the process is by taste and smell, namely, the sweet
taste of the glycerine solution, and the absence of the pungent smell of
acroleine; and so long as these results are obtained, the process is correctly
performed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Fergusson Wilson and George Payne in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 24th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
FERGUSSON WILSON,, of Belmont, Vauxhall, Managing Director of Prices
Patent Candle Company, and GEORGE PAYNE, of the same Place, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said George Fergusson Wilson and George Payne, Her special licence that we,
the said George Fergusson Wilson and George Payne, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Fergusson Wilson
and George Payne, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DISTILLING FATTY AND OILY MATTERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said George Fergusson Wilson and George Payne, by an instru-

page_text: ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us, 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 we, the said George Fergusson Wilson and George
Payne, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
In distilling fatty and oily matters, it has heretofore been usual to previously
acidify them by means of lime or direct sulphuric acid saponification, and then
to distil in steam introduced in its ordinary or superheated state, and it has
been proposed to distil neutral fats or oils in steam introduced in its ordinary
or superheated state. In these cases the distillation has heretofore been con-
ducted at so high a temperature as to leave the glycerine, with part of the
fatty matter, as a residuum in the still, or to cause the evolution of acroleine,
the effect of which last, is, besides the loss of glycerine, to taint the fat acid
products of distillation. Now we have. discovered that neutral or partially
neutral oily and fatty matters may be so distilled by heat, when steam or
vapour of water is mixed and distributed amongst them, as to cause the base
to distil in the state of glycerine along with the fat acids, but uncombined
with them; and our Invention consists of so distilling oily and fatty matters
that their base may distil over in the state of glycerine along, but not in
combination with, the acids, and thus wasteful residuum may be avoided or
diminished.
For this purpose the charge in the still, the temperature, and the supply of
steam or vapour of water, are so regulated as to develop the base in such a
state as enables it to distil over with the acids in the form of glycerine; and for
most fats and oils we have found that a temperature of from about 550° to
600° Fahrenheit is suitable.
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention, we will now proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
In carrying out this Invention, we employ an ordinary still and condensing
or refrigerating apparatus, preferring one with an ample refrigerating surface,
such as are now resorted to and well understood for distilling saponified
fatty matters when using heated steam, with a view to exclude the atmospheric
air, and also in order that such steam may act as a carrier to carry over
the fatty vapours. The bottom of the still is heated by a fire provided with a
damper to the flue or chimney, that the heat of the matters under process may

page_text: be kept from getting up to a degree beyond the desired temperature. We,
however, make no claim to such still and apparatus, nor is it necessary to
describe them here, the same not being new.
The stills and condensing appa-
ratus used for the purpose may be varied so long as they will admit of carrying
on the process according to our Invention, which, as before stated, consists of
distilling over glycerine, together with the fat acids from neutral or partially
neutral fats, the glycerine and fat acids being mixed but uncombined, so that
they will separate when allowed to stand; by which process the fat acids will
be very pure, and the glycerine will also be very pure, but dissolved in the
water resulting from the condensation of the steam passing off with the
vapours of the glycerine and of the fat acids. In charging a still, a quantity
of neutral or partially neutral fats is introduced into the heated still, and
heated steam is introduced, as heretofore, when distilling saponified fats or oils
in an atmosphere of heated steam, it being preferred that the heated steam
should be passed below the fats or oils, and rise up through them in numerous
streams, care being taken that the temperature of the matters in the still
shall not come up to the temperature which will decompose the glycerine in
the fatty or oily matters. A thermometer is used in the still to indicate the
temperature of the contents of the still, and we have found in all cases that
it is desirable with neutral fats and oils to keep the heat below 600° of
Fahrenheit and above five hundred and fifty degrees of Fahrenheit, as by
such means we have not found that the glycerine has been decomposed in
any instance;
Wo
on the contrary, the glycerine has come over very pure.
have also found that when the fats or oils are only partially neutral, which is
very commonly the case with palm oil, that whilst there are fat acids in the
still, the draft of the fires may be quickened and the process hastened; but as
soon as the fat acids which were in the still have passed over, if the temperature
is materially above six hundred degrees Fahrenheit, acroleine will probably be
formed, particularly if steam be not freely supplied, and the production of
acroleine is quickly indicated by the pungent smell and by the action it has
on the eyes of persons near the condenser, from which the distilled products
constantly flow.
Although we recommend that the temperature, as a general rule, should be
kept below six hundred degrees Fahrenheit, we have worked off charges at
higher temperatures, keeping up a very plentiful supply of steam, and have
not decomposed the glycerine; still we have obtained no superior result, whilst
there was a greater hazard of decomposing the glycerine.
We have, however, as before stated, found, and therefore we believe it most
convenient, to retain the contents of the still rather under than above six
•

page_text: hundred degrees of Fahrenheit (keeping up a free supply of steam) during
the whole process, whether the fats or oils be neutral or partially neutral; and.
we may state, that a workman, with very moderate care, will continue to heat
the steam and keep up a free supply thereof to the interior of the still, and
he also maintain the fire under the still in such manner as to retain the
may
temperature about six hundred degrees. We would state, in respect to the use
of fire or other external means of heating a still, that it is desirable that the
external heat immediately under the still should be very moderate, and that the
heated steam admitted into the still should, by preference, be depended on for
maintaining the higher temperature. We would remark, that different neutral
fatty and oily substances appear to vary in some degree, but not to a large
extent, in regard to the temperaturo at which they may be distilled most
quickly in an atmosphere of steam or vapour of water, and yet not decompose
the glycerine; a workman, however, with attention, when acting on the first
charge of a neutral oil or fat with which he has not before operated, will by
raising the temperature gradually, and noticing at what temperature the matters
come over most freely and yet avoid the production of acroleine, ascertain at
what temperature the particular fat or oil may be distilled most favorably; and
then, in distilling subsequent charges of the saine fat or oil, he will retain the
contents of the still as near as may be at the ascertained most favorable
temperature, that is, at a temperature which will bring over the products
most quickly, without allowing the heat to rise so high as to produce
acroleine.
When using a still with a refrigerator or condenser in compartments, each
more and more distant from the still, and each compartment provided with a
cock to draw off the distilled and condensed products (which is the arrangement
of condenser we prefer), it is found that the products which flow from the
hottest of such condensers will be for the most part free froin water and
glycerine, and the glycerine for the most part will be found to come off with
the products, which condense in the compartment of the condenser more
distant from the still; and where the condenser is kept lower in temperature
and in all the receivers, the fat acids will quickly separate from the glycerine
and water when allowed to stand and cool for a short time. It may be proper
to state that the compartment of the condenser most distant from the still is
open to the atmosphere, no pressure being necessary internally of the still and
condenser.
When the glycerine is desired to be in a more concentrated state than it is
when it comes over and is condensed, it may have the water more or less
separated, which may be conveniently done by being evaporated therefrom;

page_text: and thus will be obtained distilled and very pure glycerine, as well as fat
acids.
:
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that what we claim is, the
distilling neutral or partially neutral fats and oils in an atmosphere of steam or
vapour of water, in such manner as to distil over glycerine, together with fat
acids mixed, but not combined, as herein explained.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Fergusson Wilson and George
Payne, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-third day
of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
Witness,
B. GOBEY,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
GEO: F. WILSON. (L.S.)
GEORGE PAYNE.. (L.S.)