IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND APPLICATION OF RESINS AND RESINOUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Hunt and Henry Davis Pochin, both of
Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Chemists, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND APPLICATION OF RESINS AND
RESINOUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 23rd July 1858, and dated the 27th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Hunt and Henry
Davis Pochin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 27th April 1858.
We, EDWARD HUNT and HENRY DAVIS POCHIN, both of Salford, in the
County of Lancaster, Chemists, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND APPLICATION OF RESINS
AND RESINOUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
It consists in distilling resins and resinous substances without decomposition,
or with a partial decomposition, by which we free them from various mecha-
nical impurities, and at the same time partially deprive them of their colour.
First, we take the ordinary rosin of commerce or any other resinous substance,
and introduce it into an iron or., other suitable vessel; it is then melted by
heat, and steam is passed thro' the melted mass until the whole or nearly the
whole of it has been distilled. The rosin is condensed in a suitable receiver
and dried; it is then fit for the ordinary purposes to which rosin is applied.
Secondly, we take resins and resinous substances and treat them as above

page_text: described, but substituting carbonic acid gas, or a mixture of carbonic acid gas
and nitrogen, or hydrogen gas, or carbo-hydrogen gases, in the place of steam.
We apply the resins and resinous substances so; purified to the several
purposes for which they are now used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Edward Hunt and Henry Davis Pochin in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 26th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWARD
HUNT and HENRY DAVIS POCHIN, both of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Chemists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Edward Hunt and Henry Davis Pochin; Her special licence that we,
the said Edward Hunt and Henry Davis Pochin, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said. Edward Hunt. and Henry Davis
Pochin, our executors, administrators, 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 Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
AND APPLICATION OF RESINS AND RESINOUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Edward Hunt and Henry Davis Pochin,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one
of our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said Edward Hunt and Henry Davis
Pochin, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, that is to say:-
:-
Our Invention consists of resins and resinous substances, purified, clarified,
and partially deprived of their color. by an improved process.

page_text: We proceed to describe the process as conducted in three different modes
according to the nature of the apparatus employed. In each apparatus there
is a still, which receives the substances to be purified, and one or more
receivers communicating by a pipe or pipes with the said still. A steam pipe
in connection with a boiler is introduced into and reaches to the bottom of the
said still, where it radiates into various smaller pipes perforated so as to allow
of the exit of steam. The size of the said steam pipe for a still capable of
holding six and a half tons of resin, should, when the steam herein-after
mentioned is to be used at a pressure of 10 lb., be of the diameter of two
inches. The exact proportions and disposition of the said several apparatus,
as herein described, is not material to the successful performance of the said
Invention, but it is material that the volume of steam should be about that
which would be introduced under the conditions herein-before mentioned. In
the first mode of arrangement (apparatus No..1), one receiver only is used,
and the communication between the receiver and the still consists of a single
pipe of ordinary construction. In the second mode (apparatus No. 2),
several receivers are employed, the communication being direct from the still
to one only of the said receivers, and the communication being continued by
pipes from one receiver to the other.
The third mode. (apparatus No. 3) is that in which two receivers are
employed, the communication of both with the said still being direct, and the
pipes uniting and entering the said still as one, at a point distant from the said
still about three feet. These pipes are at their points of union directly one
above the other. The process, as conducted with apparatus No. 1, is as
follows: The substance to be operated upon is broken into convenient lumps
and thrown into the still. The still is then fired until the substance melts,
when steam at the pressure herein-before mentioned is turned into the steam
pipe, and passing through the perforated pipes above mentioned, thoroughly
permeates the entire contents of the said still. The still is meanwhile con-
tinuously fired until the temperature of the said still rises to about 600°
Fahrenheit, at which it is maintained until all such portions of the contents of
the said still as are capable of being volatilized have passed from it into the
receiver. The volatilization commences at a temperature of about 390°
Fahrenheit. The intromission of steam is continued during the entire period
of the operation. The residuum in the still consists principally of the foreign
matters present in the substances before they were operated upon. The
receiver is in this arrangement kept as cold as it can be, by the application of
water or other means, so as effectually to condense the whole of the volatile
matter which has passed out of the said still during the operation. The

