IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF OLEINE AND OTHER FATTY MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF TRANSFORMING THEM INTO SOLID MATERIAL SUITABLE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Antoine St. Cyr Radisson, of Lyons, in the
Empire of France, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF OLEINE AND OTHER FATTY MATTERS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF TRANSFORMING THEM INTO SOLID MATERIAL SUITABLE FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES."
Sealed the 3rd December 1869, and dated the 9th June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Antoine St. Cyr
Radisson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th June 1869.
I, ANTOINE ST. CYR RADISSON, of Lyons, in the Empire of France,.
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF OLEINE AND OTHER FATTY MATTERS FOR
THE PURPOSE OF TRANSFORMING THEM INTO SOLID MATERIAL SUITABLE. FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to the treatment of oleine, tallow, or other fatty
matters for the purpose of transforming the same into a solid material
suitable for the manufacture of candles.

page_text: By the hitherto known processes of treating fatty matters, such as
tallow or others, with the object of obtaining stearine therefrom, a
certain portion only of them, say, from 45 to 58 per cent. in weight
of solid material (stearine) was obtained, whereas the remainder consists
of a liquid material called oleine or oleic acid.
My Invention consists in obtaining from fatty matters a much greater
amount of solid material, and also in transforming oleine in such solid
material suitable for the manufacture of candles.
My process consists, lly, in transforming tallow, oleine, or other
suitable fatty matters into a semi-fluid soap by treating the same with
an excess of a suitable caustic ley containing both potash and soda; and,
2ly, in transforming the said semi-fluid soap into a porous solid mass by
gradually heating the same to about 630° Fahr., viz., about the melting
point of lead, in a copper or other suitable vessel from which the outer
air may be kept perfectly excluded during the process, and which allows
of incessantly stirring the material in the inside of the vessel, at the
same time allowing the escape of the evolved gases. By this method the
semi-fluid soap is transformed into a light porous mass, which is then
left to cool, and treated with alkaline leys, and afterwards with acidulated
water, and which, after having been submitted to cold and hot pressing,
leaves behind a solid material suitable for the manufacture of candles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Antoine St. Cyr Radisson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, ANTOINE
ST. CYR RADISSON, of Lyons, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Antoine St. Cyr Radisson, Her special
Licence that I, the said Antoine St. Cyr Radisson, my executors, admi-

page_text: nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Antoine St. Cyr
Radisson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF OLEINE AND OTHER FATTY
MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF TRANSFORMING THEM INTO SOLID MATERIALS
BUITABLE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Antoine St. Cyr Radisson, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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 I, the said Antoine St. Cyr Radisson, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
Hitherto when treating tallow or other fatty matters for the manu-
facture of stearine candles the quantity of stearine obtained was limited
by the amount of it naturally contained in the said fatty matters, and
consequently the manufacture was limited to the mere separation of
the solid from the liquid (oily) materials. By the acidifying and dis-
tilling processes the largest per-centage of stearine obtained from tallow
has been 58 p%, and by the lime saponification only 47 p %. By
the process which forms the object of my Invention the full amount of
oleine contained in tallow is solidified, and the per-centage of stearine
obtained from this latter varies from 88 to 90 p % of its weight.
Before entering into a full description of my mode of operating I
wish to give a rapid account of the various attempts which have been
made for obtaining the same important result, in order to allow of duly
ascertaining in what consists the novelty of my Invention, and the
reason why those who tried before me have not been successfull in their
attempts.
About 30 years since Professor Varrentrapp, a German chemist,.

