AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING FATTY AND OILY MATTERS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
CLOVIS KNAB, of Leicester Place, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of August, in the
thirteenth year of Her: reign, did give and grant unto me, the said David
Clovis Knab, my exors, adñors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said David Clovis Knab, my exors,
adiňors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said David Clovis Knab, my
exors, admňors, or, assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my Invention of
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING FATTY AND OILY MATTERS within
that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the
Island of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations.abroad, during the term of fourteen years
thence next ensuing in which.. said Letters. Patent there is contained a
proviso requiring that. I;: thei said David Clovis Knab, shall particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to 'be. performed, by an instrument. in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six-calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
David Clovis Knab, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by this present Specification or Instrument in
writing, reference being had to the several Drawings hereunto annexed, and in
which said several Drawings similar parts are marked and referred to by
similar letters or figures (that is to say):—
My said Invention consists of an improved apparatus for distilling tallow,
palm oil, and other fatty and oily matters, such apparatus being composed of
a metallic bell suspended or placed within a tank or bath or vessel containing
melted lead, and furnished with proper and convenient means for admitting
and regulating the supply of the tallow, oil, or other fatty matters to be dis-
tilled, and for conducting the distilled vapours of the fatty matters to a con-
denser, and for other the purposes herein-after mentioned.
Figure 1 in the Drawings hereunto annexed is a longitudinal section of my
said improved apparatus, and also of a condenser or refrigerator attached
thereto, and which may be used in connection therewith. Figure 2 is a
transverse section of the same improved apparatus. A, A, Figure 1, is
a bell made of copper, iron, or other fit metal, which is placed within a
wrought or cast iron tank B, B, and held or suspended within it in such
manner that the lower edges of the bell may be upon a level, and' a short
distance from the bottom of the tank. L, L, is a quantity of melted
lead placed in the tank, and the quantity must be sufficiently large to rise a
short space above the lower edges of the bell. The tank is to be placed upon
a fireplace or furnace, by which it, and the lead it contains, is to be heated,
and as the lead, during the whole of the time the apparatus is in use, must
be kept in a thoroughly melted state, the tank must be made sufficiently strong
to bear the heat necessary for that. purpose. The melted tallow, oil, or other
fatty or oily matters to be distilled are admitted into the bell by means of
funnel C, which is furnished with a valve affixed to a rod passing through the
funnel. The lower end of the rod is furnished with a ball D, which rests
upon the surface of the fatty or oily matters in the bell, and when the
quantity of the fatty or oily matters in the bell is from time to time diminished
by the progress of the distillation, the sinking of the ball D opens the valve
in the funnel, and admits into the bell a further supply of the fatty or oily
matters to be distilled. The upper end of the rod in the funnel is connected
with a counterbalance lever D¹, by means of which, and its counterbalance

page_text: weight D, the action of the funnel, the valve, and the ball D, and also tho
admission of fatty or oily matters into the bell, may be regulated. The
reservoir at the top of the funnel may be made of any convenient size, and
the fatty or oily matters to be distilled are to be permitted to flow from their
reservoir into the funnel, as they may be required for enabling the funnel
to keep up a proper supply to the bell. The fatty or oily matters, as they are
admitted by the funnel, fall down upon the surface of melted lead in the bell,
and by means of that melted metal the temperature of them is raised to the.
degree proper for causing the distillation of them. The action of the funnel
and its valve, and the supply of fatty or oily matters to the bell, are to be
regulated in such manner that the layer of fatty or oily matter upon the
top of the melted lead shall not exceed in depth from four to six inches, and
the reservoir of the funnel is furnished with a waste pipe a, so that if the flow
of fatty or oily matter into the funnel should happen to be too abundant a
portion of it may escape by the waste pipe, and be conveyed to a reservoir so
as to prevent any waste. F,.F, F, F, is a steam pipe which proceeds from a
steam boiler of any ordinary and convenient construction, and this pipe is con-
ducted through the melted lead and under the lower edge of the bell, and a
length or coil of it is placed or lies upon the top of the melted lead. This
steam pipe is furnished with a weighted safety valve G for preventing the
supply of the steam to the bell at too high a temperature. Steam of the
temperature which it possesses at a pressure of about an atmosphere and a half,
or of about twenty-four pounds to the square inch, is that which I deem to be
the best to use in conjunction with my apparatus. The length or coil of steam
pipe which is upon the surface of the lead within the bell is pierced with
small holes upon the under side of it, for the purpose of allowing the escape
of the steam amongst the fatty or oily matter, and into the bell. The steam
pipe is made to pass through the melted lead in order that the steam passing
along the pipe into the bell may be dried or deprived of the water it holds
in suspension as much as conveniently practicable. The object of thus inject-
ing steam into the bell is not to heat the fatty or oily matters, that object being
effected by means of the melted lead, but the steam is thus introduced for
the purpose of expelling the atmospheric air from the interior of the bell and
the apparatus connected with it (such air having a tendency to injure fatty
or oily matters when in a heated state), and also in some measure to promote
I deem it to be of some impor-
the evaporation of the fatty or oily inatters.
tance to deprive the steam of all water it may hold in suspension, in order to
prevent the occurrence of any accidents from the sudden expansion of such
water into steam. The funnel C is placed near to one end of the bell, in order