page_text: contents of the said receiver will be found on cooling to consist of a certain
amount of fluid and a certain amount of solid; the former (principally water
condensed from the steam used in the process) is drawn off; the latter is
found to present the characteristics of rosin, or other of the resinous substances
operated upon as found in its purest state. It is, however, at this stage still
opaque, from containing a considerable amount of moisture. Various modes
may be adopted with effect to remove the moisture from the said solid; among
others, that of placing it within a vacuum pan, and heating it in the usual
way, or placing it within a leaden vessel surrounded by a jacket through
which steam is passed, or melting it in an open leaden vessel by means of
steam, and passing superheated steam through it when melted.
In the process as conducted with apparatus No. 2 the receiver nearest to
the still, and in the case of more than two receivers being employed, every
receiver except that furthest from the still, is maintained at a temperature a
little above 212° Fahrenheit. The contents of the receivers nearest to the
still are found to be transparent and almost free from moisture. The rosin
and resinous matters condensed in the last receiver in the processes as con-
ducted by this apparatus alone contain any moisture which it is necessary to
remove; this moisture may be removed in precisely the same manner as
that indicated in the process herein-before described with reference to
apparatus No. 1.
In the process as conducted with apparatus No. 3 the volatile matter
arising from the substances placed in the said still as herein-before mentioned,
arranges itself in two streams, the upper one composed principally of steam
passing to receiver No. 1, and the lower one consisting principally of rosin or
resinous vapour passing to receiver No. 2. These receivers are kept at so low
a temperature as to condense the whole of the products from the said still.
Various gases may be employed instead of the steam with very similar effect,
but we do not find the results equal to those obtained by steam.
The solid contents of the receivers during the distillation as conducted by
either of the above mentioned processes are found to vary in their charac-
teristics at different stages of the process. At three stages of the process we
find this variation to be very marked, and we have acccordingly distinguished
the distillates as obtained during the three periods, as follows:-
That obtained during the first stage of the distillation, and which amounts
to about one-fourth of the original matter placed in the still, we call "alpha
rosin" or alpha resin.
"That which is obtained after the removal of the said "alpha rosin" or "alpha
resin," and during the second stage of the said process, and which also

page_text: amounts to one-fourth of the said original matter, we call "beta rosin or
"beta resin."
That obtained in the said receiver on the removal of the said "beta rosin"
or "resin," and during the third stage of the said process, and which forms
the remainder of the said original matter, we call "gamma rosin" or "
resin."
gamma
These three several substances present the characteristics of resins, but
clarified, and to a great extent deprived of color. They are either separately
or in combination applicable to and useful in the manufacture of several
important articles of use, such as soap, size, candles, paper, varnish, and japan,
and for distilling to produce resin oils.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the best means with
which we are acquainted of performing the same, we would have it understood
that we are aware that stills and steam worms capable of distributing small
jets of steam have been before used, in a somewhat similar way, for the treat-
ment of oils and fatty matters, and for improving the quality of resin oil
obtained from substances similar to those used by us in the processes herein-
before described; but such a process has never, so far as we can ascertain, been
applied to any such substances as are proposed to be operated upon by our
processes for the purpose of obtaining the resinous and solid products above
specified as the result of our said processes; we therefore claim the sole right
to make, use, exercise, and vend the said products obtained as herein-before
mentioned, such products not having, as we believe, been hitherto known in
commerce or used in the arts.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edward Hunt and Henry Davis Pochin,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-sixth day of.
October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-eight
EDWARD HUNT.
(L.S.)
HENRY DAVIS POCHIN. (L.S.)
EDWARD HUNT.
(L.S.)
HENRY DAVIS POCHIN. (L.S.)