Improvements in Apparatus for Treating or Purifying Paraffin Wax.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Jan., 1887
Complete Left, 29th Sept., 1887
Complete Accepted, 1st Nov., 1887
Improvements in Apparatus for Treating or Purifying
Paraffin Wax.
I, ROBERT TERVET, Forth House, Fisherrow, Musselburgh, in the County of Mid
Lothian, North Britain, Oil-Works Manager, do hereby declare the nature of this
Invention to be as follows, that is to say
My said Invention has for its object to improve the construction and action of
apparatus employed for treating or purifying paraffin wax by what is known as the
sweating process.
In carrying out my Invention I employ in a suitable heating chamber or stove a
series of narrow vertical cells or casings the sides of which consist principally of wire
gauze or perforated sheet metal or other suitable permeable material lined with a
woven fabric or felt. In horizontal section each casing is by preference of an oblong
form with rounded ends, so that the paraffin wax which is introduced at the top and
removed at the bottom may be subjected to the heat and sweating action on both
sides. The casings or cells may be of any suitable height but I prefer to make them
high enough to allow of the paraffin wax being subjected to two or more stages of
action, gutters being formed round them at the bottoms of the sections corresponding
to the different stages, and each gutter being provided with a pipe for leading off the
liquid which drains from the paraffin wax. Heat is applied by means of steam pipes
or otherwise; and when the apparatus is arranged for treating the paraffin wax in
two or more stages the steam pipes or other heating appliances are arranged to apply
more heat to the lowest parts of the cells and less to the upper parts.
Metal moulds are fixed above the sweating cells, for receiving the paraffin wax in a
melted state and moulding it into cakes of suitable form for being dropped into the
sweating cells. The moulds are fixed with a small space between the bottoms of them
and the tops of the sweating cells; and in this space bars with inclined sides are
inserted for closing the moulds whilst the melted paraffin wax is being poured into
them. Between the closing bars there are other bars with reversely inclined sides so
arranged that when the series of bars are compressed together by screws at the sides

page_text: of the space the closing bars are wedged up against the bottoms of the moulds. The
closing bars are drawn out end ways when it is time to drop the moulded cakes into
the sweating cells. The sweating cells are provided with a door or doors at their
bottom ends, to be opened at suitable intervals for withdrawing the cakes which
have been sufficiently operated on in the lowest sections of the cells. The cakes in
the next higher cells then descend and their place is taken by the still higher cakes
and so on, so that each cake is in succession subjected to two or more graduated
heats whilst as each cake descends stage by stage it is subjected to a greater
pressure due to the weight of the cake or cakes above it, and the sweating action is
thereby rendered more complete and satisfactory..
Dated this Thirty-first day of December 1886.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.

page_text: S
I, ROBERT TERVET, of Forth House, Fisherrow, Musselburgh, in the County of
Mid Lothian, North Britain, Oil-Works Manager, do hereby declare the nature of this
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:
My said Invention has for its object to improve the construction and action of
apparatus employed for treating or purifying paraffin wax by what is known as the
sweating process.
In carrying out my Invention I employ, in a suitable heating chamber or stove, a
series of narrow vertical cells or casings the sides of which consist principally of wire
gauze or perforated sheet metal or other suitable permeable material which if
necessary is lined with a woven fabric or felt. Metal moulds are fixed above the
sweating cells, for receiving the paraffin wax in a melted state and moulding it into
cakes of suitable form for being dropped into the sweating cells below. The sweating
cells may be of any suitable height but I prefer to make them high enough to allow
of the paraffin wax being subjected to two or more stages of action.
Heat is applied
by means of steam pipes or otherwise; and when the apparatus is arranged for
treating the paraffin wax in two or more stages the steam pipes or other heating
appliances are arranged to apply more heat to the lowest parts of the cells and less to
the upper parts.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same may
be properly understood 1 hereunto append three sheets of explanatory drawings to
be hereinafter referred to and representing my improved apparatus as constructed
according to one modification.
Figure, 1, on sheet, 1, of the drawings is a plan; and figure, 2, is a horizontal
section. Figure, 3, on sheet, 2, is a sectional side elevation ;and figure, 4, on sheet, 3,
is a transverse vertical section. The section, figure; 2, is as at the line A-A in
figures 3, and 4.
In these drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark
the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The sweating cells or casings, 5, are, in figure, 3, shown as supported partly on a
brick wall, 6, and partly on a girder, 7, carried on pillars it being necessary to have
beneath them a sufficiently deep space into which the sweated paraffin cakes can
descend from the cells and from which they can be removed. Each sweating cell, 5,
is of an oblong form with rounded ends in horizontal section, and is held between a
bottom casting, and an upper casting, 9, the latter being supported on girders, 10.
Brackets,. 11, resting on the casting, 9, support the bottom casting, 12, of mould cells
or coolers, 13, which are placed directly above the sweating cells, 5. The mould

