AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Fergusson Wilson and George Payne, both
of Belmont, Vauxhall, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING
Sealed the 29th May 1855, and dated the 31st March 1855.
-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Fergusson Wilson
and George Payne at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 31st March 1855.
We, GEORGE FERGUSSON WILSON and GEORGE PAYNE, both of Belmont,
Vauxhall, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN TREATING OILS TO OBTAIN AN ELASTIC PRODUCT" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of a new description.
of elastic material as a residuum when distilling castor and other oils of
a mucillagenous character; and the Invention consists of subjecting castor
and other oils of a mucillagenous character to the process of distillation
at a high temperature, and at the same time excluding the atmospheric air
therefrom.

page_text: For this purpose the castor or other oil of a mucillagenous character is in its
natural state put into a still, and the air is excluded, by preference, by super-
heated steam, and the distillation is carried on at a high temperature, by which
a portion of the oil is distilled over as acids, and the residue is the peculiar
new elastic product desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Fergusson Wilson and George Payne in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 29th September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
FERGUSSON WILSON and GEORGE PAYNE, both of Belmont, Vauxhall, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date, the Thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said George Fergusson Wilson and George Payne, Her special licence that
we, the said George Fergusson Wilson and George Payne, our exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Fergusson
Wilson and George Payne, our 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,
ise, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN TREATING OILS TO OBTAIN AN ELASTIC PRODUCT," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said George Fergusson Wilson and George
Payne, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 we, the said George Fergusson. Wilson and George.
Payne, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of a new description
of elastic material as a residuum when distilling castor and other oils of
a mucilaginous character; and the Invention consists of subjecting castor
and other oils of a mucilaginous character to the process of distillation at
a high temperature, and at the same time excluding the atmospheric air
therefrom.
For this purpose the castor or other oil of a mucilaginous character is in its
natural state put into a still, and the air is excluded, by preference; by super-
heated steam, and the distillation is carried on at a high temperature, by which
portion of the oil is distilled over as acids, and the residue is the peculiar new
elastic product desired.
a
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention, we will proceed to
describe more, fully the manner of performing the same.
This Invention is, as above mentioned, applicable when distilling castor oil
and other mucilaginous oils, in order to obtain therefrom fat acids, glycerine,
and a peculiar spongy elastic product as a residue in the still.
In the Specification of a former Patent, dated Twenty-fourth of June, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, we described the distillation of oils and
fatty matters with a view to obtain distilled fat acids and distilled glycerine,
at the same time avoiding the production of acroleine. Now, according to the
present improvement in the process of distilling, which is applicable to muci-
laginous oils, especially castor oil, the temperature is required to be higher than
was then directed, say, as high as six hundred degrees to six hundred and fifty
degrees of Fahrenheit; in other respects the process is carried on as was
then fully described by us, using superheated steam, by preference, for the
purpose of excluding the atmosphere, and for aiding in carrying over the vapour
products.
A quantity of mucilaginous oil, say, castor oil, is to be put into a still, and is
to be raised to the temperature above mentioned, and retained thereat; the
distillation will go on, and it will be found that when somewhat over a half of
the contents has been distilled over in the form of fat acids and glycerine, some
drops of a white milky-looking fluid will come over; the fire is then imme-
diately to be drawn, and the supply of superheated steam is to be cut off,
the process of distillation will then cease, and on the interior of the still will
be found a considerable quantity of spongy elastic matter, which is the residual
product desired, and this product may be purified from offensive odour by sub-

page_text: jecting it to a current of unheated low pressure steam, or by washing it with a
weak solution of carbonated alkali.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Fergusson Wilson and George
Payne, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-eighth
day of September; in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
GEO. F. WILSON. (L.S.)'
GEO. PAYNE.
(L.S.)
Witness,
B. GOBEY,
4, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn.
GEO. F. WILSON. (L.S.)'
GEO. PAYNE.
(L.S.)