IMPROVE- MENTS IN TREATING AND MANUFACTURING CERTAIN FATTY OR OILY MATTERS; AND, IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND NIGHT LIGHTS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FERGUSSON WILSON, of Bellmont, Vauxhall, in the County, of Surrey;
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great,
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the eleventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Fergusson Wilson, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
George Fergusson Wilson, my exors, admors, and assigns, and every of them, :
by myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as I, the said George Fergusson' Wilson, my exors,.,
admňors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from .time.
to time and at all times thereafter during the term of fourteen years therein;
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, 'and 'vend, within
that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
the Dominion. of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and; in the :
Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man,, and also in all-Her:
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING AND MANUFACTURING CERTAIN FATTY OR OILY MATTERS; AND,
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND NIGHT LIGHTS;" in which said. Letters
Patent is contained. a proviso that I, the said, George Fergusson Wilson,

page_text: 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 to cause the same to be inrolled in the High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of the said proviso, I, the said
George Fergusson Wilson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
riescribed and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that
is to say):-
The first part of my Invention' consists chiefly in certain improvements upon
the Invention described in the Specification enrolled under certain Letters
Patent granted to me on or about the Twenty-third day of March, One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-seven, and relating to the manufacture and use,
for the purposes of light, of an oil composed of oleic acid combined with oil,
not in the acid state. And my present improvements upon this former Inven-
tion consist of certain modes of manufacturing similar compound oils by
certain applications of the liquid part of palm oil. (which is a well known
material obtained by subjecting the palm oil of commerce to pressure) in
combination with or partial substitution for the materials recommended in my
said former Specification. The liquid palm oil, as produced from the palm
oil of commerce, is a reddish oil, which has hitherto, before being used as a
burning oil, been bleached by exposing the palm oil of commerce or the
expressed oil to light and air, or by other known bleaching processes; and
I have discovered that, without being bleached, it may be advantageously used
as a cheap substitute for lard oil or castor oil, in carrying out my said former
Invention. And as the process of bleaching by exposure to light and air more
or less acidifies the palm oil subjected thereto, the liquid palm oil bleached by
that process, or by other bleaching processes producing similar effects, may be
used in place of the oleic acid recommended by my former Specification. In
using the liquid palm oil unbleached, and not in the acid state, in place of
the lard oil or castor oil described under my said former Patent, I have not
found it necessary to make any change in the means of manufacture, but the
relative proportions of acid and non-acid oils recommended by my former
Specification are not observed, as I have found that when using the liquid palm
oil unbleached the proportion of non-acid oil should be encreased; and I
prefer to use about three parts of the unbleached liquid palm oil to one part
of the oleic acid, although I do not consider so large an increase indispensable.

page_text: In respect of the bleached palm oil, as it is less purely acid than oleic acid
otherwise obtained and spoken of in my said former Specification,, I prefer
to use it in larger relative proportion than that recommended by my former
Specification in regard to oleic acid. And I would here observe that the un-
bleached palm oil may be only partially substituted for the lard oil or castor
oil, or the bleached palm oil for the oleic acid, so that the requisite relative
proportions of acid oil and non-acid oil be sufficiently adhered to in the whole.
I would remark that the expressed fluid oil of palm in the non-acid state, and
like fluid oil in the acid state, may be combined and produce a composite oil,
according to my Invention; but I believe the best results will generally be
obtained by using different oils.
The second part of my Invention relates to the preparation of southern oil
for the purpose of lubricating machinery. The southern oil of commerce is
defective for this purpose on account of its tendency to become gummy,
and I have discovered that this tendency may be in great measure removed by
mixing the southern oil with liquid cocoa-nut oil or liquid lard oil, which are
well known materials, obtained respectively from the cocoa-nut oil and lard of
commerce by pressure. I prefer to use one part of southern oil to one part
of liquid cocoa-nut or lard oil; and I recommend that the several oils should,
before being mixed, be well purified with alkali, for which purpose I have
found it best to use a solution composed of one thousand pounds weight of
American potash, broken into small pieces, and mixed with two hundred and
fifty gallons of water, and then boiled up in an iron vessel by means of free
steam till the potash is dissolved, after which water enough is to be added to
supply the loss caused by evaporation, and then the solution is allowed to
settle for twelve hours, and the clear solution is drawn off from the impurities..
The above-mentioned quantity of solution is what I use for purifying ten
tons of the southern oil or of the liquid cocoa-nut oil or lard oil, as the case
may be. These ten tons of oil being placed in a suitable iron vessel, the
solution is slowly added, the oil being kept agitated whilst doing so, and the
agitation is to be continued for two hours afterwards, then the mixture of oil
and solution is allowed to repose for twenty-four hours. The oil is then drawn
off from the dregs and boiled up by free steam in a wooden tub with half
its bulk of water, after which it reposes for twelve hours, and the water is then
drawn off and an equal quantity of fresh water added, and the same process of
boiling up and reposing repeated. I would here observe that I am aware
that alkaline agents have been already used for purifying oils, and that I lay
no claim to the above-mentioned process for that purpose. And I am also
aware that lard of commerce (that is, compressed lard) has before been com-

