IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING WAX, FATS, OR RESINS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Julius Boult, of the Agencies for Foreign Patent
Solicitors, 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, and 6, Lord Street,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer and Patent Agent, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING WAX, FATS, OR RESINS, AND
IN APPARATUS THEREFOR." A communication from abroad by Daniel Tompkins
Gray, of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, Physician.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Julius Boult at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th October 1881.
י.
"
ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of the Agencies for Foreign Patent Solicitors, 323, High
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, and 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer and Patent Agent. IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING WAX,
FATS, OR RESINS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR." A communication from abroad
by Daniel Tompkins Gray, of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, Physician.
This Invention is adapted for the purification of almost any solid, semi-solid, or
thick waxy, fatty, or resinous substance, but is more especially designed for the
purification of crude paraffine wax, and will be described with particular reference
thereto, it being understood that the same system may be used for the other
substances named. The crude paraffine wax which is obtained by freezing and
pressure from paraffine oil in the well known manner containing tarry and coloring
matters which require to be removed to render the wax pure, white, and inodorous.
To effect this it is usual to dissolve the wax in naphtha or similar solvent, and then
filter the solution through bone black, which removes the tar and coloring matter,
and renders the solution pure; this filtered solution is then frozen or chilled and
pressed to express the fluid matter and compress or solidify the wax; the wax is
next placed in a still, and the remaining portion of volatile matter distilled off,
after which the now fully purified and molten wax is run off in suitable moulds,
cooled, and finally formed into suitable packages.
The expressed fluid is also distilled to seperate the naphtha from the paraffine
oils, both of which are thus utilized.

page_text: Now this same system is employed in this Invention, but in the operations of
mixing the wax and solvent and filtering the solution are performed in a different
manner,
Thus therefore a given quantity of the wax has been dissolved in a given
quantity of the naphtha in the same vessel by heat and agitation, from which the
solution is afterwards transfered to the filter.
In this Invention on the contrary the wax is melted and naphtha stored in
separate vessels, and a stream of each is caused to mingle, and the resulting
mixture or solution to pass directly through the filter, thus rendering the process
quick, simple, and continuous instead of intermittent as heretofore, and this forms
the main feature of the Invention, as hereinafter set forth.
The apparatus employed consists of the following essentials:-Two tanks, one
containing the naphtha or other solvent and the other containing the wax, which is
melted therein by means of a coil or other suitable arrangement of pipe heated by
steam or otherwise, and fed through a hopper on top. Discharge pipes provided
with regulating valves lead the contents to the filter, the nozzles or ends being
turned towards each other so as to make the streams intermingle, and a dished
perforated plate is placed below them to further assist the intermingling. Another
and perhaps better way of doing this is to unite the two pipes in a T branch, the
united stream Blowing into the filter through one pipe; the perforated plate may
be made flat with a dip or basin underneath the discharge pipe, so that the stream
may fill the basin and flow over onto the flat perforated plate, and thus assist
the intermingling of the solvent and the wax; holes may be provided in the basin
so that it may empty itself when the operation is completed.
A perforated plate lower down_in_the-filter-carries the bone black or other
filtering medium-which-may be inserted and removed through manholes in the
-usual way. The bottom may be dished or inclined towards the draw off pipe or
cock, and a steam jacket placed at least round the lower portion of the filter is
useful to keep the wax fluid.
The operation is extremely simple, the united stream of wax and naphtha meets
in the upper portion of the filter, passes on to and through the filtering material,
and is drawn off through the cock at the bottom; or if that be left open it will
flow through as it passes the filter bed.
By this system mechanical stirrers are entirely dispensed with, and the mixture
of the naphtha and wax, and the flow of the same through the filter, goes on con-
tinuously instead of intermittent stages as heretofore, and this action may therefore
be kept up during the entire day, being limited only by the exhaustion of the
filtering material which however will generally endure through one day's work.
