IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE FATTY AND OILY MATTERS OF ANIMALS AND FISH FOR THE PRODUCTION THEREFROM OF LARD, TALLOW, FAT, AND OIL, AND IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR THE PURPOSE."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Frederick Wilks Featherstonhaugh, of
Woburn Place, Russell Square, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
and Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING THE FATTY AND OILY MATTERS OF ANIMALS AND FISH FOR THE
PRODUCTION THEREFROM OF LARD, TALLOW, FAT, AND OIL, AND IN MEANS AND
APPARATUS FOR THE PURPOSE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Frederick Wilks
Featherstonhaugh at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 10th October 1873.
I, JOSEPH FREDERICK WILKS FEATHERSTONHAUGH, of Woburn Place,
Russell Square, in the County of Middlesex, Civil and Consulting
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE FATTY AND OILY MATTERS OF ANIMALS AND
FISH FOR THE PRODUCTION THEREFROM OF LARD, TALLOW, FAT, AND OIL, AND IN
MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR THE PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
My Invention is designed for the rapid and economical treatment of
and obtention of useful products from the fatty and oily matters of

page_text: animals, such for instance as butcher's fat, rough fat, pig's flare, and
other animal matters containing fats, also the fatty and oily matters of
fish, such as the blubber of whales, seals, and other fish, and the livers
of cod and other oily matters found in fish, in such manner as to obviate
⚫or mitigate the serious inconveniences and offensive odours attending
the treatment of such matters as usually practised. For this purpose
I employ mechanical separators, crushers, or dividers, in conjunction
with heat, the whole of the fatty and oily matters including their fibres,
tissues, integuments, and cells, being torn, cut up, crushed, or divided,
by such separators, crushers, or dividers, the adherence to which of the
matters under treatment is prevented by the action of the heat (which
promotes the melting of the fats) aided by the centrifugal force of the
rotating or revolving separators, crushers, or dividers, and by the
increased temperature resulting from the friction thereof.
Various forms of separating, crushing, or dividing apparatus may be
employed in conjunction with heat for the purposes of my Invention,
preferring to use a rotating cylinder or drum carrying a series of steel
or other combs, teeth, cutters, or crushers, and arranged in juxtaposition
to a fixed or stationary plate or plates, or to a set or sets of stationary
combs, teeth, cutters, or crushers; the vessel or chamber containing the
cylinder or drum being surrounded by a jacket or casing suitably heated.
by steam, hot water, or otherwise. Heat may also be applied by
admitting steam, hot water, or heated air to the interior of the cylinder
or drum.
The fatty or oily matters operated upon by the rotating cylinder or
drum will with their fibres, tissues, integuments, and cells, be com-
pletely torn, cut up, crushed, or divided, and reduced to a fit and
suitable condition for separating at a comparatively low temperature the
lard, fat, tallow, or oil from the fibres, tissues, or integuments.
When the fatty or oily matters have been thoroughly divided and
reduced to a state of pulp, they may be treated in any convenient way
for separating the lard, fat, tallow, or oil from the fibrous and other
matters; I prefer to treat them (without agitation in jacketted pans
(steam or hot water being admitted only between the outer jacket and
inner pan) so as to separate the lard, fat, tallow, or oil, from the fibrous
and other matters at a temperature little above the melting point of
tallow, no steam, water, or other liquid being used in contact with or

page_text: mixed with the fatty or oily matters, either before they enter or whilst
they are in the melting pans. Any lard, fat, tallow, or oil, still retained
by the fibrous or other matters may be removed by pressure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Frederick Wilks Featherstonhaugh in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
FREDERICK WILKS FEATHERSTONHAUGH, of Woburn Place, Russell
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Civil and Consulting Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Frederick Wilks Featherston-
haugh, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Frederick Wilks
Featherstonhaugh, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Frederick Wilks Featherstonhaugh, my
executors, administrators, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE FATTY AND OILY MATTERS OF ANIMALS AND FISH
FOR THE PRODUCTION THEREFROM OF LARD, TALLOW, FAT, AND OIL, AND IN MEANS
AND APPARATUS FOR THE PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Joseph Frederick Wilks Featherstonhaugh, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument 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 Joseph Frederick Wilks Feather-
stonhaugh, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof and the
Sheet of Drawings therein referred to (that is to say):
:-
My Invention is designed for the rapid and economical treatment of
and obtention of useful products from the fatty and oily matters of
animals, such for instance as butcher's fat, rough fat, pig's flare, and
other animal matters containing fats, also the fatty and oily matters of
fish, such as the blubber of whales, seals, and other fish, and livers of
cod, and other oily matters found in fish, in such manner as to obviate
or mitigate the serious inconveniences and offensive odours attending 1
the treatment of such matters as usually practised. For this purpose
I employ mechanical separators, crushers, or dividers, in conjunction
with heat, the whole of the fatty and oily matters including their fibres,
tissues, integuments, and cells being torn, cut up, crushed, or divided
by such separators, crushers, or dividers, the adherence to which of the
matter under treatment is prevented by the action of the heat (which
promotes the melting of the fats) aided by the centrifugal force of the
revolving or rotating separators, crushers, or dividers, and by the
increased temperature resulting from the friction thereof.
Various forms of separating, crushing, or dividing apparatus may be
employed in conjunction with heat for the purposes of my Invention,
preferring to use a rotating cylinder or drum carrying a series of steel
or other combs, teeth, cutters, or crushers, and arranged in juxtaposition
to a fixed or stationary plate or plates or to a set or sets of stationary
combs, teeth, cutters, or crushers, the vessel or chamber containing
the cylinder or drum being surrounded by a jacket or casing suitably
heated by steam, hot water, or otherwise. Heat may also be applied by
admitting steam, hot water, or heated air to the interior of the cylinder
or drum.
Fig. 1 of the Drawings is a vertical section of the apparatus I prefer
to use in carrying out my Invention; Fig. 2 is a similar section at right
angles to the foregoing.