page_text: cells, 13, which are made of unperforated metal are open at top and bottom, their
bottom ends being closed by wooden slides, 14, when the crude paraffin wax in a
melted state is being poured into them for the purpose of being moulded into cakes.
The slides, 14, are in a shallow space formed for them in the casting, 12, upon which
the mould cells, 13, are fixed; and between the slides and at each outer side of them
there are bars, 15, of hardwood or metal, the contact surfaces of the slides, 14, and
bars, 15, being inclined so that when the whole are forced together by hand screws, 16,
the slides, 14, are wedged up against the bottom openings of the mould cells, 13, and
close them tightly. The closing slides, 14, are drawn out end ways, after the hand
screws, 16, have been loosened when it is time to drop the moulded cakes out of the
mould cells, 13, down into the sweating cells, 5, below. The mould cells, 13, are
made with a slight taper being a little wider at their bottom ends to facilitate the
downward movement of the cakes. In the castings, 9, at the tops of the sweating
cells, 5, conical mouths, 17, are formed to facilitate the entrance of the paraffin cakes
into them; and the space between the bottoms of the mould cells, 13, and the tops of
the sweating cells, 5, is made at most somewhat shorter than the length of a cake, so
that the bottom of a cake may have entered the sweating cell before its top has left
the mould cell above.
The sweating cells, 5, which are made of wire gauze or perforated metal and are
slightly tapered like the mould cells, are lined with a woven fabric or felt, woollen
plaiding being a very suitable material. The bottom casting, 8, to which the lower
ends of the sweating cells, 5, are attached, is made with openings, 18, through which
the cakes descend after having been sweated. These openings, 18, which are at least
as large as the bottom ends of the sweating cells, 5, are made with vertical flanges
round them, and these flanges combined with outer flanges on the casting, 8, form
channels, 19, which receive the liquefied matters which pass through the sides of the
cells, 5, and lead those matters by spouts, 20, at one end of each into a collecting
rhone or gutter, 21. A kind of faucet or enlargement, 22, is formed or fixed on the
bottom end of each sweating cell, 5, to pass down over the flange of the bottom
opening, 18, and the lining cloth or felt is extended down to the bottom of this
faucet and secured between its edge and the bottom of the channel, 19. In a similar
way the top of the lining cloth or felt is turned over the top edge of the cell and
secured between it and the top casting, 9. Whilst a paraffin cake is being subjected
to the sweating operation in a cell, 5, the bottom of the cell is closed by a slide or
door, 23, which is made with flanges to pass down outside of the top edges of the
flange of the bottom opening, 18, and which is of a convex form so that liquefied
matters may drain off it. When a cake has been sufficiently operated on, the slide or
door, 23, is withdrawn endways to allow the cake to drop into the space below.
will be convenient to arrange the cells in two rows, transversely, with the ends of
the cells of one row opposite the spaces between the cells of the other row, so that
the slides, 14, and sliding plates, 23, of the cells of one row may be moved out
between the cells of the other row. The sweating heat is applied by means of steam
pipes or otherwise; and all openings between the upper castings, 9, of the sweating
cells, 5, are closed by brickwork or otherwise to confine the heat.
It
Both the mould cells, 13, and the sweating cells, 5, may be made horizontally or
vertically longer than as shown in the drawings. I believe the best thickness for the
paraffin cake, to be 2 to 3 inches but I do not restrict myself thereto; and the cross
dimensions of the cells are of course made to correspond. The sweating cells, 5,
may be made so much longer vertically than the mould cells, 13, as to contain at
once two or more cakes one above the other, so that the sweating may be done in two
or more stages with different temperatures in each stage. Each cake will be subjected
to the highest temperature only when it has reached the lowest section or part of the
sweating cell, previously to reaching which section it will have been subjected to
lower temperatures. When the sweating cells are made long enough for two or more
cakes in this way, additional gutters will be provided one being fixed round each cell
at the place where the bottom of each upper cake is, so that the liquefied matters
which come away may be collected separately for each stage. Whon a cake in the

page_text: lowest part of a cell has been sufficiently operated on and is removed, the cake in the
next higher part descends, and its place is taken by a still higher cake, and so on, a
fresh cake entering at the top from the mould cell above. As each cake descends,
stage by stage, it is also subjected to a greater pressure due to the weight of the cake
or cakes above it and the sweating action is thereby rendered more complete and
satisfactory.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is
--
1-Treating or purifying paraffin wax by sweating the same in vertical cells or
casings made with permeable sides and arranged so that the heat may act on all sides
substantially as hereinbefore described.
2-Combining vertical mould cells or coolers with vertical permeable casings or
sweating cells for treating or purifying paraffin wax, the said cells being arranged
relatively to each other and the combined apparatus operating substantially as
herein before described.
3-Constructing and arranging the closing slides and accessory parts of the mould
cells substantially in the manner herein before described.
4-Constructing and arranging the slides or doors for closing the sweating cells
and combining them with the other parts substantially in the manner herein before
described.
Dated this Twenty-sighth day of September 1887
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.