IMPROVEMENTS" IN TREATING FATTY AND OILY MATTERS; AND IN THE MANU- r
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; we, GEORGE
FERGUSSON WILSON, of Belmont, Vauxhall, in the County of Surrey, Gentle-
man, GEORGE GWYNNE, of Princes Street, Cavendish Square, in the: County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, and JAMES PILLANS WILSON of Belmont aforesaid;
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her présent most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirty-first day of October, in the eighth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give and grant unto us, the said
George Fergusson Wilson, George Gwynne, and James Pillans Wilson, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that we, the said George Fergusson Wilson,
George Gwynne, and James Pillans Wilson, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, and every of us, by ourselves, or by our'deputy or deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as we, the said George Fergusson- Wilson, George
Gwynne, and James Pillans Wilson, our' executors, administrators, or assigns,
.should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, might make, use,
.exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey; Alderney; Sark, and Man, and
also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, our Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS" IN TREATING FATTY AND OILY MATTERS; AND IN THE MANU-
r

page_text: FACTURE OF CANDLES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
requiring us, the said George Fergusson Wilson, George Gwynne, and James
Pillans Wilson, particularly. to describe and ascertain, the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us,
and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
George Fergusson Wilson, George Gwynne, and James Pillans Wilson, do,
and each and every of us doth, hereby declare that the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
and particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:-
The first part of our Invention consists of certain improvements in the
manufacture of fatty acids. Fatty acids have hitherto, for the most part, been
made by what is called the process of saponification, in which, as is well
known, lime is caused to combine with the fatty matter operated upon, and
sulphuric acid is then used to decompose the soap. so formed, by attaching
itself to the lime, and thereby disengaging the. fatty acids. It has been pro-
posed to dispense with this process of saponification by acting directly on the
fatty or oily matter by sulphuric acid or other substituted chemical agents, and
processes having this object in view are described in the Specifications enrolled
under certain Letters Patent granted to George Gwynne, bearing date at
Westminster on or about the Tenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and forty; certain Letters Patent granted to George Delianson Clark,
bearing date at Westminster on or about the Fifth day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and forty; certain Letters Patent granted to William
Coley Jones and the said George Fergusson Wilson, bearing date at West-
minster on or about the Eighth day of December, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-two; and certain Letters Patent granted to the said George Gwynne
and the said George Fergusson Wilson, bearing date at Westminster, on or
about the Twentieth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
In the processes described in the two first-mentioned Specifications, it was pro-
posed to apply the sulphuric acid to fatty and oily matters at a low tem-
perature, and with precautions against the temperature being raised; and
although in the two last-mentioned Specifications high temperatures are pro-
posed to be ultimately obtained, the same are to be the effect of processes

page_text: ulterior to the first application of the chemical agent employed, and after
cautious processes for applying it at a low temperature, which was to be main-.
tained until the perfect incorporation of the acid with the fat. In the last of
the said Specifications (which we believe to describe the most perfect form of
the said Inventions), it became necessary to use expensive copper vessels for the
purpose of heating the mixture of fat and acid to the required point, which
copper vessels were to be placed on an open fire, which is always attended with
more or less danger; and in all the said processes inconvenient mechanical
stirring was required. And the object of this first part of our Invention is to
remove these difficulties. And in order to give the best information in our power
for enabling a workman to carry out this first part of our Invention, we will
proceed to describe the means which we pursue. We first boil up a large
quantity (suppose five tons) of tallow or other fatty or oily matter (preferring
a large quantity because the heat is more perfectly maintained) in an iron
vessel provided with a steam worm at the bottom, through which we pass
steam heated to about 600° or 700° Fahrenheit by being conveyed in pipes.
through a fire, in a manner resembling the mode of heating air to produce a.
hot blast in the manufacture of iron, and we continue so to pass the heated
steam through the fatty or oily matter till the same has been thereby heated to
about 350° Fahrenheit. The iron vessel is provided with a close cover,
through which passes a pipe for conveying the steam and the offensive vapour
which is produced into a high shaft. The fatty oily matter having been
heated as above mentioned, or by other suitable means, is allowed to run into
another vessel, made of brick, lined with lead, and sunk in the ground for the
purpose of supporting the brickwork under the internal pressure of the fluid,
and having a closed wooden cover lined with lead; a lead pipe of an inch
diameter, and having a small hole on each side at every six inches of its
length, runs across the latter vessel immediately below its cover, and through
this pipe we introduce one thousand pounds weight of sulphuric acid (specific
gravity, 1-8), mixed with the same weight of water. It will be found that the
introduction of this mixture, which falls in divided jets into the heated fat, pro-
duces violent ebullition; and we find that by the agitation thus produced, the
acid and fat are perfectly incorporated before the action of the acid becomes,
apparent by any considerable discoloration of the fat. As the ebullition ceases
the fat gradually blackens. We allow the matter to remain for six hours after
the violent ebullition has ceased. For the purpose of getting rid of the offen-
sive fumes and vapour formed in the operation, a large pipe rises from the
top of the vessel, and then descends, and afterwards rises again into a high
chimney, and at the downward part of this pipe a small jet of water is kept
or

