AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTION AND FUSION OF TALLOW
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel of No 28 Southampton Buildings
"
Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of "AN
IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTION AND FUSION OF TALLOW
communicated to him from abroad by Henri Lissagaray and Hippolyte
Leplay, Chemists both of Paris France,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd November 1882.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTION
AND FUSION OF TALLOW" [communicated to him from abroad by Henri Lissagaray
and Hippolyte Leplay, Chemists both of Paris France.]
According to this invention animal fat is divided into small pieces and the
pieces are pugged until the whole comes to a pasty condition. This paste being
warmed by a water bath to a temperature not exceeding 115° Fahr., and agitated,
the liquefied fat is drained off through small perforations, and the residue is agitated
with a quantity of water at about 100° and discharged through a large hole
provided with a suitable cock into another vessel. Here, the mixture being
subjected to very violent agitation and kept at about the same temperature as
before, an additional quantity of liquefied fat is separated and decanted, and the
residue after settlement is pressed into cakes. For dividing the fat in the first
place, it is cut into pieces, and these are forced by pressure through perforated dies
in columns which are cut into short sections by revolving blades, and these sections
are again pressed through dies and cut The pugging is then effected by arms
revolving in a vessel containing the finely cut fat; this vessel is kept warm by a
water bath but always under the temperature at which fat melts. The fut, as it is
afterwards melted at a temperature not exceeding 115° is agitated by two sets of
oppositely revolving arms, and the mixture of the residue and water which is run
off is agitated in like manner, the revolving arms being in this case driven at great
velocity.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd May 1883.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL of No 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTION
AND FUSION OF TALLOW A communication to me from abroad by Henri
Lissagaray and Hippolyte Leplay, Chemists both of Paris France
"
This invention has for its object to effect the complete separation of the fatty
matter from the nitrogenous portions of animal fat without the use of acids in the
presence of pure water or water containing a solution of chloride of sodium, the
nitrogenous tissues being collected and utilised as food or for other purposes.
This process, which is specially applicable for the production of oleomargarine,
enables the whole of the tallow to be extracted at a temperature below 130° Fahr.
The process consists mainly in the complete destruction of the affinity existing
between the nitrogenous matter and the tallow contained in animal fat, such
destruction being effected by mechanical friction exercised on the nitrogenous
matter, and which is termed a pugging process. For this purpose, the fat is in
the first instance chopped small, and the friction exercised by such chopping
operation on the nitrogenous matter will facilitate the separation thereof by the
subsequent pugging process. The chopping process should be effected at the lowest
possible temperature while the pugging process should be carried on at a
temperature as near the melting point of the fat as possible. Both operations may
however be carried on in one and the same apparatus provided the fat has been
previously warmed or is heated during the operation, the friction produced by the
pugging action being transmitted to the nitrogenous matter, notwithstanding the
resistance of the fatty body which surrounds it, which resistance decreases in the
inverse ratio of the temperature. Any arrangement of apparatus may be employed
which is capable of effecting a sufficient subdivision of the fat and of exercising
the necessary friction on the nitrogenous matter, by preference at a sufficiently
elevated temperature. The following arrangement is however employed by
preference: The fat, preferably warmed to a temperature of about 50° Fahr., is
finely chopped in a horizontal cylindrical chopping apparatus, such as is known as
the American chopping machine. The agglomerated mass, which is expelled under
pressure from the apparatus is, in addition, separated by a shreding machine, and
the separated matter falls into an annular vat heated by a steam jacket and having
The fat is brought by
heavy edge runners revolving round a vertical axis.
