IMPROVEMENTS IN REFINING AND BLEACHING PARAFFINE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Heinrich Byk, of Leipsic, in the Kingdom of
Saxony, Doctor of Philosophy and Chemist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REFINING AND BLEACHING PARAFFINE."
Scaled the 10th May 1870, and dated the 9th December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Heinrich Byk at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th December 1869.
I, HEINRICH BYк, of Leipsic, in the Kingdom of Saxony, Doctor of
Philosophy and Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFINING AND BLEACHING PARAFFINE," to be
as follows:-
Hitherto it has caused many difficulties to deliver the parrafin from
those bodies which make it dirty and coloured, and either the methods
used till now for this purpose cause a great loss in paraffin, or they are
not at all sufficient; therefore I will here describe a new manner,
which has not been used in any manufactory, so far as I know, and
which I myself have discovered.
To the paraffin which is to be refined and made white I add a solution
of an alkali in an alcohol. It is best to employ common athylalcohol

page_text: (it is C, H,, OH), in which I dissolve natron or kali (it is Na OH, or
KaOH). I take in general for 100 pounds of the paraffin 10 pounds
of the alcohol (of 96 degrees of Tralles circa), in which I dissolve
1 pound of natron. The paraffin is then melted in a common
aparatus for mixing with double walls, between which steam passes to
warm the paraffin, and upon which a condenser is applied in such a
manner that the vapour rising from the alcohol may be condensed and
reconducted into the aparatus for mixing, (in the manner of an inverted
Liebig's condenser). To the liquid paraffin is added the mixture I
specified before; it is stirred for some time, and then we wait till the
alcoholic solution, which contains almost all the dirt of the paraffin, is
deposited at the bottom of the apparatus; during this time the paraffin
is to be kept fluid as low in a temperature as possible. The alcoholic
fluid is to be removed by means of a esik, which is applied to the bottom
of the apparatus. The alcohol can be distilled and used a second time;
then the paraffin is to be washed out with hot water. After the water
is removed one adds to 100 pounds of the paraffin 10 pounds of the
alcohol (of 96 degrees of Tralles circa) without an alkali, stirs it, and
then leaves it for a short time to settle. The paraffin is to be cast in the
usual forms and pressed in an hydraulic press, better if a little warm.
One collects the alcohol for itself to use it a second time. In general
paraffin is white, but when it is not yet so we melt it a second time, and
add for some hours to 100 pounds of paraffin 10, 15 pounds of bone
black (Beinschwarz), better if fresh dried or heated. The refinement of
the paraffin is then perfect when the last is filtered. I remark that the
proportions of paraffin, alcohol respective natron above specified depend
from the quality of the paraffin which is to be refined.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Heinrich Byk in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HEINRICH
BYK, of Leipsic, in the Kingdom of Saxony, Doctor of Philosophy and
Chemist, send greeting.
3
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year 3

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Heinrich Byk, Her special licence that
I, the said Heinrich Byk, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Heinrich Byk, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 REFINING
AND BLEACHING PARAFFINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Heinrich Byk, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, 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 I, the said Heinrich Byk, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
The Invention relates to the treatment with alcoholic lycs of those
light producing substances which are obtained from coal, schist, ozokerite,
or other like natural products, and are known as paraffine and paraffine
oils, the object being to refine and bleach the same. When paraffine is
to be purified which at ordinary temperature is solid it must be first
reduced by the application of heat to a fluid condition. On the other
hand paraffine oil which is fluid at ordinary temperature will not
require to be subjected to the action of heat. The melted paraffine or
that which is fluid at ordinary temperature I pour into an ordinary
mixing apparatus provided with a steam jacket, to which steam is
supplied in order to keep the contents warm. The cover of this mixing
apparatus is made to close securely (to prevent any possible loss of
alcohol), and it is connected with a condenser so arranged as to condense
the alcohol as it evaporates, and return it to the mixing apparatus after
the manner of an inverted Liebig condenser. This apparatus is provided
at bottom with a cock for running off the fluid substances. The mixing

