AN IMPROVED LUBRICATING COMPOUND
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED LUBRICATING COMPOUND." -A com
munication from abroad by John Blake McMunn, of Port Jervis,
Orange County, State of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 6th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th May 1861.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED LUBRICATING COMPOUND," to
be as follows:-
This Invention of an improved lubricating compound consists in the pre-
paration of a composition obtained by uniting an alkaline base, such as potassa
or soda with oleine and stearine (the proximate acid principles of animal and
vegetable oils, fats, and tallow,) and with cerine (the acid principle of wax),
thereby producing a lubricator, which, while it will economize power and
prevent undue wear of the working parts, will not become gummy and

page_text: glutinous, but will keep the journals and other parts to which it may be
applied cool, and in such a state that they may be easily cleaned. The fatty
substance and the wax are first decomposed by being dissolved in the alkaline
solution, which displaces and sets free the glycerine and the myricine by the
process of simple elective affinity. The result of this is, that the alkali and
the fatty and ceric acids combine with one another in such proportions that
they unite at a temperature of about 200° Fahrenheit, and form a uniform
saponaceous-like compound. After leaving this compound standing in repose
awhile, it separates into two parts, one of which is watery liquid known as
underlye, and containing the separated basis of the oil or other fatty substance
and some free alkali. This part subsides and leaves the other as a homo-
geneous slippery feeling mass, consisting of the saline compounds of the alkali
and the ceric and fatty acids in a state of thick solution with the myricine.
The composition is then susceptible of being mixed with both oil and water,
using either of them first, and may be reduced to a thinner consistency with
them, as first by the admixture of some oil to. lessen the proportion of wax
accordingly as the compound may be wanted for light bearings and slow
motion, or for heavy bearings and a quick motion, and then by adding some
soft or rain water to combine the constituents and to, thin it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON," of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex,' Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the .Sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant, unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Inven-

page_text: tion for AN IMPROVED LUBRICATING COMPOUND," being a communication from
abroad, upon the. condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is 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 William Edward Newton, 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 of "An Improved Lubricating Compound" consists in the
préparation of a composition 'obtained by uniting an alkaline base, such as
potassa: or soda, with oleine, and stearine (the proximate acid principles of
animal and vegetable oils, fats, and tallow,) and with cerine (the acid principle
of wax), thereby producing a lubricator, which, while it will economize power
and prevent undue wear of the working parts, will not become gummy and
glutinous, but will keep the journals and other parts to which it may bo
applied cool, and in such a state that they may be easily cleaned.
I will proceed to explain first the principles involved in the manufacture of
this new.lubricating compound, and I will afterwards describe an example of
the manner of decomposing and preparing the original ingredients, and of
combining them together with the alkali to form the composition..
In the process for manufacturing this improved lubricating. compound the
fatty substance and the wax are, first decomposed. by being dissolved in the
alkaline solution, which being a strong base displaces and sets free the
glycerine (the weaker natural base of oils) and the myricine (the natural base
of wax) by the process of simple elective affinity. The result of this is, that
the alkali and, the fatty and ceric acids combine with one another in such
proportions that they unite at, a temperature of about 200° Fahrenheit, and
form an uniform saponaceous compound. After leaving this compound standing
in repose for a short time it separates into two, parts, one of which is watery
liquid, known as underlye, and contains the separated basis of the oil, or other
fatty substance, and some free alkali. This part subsides, and leaves the other
as a homogeneous slippery-feeling mass, consisting of the saline compounds
of the alkali and the ceric and fatty acids in a state of thick solution with the
myricine. As the underlye is incompatible with the superincumbent mass,
and will not readily unite with it without again separating, it is rejected by
being drained off, or otherwise gotten rid of. The residual composition is then

page_text: susceptible of being mixed with both oil and water, using either of them first,
and may be reduced to a thinner consistency with them, as, first, by the
admixture of some oil to lessen the proportion of wax accordingly as the
compound may be required for light bearings and slow motion, or for heavy
bearings and a quick motion, and then by adding some soft or rain water to
combine the constituents, and to thin the compound, so that it will pour and
spread readily on the parts upon which it may be applied. During each
'mixture it should be thoroughly stirred.
The entire process will be rendered perfectly clear by the following example
of the mode of combining the ingredients:-I put into an iron kettle onc
gallon of whale oil, and heat it; I then put into a small kettle five and a half
ounces of beeswax, and heat it till it is melted and rendered fluid. I then
pour the melted wax into the kettle with the oil, and stir them well together
until they are intimately mixed, which will be in from three to five minutes.
Then I make a lye in a clean iron kettle by dissolving seven ounces of the
carbonate of potassa in one gallon of soft boiling water, and render it caustic
in the usual way by gradually adding to it by spoonfuls three and a half
ounces of quicklime slaked to a fine powder, with water to decarbonate it, and
after allowing the mixture to boil ten or fifteen minutes, I close it from the air
with a lid, and set it to repose to allow the sediment to subside, after which I
decant off the supernatant clear solution, and while at the temperature of
between 180° and 200° Fahrenheit, I pour it slowly into the other mixture,
_which should be of the same degree of heat, and I stir them all together
'thoroughly for eight or ten minutes. After that I pour the whole mass out
'into a tub, and continue to stir it uniformly till it is quite cold, in order to
'keep the ingredients together; and to favor the decomposition of the oil and
'beeswax, and also the displacement of their natural bases and the union of
their acids with the alkali. The composition is then set aside and left
undisturbed for ten or twelve days. At the expiration of that time the tub is
'to be tapped at the bottom with a gimlet, and the underlye that may be
collected there drained off. After that is done the hole must be stopped with
a spile, and the composition well stirred while pouring into it about three gills
of soft water to thin it. And after leaving it in repose for eight or ten days
longer, what underlye may be collected again should also be drained off, and
*the mass stirred in like manner as before; two and a half or three gallons of
whale oil are then addled, and after these ingredients are thoroughly mixed I
add soft water enough to make the compound of the consistency required for
practical use. When all these operations have been carefully and skilfully
perfornied with pure and genuine ingredients, the constituents will all be

page_text: combined, and will remain so, and the compound will be ready to be applied
and used for all the purposes of lubrication.
Having now described this Invention of an improved lubricating compound,.
and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, as com-
municated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the combination of ingredients
herein set forth, for the purpose of producing a new or improved lubricating
compound.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)