AN IMPROVED MODE OF PURIFYING ALCOHOL OR ALCOHOLIC SPIRITS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hiram Hyde, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PURIFYING ALCOHOL OR ALCOHOLIC
SPIRITS." A communication.
Sealed the 15th February 1856, and dated the 18th December 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hiram Hyde at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
December 1855..
I, HIRAM HYDE, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for AN IMPROVED MODE OF PURIFYING ALCOHOL
OR ALCOHOLIC SPIRITS, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in destroying by chemical means the fusil oil and
odorous oils found present in alcohol and alcoholic spirits. For this purpose,
finely ground manganese oxide and nitrate of potash or nitrate of soda in a
state of mixture, are slowly melted in a crucible until it passes from a fluid to
a stiff pasty mass. The mass when cold must be powdered and kept dry for
future use; it contains manganate of potash or soda, or gives permanganate of
these bases with excess of potash or soda and earthy impurities. Manganates
and permanganates, however obtained, may be used instead of the crude com-
pound thus formed. In either case these agents will act upon and destroy the
oils present in common alcohol and alcoholic spirits, rapidly forming valarianic
and other acids, which unite to the base of the manganate used, and may
be removed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hiram Hyde in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th June 1856.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HIRAM
HYDE, of Truro, Nova Scotia, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, 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
MODE OF PURIFYING ALCOHOL OR ALCOHOLIC SPIRITS," 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 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 Hiram Hyde, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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):-
This Invention relates to the destruction by chemical means of the fusil oil'
and odorous oils found present in alcohol and alcoholic spirits. These oils, derived
from the various matters which have been fermented in obtaining the alcohol·
and alcoholic spirits, are more or less abundant in such manufacture, and are dis-
tinctive of the source from which each kind of alcohol or spirit was obtained.
The principal oil has long been known by the name of fusil oil or amylic
alcohol, which is also mixed with other bodies, such as acetic and butyric acid
and ammonia; forming compounds more or less volatile; besides these com-
pounds; there are present in some alcoholic spirits volatile oils, which are
fragrant, and give names to the spirits. These oils interfere with the uses of

page_text: alcohol for many purposes; thus, in the preparation of chloroform, alcohol being
used which contains fusil oil, there are a variety of products formed having
this oil as their basis, existing as ethers, mixed with the chloroform, rendering
it unpleasant or dangerous in its most important application.
In the preparation of perfumes, alcohol containing fusil oil cannot be used,
as a solvent, from the action which the oil and its compounds exert on the
essential oils used, to give delicate odours. More generally for officinal use
ordinary alcohol confers a repulsive odour, when used for preparing tinctures.
and extracts. I am aware that alcohol has been partially purified by distil-
lation, and the use of charcoal and hypochlorate of lime (Ca. O + Cl. O), but
the best samples contain notable proportions of fusil, oil and ethers.
This Invention is founded on the oxidating power exerted by manganic
acid and permanganic acid on the oils and ethers found in alcohol. The
Inventor, in carrying out his purifying process, takes of finely ground oxide of
manganese three pounds, nitrate of potash or nitrate of soda five pounds,
in a state of mixture, and slowly melts them in a crucible, continuing the
heat until the melted mass passes from a fluid to a stiff pasty mass. When
cold, the mass must be powdered and kept dry for future use. It contains
manganate of potash or soda, or gives permanganate of these bases with excess
of potash or soda and earthy impurities. Manganates and permanganates,
however obtained, may be used instead of the crude compound thus formed.
In either case these agents will be found to act upon and rapidly destroy the
oils present in common alcohol and alcoholic spirits, forming valerianic and
other acids, which unite to the base of the manganate used, and may be
removed. For every gallon of alcohol of eighty-five or ninety per cent., the
Inventor uses two ounces of the manganic compound, dissolved in eight ounces
of water, and he adds the solution to the alcohol while the whole is briskly
agitated. This proportion is the average quantity required for common alcohol,
but so much should be used as is sufficient to destroy the odour of the fusil
oil, and the purified alcohol must then be distilled by gentle heat from the
matters dissolved and suspended in it. In purifying alcoholic spirits of proof
strength, such as rum, whiskey, &c., the fine powder of the manganic com-
pound is added in successive portions, and the whole is rapidly agitated until
the odour of the fusil oil disappears, the purified spirit is then distilled.
The manganic and permanganic acids, although combined with strong bases,
are decomposed by the fusil and other oils, even when a great excess of alcohol
is present. Pure alcohol is, on the contrary, slowly changed into acetic acid,
and should an excess of the manganic componnd be used, acetic acid would be

page_text: produced, with loss of alcohol. The valerianic, butyric, and acetic acids pro-
duced and previously existing are left after the distillation combined with the
potash or soda.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved Mode
of Purifying Alcohol or Alcoholic Spirits," as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent, I claim the use of the manganates and per-
manganates existing as soluble compounds, however obtained, for purifying
alcohol, so as to adapt it to nice purposes.
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 One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
H. HYDE. (L.S.)