IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PURIFICATION OF HYDRO- CARBURETS, AND ESPECIALLY OF PETROLEUM OILS USED FOR LIGHTING PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clark at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th November
1865. A communication from abroad by Doctor Pierre Gédéon Barry;
Director of Works, and the Chevalier Barthélemy Degola, Manufacturer
of Mineral Oils, both of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PURIFICATION OF HYDRO-
CARBURETS, AND ESPECIALLY OF PETROLEUM OILS USED FOR LIGHTING PURPOSES," to
be as follows:
This Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of hydro-
carburets by the employment of a new agent for the purification of such
hydrocarburets, and especially petroleum oil used for lighting purposes.
These improvements may be adopted without requiring any change in the
system or arrangements of the apparatus in refineries of petroleum and other
mineral oils.
METHOD OF OPERATION.
I distil raw American or other petroleum in suitable boilers in order to
eliminate the essences, which I distil at temperatures varying from one hundred
to one hundred and eighty degrees Fahrenheit, that is, I put aside all liquids
having a density not exceeding one and a half pounds per quart (from six to
eliminate the essences, which I distil at temperatures varying from one hundred
to one hundred and eighty degrees Fahrenheit, that is, I put aside all liquids
having a density not exceeding one and a half pounds per quart (from six to

page_text: eight per cent. of the mass to be distilled), I then proceed with the distillation
and separate the products into two classes, sixty per cent. of those first pro-
duced and thirty of those next resulting are then placed apart in beaters or
agitating apparatus; the matters remaining in the apparatus consist of tarry
residues, which are afterwards distilled, and will furnish as much as eight per
cent. of lighting oil; being drawn off from the boiler by a cock at the lower
part before they become quite cooled. In order to purify the oils separated as
above mentioned and placed in their respective agitating apparatus, I add to
the mass number one from three to four per cent. of concentrated sulphuric
acid, and produce an intimate mixture of the matters by a continuous and
violent agitation for from one and a half to two hours; I then allow them to
settle for about two hours and decant the petroleum, which is then introduced
into a second agitator, to which is added about two and a quarter pounds of
the re-agent herein-after stated for every two hundred and twenty gallons, I
then add about twenty-two gallons of water, or preferably milk of lime, and
agitate the whole for an hour; it is then allowed to rest and the petroleum
drawn off and preserved in well-closed vessels fit for use. The result of this
operation is to produce a first-class petroleum oil of the color of water,
completely deprived of all smell, perfectly limpid, and of a density of from seven
hundred and ninety-nine to eight hundred degrees. The liquids comprised
under the second head are similarly treated, except that I increase the amount
of the re-agent to about three pounds for every two hundred and twenty
gallons of oil. In this manner I produce an oil of a pale straw color, but
which equals the former in all respects for lighting purposes after being
brought to a density of eight hundred degrees by the addition of a little essence
of petroleum. The oils resulting from the residues left in the boilers are
treated in the same manner, it being sometimes necessary to distil them twice
over. The agitation of the mineral oils should be effected in a chamber, the
temperature of which should be as near as possible from eighty to ninety
degrees Fahrenheit, especially in cold weather. In winter the paraffin should
be separated from the oils accordingly as it is produced, its presence damaging
the limpidity of lighting oils.

page_text: The object of the addition of peroxide of manganese is to neutralize the
sulphurous acid which forms by the action of the concentrated sulphuric acid
on the petroleum, and to assist in effecting its complete disinfection without
washing. The Invention thus consists in the use of pulverized caustic lime
(hydrated oxide of calcium) and peroxide of manganese for the purification,
disinfection, and clarification of refined petroleum for lighting purposes, and
all other mineral oils used for the same purpose, and this without any change
in the apparatus now in use.