page_text: pressed in a comparatively small proportion with southern oil. I do not
therefore claim generally the combination of purified southern oil with lard,
the peculiarity of this part of my Invention consisting of the employment of
the fluid portion of lard pressed from the more solid parts, whereby the
compound oil produced is rendered more valuable than when the lard of
commerce is employed.
The third part of my Invention consists of certain improvements in the
process of obtaining a fatty matter from "scutch," which, as is well known,
is a refuse material produced in the manufacture of glue. According to an
Invention described in the Specification of a Patent granted to Alexander
McDougall on or about the Fourteenth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-seven, muriatic acid is used in order to form muriate of
lime, by combining with the lime contained in the "scutch," and thereby to
facilitate the disengagement of certain other component parts thereof. By the
method of manufacture recommended in the Specification of the said Alexander
McDougall, the muriatic acid is used in the liquid form in which it is com-
monly sold as the muriatic acid of commerce; but the quantity of acid required
being considerable, I have found that a material saving in the expense of the
process may be effected by substituting in this process the use of the acid in a
gaseous form, introduced direct from the process of decomposing common salt
intò a close vessel containing the "scutch," and so causing the muriatic acid
gas to condense amongst the "scutch" itself, thus dispensing with the neces-
sity of a previous condensation of the gas. And the process of, preparing fat
from "scutch" by such means may be further improved by admitting small
jets of water through a rose, or by other suitable means, into a pipe passing
.out from the vessel in which the operation is performed, in order to condense
gases and vapours which would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. and
cause a nuisance.
The fourth part of my Invention has for its object improvements in the
manufacture of candles and night lights. This part of my Invention consists
of combining atmospherically bleached palm oil with distilled fatty acids,
with or without other fats. I would state that by atmospherically bleached
palm oil, I mean such as is bleached by exposure to the atmosphere in
shallow vessels, or otherwise exposed to the action of the atmosphere, but
to such processes I make no claim. In carrying out this part of my Inven-
tion, I have found that by combining one part of crude cocoa-nut oil, one
part cold pressed. atmospherically bleached palm oil, and one part of
unpressed palm oil, acidified by sulphuric acid, and distilled (as described in a
Patent granted to George Gwynno and George Ferguson Wilson, bearing

page_text: date the 28th Dec, 1843), to make an excellent product, but the quan-
titics may be varied, depending on the hardness and other quality desired
to be obtained; and other distilled fatty acids may be used, either pressed or
unpressed.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the best means
I am acquainted with for carrying it into effect, I would have it understood
that what I claim is,-
First, the combining the expressed liquid palm oil, bleached or unbleached,
in the manufacture of an oil for burning, composed partly of oil in an acid
state, and partly of oil not in an acid state.
Secondly, I claim the manufacture of oil for lubricating machinery by com-
bining expressed liquid cocoa-nut oil, and also the expressed liquid lard oil
with southern oil.
Thirdly, I claim the application of muriatic acid in a gaseous form in the
preparation of fatty matters from "scutch," and also the application of water
for the purpose of condensing gases and vapours in the preparation of fatty
matters from "scutch." And,
Fourthly, I claim the manufacture of candles and night lights of atmo-
spherically bleached palm oil combined with distilled fatty acids.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.