AN IMPROVED ILLUMINATING OIL
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edgar Poynter, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED ILLUMINATING OIL."
Sealed the 14th May 1858, and dated the 9th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edgar Poynter at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th March 1858.
I, JOHN EDGAR POYNTER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of "AN IMPROVED ILLUMINATING OIL," to be as follows, that is
to say :-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of an improved oil to be burnt
for illuminating purposes.
The improved oil is made by mixing fusel oil with naptha, with parrapine
oil, with pitch oil, with photogene, or with any oil obtained by the distillation
of coal, bitumenous shale, bitumen, asphalte, petroleum, or other bitumenous
substance, or with any oil appertaining to the class of substances known as
hydrocarbons. The fusel oil and the hydrocarbon may be mixed in various
proportions, but it may be mentioned, as an example, that a very good result
can be obtained by mixing equal quantities of good fusel oil with good
photogene. The comparatively small cost of fusel oil, which cannot of itself
be advantageously used for illuminating, renders the compound much more
economical than the pure hydrocarbons. It is proposed to designate the im-
proved illuminating oil as fusel photogene.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Edgar Poynter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EDGAR POYNTER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manu-
facturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year
of Her reign,
did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Edgar Poynter, Her special licence that I, the said John Edgar Poynter,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Edgar Poynter, 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 ILLU-
MINATING OIL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Edgar Poynter, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Edgar Poynter, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the manufacture or preparation of an improved
oil to be burnt for illuminating purposes. I manufacture or prepare the im-
proved oil by mixing-fusel oil with naptha or parrafine oil, or pitch oil, or pho-
togene, or with any oil or oils obtained by the distillation of coal, bitumenous
shale, bitumen, asphalte, petroleum, or other bitumenous substance, or, in
other words, with any oil or oils appertaining to the class of substances
known as hydrocarbons. The fusel oil and the hydrocarbon or hydrocarbons
may be mixed in various proportions; it may, however, be mentioned, as an
example, that a very good result can be obtained by mixing equal quantities
of good fusel oil with good photogene. Before forming the mixture, I prefer

page_text: to rectify or purify the fusel oil, with the view of removing the smell and
colour which it generally possesses as obtained in the market. According to
the mode of rectifying which I have found to answer best in practice, strong
sulphuric acid, in quantities depending on the quality of the fusel oil, is added
to the latter, which is then heated and agitated for some time. An excess of
water is then added to remove the sulphuric acid, when the pure fusel oil will
be found to rise to the top, completely separating from the water. The fusel oil
is drawn off from the water by means of a syphon, and has added to it a small
quantity of caustic potash or soda, with which it is agitated, after which it is
again washed with water. The rectifying process is completed by distilling
the fusel oil, which renders it suitable for admixture with the hydrocarbons.
The comparatively small cost of fusel oil, which cannot of itself be advan-
tageously used for illuminating, renders the compound, which I propose to
term "fusel photogene" much more economical than the pure hydrocarbons.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state, in
conclusion, that what I claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is the manufacture or preparation of an
improved illuminating oil, to be termed "fusel photogene," by mixing fusel oil
with a hydrocarbon or hydrocarbons.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Edgar Poynter, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
5 Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Sq., Glasgow.
JOHN E. POYNTER. (L.S.)