A MACHINE, ON A NEW CONSTRUCTION, TO BE USED IN THE EXTRACTING OF OIL FROM SEEDS, AND BY WHICH THAT OPERATION MAY BE PERFORMED IN A MORE BENEFICIAL MANNER THAN HITHERTO PRACTISED
Year: 1787

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SMEATON, of Gray's Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Fourth
day of April, in the twenty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me,
the said John Smeaton, His especial licence that I, the said John Smeaton,
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "A MACHINE, ON A NEW CONSTRUCTION, TO BE USED IN
THE EXTRACTING OF OIL FROM SEEDS, AND BY WHICH THAT OPERATION MAY BE
PERFORMED IN A MORE BENEFICIAL MANNER THAN HITHERTO PRACTISED;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John
Smeaton, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and how the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same
(relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Smeaton, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following, that is to say :-
Oil, in the ordinary way, is extracted from seed, by putting such seed, when
reduced to a pulpy substance or powder by a mill, into a pan or kettle, which
being placed over a fire or stove, the bottom of the kettle, with its contents,
becomes heated to a degree deemed sufficient in the judgment of the operator,

page_text: and its heat is made equal by a round upright iron bar, turning round in the
centre of the pan, which, carrying with it another smaller square or flat bar
across its lower end, forms a couple of arms of equal lengths in opposite
directions, but so as to go down into the bottom of the kettle, and thereby
stirs the ground matter from the bottom of the pan, and mixes the whole
together. This cross bar is commonly called the stirrer or fly, and is worked
by the mill. The operator then, after lifting up the stirrer, draws the pan
from the fire, and, overwhelming, oversetting, or turning over the pan, it
becomes emptied of its contents, which, falling into two small hoppers, is
conducted into two bags to receive it, and in this heated state is put into the
oil press.
Now my Invention consists in making a door, doorway, or opening below the
top, that is to say, in the side or bottom of the pan or kettle, wherein the seed or
ground matter from whence the oil is meant to be extracted is put, in order
that it may be heated; by means of which doorway or opening the seed or
ground matter may be drawn out without oversetting or turning over the
pan,
or emptying it of its contents by lifting the same over the top or border of
the pan.
The above contains the principle of my Invention; but, in further descrip-
tion of the nature and application, thereof, together with the manner in
which it may be performed and reduced to use, I beg leave to add the
following:-The seed kettle itself may be of the common or such size and
dimensions, as the operator chuses as fitting for his purpose; but, instead of
placing the same immediately over the fire or stove, as above described, if he
provides a larger and deeper kettle, capable of containing the former one, and
so as to leave a space (suppose of one, two, or more inches) betwixt them,
then he can fill this space with water; and this outward kettle, being placed
over the fire or stove, so that the water may be heated or made to boil, the
heat of the water will be communicated to the contents of the inner or seed
kettle, but that in a limited degree only, according to what the chemists call
water bath, and is illustrated by the well-known construction of a joiner or
cabinet-maker's glue pot, by which means the seed is prevented from being
over heated; but as according to this construction the inner or seed kettle
cannot be emptied without taking it out of the water kettle, in order to over-
turn it, or otherways taking out the contents by lifting the same over the top
(both of which are manifestly very inconvenient), in virtue of this my
Invention the operator is enabled to draw the seed when so heated out at the
bottom or side without disturbing either kettle, so that they remain in one
constant fixed partition; and the top of the seed kettle being covered, the
1:

page_text: water may in like manner flow over the top in all places, except that a tube
must be placed in the centre, so that the round bar or axis of the stirrer may
pass through it, and also an opening with an hopper or funnel rising above it,
whereby the seed or ground matter is to be introduced into the seed kettle;
and the tops of the hopper and tube rising above the surface of the water, it is
thereby prevented from entering the seed kettle and mixing with the seed. It
is obvious that, in consequence of a doorway or opening into the side or bottom
of the seed kettle, on opposite and similar one must be made answerable
thereto in the outward or water kettle; and therefore, to prevent the water
from entering the seed kettle by the doorway, from whence the heated matter
is to be drawn out, or from flowing out by the passage made opposite and
answerable thereto in the water-kettle, this opening or doorway is surrounded
by a border entry or passage, by which the inner and outward kettles are
united together by a water-tight joint or joints, so that when the water is
poured in so as to overflow the inward kettle, this passage will also become
surrounded by water. In which construction we have a clear passage thro'
both the kettles into the inner kettle; but, therefore, that the inner or seed
kettle may properly contain the seed or matter to be heated after it has been
introduced by the funnel, as aforesaid, a plate or door must be adapted to fit
the inward side of the inner kettle, which may be hung upon hinges, and
open outward; but it has appeared to me more convenient to attatch this plate
to a proper handle, and to push it into its place when wanted, and to with-
draw it when the contents of the kettle is wanted to be drawn out, using
proper clasps for keeping it in its place. In like manner as water, other fluids
may be used between the kettles, or sand may be introduced, to make what
the chemists call a sand heat.
Also the invention of a doorway is applicable to the common kettle now in
use, by which means it will have a fixed situation, and prevent the labour of
overturning, also for the more effectual stirring of the matter from whence the
oil is meant to be extracted as aforesaid while remaining to be heated in
the pan.
My Invention, furthermore, consists in having a fly or stirrer, which has a
greater number of arms or branches than have hitherto been applyed for the
purpose of stirring the seed or ground matter, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Smeaton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Second day of May, One thousand seven hundred and
eight-seven.
J. SMEATON. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1787, the aforesaid John Smeaton came before our said Lord
the King in His 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 stampt according to the tenor of the
Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Second day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand