IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN MINERAL OILS AND PARAFFINE
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augusto Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 16, Castle Street,
Holborn, City, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN MINERAL OILS AND PARAFFINE."―A
communication.
Sealed the 30th January 1854, and dated the 22nd August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd August 1853.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn,
City, London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature, of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN MINERAL OILS AND
PARAFFINE." [A communication,] to be as follows, viz. :-
The usual method of producing these substances is by the distillation of coal or
other bituminous matter matter in closed retorts set in furnaces and heated
externally; the volatile products of the distillation, after being condensed,
redistilled, and purified, forming sundry mineral oils and paraffine. My improve-
ments consist in distilling the coal or other bituminous matter in a vertical or
inclined furnace or oven having a fire grating at the bottom for the admission of
air, and a door for the removal of the ashes. The coal or other bituminous matter
is to be introduced at the top through an aperture capable of being closed, and the
volatile products of distillation, (together with the gaseous products of combustion,)
are to be taken off by a pipe, and condensed, redistilled, and purified by any of the
known methods. The heat necessary for the distillation must not exceed a dull
red, and is produced by the combustion of the coke or other carbonaceous residue
remaining in the furnace or oven after the volatile matter of the original substance
used has been expelled, the supply of atmospheric air required for the combustion
of the coke being obtained by the draught of a chimney or any other suitable
means for creating a current of air through the furnace or oven.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn, (City,) London,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty three, in the seventeenth year of Her reigu,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence, that I, the said Auguste
Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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, and the Isle of Man, an Invention
communicated to mo by a foreigner residing abroad, for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN MINERAL OILS AND PARAFFINE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Augusto Edouard Loradoux Bellford, by an
instrument in writing undor my hand and seal, 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 Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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, and the Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):
The Invention consists in an improved system of distilling cannel or parrott coal,
argilo-bitumen, coal shales, or other similar bituminous matter, so as to extract oil
containing paraffine therefrom in larger quantities than is effected by the systems
of distilling similar materials heretofore used by manufacturers of such products.
In order to carry out the Invention I construct a furnace or kiln similar in some
respects to an ironfounder's cupola, which furnace is formed of an outer casing of
stout sheet iron or other suitable material lined with fire bricks or fire clay, its
height being about five times its interior breadth, and its capacity such as to contain
about three tons of the materials which it is desired to subject to distillation. The
bottom of the furnace is open, but immediately below and separate from it is a fire
grate formed of furnace bars sufficiently distant from each other to allow the ashes
to fall through freely; and if the bituminous matter operated upon does not, when
the carbon is expelled from it, fall into a soft ashy residue, I have found that a
small ash door may be advantageously applied to the side of the furnace bars,
through which the ashes or combustible residue can be withdrawn. The top of the
furnace is provided with a moveable cover capable of being hermetically sealed by
Juting or otherwise, and of sufficiently large dimensions to allow of the introduction
through it into the furnace of the materials which it is required to subject to distilla-
tion. The exit for the volatile products of distillation and the gaseous products
of combustion is by a pipe fixed near the top of the furnace for conducting the
said products to a refrigerator, where the volatile products are condensod; and
the gases are subsequently conducted into a chimney of suflicient elevation and

page_text: capacity to create a draft through the furnace; or the same effect may be produced
by the application of an exhausting apparatus set in motion by steam or other
power. The Drawing hereunto annexed represents a furnace thus constructed, with
its refrigerator and apparatus. A, A, is the outer casing of the furnace made of
stout sheet iron or other material suitable. B, B, is the fire brick lining thereof.
C, is one of the grate or furnace bars, which should not be fixed in tightly, but
looso, so as to facilitate the falling of the ashes through the bars. D, is the ash
door of which mention has been made already as useful under certain circumstances.
E, E, E, are apertures in the sides of the furnace, which are generally closed by
plugs or stoppers capable of being removed for the admission of air into the furnace,
should that which it at any time derives through the furnace bars be insufficient to
maintain the furnace at the proper temperature. F, is the moveable cover to the
top of the furnace. G, is the exit pipe for the escape of the volatile products of the
materials subjected to distillation, and of the gases produced by the combustion of
the combustible residue of those materials after the volatile products thereof have
been expelled. H, is a thermometer fixed in the exit pipe as a guide for regulating
the heat of the furnace, and for the purpose of ascertaining from time to time the
temperature at which the volatile products are coming off, which temperature
should never be allowed to exceed 600 degrees of Fahrenheit's scale. I, I, I, is the
refrigerator, upon which, when the temperature of the atmosphere is 60 degrees of
Fahrenheit's scale or jupwards, cold water may be advantageously allowed to
trickle; but at no time should the temperature of the interior of the refrigerator
be allowed to fall below 50 degrees of Fahrenheit's scale. K, is a sealed syphon
pipe by which the crude oil is drawn off from the refrigerator. L, is a
thermometer fixed for the purpose of ascertaining from time to time the tem-
perature of the gases as they escape into the chimney, as a guide for regulating
the refrigeratory powers. M, is a throttle valve or damper for regulating the
draft through the furnace, and thereby increasing or diminishing its tem-
perature. N, is the chimney through which the gases finally escape into the
atmosphere. The mode of working the apparatus is as follows:-A fire is in the
first instance lighted in the furnace with coke or any other material suitable for
raising it to a sufficient temperature to receive a charge of the bituminous matter
it is required to subject to distillatory action. When this has been accomplished, a
charge of this matter broken up into pieces of convenient size is introduced into
the furnace through the aperture at the top; the cover of that aperture is then
securely put on, and the distillatory process commences, and is carried on by the
combustion of the fuel in the lower part of the furnace, acting upon the newly
charged matter, till the whole of the volatile products thereof are expelled. During
the distillation the ashes may be from time to time raked out through the furnace
bars; and when volatile products cease to be given off, as will be ascertained by
the condensed products ceasing to flow from the refrigerators, the moveable cover
is taken off, and a sufficient quantity of the remaining ash is removed to leave
about two-thirds of the contents of the furnace empty for the reception of a new
charge of the matter to be distilled. This proportion may, however, be increased
or diminished according to the proportion of carbon remaining in the residue after
the volatile matter has been expelled from the charge. The larger the per centage
of carbon contained therein, the less residue requiring to be left in the furnace;
and vice versa, the smaller the per centage of carbon contained therein, the more
residue must be left to serve as fuel for distilling the next charge. The furnace
having been thus partially emptied is then filled with a second charge of the
matter required to be distilled, and the top cover securely put on, and the operation
carried on as in the first instance, and so on in succession, withdrawing a portion of
the residuary ashes, and introducing charge after charge as volatile matter ceases to
be given off by the old charge. Solid bituminous matter generally may be similarly
treated, provided that after the expulsion of its volatile matter by heat, there
remains sufficient carbon in the residue to serve as fuel for the distillatory process.
The crude oil is collected, and may be re-distilled, purified, and converted cupione

page_text: oil, lubricating oil, and paraffine, by processes well known to manufacturers of such
products.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the apparatus proper
for carrying it into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to
the form of apparatus herein described; but what I claim as my Invention is,-
The manufacture of oil containing paraffine, by distilling bituminous matter in
furnaces containing both the fuel from which the heat is derived, and the
bituminous matter from which the oils and paraffine are to be extracted, and not
in retorts heated externally as has been previously done. I also claim the
construction of the furnaces in such manner that the combustible residue of such
matter after the volatile products are expelled can sorve as the fuel for successive
distillations, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.