A NEW ART, METHOD, OR PROCESS OF PURIFYING, REFINING, AND OTHEWISE IMPROVING FISH OILS AND OTHER OILS, AND CONVERT- ING AND APPLYING TO USE THE UNREFINED PARTS THEREOF
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SPEER, of the City of Dublin, Esquire, lately residing in Crown Street, in the
City of Westminster, and still residing in the said City of Westminster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, on or about the Thirteenth day of December, in the forty-seventh
year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said William Speer,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said William Speer, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, during the term of fourteen years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and and vend the Invention
therein mentioned, to wit, "A NEW ART, METHOD, OR PROCESS OF PURIFYING,
REFINING, AND OTHEWISE IMPROVING FISH OILS AND OTHER OILS, AND CONVERT-
ING AND APPLYING TO USE THE UNREFINED PARTS THEREOF," within that part
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in His
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, in such manner as to me,
the said William Speer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or any of
them, should seem meet, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence,
powers, privileges, and advantages therein granted unto me, the said William
Speer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, for and during and unto
the full end and term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters
Patent next and. immediately ensuing, and fully to be complete and ended,
according to the Statute in such case made and provided; in which said Letters

page_text: Patent there is (amongst other things) contained a proviso that if I, the said
William Speer, should not 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 cause the same to be
inrolled in the High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the
said Letters Patcnt, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by tho
said recited Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Speer, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, as follows,
that is to say:-
The nature of my said Invention is in part expressed in the general descrip-
tion thereof contained in the said recited Letters Patent, that is to say:―
A New Art, Method, or Process of Purifying, Refining, and otherwise
Improving Fish Oils, and other Oils, and Converting and Applying to Use the
Unrefined Parts thereof, which unrefined parts are the same as the grounds,
deposit, or residue mentioned in the subsequent parts of this Specification.
And the general nature of the said Invention may be further understood from
its being applicable to all animal oils and expressed vegetable oils, for the
improvement thereof respectively, with more or less effect in proportion to the
quantity or degree of impurity contained in such oils, before the same are
subjected to the said art, method, or process, the principle of the said Inven-
tion being to separate the impurities from the oil, and thereby improve the
qualities thereof for burning, and other uses, and to apply the sustance of the
said impurities to such uses as the same are fit for, as herein-after stated. And
the manner of performing the said Invention is as follows:-I add to the oil
required to be refined a quantity of a solution or infusion of tannin, which I
obtain from some substance or matter containing tannin as one of its consti-
tuent principles, such as the bark of oak or of alder, chesnut, birch, willow, or
elm, or the root of tornicntil tormentilla officinalis), or other sorts of bark, roots,
wood, or vegetables which contain tannin or shumach, gall nuts, japan, earth,
or catechu, or else I use artificial tannin prepared from various mineral and
vegetable matters, by some or one of the processes described and explained
by Charles Hatchet, Esquire, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society; or, more generally speaking, I use some matter or substance or com-
bination of matters or substances capable of being employed in the tanning of

page_text: leather, and of which the solution, infusion, or decoction will coagulate a
solution of animal glue or gelatine, these being the tests of such matter or
substance being capable of or fit for purifying oils according to my Invention.
But the several before-mentioned substances not being all of them equally
economical or fit for the purpose intended, nor equally easy to be procured in
sufficient quantity, I therefore in practice prefer the bark of oak for making
the solution or infusion by means of which the refinement of the oil is to be
effected. In doing this I take a quantity of soft water equal to that of the
oil required to be refined, in which I infuse for a considerable time (one or
more day or days) about a tenth part of its weight of oak bark, chopped or
ground small, and during the time of infusion I frequently agitate the same
for the purpose of accelerating the solution, and finally. I rack off the clear
infusion into another vessel. Then, mixing in equal quantities the oil and
infusion in a copper boiler, I apply heat thereto until the mixture boils,
agitating the said mixture violently from the beginning of the application of
heat as aforesaid, not only until the boiling degree of heat is acquired, but
also for some time afterwards, until I judge the mixture or combination of the
oil and infusion sufficiently effected; towards producing which effect I employ
a machine or instrument in the nature of a churn or agitator, which may be
variously formed, and in various ways applied according to circumstances, at
the will of the operator. The necessary period of agitation must depend also
upon circumstances, such as the quality of the oil to be refined, the degree of
violence of the agitation, and the heat of the mixture, in which latter point,
though I use and recommend the boiling heat, I do not describe that degree
or any degree of heat as being absolutely essential, by reason that the general
purpose may be effected whilst the mixture is cold, provided sufficient agitation
by mechanical means be employed, agitation of some sort being absolutely
necessary to effect the combination or mixture. I recommend also, not as
necessary, but as contributing to the beneficial result of the process, that, during
the boiling and agitation, a portion of cold water capable of considerably
lowering the temperature, be poured in gradually. This may be done at the
end of a quarter of an hour (more or less), continuing the boiling and agitation
afterwards for another quarter of an hour or half an hour, more or less.
When I conceive the mixture to be sufficiently agitated, I run it off into an-
other vessel, which I call the setting vessel, where I suffer it to subside or settle
until the oil, being separated from the grounds and from the tannin liquor and
water, becomes bright, at which time the unrefined parts will appear at the
bottom of the oil, and upon the surface of the tannin liquor and water (that is,
between both), after which I rack or draw off the oil into other vessels for

