In of SHIPPING PALM OIL AND OTHER OILS AND GREASES OF SOMEWHAT SIMILAR CONSISTENCE, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING TO RECEPTACLES FOR THE SAME."
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Phillips Thompson, of the Offices for Patents,
6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, 323, High Holborn,
in the County of Middlesex, and 10, Erskine Street, Leicester, in the County
IMPROVED MODE OF
of Leicester, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
SHIPPING PALM OIL AND OTHER OILS AND GREASES OF SOMEWHAT SIMILAR
CONSISTENCE, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING TO RECEPTACLES FOR
THE SAME." A communication from abroad by Milton Stuart, of Antwerp, in
the Kingdom of Belcium
Sealed the 8th June 1880, and dated the 10th December 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Phillips Thompson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th December 1879.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, of the Offices for Patents, 6, Lord Street,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, 323, High Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, and 10, Erskine Street, Leicester, in the County of Leicester, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVED MODE OF SHIPPING PALM OIL AND OTHER OILS AND
GREASES OF SOMEWHAT SIMILAR CONSISTENCE, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPER-
TAINING TO RECEPTACLES FOR THE SAME.' (A communication from abroad by
Milton Stuart, of Antwerp, in the Kingdom of Belgium.)
Palm oil is at present sent in casks which take up a great quantity of space,
especially when returning empty; they also soak up a large quantity of oil.
Mr. Stewart has however discovered that palm oil can be shipped in certain bags
with much less loss; these bags are preferably made of very close material so as to
be nearly oil proof. When the oil is very soft or liquid the bags are coated with
oilproof material on the inside, or steeped in a material with which oil will not
unite, and coated with impervious material on the outside to prevent that material
escaping. Thus, if oil be packed in a close bag which has been saturated with
water, and that bag enclosed in a waterproof envelope, the oil cannot escape. Thero
are various liquids of this sort besides water well known to chemists applicable for
this purpose, some of which are better for warm climates, others for cold. The
advantages of this mode of shipping are, that while barrels take up considerable
room the sacks lie close together, when empty the sacks occupy small space, while
the casks are very bulky. There are other advantages, such as the difference in
soakage, already mentioned.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Phillips Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th June 1880.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, of the Offices for Patents, 6, Lord Street,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, 323, High Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, and 10, Erskine Street, Leicester, in the County of Leicester, Čivil
Engineer. "IMPROVED MODE OF SHIPPING PALM OIL AND OTHER OILS AND
GREASES OF SOMEWHAT SIMILAR CONSISTENCE, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPER-
TAINING TO RECEPTACLES FOR THE SAME." A communication from abroad by
Milton Stuart, of Antwerp, in the Kingdom of Belgium.
Palm oil is at present sent in casks which take up a great quantity of space,
especially when returning empty; they also soak up a large quantity of oil.
Mr. Stuart has however discovered that palm oil can be shipped in certain bags
with much less loss. The casks too have to be knocked down and put into shooks
for export, sacks have not. The space required to carry an empty cask is much
more than that required to carry a sack. The weight of a cask is much more than
that of a sack of the same cubic contents. A ship can carry a less number of full
barrels than of full sacks of same size, as much room is lost between the casks,
whereas the sacks lie touching each other at almost all points. The cask shooks
when they arrive have to be made up into casks, thus requiring a permanent
cooperage and staff of coopers on each oil river in Africa, or elsewhere, whereas the
sacks are ready to use when landed, and thus avoid the necessity of the cooperage
altogether. There. is more difficulty in loading a ship with casks than with bags.
Lastly, casks are of uneven weight, old casks weighing much more than new
ones, thus causing numerous disputes, annoyance, and trouble in the matter of
weight, whereas sacks are or can be made practically all of one weight.
The bags are preferably made of tow, as least liable to the attacks of vermin, and
seamless, and of close texture so as to lessen the chance of leakage; bags of jute,
hemp, cotton, or other fibrous materials will however do. When the oil is very
soft or liquid, and indeed in all ordinary cases, these bags should be coated or
saturated with oil proof material. One plan (mentioned in the Provisional
Specification) is to form the bag of two coatings, one saturated with a matter
insoluble in oil, the outer one with a hydro-carbon or other composition impervious
to the oil proof material, such as water or silicate of soda solution, and bituminous
matter respectively. As however water mixes with many oils this liquid is not
as a rule to be preferred. The plan which I have found very good is to saturate
the bag with an intimate mixture of boiled oil and red lead. Saturating with
silicate of soda does very well if not exposed to combined heat and moisture, but if,
when filled with palm oil, bags so treated are exposed to boiling or hot water, the
silicate combines with the palmitic or other acid in the oil and forms a soap. To
prevent this the bags after saturating in silicate of soda are dried, and then treated
with a saturated solution of some salt forming an insoluble compound with silica,
such as chloride of calcium, or of magnesium. The silicate of calcium or of
magnesium so formed, especially the former, is very indifferent to the combined
attack of oil, most acids, and hot water. The bags should be coated on the
outside with boiled oil, or a mixture of boiled oil and sulphate of copper, or
other material not injurious to the boiled oil or bags, but obnoxious to vermin.
Another plan which has not been tried, and is merely given as a suggestion, but
not as a necessary part of the Invention, but which may possibly under some
circumstances be found to answer, is to make the bag of woven wire, iron wire for
instance, or brass, or copper, and intermixed or interwoven with the wire, a more
fusible metal preferably solder. The bag is then dipped in spirits of salt (bydro-
chloric acid) or other "pickle" used in soldering; it is then placed in an oven till

page_text: the solder melts, and causes all the wires to be soldered together, and form an oil-
proof bag. When the bags get defective they are redipped in acid, and then in
molten solder. The more pliable the wire used in making the bags the better.
Having now described this Invention, and the best modes communicated
to me for carrying it into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I
believe to be new and desire to protect under the hereinbefore in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
First. The mode of shipping palm oil, and other oils and greases of somewhat
similar consistency, by running them into or packing them in bags made impervious
to oil, and thus manufacturing a package of oil that will accommodate itself in large
measure to the contour of the surrounding surfaces, and fulfil most or all of the
advantages (over casks of oil) set forth in the foregoing Specification.
Second. The manufacture of receptacles for carrying oil, consisting of oil proof
sacks or bags, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Phillips Thompson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.