CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PYROLIGNEOUS ACID
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
PATON HALLIDAY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the twelfth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Andrew
Paton Halliday, Her especial license, full' power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Andrew Paton Halliday, my exors, admors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Andrew Paton Halliday, my exors, adñors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PYROLIGNEOUS ACID;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, that I, the said Andrew Paton Halliday, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's 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 there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Andrew Paton Halliday, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement and the Drawings hereto
annexed (that is to say):
My improvements in the manufacture of pyroligneous acid relate, first, to
the method of manufacture; and secondly, to the machinery or apparatus to
be employed in such manufacture. In the ordinary process of manufacturing
pyroligneous acid, branches or billets of oak, or any other wood, are intro-
duced into cast-iron cylinders, made air-tight, and subjected to destructive
distillation by the application of heat to the containing surface, or the surface
with which the wood is in contact; also in soine cases by the use of steam of
high temperature applied or introduced amongst the substances from which
the pyroligneous acid and other products are obtained. It is also known that
sawdust, wood turnings, wood chips, spent dye woods, spent tan, turf, and other
vegetable substances are capable of yielding pyroligneons acid; but owing to
the minutely divided state in which these substances exist, the ordinary
method of effecting their destructive distillation becomes diflicult, if not
impossible, in consequence of that portion in immediate contact with the
retort becoming completely charred, whilst the non-conducting property of the
charcoal prevents the heat from penetrating into the interior.
The first part of my Invention consists in effecting the destructive distilla-
tion of sawdust, wood turnings, wood chips, spent dye woods, spent tan, turf,
and other vegetable substances of a similar character, in order to obtain
pyroligneous acid therefrom, by causing such substances to pass in continuous
motion through heated irou tubes, pipes, or retorts, by means of machinery or
apparatus constructed and arranged in such manner as to effect the above
object. The sawdust, wood turnings, wood chips, spent dye woods, spent tau,
turf, or other vegetable substances from which the pyroligneous acid is to be
distilled, are introduced into a hopper in which vertical screws or worms
revolve, conveying the material (regulating at the same time the supply) to
the retorts placed in an horizontal position, and heated by means of a furnace,
in which retorts revolving screws or worms keep the material in constant
agitation, moving them at the same time forward until the whole is completely
carbonized and all the pyroligneous acid evolved. The charcoal thus formed
falls through pipes dipping into a vessel of water, or into an air-tight vessel,
from which a pipe dips into water to allow the gas to escape as the vessel fills
with charcoal, and from which the latter may be withdrawn through a door
placed at the side. The pyroligneous acid is condensed in the usual way.iu
pipes of iron or copper surrounded with or immersed in water, the other pro-
ducts obtained by the destructive distillation of the material being employed

page_text: in the ordinary manner. In the Drawing accompanying these Presents is
represented the arrangement of mechanism which I prefer, and which in
practice I find most advantageous for effecting the perfect destructive dis-
tillation of the materials employed for the production of the pyroligneous acid.
The Drawing is made to a scale of about three quarter of an inch to one foot,
and is marked with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those
in the following description thereof:-Fig. 1 is a front elevation, and Fig. 2
a back view of the apparatus; Fig. 3, a vertical section taken longitudinally
through about the middle of the apparatus. a, a, represents the hopper in
which the sawdust or other material is placed, and b, b, are vertical feed pipes
in which the worms or screws c, c, revolve; d, d, are the retorts placed hori-
zontally, and in the interior of which are placed revolving screws e, e; f. f.
are the condensing pipes from which the pyroligneous acid passes in vapour
to the main g, g; h, h, is a pipe through which the vapour is conveyed to the
condensor; and i, i, are pipes down which the charcoal falls into the vessel k, k,
containing water. The vertical screws c, c, are caused to revolve in the fol
lowing manner-At the upper extremity of the vertical spindles 1, 1, (to
which the screws c, c, are attached) bevil wheels m, m, are keyed, gearing
into bevil pinions 1, n, upon the horizontal shaft o, at one end of which is a
spur wheel in
P gear with a similar wheel q upon the transverse shaft r, at the
other end of which shaft is keyed a worm wheels, receiving motion from a
worm t, keyed upon the vertical driving shaft u, which may be connected to
the steam engine or other motive power in any convenient manner.
The
horizontal screws e, e, are caused to revolve in the following manner:-Upon
the ends of the spindles v, v, (to which the screws e, e, are attached) worm
wheels w, w, are keyed, gearing into worms a, a, upon the horizontal
shafts y, y, to which rotary motion is imparted from the vertical driving
shaft u by means of the mitre wheels z, z. The retorts d, d, are heated by
means of a furnace 1, 1; 2, 2, being the fire bars; 3, 3, the fire door. The
operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The furnace 1, in which the retorts
are placed, being heated to the required intensity, and the hopper a, a, filled
with sawdust, wood turnings, wood chips, spent dye woods, spent tan, turf, or
other similar vegetable substance, the machinery is to be set in motion. The
material will then be carried down the feed pipes b, b, by means of the
screws c, c, to the retorts d, d, along which it will be caused to advance in a
continual state of agitation by means of the screws e, e, the speed at which
the screws e, e, should revolve depending upon the nature of the material
employed. In its passage through the retorts the material becomes perfectly
carbonized, and the vapour evolved passes up the pipes f, f, to the main g, g,

page_text: whence it passes off through the pipe h, h, to the condensor. The charcoal
formed in the process falls down the pipes i, i, into the vessel k, k.
My Invention also consists in effecting the destructive distillation of billets
or branches of wood, sawdust, wood turnings, wood chips, spent dye woods,
spent tan, turf, or other similar vegetable substances, in order to obtain pyro-
ligneous acid therefrom by forcing a current of. hot air through the same.
The temperature of the air may be ascertained by means of a pyrometer.or
thermometer previous to its entrance into the vessel containing the wood, and
may easily be regulated to the heat required. The apparatus which I find to
answer best for this purpose consists of a double cylinder, the outer one being
constructed either of cast iron or fire bricks, and a space of about one or two
inches being left between them all around to allow of the free circulation of the
heated air. The inner cylinder is constructed of strong wires, if billets or
branches of wood are used; or of sheet iron perforated, or wire gauze, if any
of the other above-mentioned materials are employed. I prefer placing the
cylinder in an upright position, the heated air entering in at the bottom of the
outer cylinder and escaping with the vapours of pyroligneous acid through a
pipe near the top, and at the side of the outer cylinder, into the condensor, to
be condensed in the usual manner. The heated air is supplied by pipes, and
forced by means of fans or other known apparatus through the materials to be
destructively distilled.
Having now described the nature and object of my said improvements,
together with the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I would
remark, in conclusion, that I claim as my Invention,
First, the manufacturing pyroligneous acid from sawdust, wood turnings,
wood chips, spent dye woods, spent tan, turf, or similar ligneous vegetable sub-
stances, by causing such substances to pass in continuous motion through
heated iron or other tubes or retorts.
%
Secondly, I claim the manufacturing of pyroligneous acid by the application,
employment, or use of the machinery or apparatus shewn and described for
effecting the above object. And,
Thirdly, I claim the manufacturing pyroligneous acid by forcing a current
of heated air through branches or billets of wood, sawdust, wood turnings,
wood chips, spent dye woods, spent tan, turf, or similar ligneous vegetable
substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Paton Halliday, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty seventh day of March, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
ANDREW PATON
(L.S.) HALLIDAY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of March,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Andrew Paton Halliday came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and speci-
fied, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.