IMPROVEMENTS IN OXIDIZING OIL, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYed for that Purpose
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Walton, of Staines, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OXIDIZING OIL, AND
IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYed for that Purpose.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Walton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th September 1872.
I, FREDERICK WALTON, of Staines, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OXIDIZING OIL, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be
as follows:-
For the purpose of oxidizing oil the oil after being boiled in a pan
or vessel with suitable dryers is raised continuously by an endless chain
or other pump into a trough contained in a large closed chamber, and
from this trough the oil is allowed to flow continuously in a broad thin
stream and to fall on to a rapidly revolving beater by which it is

page_text: dispersed into a finely divided spray and so exposed to the action of the
air in the chamber, the whole of the interior of the chamber thus becomes
filled with the spray. The chamber is enclosed at the top with a glazed
roofing, so that the oil when thus minutely divided may also be acted
upon by light. A continuous current of air, or it might be of oxygen
gas, is passed through the chamber, being introduced at the bottom and
allowed to escape at its upper end; and in order to prevent the spray
of oil from passing away from the outlet opening gauze or other filtering
material is placed across it.
The bottom of the chamber is inclined, and the spray of oil as it
settles down on to it flows into a channel by which it is conducted back
into the boiling pan, where it again becomes heated and is again raised
by the pump to be again divided into spray by the revolving beater, and
the process is thus continued until the whole of the oil is sufficiently
oxidized.
The revolving beater I employ is similar to an ordinary paddle wheel,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Palent,
filed by the said Frederick Walton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
WALTON, of Staines, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Frederick Walton, Her special license that
I, the said Frederick Walton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Frederick Walton, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 Channel Islands,

page_text: and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OXIDIZING OIL, AND
IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Walton, 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 Frederick Walton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
For the purpose of oxidizing oil the oil after being boiled in a pan or
vessel with suitable driers is raised continuously by an endless chain or
other pump into a trough contained in a large closed chamber, and from
this trough the oil is allowed to flow continuously in a broad thin stream
and to fall on to a rapidly revolving beater by which it is dispersed into
a finely divided spray and so exposed to the action of the air in the
chamber, the whole of the interior of the chamber thus becomes filled
with the spray. The chamber is enclosed at the top with a glazed
roofing, so that the oil when thus minutely divided may also be acted
upon by light. A continuous current of air, or it might be of oxygen
gas is passed through the chamber, being introduced at the bottom and
allowed to escape at its upper end; and in order to prevent the spray of
oil from passing away from the outlet opening gauze or other filtering
material is placed across it.
The bottom of the chamber is inclined, and the spray of oil as it
settles down on to it flows into a channel by which it is conducted back
into the boiling pan, where it again becomes heated and is again raised
by the pump to be again divided into spray by the revolving beater, and
the process is thus continued until the whole of the oil is sufficiently
oxidized.
The revolving beater I employ is similar to an ordinary paddle wheel,
excent that the boards are made narrower to reduce the resistance offered

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a vertical section and Figure 2 an horizontal section of the
apparatus which I employ; the section Figure 1 is taken upon the zig-
zag line 1, 1, Figure 2.
a is a pan or copper in which the oil is placed together with the
driers which are usually employed; b is an axis with stirrers upon it,
mounted within the vessel a; c is a fire-place beneath the pan or copper,
and the fire keeps the contents of the pan at the proper temperature for
boiling oil; the pan or copper a communicates with the tank d, in which
the chain pump e works; this pump discharges the oil into the troughf,
out of which it runs in a thin stream and falls upon the rapidly revolving
beater 9. which is made something like a paddle wheel; it has four arms
and the beaters are inclined so as to strike the oil and disperse it in an
upward direction within the chamber h, which is roofed with glass so
that the light may enter; the spray falls down on to the floor of the
chamber and drains by the channel i back into the pan or copper a. A
fan may be employed for forcing air into the chamber h, or if openings
be left around the axis of the beater g the beater will act to some extent
as a fan and induce air to enter the chamber. An opening is provided
for the escape of air from the chamber has far as the top thereof, and
removed as far as possible from the beater; this opening is covered with
wire gauze to prevent loss of oil, and from time to time the gauze is
changed as the oil accumulates upon it. The operation is continued as
long as the oil will flow freely.
The parts of the apparatus receive motion from a shaft k, which is
actuated in any convenient manner; driving belts pass from pullies on
this shaft to a pulley on the axis of the beater, and to pullies on the
axes of pinions driving the axis of the stirrers and the upper axis of
the chain pump e respectively,
The oil after this treatment is suitable for the manufacture of
linoleum, and also for other purposes for which boiled oil is commonly
employed.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim is, the method of treating oil for the purpose of oxidizing the
same, and also the apparatus for this purpose, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Walton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
FRED. WALTON. (L.s.)