AN IMPROVED MANU- FACTURE OF LUBRICATING OIL, AND A MODE OR MODES OF APPLYING SUCH
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ross, of Hatton Garden, in the City
of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANU-
FACTURE OF LUBRICATING OIL, AND A MODE OR MODES OF APPLYING SUCH
T
Sealed the 17th May 1853, and dated the 18th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Ross at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1853.
I, GEORGE Ross, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF LUBRICATING OIL, AND A MODE
OR MODES OF APPLYING SUCH OIL TO THE PURPOSES OF LUBRICATION," to be
as follows:
This Invention relates to the treatment of coal tar, to produce a new
kind of oil, termed Paranapthaline, which may be used alone or in
combination with other substances as a lubricator. It is well known
that coal tar contains many different hydro-carbons, whose boiling points
are at various temperatures below four hundred and eighty degrees
Fahrenheit. In carrying out the present Invention, these substances

page_text: I reject, nd continue the distillation at a higher temperature, under
certain modifications, so as to produce a mixture of oil with paran-
apthaline, having the fixity of such oil as sperm oil.
The mode of operating is as follows:-Into a retort, connected with
a suitable condenser or worm, crude cual tar is introduced, and heat
being applied, distillation commences. This is continued until the
temperature of the vapour in the retort rises to about seven hundred
degrees Fahrenheit. Having separated the aqueous and ammoniacal
fluids, the whole distillate is removed to an iron cylindrical vessel, which
can be heated by steam, and is provided with a stirring apparatus.
To the product to be treated, caustic soda is added, and powerful
agitation is kept up; the fluid being subjected meanwhile to a tem-
perature of about one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit; after
repose for subsidence, the clear distillation is removed to a leaden vessel,
& whilst under agitation, sulphuric acid is added thereto. It is next
treated with caustic soda under agitation, and when subsidence has
taken place, the clear oils on the surface are prepared for distillation.
A hemispherical cast iron retort is used for distilling the purified mix-
ture of oils, and the condenser which is connected with it is so
arranged that its temperature will not fall below one hundred and fifty
degrees Fahrenheit. At the end of the condenser is a loosely covered
receiver, into which all the products fall, until the vapor in the retort
reach the temperature of four hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit.
When the vapors attain this heat, the condenser is opened to another
receiver, and the oily products, rising in consequence of increased
heat applied to the still, are received apart from the first products con-
densed. The distillation is to be continued until, by observation, the
temperature of the vapor marks about six hundred and seventy degrees
Fahrenheit, when the operation may cease. The thick residue in the
still is then discharge from the bottom into suitable vessels. The slight
impure oil thus obtained must be mixed with sulphuric acid and
agitated. The acid being allowed to subside, the clear oil receives its
final purification by agitation with a solution of caustic soda. When
removed from the alkaline solution, the oil is distilled from a retort of
iron containing hydrate of potash or soda, and condensed at about four

page_text: hundred and fifty to four hundred and eighty degrees. This product I
mix with oils and fats, and in some cases with naptha and napthaline
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, filed by the said George
Ross, in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 18th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE ROSS, of Hatton Garden, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Ross, Her special licence
that I, the said George Ross, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Ross, my 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
Chanuel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF LUBRICATING OIL, AND A MODE OR MODES OF APPLYING
SUCH OIL TO THE PURPOSES OF LUBRICATION," being a communication
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Ross, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 George Ross, do hereby de-
clare 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 (that is to say):

page_text: This Invention relates to the treatment of coal tar to produce a
new kind of oil termed para-napthaline," which may be used alone or
in combination with other substances as a lubricator. The mode of
carrying out the improvements is thus described by the Inventor.
It is well known that coal tar contains many different hydro-carbons,
whose boiling points are at various temperatures below four hundred
and eighty degrees Fahrenheit; these substances I reject in my process
and continue the distillation at a higher temperature under certain
modifications, so as to produce a mixture of oil with paranapthaline,
having the fixity of such oil as sperm oil. I particularly intend to use
this new manufacture or mixture obtained from the coal tar for
lubricating purposes, either as a simple compound of paranapthaline
and fixed oil, or when added to other oils or to fats. The process
which I in practice have found to be efficient in producing my said
new manufacture or composition, to which I give the name of "coup oil,"
is as follows: Into a horizontal cylindrical retort connected with a
suitable condensor or worm, I introduce a quantity of crude cold tar.
On heat being applied thereto, the coal tar is vaporized, and the
vapors are collected and condensed in the condenser, until the tempera-
ture of the vapor in the retort rises to about seven hundred degrees
Fahrenheit, before which the condenser must be allowed to attain
the temperature of one hundred and fifty degrees to one hundred and
seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit. Having separated the aqueous and
ammoniacal fluids, the whole distillate is removed to an iron cylindrical
vessel, which can be heated by steam, and is provided with a stirring
apparatus. For every one hundred and nine gallons of distillate to be
treated, I use about two hundred pounds (avoirdupois) of solution of
caustic soda, marking about twenty-five degrees Beaumé, and I agitate
powerfully for about two hours, the fluid being subjected meanwhile
to a temperature of about one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit.
After repose for subsidence, the clear distillate is removed to a leaden
vessel provided with an agitator. When the fluid has been rapidly
stirred, I add about fifty pounds of sulphuric acid for every parcel of
one hundred gallons, and continue to stir the whole for about four
hours. I next allow the acid to subside, and afterwards run off the