page_text: use or salo. If the oil is not sufficiently pure after having undergone the above-
described process, I repeat it with greater or less quantities of the tannin
infusion, and with more or less agitation and heat, as the case may require.
And be it observed, that though I have, for the sake of example, mentioned
certain quantities of oak bark and water to be used, proportioned to the oil
to be refined, yet other quantities may and-do-answer the purpose, the
quantities depending upon the quality of the oil to be refined, and other cir
cumstances, which can only be judged of from experience, and by the sagacity
of the operator. But with common whale or seal oil, and good oak bark, the
quantities specified above will produce the desired effect; and though I have
recommended oak bark for its comparative chicapness, and the facility of pro-
curing it in large quantities, there are several of the above-mentioned
substances, particularly the catechu gall nut and shumach,-which-contains
more tannin, and therefore might operato better or more expeditiously, than
oak bark: And it is further to be noted that the quantities of the water
employed to make the infusion of tannin, and the quantity of the tannin
substance, are not determinate respectively, but mutually admit of variations,
and that infusions in warm water, or even decoctions may be used, though I
prefer the cold infusion. I recommend towards the further purification of the
oil, after it has been separated from the grounds, that it should be again
agitated for a considerable time in warm or hot water, or a weak tannin
infusion, also warm or hot, and then suffered to settle again, when a further
deposit will commonly take place, from which the clear oil must be racked or
drawn off as before. In regard to the use to be made of the grounds, deposit,
or unrefined parts of the oil, it is to be observed that during -the process of
agitation the particles of the taunin, by a chemical attraction, unite with the
gelatinous or mucilaginous matters contained in the oil, according to the the
respective natures thereof, and lay hold of or entangle the other impurities,
whereby a viscous matter is formed, which is no longer soluble in cold water,
and which, being heavier than puro oil, subsides to the bottom thereof, and,
being lighter than water, swims upon the surface of the tannin infusion, that
is to say, between both, as above mentioned. Of the said grounds, deposit, or
unrefined parts, when proceeding from fish oils, or other animal oils, I make
cement by mixing the same with quicklime or gypsum, and by the like
mixture I make plaister or stucco. And I also employ the said grounds,
deposit, or unrefined parts towards inaking paints and varnishes for various
-purposes, using therewith in the composition of such paints or varnishes proper
colouring or other matters adapted to the making of paints and varnishes
respectively. Also by using the said grounds, deposit, or unrefined parts,

page_text: instead of linseed oil, I make putty adding the other ingredients usual and
fit for that purpose. And the said grounds, deposit, or unrefined parts being
insoluble in water, I employ the same as an ingredient with others in the
making of blacking for leather, towards rendering the same capable of re-
sisting the penetration of water, and this insolubility in water makes the said
grounds, deposit, or unrefined parts peculiarly applicable to the several purposes
above enumerated; but the same existing in the mucilaginous parts of
vegetable oils in a much less degree than in the gelatinous parts of fish oils,
I prefer the use of the latter, though the grounds, deposit, or residue of vege-
table oils may be used with some effect in all or any of the above-described
processes.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Speer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and seven.