IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING SPIRITS OF TURPENTINE, SPIRITS OF TAR, AND NAPTHA
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
OXLEY ENGLISH, of Kingston-upon-Hull, Distiller, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of December, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Oxley English, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Oxley English, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such other as I, the said William Oxley English, my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING SPIRITS
OF TURPENTINE, SPIRITS OF TAR, AND NAPTHA," (partly invented by myself and
partly communicated); in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that I, the said William Oxley English, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the
said proviso, I, the said
nature of the said In-
William Oxley English, do hereby declare that the
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully

page_text: described and ascertained in and by the iошowing statement thereor, that is to
say:
My Invention consists in an improved method of purifying the unrectified
spirits of turpentine, tar, and naptha, whether the unrectified spirits of turpentine
may have been obtained from distilling turpentine alone or with water. This
method is as follows, that is to say:-I take a close vessel, into this vessel I
introduce a pipe in connection with a steam boiler, so that the steam is
introduced below the liquid under process, and rising up through it carries
vapour therewith. From the upper part of this vessel a pipe communicates
with the lower part of a second vessel. From the upper part of this second
vessel a pipe communicates with the lower part of a third vessel, and so on for
any number of vessels which may be found convenient; I use four, but more
would be better. I place the spirit, which is to be purified, in the first of these
vessels, either alone or mixed with water, and in some or all of the others I place
water, mixed either with potassa, quicklime, soap leys, or any other alkali or
alkaline substance, or else with sulphuric or some other acid, and in those
vessels not containing such mixture I place pure water. The mouth of the
pipe opening into the bottom of each vessel must be below the liquid contained
in that vessel, and at the lower extremity of each pipe is a bulb pierced with
holes, and I prefer that each of these pipes should be in connection with the
steam boiler, so that free steam may pass through the liquid in each vessel;
and the mouth of the pipe opening into the top of the vessel must be above
the contents, and part of each pipe must be so elevated that the liquid in one
vessel shall not flow into another. Or, in place of the steam pipes, I apply heat
to the vessel in which the spirit is contained, so as to drive the spirit over in
vapour, which passes along the pipes into the successive vessels and through
the liquid contained in them. The temperature of the liquids contained in the
several vessels may thus be kept above the condensing point of the vapour,
either by the heat of the vapour itself or by external heat applied to the
several vessels; the vapour from the last of these vessels is conducted to a
condenser and condensed in the ordinary or any other method. The spirit is
thus purified by the chemical action of the acid or alkali, through which it is
driven in a state of vapour, as well as by the mechanical action of the water.
After the spirit has been condensed, I further purify it by filtering it through
lime or any other alkaline or acid substance.
I claim as the said Invention the method of puryfing the spirits above
mentioned by chemical action, by causing them to pass in a state of vapour
through an acid or alkaline liquid or through water.
And I also claim as the said Invention the method of purifying the spirits

page_text: above mentioned, by causing them to pass in a state of vapour through a
succession of several vessels by steam or other heat..
And I also claim the method of purifying the spirits above mentioned, by
causing them to filter through an acid or alkaline substance.
And I hereby declare that I do not claim rectifying the spirits above
mentioned by re-distilling them with water alone, or causing them to pass in a
state of vapour through water in one still.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Oxley English, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
WILLIAM OXLEY (L.S.) ENGLISH.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid William Oxley English came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.