page_text: is best accomplished by means of a stirrer in the form of a screen or
sieve. The alcoholic lye should be freshly prepared before each
operation. The relative proportions of the paraffine to the alcoholic lye
necessary to produce the best results cannot be given very precisely, as
they depend on the quality of the paraffine or paraffine oil, but I can
recommend the following rules:-When treating paraffine, that is,
paraffine which is solid at ordinary temperatures, I have found from
experiments with different paraffines that the most favorable proportions
are one hundred parts of paraffine to ten parts of alcohol (by preference
of the strength of ninety degrees to ninety-six degrees Tralles, say, fifty-
nine degrees to seventy degrees over proof), and 0.1 hydrate of soda or
hydrate of potash (or ammonia). If a smaller quantity of alcohol is
desired to be used less soda or potash (or ammonia), as the case may be,
must also be used, so that the "concentration" of the lye shall not
much vary. This lye I make rather warm and pour it into the mixing
apparatus containing the fluid paraffine, which also should be moderately
warm. I then stir the mass a few times in order to accelerate the
chemical action and allow the mixture to subside. The deposition of the
paraffine takes place with moderate rapidity, and can be hastened by
warming the contents of the mixing apparatus. I then draw off the
alcoholic liquor containing all the dirt and impurities by means of the
cock at the bottom of the mixing apparatus, and allow the paraffine to
run into another and similarly constructed mixing apparatus. In this
apparatus I wash it twice with hot water, the first time with a small
quantity of water for a very short time, and next with rather more water
for the space of several minutes. After each washing I run off the water.
As soon as all the water has been removed and the paraffine has become
clear I place the paraffine in a third and similar mixing apparatus in
which I treat it for some time with about ten per cent. of alcohol. I
then leave the mixture to itself for a time, and afterwards draw off by
means of the cock the alcohol which collects at the bottom of the appa-
ratus. But even at this washing with alcohol the quantity of the same
depends upon the quality of the paraffine. The paraffine I then bring
to a form suitable for testing, allow it to harden, and press it, if possible,
while still somewhat warm in hydraulic presses in order to press out the
moisture. The paraffine after the above-described treatment is inodorous
and generally white. If the color is not yet removed the paraffine must be
again melted and treated with from ten to fifteen per cent. of bone black.
When treating very impure paraffines I have often found an addition

page_text: of a small per-centage of light oil necessary before the complete puri-
fication. The three above-described similar mixing apparatus should be
disposed one above another in such a manner that by means, say, of a
cock or tap fixed at one side the paraffine may flow from one to the other.
The treatment of the paraffine oils which are fluid at ordinary tem-
perature is similar to that of paraffine which is solid at ordinary
temperature. But as in treating the former the principal object is to
free it from the bad smell, which is more conspicuous in that than in the
solid paraffines, the concentration of the alcoholic lye must be greater,
and it must be allowed to act for several hours at a moderately high
temperature. It is advisable to subject the paraffine oils to this treat-
ment previously to the last of the series of distillations customary in
the manufactories, and, in fact, it is only necessary as regards paraffine
oils to subject them to the above-described treatment with alcoholic lyes
and the washings with water; the further operations may be dispensed
with. The paraffine oil thus treated can then be distilled as usual, and
further treated after the usual methods. By means of the treatment
with alcoholic lyes the paraffine oil will be freed from its ordinary
unpleasant smell. I would here remark that the alcoholic lye may
consist of a solution of potash or soda, or ammonia in ordinary alcohol
(acthyl-alcohol), or in wood spirit (methyl-alcohol), or in fusel oil
(amyl-alcohol), or in any like chemical body, or in a mixture of such
alcohols.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Refining and Bleaching Paraffine," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim, the treatment of solid and liquid
paraffine oils, that is to say, of paraffine and the so-called paraffine oils
which are fluid at ordinary temperature by means of alcoholic lyes, in
the manner and for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Heinrich Byk, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Second day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
HEINRICH BYK. (L.S.)