page_text: observed, when treating at an elevated temperature pure oleic acid with
an excess of caustic potash, that the oleic acid was transformed into acetic
acid and a fatty acid of a higher melting point than elaïdic acid, and which
recent researches have proved to be identical with palmitic acid extracted
from palm oil. This scientific observation was published in various works
on chemistry, but no attempt was made to apply it practically until 1857,
when on the 16th of July a Provisional Protection was applied for in
England by A. Gilbee, as a communication from Messrs. Dangevillé,
Redthammer, & Kalisher, for a process of solidifying oily & fatty
bodies by the action of caustic alkalies at a high temperature. The pro-
cess consisted essentially in preparing by the cold method a soap with
a great excess of alkali, viz., either potash or soda, and then submit this
soap in thin layers in a closed vessel to the action of superheated steam.
One of the inventors of the said process, to whom I applied for some
particulars respecting the experiments made at that time, informed me
that caustic soda was the alkali made use of, potash being considered
impracticable in consequence of its high price, and that notwithstanding
a great many attempts were made they did not succeed in obtaining the
solidifying indicated by theory. The reasons of this failure, and which
may easily be understood by my researches, are, lly, that caustic soda
alone is insufficient for procuring the solidification; and, 2ly, the de-
ficiency of the temperature, which for fear of destroying the fatty matters.
was never risen above 250° C.
On the 19th of August 1863 the same Mr. Dangevillé, having made
other experiments, applied for a Patent in France in the name of
Messrs. Dangevillé & Baliat. Various experiments were made on a large
scale, and some complete solidifications were obtained, which results had
never been realized in the attempts made in England, but notwith-
standing the considerable amount of money expended in improving the
process this latter was finally given up. Messrs. Dangevillé & Baliat
operated by means of a caustic ley of potash and soda in cast-iron pans
of a particular shape; the ley was heated till the water was nearly
evaporated and about reaching the melting point of the alkalies; they
then incorporated with these latter a suitable quantity of the tallow or
grease to be solidified, the soap which was thus formed and which would
have collected on the top of the excess of the melted alkalies being
kept immersed by means of a perforated wrought-iron disc of sufficient

page_text: weight. A suitable degree of heat being applied the solidifying was
obtained, after which the excess of alkali was separated from the soap,
and the latter decomposed by sulphuric acid. The solid fatty acids
resulting from this process were afterwards purified by distillation in the
ordinary manner and at once moulded into candles. The reasons why
this process did not meet with success were, lly, the large amount of
alkali required; 2ly, the loss of fatty bodies resulting from the distilling
and the elevated temperature in the presence of so large a quantity of
caustic alkali; and, 3ly, the difficulty of keeping the alkaline bath
sufficiently pure, for after a few operations the said bath became
entirely unfit for operating the solidifying notwithstanding some fresh
ley was added at each operation.
The process which forms my Invention is based on the following
facts-lly. In presence of a small excess of caustic potash the oleate of
potash becomes entirely transformed into palmitate and acetate of
potash, the large amount of caustic potash as mentioned by Varrentrapp
and made use of in Dangeville's process being unnecessary. 2ly. By
gradually rising the temperature and suitably stirring the mass the
solidification of the tallow and other fatty matters is effected without
colouring, and by means of a suitable purifying by hot pressing the
stearine is at once obtained in a white state so as not to require any
further distilling. 3ly. If the proper degree of heat be kept up and the
mass well stirred the loss of fatty matters is but trifling and corres-
ponds nearly enough with the loss resulting from the reaction as
indicated by theory. 4ly. It is of the utmost importance that during
the solidification and the cooling of the alkaline soap any admittance of
atmospheric air should be carefully and as completely as practically
possible prohibited, the said air, whilst the soap is at this high degree of
heat, acting instantaneously on this latter and giving rise to coloured
ulmine compounds resulting from the partial destruction of the fatty
acids. 5ly. Caustic soda alone is not sufficient for operating the solidi-
fying of the oily fatty acids. A compound of 1 equivalent of soda and
2 equivalents of potash gives the best results.
I now will describe my mode of operating as made use of at my
candle manufactory at St. Fons, near Lyons (France). In a flat
bottomed wrought-iron vessel I mix and evaporate together 600 lb. of

