IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE PITCH OBTAINED IN OR RESULTING FROM THE DISTILLATION OF PALM OIL AND OTHER FATS IN CANDLE- MAKING.
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Irvine, of Magdalen Chemical Works,
Musselburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE PITCH OBTAINED IN OR
RESULTING FROM THE DISTILLATION OF PALM OIL AND OTHER FATS IN CANDLE-
MAKING.
Sealed the 27th June 1865, and dated the 2nd January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Irvine at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
January 1865.
I, ROBERT IRVINE, of Magdalen Chemical Works, Musselburgh, in 'the
County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE PITCH OBTAINED IN OR
RESULTING FROM THE DISTILLATION OF PALM OIL AND OTHER FATS IN CANDLE-
MAKING," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in treating the pitch resulting from the distillation
of fatty substances used for candle-making so as to free it from the heavy
pitchy matters, and leave the uncombined fatty matters in a state fit for
re-distillation. This pitch, which is generally of a soft, tough nature (but is
sometimes hard) is transferred to a jacket pan heated with hot steam, or to
any other convenient receptacle capable of being heated, by which means it is

page_text: melted into a thick, viscid, brownish-black liquid, and sulphuric acid is added
in quantity varying from two and a half to ten per cent. of the pitch operated
upon. The mixture of pitch and sulphuric acid is kept at a temperature of
from 250° to 450° Fahrenheit, less or more, according to the quantity of
sulphuric acid used, for a period of from two to ten hours, till the oxidation
or action has ceased. This is known by the sulphuric acid and carbonaceous
matter from the pitch becoming partially solid at the bottom of the vessel,
and the production of sulphurous acid vapours, which may readily be distin-
guished by their characteristic odour. Constant stirring facilitates the process.
The thin black fluid (whilst hot) may, if required, be washed with water to
separate any adhering sulphurous acid, and transferred to a still, and distilled
with hot steam or otherwise, in the usual manner adopted for treating fatty
acids.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Irvine in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
IRVINE, of Magdalen Chemical Works, Musselburgh, in the County of
Mid Lothian, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Irvine, Her special license that I, the said Robert Irvine, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Irvine, my executors, administrators, or 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 Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE
PITCH OBTAINED IN OR RESULTING FROM THE DISTILLATION OF PALM OIL AND OTHER
FATS IN CANDLE-MAKING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Robert Irvine, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Irvine, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists in treating the pitch resulting from the distil-
lation of fatty substances used for candle-making so as to free it from the
heavy pitchy matter, and leave the uncombined fatty matters in a state
fit for re-distillation. This pitch, which is generally of a soft, tough nature
(but is sometimes hard) is transferred to a jacket pan, heated with hot steam,
or to any other convenient receptacle capable of being heated, by which means
it is melted into a thick, viscid, brownish-black liquid, and sulphuric acid is
added in quantity varying from two and a half to ten per cent. of the pitch
operated upon.
The mixture of pitch and sulphuric acid is kept at a
temperature of from 250° to 450° Fahrenheit, less or more, according to the
quantity of sulphuric acid used, for a period of from 2 to 10 hours, till the
oxidation or action has ceased. This is known by the sulphuric acid and
carbonaceous matter from the pitch becoming partially solid at the bottom of
the vessel, and the production of sulphurous acid vapours, which may readily
be distinguished by their characteristic odour. Constant stirring facilitates the
process. The thin black fluid, whilst hot, may, if required, be washed with
water to separate any adhering sulphurous acid, and transferred to a still,
and distilled with hot steam or otherwise, in the usual manner adopted for
treating fatty acids.
In order to carry out my Invention in the most economical manner on a
large scalo, I find it of advantage to use the minimum quantity of sulphuric.
acid when acting on the raw palm oil or fat in a vessel capable of being
heated with steam by means of a jacket pan outside. Two tons of best palm
oil are introduced into this pan, and 240 pounds of oil of vitriol of sp. gr. 1-850
added, and the mixture is heated for eight or nine hours to a temperature of
212° Fahrenheit. When the action of the oil of vitriol has ceased, and the
palm oil decomposed, the impure fatty acids are washed with hot water, to
remove the excess of oil of vitriol, and glycerine compounds formed, after
which it is distilled in the usual manner for fatty acids, with fire heat and
superheated steam. The above quantity of palm oil or fat so heated yields,
on distillation, about thirty-six hundredweights of fatty acid to be used in the
manufacture of composite candles, and the residue or pitch remaining in the
still, amounting to about two-and-one-half hundredweights, is run off and

page_text: again acidified with oil of vitriol, in the same manner as the palm oil, only
that a higher heat is necessary when acidifying the pitch which is obtained by
direct fire heat or superheated steam, ten to fourteen per cent. of oil of vitriol
being used to effect the complete acidification of the pitch. The pitch, which
assumes the appearance of a dark, black, solid fat after the oil of vitriol has
ceased to act thereon, is washed with water and transferred to a still, the same
as that in use for the distillation of fatty acids, and distilled principally by
means of superheated steam, and yields a farther quantity of good fatty acids,
which may be employed in the manufacture of candles, as usual.
Having thus described the process most approved of by me in the produc-
tion of fatty acids for the manufacture of candles, I wish it to be understood
that I do not claim as any portion of my Invention the acidifying of palm oil
or other fats with oil of vitriol, as I am aware that this process has been used
and is the method generally adopted for such manufacture; but I claim as
my discovery the acidifying of the pitch or residue left in the still by means of
oil of vitriol and subsequent distillation of the acidified pitch, so as to obtain
a farther quantity of fatty acids, which can be mixed and used with with the
original acids prepared.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Irvine, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-five.
ROBERT IRVINE. (L.S.)