IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE METHOD OF TREATING WOOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ACETIC D.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Theodore Schwartz, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF TREATING WOOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ACETIC
D.
"
SARHARG
Sealed the 1st August 1871, and dated the 2nd May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Theodore Schwartz at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd May 1871.
I, THEODORE SCHWARTZ, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF TREATING WOOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OP
ACETIC ACID, AND THE UTILIZATION OF THE BI-PRODUCTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a method of obtaining acetic acid at ample
strength in a state of satisfactory purity without causing a depreciation
of the wood through carbonization as heretofore, or degrading the pro-
duct with tar water, and in consequence avoid the expense of salt
making and of decomposition with mineral acid heretofore resorted to,

page_text: besides imparting to the wood such qualities and enhanced value as
to render the process self-paying or remunerative; summarily, the
proceedings are as follows:-After introducing the wood to be treated
into a retort, or preferably a large iron chamber to secure the utmost
uniformity of action I commence by developing and maintaining a
moderate heat of about 250° Fahrenheit only just sufficient to divest
the wood of a large amount of water without causing the production
or waste of acid or other valuable chemicals, the temperature is then
progressively but slowly raised to about 450° Fahrenheit for obtaining
the acetic acid and wood alcohol without suffering the wood to become
charred or giving rise to smoke and tar. By this operation the wood
retains its ordinary qualities and adaptations, but becomes browned
throughout and may be made to acquire every desirable color to fit
it for cabinet ware and decorative uses.
When employed for fuel or as kindling material this wood is found
very profitable as it lights readily and affords an intense fire. As the
exudation of vapor in the-wood-treatment occurs chiefly in the end.
grain-the-work-is-hastened-by-reducing-the-fibre-to-short-length, hence_
in preparing the wood for fucl I first reduce it to sticks or pieces
analogous to kindlings.
In conclusion I claim for my above Invention, briefly that it simplifies
and cheapens the manufacture of acetic acid, besides affording new and
useful bi-products, being valuable qualities of wood, of fuel, and of
kindlings at lower prices than they could otherwise be obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Theodore Schwartz in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 31st October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THEODORE
SCHWARTZ, of the City and State of New York, United States of America,
send greeting.
3
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, för Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Theodore Schwartz, Her special licence 3

page_text: that I, the said Theodore Schwartz, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Theodore Schwartz, 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 “IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE METHOD OF TREATING WOOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ACETIC ACID, AND THE
UTILIZATION OF THE BI-PRODUCTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Theodore Schwartz, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing, under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 Theodore Schwartz, 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 known method of obtaining the acid consists in distilling from
wood what is called pyroligncous acid, a species of vinegar impregnated
with tar, which after laborious purification and preparation is usually
by the addition of lime reduced to a salt, from which the acetic acid is
finally extracted by an expenditure of mineral acid.
I have discovered that the acetic acid to be had from wood can be
fully developed and distilled without incurring carbonization and the
attendant production of tar, by submitting the wood uniformly to a
slowly increasing moderate heat in a close chamber. This operation
is greatly facilitated and success ensured by subdividing the material
into short small sticks or thin plates, or reducing the length of fibre
through cross incisions by saw to promote exudation by end grain, and
to facilitate the prompt and uniform transmission of the heat.
One of the chief results to be attained by my Invention is to render
the acid cheap and enable it to be made in every locality where common
cord wood can be had at whatever price, by so enhancing the value of
the residuary product as thereby to cover the cost, or nearly so, of the
raw material, causing the process to be self paying, and it is a distinctive

page_text: feature of my improved treatment that the wood is not charred and
depreciated in value by being reduced to charcoal as heretofore, but is
merely browned or colored throughout the grain, and that it retains
a high value for ordinary purposes after it has yielded up the acid. The
acid in the first crude state, as produced by me, is at once much purer
and stronger than pyroligneous acid and admits of being economically
reduced to a colorless product, free of tendency to become colored with-
out requiring to pass through the usual preliminary state of salt in
the manufacture, or involving an expenditure of mineral acid in its
liberation.
My mode of treatment for obtaining the acid consists in first driving
off a considerable amount of prejudicial moisture, which I find can
be expelled from the wood without appreciable loss of valuable material,
by subjecting it in a closed chamber of uniform heat to a temperature
restricted to 250° Tah., or thereabout, and until reduced in weight-
alout one quarter, after which by gradually and slowly raising the
heat to a temperature-not-exceeding-450-Fah.,-tho-whole_of_the_acid_
which can be developed, together with its accompanying methylic
alcohol, will be emitted in a comparatively concentrated state (as
divested beforehand of cumbrous water) and almost fice from tar,
while the wood, although reduced to only about 55 per cent. of the
original weight, and colored throughout its texture, will retain its
tenacity and hardness, and its capability of being worked by ordinary
tools, and applied to the purposes for which it was previously adapted.
Wood, especially the denser qualities, when thus treated, on coming
from the distilling chamber perfectly dried and browned, contains
about twice as much heating material as it would if carbonized or
reduced to charcoal, and possesses new qualities adapting it for use
either as fuel or kindlings, for the preparation of superior gunpowder
charcoal, and by reason of the development of color and the perfection
of the seasoning, to the manufacture of cabinet ware, and as imitations
of and substitutes for various colored woods.
As fuel it is much more profitable than it was in the green state,
being divested of all fluid that would spoil the fire by taxing and
retarding the combustion without contributing heat, therefore it affords
a stronger and more intense fire than wood merely dried or charred
by the ordinary methods, hence I designate such treated fuel by the
name of "tinder wood."