page_text: playing, to condense such parts of the vapours as are condensible, and from the.
extreme lowest point of the bend the water is allowed to escape by a small
pipe leading into a drain underground, or by other suitable means. At the
end of the above-mentioned six hours. we consider the operation complete, and
the product is then pumped out into another similar close vessel, and washed.
by being boiled up (by means of free steam) with half its bulk of water. The
steam from this process, being also offensive, is treated in the same way as the
vapours escaping from the former vessel. The water is then drawn off, and
the washing repeated in like manner, except that in the second washing we
acidulate the water used with one hundred pounds weight of sulphuric acid;
the ultimate product is then allowed to settle for twenty-four hours, after.
which it is distilled in an atmosphere of steam once or oftener, until well
purified, and the product of distillation is again washed, and may be pressed,
and is applied to the manufacture of candles.
The second part of our Invention relates to the manufacture of composite
candles, by which we mean candles composed of fatty acid mixed with stearine:
of cocoa-nut oil or other unacidified fatty material. The double process of
first combining the fat with an alkaline agent, in order to form a soap, and.
then decomposing the soap with an acid (which together forms what is called
the process of saponification), has formed an essential part of the processes
hitherto used in the manufacture of composite candles; and we have discovered
that such manufacture can be improved by substituting therein fatty acids
obtained without saponification, which circuitous process we dispense with by
preparing the fatty acid according to the first part of our Invention, or by other
suitable process of direct acidification. We prefer to make the composite.
candles with two parts of fatty acid of tallow or palm oil pressed and distilled,
to which we add one part of stearine of cocoa-nut oil; or for a very cheap com-
posite candle, we use two parts of unpressed fatty acid of tallow or palm oil:
mixed with one part of crude cocoa-nut oil; to this latter mixture we add
three per cent. of wax to amalgamate the materials and prevent oiliness.
In the course of our researches into the acidification of fats, we find that a
species of direct acidification is effected by the oxygen of the air. Long
exposure to the air, especially in a melted state in shallow vessels, produces:
some effect of this kind; but the effect is greatly accelerated by passing the air
in streams through the fatty or oily matter in a liquid state, in the manner
described in the Specification of certain Letters Patent granted to Arthur
Dunn, bearing date at Westminster on or about the Twenty-eighth day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and forty-three, or by other suitable
means. We lay no claim to this action-of the air on fatty or oily matters; but

page_text: we have discovered that the acidified products of such action may be advan-
tageously distilled, which we effect as follows, namely, we, take any con-
venient quantity of fatty or oily matter, say fifty hundred weight of palm oil,
previously subjected, as above mentioned, to the action of the air, and we distil
this in an atmosphere of steam by the apparatus, and in the manner described,
in the Specification of certain Letters Patent granted to the said George
Gwynne and George Fergusson Wilson, and bearing date at Westminster on
or about the Sixteenth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-three, or by other suitable means, continuing the process as long as the
distilled matter comes over freely and without much offensive odour, and after-
wards treating the undistilled residuum in the manner described in the same
Specification; or in preference to the process of saponification there recom-
mended, substituting the process of direct acidification with acid, herein-before
described as the first part of our Invention; and we apply the several products
to the manufacture of candles in the usual modes of applying fatty acids thereto.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means we
are acquainted with for carrying it into effect, we would have it understood.
that our Invention consists in the following particulars, that is to say :-
First, we claim the mode of producing the direct acidification of fatty and
oily matters by applying the acidifying agent thereto when the fatty or oily
matter is at a high temperature, exceeding 120° Fahrenheit. And we also
claim the previous heating of the same to the requisite temperature in a sepa-
rate vessel or vessels to that in which the acidifying matters are afterwards
applied, by which means other than copper or earthenware vessels may be
employed.
Secondly, we claim the using of heated steam in the processes for acidifying
fatty and oily matters.
Thirdly, we claim the use of diluted acid for producing the direct acidifica-
tion of fatty and oily matters; and we claim the dispensing with mechanical
stirring in the process of direct acidification.
Fourthly, we claim the application to the manufacture of composite candles
of fatty acids obtained without saponification.
Fifthly, we claim the distillation of fatty and oily matters subjected to the
action of the air, as above described; and we claim the application of the pro-
ducts of such distillation to the manufacture of candles.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-five
GEO. P. (L.S.)
WLSON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirtieth day of April, in the
eighth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said George
Fergusson Wilson came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth
year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.