revolving scrapers from the sides of the vat beneath the edge runners again, and it
is thus continuously subjected to the crushing and frictional action of these while
heated to a temperature of about from 68° to 86° Fahr. After being sufficiently
subjected to this action, the mass is made to pass out through a side opening into
a wooden case or drum, by preference of octagonal prismatic shape, similar to a
butter churn, and having fixed along one of its internal sides a scoop which stops
short at a certain distance from each end. The pugged fat and water previously
heated to a temperature of about 156° Fahr., is placed in this churn, the quantity
being not more than one half the capacity of the churn, and the proportion of
water being about two thirds the weight of the fat. The drum is then rotated,
the scoop being made at each revolution to take up a quantity of hot water and to
deliver it on to the fat during the next semi-revolution, and this operation being
continued while the fat is being agitated by falling over from side to side during

page_text: the rotation of the drum, an intimate mixture thereof with the water will be
effected. Steam is supplied through a pipe passing in through the hollow trunnion
of the drum to make good the heat given off by the water to the fat, the pipe,
which is held stationary, being bent downwards and descending to within a short
distance of the sides of the drum. A second pipe passing through the other
trunnion of the drum and bent upwards therein serves to allow of the escape of
air from the drum, driven out by the steam pressure.
The drum has a hole in one of its sides closed watertight by a cover, through
which hole the drum is charged with fat from a hopper, and from which the fat
after being treated, is discharged into a second hopper below, which conducts it
into a precipitating vat.
The steam pipe of the mixing drum should be sufficiently large to allow of the
rapid heating of its contents. The treatment should, however, not be less than
5 ininutes in duration so as to give sufficient time for effecting an intimate mixture.
It has been found that the pugged fat, which will immediately clog an ordinary
screen, will not do so to a smooth perforated plate if allowed to pass thereon at a
sufficiently small angle, the greater part of the perforations being found to remain
open, and the whole may be kept clear by the occasional application of a
steam jet to both sides of the plate. The fatty mass is therefore discharged from
the mixing apparatus into a second polygonal drum, one of whose sides is formed
of perforated sheet metal placed at an angle of about 45 degrees to the base, the
perforations being from 0.1in to 0.2in in diameter. In this drum, the mixture of
tallow and water will pass through the perforations, while the greater portion of
the nitrogenous tissue will be retained. The mixture of tallow and water together
with a small proportion of the tissue is led into a second drum similar to the last
described one, but with holes of only about 0.03ins in size, and after filtering the
mass through these perforations the water is separated from the tallow by
decantation, and the latter is then treated in a water bath. The nitrogenous
tissues retained in the drums, after being allowed to drain, are pressed into cakes
and dried.
The advantages of the above described process are: First, the complete extraction
of the tallow, effected at a temperature of about 130° Fahr., in the presence of
water, with or without admixture of chloride of sodium, carbonate of potash, or
pepsine. This extraction is obtained in a minimum duration of time which should
not exceed 5 minutes, owing to the intimate mixture rapidly produced in the
churning apparatus. Second, the complete extraction of the tissues without loss
of nitrogenous matter, and the use thereof either for food or for the manufacture
of manure.
Having thus described the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents,
I claim:-
First. The herein described method of treating animal fat for the extraction of
tallow by first destroying the affinity between the nitrogenous tissues and the
fatty body by friction applied thereto and then subjecting the mass to the action of
water at an elevated temperature.
Second. In the treatment of animal fat, as set forth in the preceding claim,
subjecting the fat to a chopping process and to a pugging operation at a
temperature of from 68° to 86° Fahr., the chopping and pugging operations being
effected either separate or combined, substantially as herein described.
Third. In the treatment of fat as set forth in the first claim, subjecting the
pugged fat to the action of water in combination with steam inside a revolving
mixing drum, substantially as herein described.
Fourth. In treating fat as set forth in the preceding claims the combined use of
apparatus, consisting of chopping apparatus for reducing the fat to small fragments,
of a pugging mill for subjecting the same to friction, of a mixing drum for mixing

page_text: the fat with water under the action of steam, and of screening drums with perforated
metal sides for separating tlie tallow from the nitrogenous tissue, substantially as
herein described.
In Witness whereof I the said Charles Denton Abel have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twenty third day of May in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty three.