page_text: tallow or red oil and 1000 lb. of a caustic ley formed, as above stated,
of 1 aeq. of soda and 2 aeq. of potash, and marking 42° of Beaumé's
areometer, until the mass becomes clammy, viz., of a semi-fluid pulpy
consistance. The soap thus formed, and which contains an excess of
alkali, is put into sheet-iron cylinders closed at one end, and provided
at the other end with a cast-iron head or lid formed of two parts, one of
which is fixed and of an annular shape, whereas the other is moveable
and serves as a stopper or plug for the purpose of allowing of filling the
cylinder and afterwards withdrawing the contents. This latter part is
fastened to the fixed annular part by screws or other suitable means;
and in the centre of this plug is provided an aperture of about 1 inch
in diameter, viz., just sufficient for introducing an agitator or rake for
stirring the charge or materials in the interior of the cylinder, whilst
preventing the outer air from entering into this latter by the said
aperture. A small aperture or vent hole of about inch in diameter is
provided in the upper part of the annular head for the purpose of
allowing the vapours or gases evolved in the interior of the cylinder
from escaping into the air. Several of these cylinders filled with the
alcaline soap are acted upon at a time in a suitable furnace, each of the
cylinders being previously introduced in a cast-iron jacket or outer
cylinder. The mass is gradually heated to about the melting point of
lead, viz., about 330° C., and continually stirred by means of the agitator,
which latter may be worked by manual or by mechanical power. The
first effect of the heat is that of evaporating the water contained in the
soap, thus hardening this latter. The chemical reaction then begins,
and gases, principally hydrogen, are evolved, which on being lighted
burn with a colourless flame. After a certain time the soap becomes
liquid, and the hydrogen mixing with some carburetted gases the flame
turns reddish and finally becomes white, which indicates the end of the
operation. The cylinder is then withdrawn from the furnace and
replaced by another. The vapours and gases which during the operation
escape by the small aperture or vent hole of the annular head effectually
prevent the atmospheric air from entering into the cylinder and thus
acting on the soap in the interior of this latter; and after the withdrawal
of the cylinder from the furnace the evolving of the gases continues
sufficiently long for preserving the soap from the injurious effect of the
air, and prevent the access of this latter until the soap having become
sufficiently cool the destructive and colouring effects of the air are no

page_text: further to be feared. The cold soap being now withdrawn from the
cylinder forms a light porous mass, which is then heated with weak ley
for the purpose of separating therefrom the excess of alkali, and the
soap or mass, retaining only such quantity of this latter as required by
its chemical constitution, is then decomposed by means of diluted
sulphuric acid.
The fatty acids obtained by the above-described process are finally
hot-pressed in order to get them perfectly white, and the liquid
matters which run off are treated in the ordinary manner by hot and
cold pressing, after having previously mixed therewith some soft fatty
acids. The sulphates of potash and soda resulting from the decom-
position of the soap by sulphuric acid are to be converted into carbonates
by the ordinary soda manufacturers process, viz., by means of coal and
chalk, and the solution of carbonates of soda and potash having been
made caustic may serve again for another operation, consequently the
only loss in alkali which takes place in this process is that resulting
from the conversion of the sulphates into carbonates.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be put into
effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to limit myself to
the precise details of the operations and apparatus above described, as
many variations may be made therefrom without materially deviating
from the main features or principles of the Invention, but what I con-
sider to be novel and original, and consequently claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1ly. Making use of a small excess of alkali for operating the solidifying
of fatty matters.
2ly. The gradual and regular heating and suitable stirring of the
formed soap with excess of alkali at the temperature indicated or there-
about, in suitable vessels or apparatus which allow the effectual
exclusion of the atmospheric air during the said heating and stirring
and subsequent solidifying of the soap and the cooling of this latter,
thus permitting, in combination with what has been described, of
obtaining, without distilling, white, solid, fatty acids suitable for the
manufacture of candles.

page_text: 3ly. The exclusion of the air during the heating and cooling of the
soap, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antoine St. Cyr Radisson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
Witness,
VT. FRANCHET.
A. ST. CYR RADISSON. (L.S.)