It may be understood that after the filtered solution of wax and naphtha is drawn
off it is chilled and pressed to express the fluid and solidify the wax, each of which
is then separately distilled to reinove all volatile matters from the wax and save
the fluid matters in the usual manner, as before referred to, which operations
however form no novel part of this system.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred Julius Boult in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th April 1882.
ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of the Agencies for Foreign Patent Solicitors, 323, High
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, and G, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer and Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING WAX,
FATS, OR RESINS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR.' A communication from abroad
by Daniel Tompkins Gray, of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, Physician.
"
This Invention is adapted for the purification of almost any solid, semi-solid, or
thick waxy, fatty, or resinous substance, but is more especially designed for the
purification of crude paraffine wax, and will be described with particular reference
thereto, it being understood that the same system may be used for the other
substances named.
The crude paraffine wax, which is obtained by freezing and pressure from
paraffine oil in the well known manner, contains tarry and coloring matters which
require to be removed to render the wax pure, white, and inodorous; to effect this
it is usual to dissolve the wax in naphtha or similar solvent, and then filter the
solution through bone black, which removes the tar and coloring matters, and
renders the solution pure; this filtered solution is then frozen or chilled and
pressed to express the fluid matter and compress or solidify the wax; the wax is
next placed in a still and the remaining portion of volatile matter distilled off,
after which the now fully purified and molten wax is run off into suitable moulds,
cooled, and finally formed into suitable packages for sale. The expressed fluid is
also distilled to separate the naphtha from the paraffine oils, both of which are thus
utilized. Now this same system is employed in this Invention, but the operations
of mixing the wax and solvent and filtering the solution are performed in a
different manner; thus heretofore a given quantity of the wax has been dissolved
in a given quantity of the naphtha in the same vessel by heat and agitation, from
which the solution is afterwards transferred to the filter. In this Invention on
the contrary the wax is melted and naphtha stored in separate vessels, and a stream
of each is caused to mingle and the resulting mixture or solution to pass directly
through the filter, thus rendering the process quick, simple, and continuous instead
of intermittent as heretofore, and this forms the main feature of the Invention, as
hereinafter set forth.
Fig. 1 of the Drawings is a vertical section of an apparatus by which this system
is carried out, and which in itself forms part of the Invention.
Fig. 2 represents a modification of a part of this apparatus.
In Fig. 1, a indicates a tank or vessel which is charged with the naphtha or other
solvent for the wax which is pumped therein through the pipe n or otherwise
conveyed thereto; c indicates a second tank adjoining, but distinct from the former,
in which the wax is melted. This tank is formed with a hopper or opening d
through which tle crude wax is fed into the tank, and in the bottom of the tank
is arranged a heating pipe or coil e connected with a steam boiler or other source
of heat sufficient to melt the wax and render it quite hot and fluid. indicates
the filter which is preferably made in the form of an upright cylinder closed on all
sides with a perforated portion o on which a mass of the bone black or other
filtering material rests, while below the same is a collecting chamber > into which
the filtered fluid drips, and which has an inclined bottom from which extends an
exit pipe controlled by a suitable valve by which the filtered liquid may be
drawn off as required or let out as fast as it passes through the filter. The filtering

page_text: chamber is provided with suitable man holes and covers, as shown at g, whereby
the filtering material may be removed and renewed as usual, and around the base
of the filtering chamber as well as the collecting chamber is a steam jacket /
whereby the entire filter may be kept heated up to or above the melting point of
the wax so as to insure the free passage of the fluid through the same.
Now pipes i, k, extend respectively from the naphtha and wax tanks and project
into the top of the filter, where their orifices are turned towards and open opposite
each other over the filtering bed s, as shown, each pipe being provided with a
suitable regulating valve l, m.
It will now be understood that when the apparatus is in action, the filter f
being hot, the tank a charged with naphtha, and the charge of wax in the tank c
melted, if the valves l, m, are opened the wax and naphtha will flow in streams
into the filter, which streams meeting or impinging on each other will at once mix
intimately together so that the wax becomes dissolved in and diluted by the
naphtha, and this mixture or solution thence falls on the filtering bed, and perco-
lating through the same becomes thereby purified, and finally drips into the
collecting chamber r, from which it may be drawn off through the pipe vas
required.
