IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING OILS, IN CONVERTING FATTY, VEGETABLE, MINERAL, OR FISHY SUB- STANCES INTO OILS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED THEREIN
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Arthur Wall at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th May
1864.
Í, ARTHUR WALL, of Clapton, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PURIFYING OILS, IN CONVERTING FATTY, VEGETABLE, MINERAL, OR FISHY SUB-
STANCES INTO OILS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED THEREIN," to be
as follows:-
The first part of my Invention consists in applying electricity or electric
currents, whether thermal, static, or voltaic, to metallic bases or metals mixed
with or placed in oils whilst under the influence of heat or otherwise, or into
fats or fatty substances, whether animal, vegetable, mineral, or fishy, or any of
the hydrocarbons or oils resulting from any of these substances. To purify oil or
oils, such as those known in the market, I place the same in receivers or
cylinders, using a false bottom perforated, also using strainers and purifiers.
When these cylinders are supplied with oils, such as are known in the market,
I apply a metallic stirrer, in which iron or zinc filings, cuttings, or turnings, or
other finely divided metals, either singly or together, are introduced, the same
being made to revolve through the liquid mass, the false bottom being pre-
viously covered with a layer of metallic cuttings. The stirrer with its charge
is to be brought into contact with the layer upon the false bottom, and by

page_text: means of a wire or other metallic conductor, one pole of a Groves' battery or
other electric machine, whether magnetic, static, or hydro-electric, is brought
in contact with the top of the stirrer, taking care to make the other pole act
upon the oil so as to complete the circuit; or I pump or otherwise introduce
oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine, or carbonic oxide gas, taking care to separate the
acid. These gases are assisted in their action either by electricity, as above
stated, or by what I term static electricity generated under the false bottom,
which is filled with a strong solution of salt or mineral acids or salt and
water, which may have its action increased by the addition of dilute bydro-
chloric acid or other mineral acid. In this I place positive or negative metal,
introducing it under the false bottom in any convenient way. The whole I
subject to a pressure of several atmospheres, for instance, by means of super-
heated steam passing through a worm; as soon as the pressure raises the
valve the oil flows out into a receiver, whence it can be taken for refining,
and can be purified by the addition of oxides of metals, such as zinc, lead,
bismuth, copper, cobalt, nickel, or their sulphates, or sulphides, or sulphurets
in combination with hot water or steam in tanks, where the whole is stirred
together and allowed to settle, after which the oil is drawn off and subjected
or not subjected to distillation, as desired. For the conversion of or recovery
of the oleine from oily or fatty substances, whether animal, vegetable, mineral,
or fishy, or for acting upon or combining into oils stearine and margarine
with oleine so as to form a standing oil, the above process is resorted to in open
receivers without pressure, or in closed receivers with or without pressure;
after this process, and straining under heat, they are purified as other market-
able oils.
.
The second part of my Invention consists of an improved still for obtaining
paraffin and other oils in a pure condition. This improvement consists in the
still being made with three arms or outlets, each provided with a separate
worm in its refrigerating tank, the still also having an interior worm. Under
each arm or outlet and running all round the still is placed a hollow flange or
gutter, for the purpose of conveying the drippings from the sides above it to
the arm or outlet to which it belongs, whence it is conveyed to its worm in
the refrigerating tank. By this means both labour and loss of materials is
saved, and the oils produced through this still are much better than those
treated by the usual methods. The two lower arms or outlets of this still
have stop-cocks, which are generally shut until the first volatile off-shoots are
drawn off and the oils proper rise. As soon as this takes place the stops are
opened, and the drippings from the sides instead of running down to join at
the bottom are caught by the gutters, and the lighter portion rises again to

page_text: the top, and the heavier portion is carried off by the outlets to their several
refrigerating worms, by which means three different bodies of oils are pro-
duced from the same still, the first from the head pure and fine, the
second nearly equal to the first, and the third containing all the different
bodies known to constitute the hydrocarbons.