page_text: clear oil to an iron vessel like that before used, and agitate it with
about one hundred pounds solution of caustic soda, marking about
twenty-five degrees Beaume, for two hours. After this has reposed for
about six hours, the clear oils on the surface are prepared for distilla-
tion. A hemispherical cast iron retort is used for distilling the purified
mixture of oils, and the condensor which is connected with it, is so
arranged, that its temperature will not fall below one hundred and fifty
degrees Fahrenheit. At the end of the condenser is a loosely covered
receiver, into which all the products fall until the vapor in the retort
reaches the temperature of four hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit.
When the vapor attains to this heat, the condenser is opened to another
receiver, and the oily products rising in consequence of increased heat
applied to the still, are received apart from the first products condensed.
The distillation is to be continued until by observation the temperature
of the vapor marks about six hundred and seventy degrees Fahrenheit,
when, the operation may cease. The thick residuum in the still may then
be discharged from the bottom into suitable vessels.
The slightly impure oil thus obtained, I mix (in a leaden vessel) with
sulphuric acid, in the proportion of about twenty-five pounds of acid to
one hundred gallons of the oil, agitate the same for about three
hours. The acid being allowed to subside, the clear oil receives its
final purification by agitation with a solution of caustic soda, about
twenty-five degrees Beaumé, in the proportion of about one hundred
pounds of the solution to one hundred gallons of the oil. When
removed from the alkaline solution, the oil is distilled from a retort of
iron, containing about twelve pounds of hydrate of potash or soda,
previously mixed with about one gallon of water for every one hundred
gallons of oil. The oil condensing at four hundred and fifty degrees to
four hundred and eighty degrees, is received apart, and the operation is
stopped when the vapors rise in temperature to six hundred and fifty
degrees Fahrenheit.
The oil condensed during this operation is the new compound or
manufacture which, under the name of "coup oil," I intend to use as a
lubricator for machinery generally, and especially for light machinery
in rapid motion. I have found that this composition, when mixed

page_text: with common oils, confers its high powers as a lubricator upon them,
rendering such oils as are naturally unfit for this purpose very useful
for lubricating large bearings where, from the great friction, much
"body" is required.
When mixed with oils, and even fats, the Coup oil renders them
more mobile, and prevents solidification at ordinary temperatures; in
some cases enabling the mixture to bear a greater reduction of tem-
perature than naturally occurs.
If paranapthaline be mixed with thin oils it serves to give body to
them, and either to give them lubricating properties or to improve them
as lubricators.
In the above process I produce what has usually been termed the
"dead oil" of commerce, the component parts of which are naptha,
napthaline fixed oil, boiling at four hundred and forty degrees to four
hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Having produced this dead oil I
carry on the process of distillation to the extent above set forth, and
produce the new manufacture which I have termed "Coup oil," the con-
stituent parts of which are fixed oils, boiling from four hundred and
fifty degrees to six hundred and seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit, and
pure paranapthaline only. Thus it will be seen that I remove from the
dead oil, by means of my alkaline and acid applications, conjoined with
distillations in the order named, naptha, napthaline, and crude tarry
products, all of which render the common dead oil inapplicable for
lubricating nice machinery, or that used at high speed.
Coup oil can be mixed with other oils, conferring on them lubricating
properties, whereas dead oil cannot be so applied. Chemically speaking,
the proximate elements present in common dead oil are modified by the
operation of heat and solvents, so as to produce a new body consisting
of fixed oil and pure paranapthaline.
A combination of fixed oil and paranapthaline, without the addition
of
any
other chemical compound known as naptha, napthaline, &c., as
set forth, is, therefore, a new composition of matter not known or used
in the arts before my invention or discovery.
My improved manufacture or "coup oil" differs essentially from
parafline oil," for we find the carbon and hydrogen in very different

page_text: proportions in the two substances, the paraffine oil giving, when burned
in a lamp, a fine white flame, while the coup oil, when burned in lamps
specially adapted to burning hydro-carbons, gives off dense volumes of
smoke.
Paraffine oil and paraffine are produced in the distillation of bitu-
minous coal by slow fire. Coup oil is first produced by the decompo-
sition of coal in making gas, and is eliminated from the tar compounds
by the process above described. The "coup oil" cannot be produced
by the distillation of coals; but, in order to produce it, the coals must
be decomposed by sudden violent heat, and converted into gas and tar.
No process to which "coup oil" can be subjected will produce paraffine
from it, while paraffine oil allows paraffine to separate on cooling, and
yields it by compression.
Having now described the Invention of "an improved manufacture of
lubricating oil, and a mode or modes of applying such oils to the purposes
of lubrication," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I
wish it to be understood that, under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, I claim the new manufacture of lubricating oil termed "coup
oil," produced by the process substantially as herein-before described;
and I also claim combining "coup oil" with concrete or thick fatty
matters and oils for the purpose of rendering it susceptible of various
applications as a lubricator.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Ross, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness, FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
GEO. ROSS. (L.S.)