IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS OBTAINED IN THE REFINING OF PETROLEUM AND OF OTHER HYDROCARBON OILS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Fordred at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th August 1865.
I, JOHN FORDRED, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, do
bereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS OBTAINED IN THE REFINING OF PETROLEUM AND
OF OTHER HYDROCARBON OILS," to be as follows:-
In the refining of petroleum or of oils obtained from the distillation of
coal shale, or peat at low temperatures, and known in commerce as coal
shale or peat oils, it is usual to add sulphuric acid to the crude or the distilled'
Now upon
petroleum or oils as a preliminary process for refining the same.
such addition of sulphuric acid a product is separated which is technically
known as acid tar or foots.
Another process for the purification of the before-mentioned oils which has
been secured to me by Letters Patent, dated 28th February 1865, No. 564,
and in which a preliminary alkaline treatment is substituted for the acid
process now generally employed, a product is also obtained which I call
alkaline tar or foots, and it is to the treatment of these two products or residues
and to treatment and utilization of the products resulting therefrom that my
Invention has reference.

page_text: In the treatment of the acid tar or foots herein referred to in order to
liberate and obtain the oils and other compounds in combination with the
acid I add either a caustic alkali or an alkaline earth, or an alkaline carbonate,
or an alkaline earthy carbonate either in solution or in a state of division, and
having effected the neutralization of the acid, and the liberation of the oils
and other compounds previously in combination, I separate or free the oils
from the saline matter by the addition of a small proportion of water and
the injection of steam, and after allowing the saline solution or the deposit to
subside the same may be removed from the supernatant oils or freed com-
pounds in order to effect the liberation of the oil or compounds in combination
with the acid contained in the acid tar as before-mentioned. I employ the
alkaline tar or foots obtained as described in my before-mentioned Patent
and after admixture of these tars or foots in suitable proportions, with the
addition of a small quantity of water, steam is to be injected and the freed
oil is to be separated from the saline solution as before described, the oil or
compounds thus separated will be found to be suitable for useful purposes
in the arts. In addition to these products thus obtained those oils or
compounds which result from the neutralization of the alkaline tar or
foots by means of the acid tar or foots, as described in my before-mentioned
Patent, also possess similar properties, and I therefore include those oils and
I have found that
compounds in the several applications herein mentioned.
these oils obtained as before described possess valuable drying properties, and
may be advantageously employed in conjunction with boiled oil and with
such resinous guns and resins as may be soluble therein, and they may be
further employed in conjunction with any of the before-mentioned substances
When the before-mentioned
together with pigments as paints or varnishes.
oils are subjected to distillation with the intervention of steam the whole or
a portion of the distillate may be employed as the basis of superior varnishes
The solution of the
and paints and for other useful purposes in the arts.
sulphates of the alkalies resulting from the neutralization of the acid foots
either by means of an alkali or by means of the alkaline tar or foots as before
mentioned may be evaporated and the salts obtained, as is well understood.