page_text: full size sectional view of part of the cylinder or drum shewing the
manner in which the combs are let into it.
a is a cast-iron hollow cylinder or drum truly turned on its external
periphery which is grooved to receive a number of steel combs b
placed about three-quarters of an inch apart from centre to centre.
These combs project about three-sixteenths of an inch beyond the
periphery of the cylinder or drum, and are held in place by a couple of
turned wrought-iron or steel hoops or rings c one at each end of the
cylinder or drum, these hoops or rings being kept in position by
washers & secured by bolts screwed into the ends of the cylinder or drum
as shewn. The cylinder or drum is mounted upon a turned steel tubular
shaft e working in gun metal bearings f, on to which shaft the cylinder
or drum is driven when cold and fitted with care so that it may be
steam tight, and that the shaft with the cylinder or drum may turn
truly within the cast-iron jacketed casing g in juxtaposition to the fixed
steel plate & which is formed with slots through which bolts &¹ pass
into the metal of the casing g, thus enabling the position of the plate 8
to be adjusted to suit the matters to be treated. For treating fats I
have found it convenient to fix the plate with its operating edge at a
distance of about 1th to 1th of an inch from the teeth of the combs b,
the upper surface of the plate being in the same horizontal plane as the
axis of the cylinder or drum. The casing g is formed in two parts with
surfaced flanges grooved to receive india-rubber or other packing at g¹,
so as to make the joint of the casing steam-tight around the holes by
which the two parts of its jacket communicate with each other when
they are bolted together. The casing g is furnished with a hopper h,
also with a steam inlet cock i, a steam outlet cock j, and a blow off
cock or outlet for condensed steam at k.
Within the shaft is a stop or partition / dividing the interior of the
shaft into two parts e¹, e³, from each of which are holes m, n, com-
municating with the interior of the cylinder or drum. One end of the
shaft is closed by a gun metal valve o provided with a steam pipe p
leading from the boiler or generator; on the other end of the shaft are
fast and loose driving pullies q, r. a¹ is a screw plug tapped into the
cylinder for drawing off, before commencing to heat the cylinder, any
excess of water or condensed steam into a receptacle which may for this
purpose be passed into the casing g through a hand hole formed therein
for the purpose and kept close when the machine is at work.

page_text: The mode of operation is as follows:-I admit steam through the
pipe pregulated by the cock p₁ through the valve o, passage e¹ and
holes m into the interior of the hollow cylinder or drum a, whence any
excess of steam or condensed steam may escape through the hole n
and passage e³ and may go to waste; I admit at the same time steam
through the pipe (regulated by the cock i) into the jacket of the
casing 9, whence any excess of steam may escape by the cock j and any
water or condensed steam may be blown off through the cock k. By
these means I regulate the quantity of water in the jacket.
By the admission of steam as above described I heat the cylinder or
drum a and the casing 7 to a temperature sufficiently high to prevent
the adherence of the matters to the apparatus, taking care that the
temperature shall not be so high as to burn or destroy the matters to be
operated upon, for which purpose I keep the temperature below the
boiling point of water by regulating the quantity of steam admitted, or
by keeping a small quantity of water in the interior of the drum and in
the lower portion of the jacket, and causing the steam on entering to
force its way through such water.
I have found a temperature of between 110 and 150 degrees Fahrenheit
to answer well, but this may be varied, as by looking down the hopper
when the apparatus is at work it may readily be seen whether the
matters under treatment are sufficiently heated to prevent their adherence
to the apparatus. The apparatus being thus heated I put the cylinder
or drum a in rapid rotary motion through a strap on the driving pulley
of the shaft e, and I then by hand or otherwise feed into the hopper h
the butcher's fat, rough fat, pig's flare, blubber, or other fatty or oily
matters to be treated, which being acted upon by the teeth on the
rapidly rotating cylinder or drum operating in conjunction with the
fixed plates are with their fibres, tissues, integuments, and cells,
completely torn, cut up, crushed, or divided and reduced to a fit and
suitable condition for separating at a comparatively low temperature
the lard, fat, tallow, or oil from the fibres, tissues, or integuments.
The fatty or oily matters having been thus thoroughly divided and
reduced to a state of pulp may fall direct into the melting pans and
be treated in any convenient way for separating the lard, fat, tallow,
or oil from the fibrous and other matters. I prefer to treat them in
jacketed pans (steam or hot water being admitted only between the
outer jacket and inner pan) so as to separate the lard, fat, tallow, or oil,

page_text: the axles in a manner which will be readily understood without farther
explanation.
Having described my said Invention of "Improvements in Treating
the Fatty and Oily Matters of Animals and Fish for the Production there-
from of Lard, Tallow, Fat, and Oil, and in Means and Apparatus for the
Purpose," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
practical effect, I hereby declare what I consider to be novel and original
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent to be,--
First. Treating the fatty and oily matters of animals and fish by the
use or employment of mechanical separators, crushers, or dividers in
conjunction with heat, substantially as and for the purposes above
described and set forth.
Secondly. The construction of apparatus arranged to operate in con-
junction with heat for treating the fatty and oily matters of animals and
fish, substantially as shewn in and described with reference to the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Frederick Wilks Feather-
stonhaugh, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day
of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-four.
J. F. W. FEATHERSTONHAUGH. (L.S.)