page_text: that the fatty or oily' matters falling into the bell may flow over the surface
of the melted lead towards the other end of the bell, where the pipe E, for the
escape of the fatty or oily vapours, is placed, and so that the fatty or oily
matters to be distilled may be heated to the extent necessary to cause them: to
evaporate by the time they arrive at that end of the, bell at or near to which
the escape pipe E is placed. The fatty or oily matters admitted into: the bell
as above described are in this way quickly heated to the necessary extent, and
as they glide over the surface in a thin layer they are rapidly driven off in a
state of vapour through the escape pipe or tube E. T, T, is a pipe for draw-
ing off the residuum which is deposited upon the surface of the melted lead
by the evaporating fatty or oily matters. This pipe is furnished with a stop-
cock t, and the orifice of the pipe within the bell is cut so as to be level,- or
nearly so, and also nearly, upon a level very slightly above the surface of the
melted lead. By means of this emptying pipe T, T, and its : stopcock t, the
residuum deposited by the distilled fatty or oily matters may be from time to
time drawn off without stopping the distillation.. S is a manhole; by means
of which access may be had when necessary to the interior of the bell without
removing it from the tank. The escape pipe E, which is inserted in the top
of the bell, and near to one end of it, is intended to conduct the fatty or
oily vapours produced by the distillation to a refrigerator or condenser. Any
convenient condenser may be used, but I have in Figure 1. of the said Draw-
ings shewn a mode of constructing à condenser or refrigerator which I deem
to be convenient for collecting and condensing the products of the distillation.
His a small intermediate vessel, which is made of copper or any convenient
metal, and which is intended to receive and retain any splashings or impurities
which may occasionally happen to be thrown or drawn up the pipe Ewith the
fatty or oily vapours during the distillation, and this vessel may be emptied
from time to time by means of the pipes b, b, and their stopcocks, which may
be effected without stopping the distillation. From the small intermediate
vessel H a tube h, h, conducts the fatty or oily vapours to the condenser J,J, J,
of which a longitudinal section is shewn in Figure 1. This condenser is a
narrow vessel made of copper.or some_other_convenient. metal, and a transverse
section of it is represented by Figure 3: This condenser is furnished:with
several partitions c, c, c, c, c, each of which extends across from side to side of
the vessel, but leaves a space for the passage of the fatty or oily vapours
between the upper or lower edge of the partition and the top or bottom. of the
vessel. The spaces thus left are alternately at the bottoms and tops of the
partitions so as to compel the current of fatty or oily vapours to strike alternately
against the cooled bottom and top of the condenser, and thus promote the

page_text: condensation of the fatty or oily. vapours into a liquid state. The fatty or oily
matters when thus condensed, together with any water which may happen to
condense along with them, flow off by pipes r, r, r, r, and are from thence
conducted to a reservoir where, upon cooling, the different specific gravities of
the fatty or oily matters and of the water will cause them to separate. The
condenser is placed within another vessel of larger dimensions (which may be
more properly termed the. refrigerator), so that the inner vessel. or condenser
may be entirely surrounded with cold water. This outer vessel or refrigerator
may be made of wood, iron, or any other convenient material, and two
divisions are made in it by means of a partition all round the condenser at i, i,
so that one end of the condenser may be kept in a cooler state than the other.
Immediately above the condenser are pipes and taps for causing a flow of
water for cooling or refrigerating the condenser. A tap d is placed in such a
position that when opened water will flow down upon a portion of the pipe h,
and from thence upon the top of one division of the condenser. Another
tape is placed in such a position that when opened water will flow upon the
other division of the condenser. When fatty or oily matters, such as tallow,
capable of condensing into a solid state at the ordinary temperature of the
atmosphere are to be condensed in this condenser, care must be taken only to
cool them down into a liquid state, so that they will flow out of the condenser
through the pipes r, r, r, r, in manner already mentioned. And in order that
such fatty or oily matters as those last mentioned may not be too much cooled,
steam pipes m, m, m, m, m, (proceeding from a boiler) are made to communi-
cate with the interior of the condenser, so that a small quantity of steam may
be introduced into the condenser from time to time, when necessary, for the
purpose of preventing any fatty or oily matters from being solidified or too
much cooled by the action of the refrigerator. The two divisions, of the
exterior vessel or refrigerator must also be furnished with escape pipes and
taps for the purpose of permitting and regulating the flow of the cold water
from the refrigerator when it has performed its office.
Having now described my said Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I claim as of my Invention
apparatus consisting of a bell placed within a bath or tank, and furnished with
a funnel, and with a steam and other pipes or tubes for distilling fatty or oily
matters from the surface of melted lead in manner herein-before described.
In witness whercof, I, the said David Clovis Knab, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
D. C. (L.S.)
KNAB.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of January, in
the-year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid David Clovis Knab came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.