page_text: In this connection I propose the manufacture of a description of
kindling specially adapted for the ignition of coal, which I call "coal
matches," as designed to be more efficient and advantageous for the
purpose than anything now used.
Various experiments which I have lately made with a view to
determine the cheapest and most convenient and certain means of
lighting hard coal has led me to the following conclusions:-
First. Sticks of tinder wood cut to definite and uniform size is the
most suitable material to be used, and affords the most intense heat.
Second. The wood should be applied in the midst or enveloped by
the coal within as small a space as compatible with free combustion, in
order to focalize or intensify the heat, placing the sticks upright in a
slightly inclined position.
Third. The lighting should be effected from below in such a way as
to extend simultaneously to all the sticks, inflaming at the same instant
the whole mass, for which purpose a preparation of the wood is necessary
to give it special inflammability.
The coal matches now to be described seek to realize the economical
conditions above indicated. Unprepared sticks, analogous to common
kindling wood, may be applicable for the purpose, but I prefer tinder-
wood sticks of uniform size, as above alluded to, say about six inches
in length. When sticks of wood are applied endwise to the surface of
thin rosin, varnish, or other inflammable liquid, the capillary action
causes the wood to take up the liquid with avidity, and I take advantage
of this fact to impart ready and rapid inflammability to one or both
ends of the sticks by the application of such a varnish to them.
In the case of tinder wood it is desirable that the varnish be applied
while the wood is still hot from the previous treatment. I apply the
varnish or inflammable material to the end or ends of the sticks by
bringing the ends of the sticks singly or in bundles into simple contact
with the surface of the liquid, and allowing them to remain in sùch
contact only long enough to absorb the smallest quantity of it required
to impart the desired inflammability. This may be accomplished by
supporting the sticks on a suitable wire frame and passing a stream of
varnish below them with its surface in contact with their lower ends.
The material might also, if preferred, be applied by means of a brush
to the ends of the sticks singly or in bundles. Thus the requisite

page_text: inflammability is secured at the smallest expenditure-of material and
without immersing or dipping the sticks or daubing their sides with
superfluous sticky material, which would render them disagrecablo to
handle, besides involving waste.
My method or system of applying the inflammable material has
nothing in common with any method which exposes the sides of the
sticks to be daubed or coated with waste material, involving loss and
impairing the value of the product. The use of varnish, however, may be
attended with some tackiness or stickiness. This I remedy by applying
fine sawdust to the sticky surface of the varnish.
The abundant supply of tinder wood secured as a residuary product
in my improved manufacture of acetic acid ensures for the coal matches
a degree of cheapness which renders them particularly economical and
useful as a kindling material.
-Having thus fully described the nature of my Invention, I wish it
to be understood that I do not limit myself to any special form of
apparatus, or to any-exact-temperature, so-long as the principle of my
Invention is adhered to; but what I do claim as my Invention, and
desire to secure by Letters Patent is,―
First. The preparation of the wood for distillation by subdividing it
and shortening the fibre by transverse incisions, as and for the purposes
described.
Second. Submitting the wood primarily to simple distillation at an
unalterative heat merely to remove water, in order to concentrate the
acid thereafter to be produced.
Third. Restricting the heat in developing the acetic acid and methylic
alcohol to a temperature that precludes the formation of tar, and only
just sufficient to accomplish the desired yield without allowing the
wood to become charred or reduced to charcoal.
2
Fourth. The manufacture of acetic acid and methylic alcohol as a 3
bi-product developed during the process of browing, seasoning, or
curing wood for fire kindlings or other purposes.
Fifth. Imitation woods, deriving their color from heat during the
process herein-above described for cabinet ware and analogous uses.
Sixth. Sticks of wood for kindling fires, or to be, used as "coal 3
matches," having special inflammability conferred to one or both ends

page_text: by an application of varnish or other suitable inflammable material,
substantially in the manner and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said. Theodore Schwartz, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, A.D.
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witnesses,
CHAS. H. SMITH,
121, Nassau St.,
New York,
GEO. D. WALKER,
121, Nassau St.,
New York.
THEODORE SCHWARTZ. (L.S.)