Hence by this system the use of mechanical stirrers to effect the mixture and
solution of the wax with the naphtha is obviated, and moreover the mixture of the
two and the flow of the same through the filter goes on continuously and not in
intermittent stages as heretofore, and this action may be thus kept up during the
entire day, being limited only by the exhaustion of the filtering material which
however will ordinarily endure through one day's work. The apparatus necessary
to effect the aforesaid mixture and filtration is thus rendered quite simple and
compact, the labor required to operate the same reduced, and a better and greater
result obtained than by the method hitherto in use.
It will be observed-from-Fig. 1_that the filter is constructed with a transversc
perforated partition t between the discharge nozzles from the tank and the filtering_
bed 8.
The mixed stream from the nozzles falls first on this partition and per-
colates through the perforations thereof before falling on the filtering material, and
this partition thus acts to more thoroughly mix the wax and naphtha before the
same reaches the filtering bed; and furthermore, as this partition becomes heated
from the walls of the filter, it serves to prevent any chilling of the hot wax by
contact with the cool naphtha.
In Fig. 1 this partition is shown concave in the form of a basin, as illustrated,
but it may be level or convex if desired, or made in the form shown in Fig. 2.
Instead of having the pipes i, k, extended separately from each tank into the
filter, they may be arranged in the form of a T, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the
streams rush directly towards and into each other, and thus mix together at their
junction, and thenco descend through the vertical pipe u where they become moro
thoroughly mixed before entering the filter. The construction of the discharge
nozzles just described is preferred, and also the form of mixing partition shown in
Fig. 2 in this case the partition t' is level or nearly level around its circumference,
and is extensively perforated, as shown, but is formed with a depression or basin t"
at its centre or nearly so. The mixed stream of wax and solvent is discharged
into this basin and surge therein, and thence overflow the same and drip through
the level perforated rim, thus rendering the mixture much more perfect before it
reaches the filtering bed, as will be readily understood. The bottom of the basin
is perforated with a few holes, as indicated, to allow the contents to drain out
when the flow from the nozzles is stopped. The basin or cup t may be used
alone without the perforated rim t¹. It may be understood. that after the filtered
solution of wax and naphtha is drawn from the pipe v it is chilled and pressed to
express the fluid and solidify the wax, cach of which is then separately distilled
to remove all volatile matters from the wax and save the fluid matters in the usual
manner, as before referred to, which operations however form no novel part of this
system.

page_text: Having thus described the said Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I wish it to be understood that what I claim and desire to protect
under the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The improvement in the process of purifying wax or equivalent material,
consisting in causing a stream of wax while in a fluid or melted state and a stream
of naphtha or other solvent to flow together and thus form an intimate mixture or
solution, and thence pass through a filter, substantially as herein specified.
Second. An improved apparatus for purifying wax or similar material, consisting
of a vessel for holding the wax in a liquified or melted state, and a distinct vessel
for holding naphtha or other solvent in combination with a suitable filter and con-
nections from said tanks to said filter, whereby the wax and solvent flow together
into said filter from an intimate mixture or solution, and thence pass directly
through the filter, substantially as herein shown and described.
Third. In an apparatus for purifying wax or similar material, the combination
of the filter f formed with a perforated receptacle or partition t arranged at a
distance above the filtering material with a discharge nozzle connected with a
supply of the material to be filtered, and arranged to discharge the same upon and
through said perforated partition, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Fourth. In an apparatus for purifying wax or similar material, the combination
with a filter, and a pipe or nozzle discharging the material towards the filtering
bed of an arresting and mixing receptacle placed between the two, into which the
fluid falls and surges, and from which it overflows upon the filtering bed,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Julius Boult, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
ALFRED J. BOULT. (L.S.)