AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF LUBRICATING OIL
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hiram Hyde, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF LUBRICATING OIL."—
A communication.
Sealed the 12th February 1856, and dated the 27th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hiram Hyde at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
November 1855.
I, HIRAM HYDE, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF LUBRICATING
OIL to be as follows:-
The nature of this Invention consists in adapting certain oils produced by
the destructive distillation of bituminous substances, such as coals, shales,
peats, bitumens, petroleums, & natural tars, after their purification, to the
purposes of lubricating different kinds of machinery. These oils, as obtained
by different processes, and more particularly by those for which I applied for
Letters Patent on the 24th November last, form the basis of the improved
manufacture of oil.
The following is the mode of proceeding in preparing the lubricating oil :--
Castor oil of good quality is selected, cooled, and pressed to remove excess of

page_text: stearine; the oil is then washed by steam, and afterwards rendered dry by a
tin steam pipe in a lined copper vessel, retaining the heat at about 100° F.
Coup oil, as manufactured by process of Luther Atwood (patented in Great
Britain in the name of Ross), is added in equal bulk to and well mixed with
the warm castor oil to form the compound of castor and heavy hydrocarbon oil.
When this compound is formed, an equal bulk, more or less, of light hydro-
carbon oil obtained from bituminous substances (and manufactured according
to the processes described in my application for Letters Patent above referred
to) is added thereto, and after being intimately mixed by means of a jet of
steam, the whole is allowed to cool, after which the mixture is transferred to
pans, and exposed to sunlight and gentle heat for a week or two until it
becomes clear; it will then be fit for use. When application is to be made
to light quick-moving machinery the quantity of light hydrocarbon oil is
increased, and in all cases the manufactured oil must be adapted to its
special uses.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of. the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hiram Hyde in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HIRAM
IIYDE, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Hiram Hyde, Her special license that I, the said Hiram Hyde, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hiram
Hyde, 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 "AN IMPROVED MANU-
FACTURE OF LUBRICATING OIL," being a communication from abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hiram Hyde, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain

page_text: .
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to bo
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 Hiram Hyde, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
:
This Invention consists in adapting certain oils produced by the destructive
distillation of bituminous substances, such as coals, shales, peats,, bitumens,
petroleums, and natural tars, after their purification, to the purposes of lubri
cating different kinds of machinery. These oils, as obtained by different
processes, (and more particularly by those for which I obtained Letters Patent
in Great Britain, dated November the Twenty-fourth, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five,) form the basis of the present improved manufacture of
lubricating oil.
They contain to a greater or less extent as one of their
components a solid hydrocarbon called paraffine, in which respect they differ
from what is known, as coup oil, and which forms, the subject of a Patent
granted to Mr. George Ross on the Eighteenth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three; but these oils have in common the property of
possessing too little "body" or durable consistency when subjected to friction,
and this deficiency is not well supplied by using with the oil a large quantity
of paraffine suspended in it, as is done by Mr. Young. They also have certain
chemical peculiarities, as solvents of fatty bodies, which prevent the selection of
particular oils to be used with them, as they are either not capable of
dissolving them, or they reject the oily or fatty body when the mixture
is exposed to heat.
The experiments made by the Inventor of the present improvements with
very perfect machinery have proved that the oils from native naphthas,
petroleums, tars, bitumens, peat, and the cannel series containing paraffine
(which, as they are lighter than water, he terms light hydrocarbon oils), serve
as lubricators on fine machinery or small bearings at the temperature of eighty
degrees Fahrenheit, or above it; but the tendency to become thick increasing
with a reduction of temperature, they cease to lubricate during cold weather,
and hence their application is limited in this climate from this inherent
property, as it has been customary to remove by cooling and pressing the solid
matter, to the manifest injury of the oil.
Coup oil, on the contrary, lubricates fine bearings at any natural temperature

page_text: admirably, as it bears exposure to extreme cold without becoming thick or
depositing solid matter, but it is not sufficiently durable on heavy bearings
when used alone.
Now, it has been discovered by my correspondent that the light hydro-
carbon oils mixed with even small proportions of coup oil lose the property of
depositing their solid constituents, and remain clear at low natural temperatures.
This modification of an inherent quality in light hydrocarbon oils arises from a
strong chemical attraction exerted by coup oil, and is complete and permanent.
It has also been discovered that the mixture of light hydrocarbon oils and
coup oil possesses the important quality of dissolving castor oil and of retaining
it permanently in solution under exposure to cold or wear on machinery, and
..that the triple compound of light bydrocarbon oil, coup oil, and castor oil may
be modified in qualities by proportional addition or reduction of volume of
light hydrocarbon oil, so as to adapt the compound to every description
of lubrication at any natural temperature.
.
The manufacture of the improved lubricating oil is effected in the following
manner-Castor oil of good quality is selected, cooled, and pressed at thirty
degrees Fahrenheit to remove excess of stearine; the oil is then melted and
washed by steam at two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit, and afterwards
rendered dry by a tin steam pipe in a lined copper vessel, retaining the heat at
about one hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
Coup oil, as manufactured by the process described in the Specification of
the Patent of Mr. Ross, above referred to, is added in equal bulk and well
mixed with the warm castor oil to form the compound of castor and heavy
hydrocarbon oil. When this compound is formed, an equal bulk, more or less,
of the light hydrocarbon oil obtained from bituminous substances, and manu-
factured under my Patent, dated November Twenty-fourth, One thousand
-eight hundred and fifty-five (above referred to), is added to the compound,
regardless even. if it contains much suspended solid matter, as this is a valuable
part in my application to the compound oil, and after being intimately mixed
by means of a jet of steam, the whole is allowed to cool. The mixture is next
transferred to pans, and exposed to sun light and gentle heat for a week or two
until it becomes clear, after which it will be fit for use. When application is
to be made to light quick-moving machinery the quantity of light hydrocarbon
oil is increased, and in all cases the manufactured oil should be adapted to
its special uses, whether for small or larger bearings, by slightly varying the
proportions above named.
Having now described the Invention of "An Improved Manufacture of

page_text: Lubricating Oil," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, manufacturing
an improved lubricating oil by combining castor oil with purified light hydro-
carbon oils through the intervention of coup oil, as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hiram Hyde, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord Oue
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six