IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OILS OBTAINED FROM CERTAIN VEGETABLE MATTERS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BROWNE WILKS, of Chesterford Park, in the County of Essex, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourth day of April, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Browne Wilks, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Joseph Brown Wilks, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Browne Wilks, my exors,
adiñiors, 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, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
OILS OBTAINED FROM CERTAIN VEGETABLE MATTERS;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, that I, the said Joseph Browne Wilks, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner 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, and in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Browne Wilks, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
of improvements or discovery to consist in manufacturing the material or
substance from all sorts of vegetable seeds and nuts (cocoa nuts excepted) and
their products produced therefrom, thereby shewing the mode or modes of
dividing the solid from the fluids, and obtaining a stearine and stearic acid
for making candles and oil for burning, and for the use of machinery of a very
superior quality.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed to
describe the process pursued by me in carrying out my Invention, and in
treating the seeds and nuts (cocoa nuts excepted), by means of rolling the seed
and then grinding it between a pair of edge stones, or pulverizing it by
stampers, and pressing the seed or nuts so as to produce oils suitable for the
purpose I intend to describe, which is worked by machinery in the usual
way.
First, I take the rape seed or any other seeds or nuts (cocoa nuts excepted),
and cause them to be pulverized, by means of rolling the seed or nuts and then
grinding the product between a pair of edge stones, or pulverizing it by
stampers, all of which is worked by machinery in the usual way; and when
the seed is well ground, I put it in worsted bags, between coir mats, and press
it in bydraulic presses at a temperature of 60° Fahrenheit, until all the cold
oil has done running; I then remove the cake from the cold press and put it
into another press, with the room at a temperature of 75° Fahrenheit, and
press it until all the oil has done running; I then increase the heat of the
room by degrees, and press it again at a temperature of 130° to 140° Fahren-
heit, and by keeping the hydraulic pumps at work the remainder of the oil left
in the cake from the second pressing is obtained.
Secondly, I take the oil I obtained, and which is cold drawn, from the first
pressure at 60° Fahrenheit, and put it into a steam pan, and heat it to a
temperature of 110° Fahrenheit, and during the time of that heat I mix in one
gallon of distilled water, one pound of oxide of manganese, and when it is well
mixed I pour it into the oil, and keep stirring it for one hour; I then raise
the heat and add a weak solution of sulphuric acid and water, and raise
it to a boiling point for one hour, until I observe the color change and the
disagreeable smell evaporated; I then turn off steam and let it repose for
some time; I then filter it through cotton or other bags in a hot room; and
it is fit for burning, being of a superior color and quality to common oil.
Thirdly, I take the oil obtained from the press at 75° Fahrenheit and put it
into the steam pan, as the former, and raise the heat to 150° Fahrenheit, and

page_text: keep it to that heat two hours; I then raise it. to 180, and while at that
heat I add to every five hundredweight of oil the following:-I dissolve one
pound of sulphurate of potassa in two quarts of distilled water, adding ten
ounces of sulphuric acid; I stir it well together, and pour it over the oil while
boiling, and let it boil for half an hour; then turn off steain and let it stand
until it is bright, which will be in the course of a few hours. This oil being:
of a very superior quality, máy: be used for: varnishes, and for several other
purposes...
Fourthly, I proceed: to operate upon the oil or product extracted by the
hydraulic press at 130° to 140° Fahrenheit: by alkalies; from which I produce
stearic acid; and: by using the stearic acid made from tallow and mixing the
two stearic acids together they will make a good candle; or I use the stearine
of the seeds or nuts with stearic acid of tallow in the making of candles:>
First, I prepare two vats; each capable of holding from 500 'to 700 gallons!!
which, for distinction' sake; I call: No: 1: and No. 2, and put into each two
hundred and fifty pounds of lime. I slack the lime in No. 1 vat, andi during
the time of bolling. I 'add twenty-four pounds of burnt brimstone; and continue:
stirring the lime for some time; I then confine it for two hours; then add ten
and a half pounds of oxide of sulphur with sufficient water to mark on glass)
35°, stir it well up, and allow it to stand until the water is clear; I then take?
ten hundredweight of rape or other seed or nut oil and boil it in a vat with az
worm perforated at the bottom, and boil it until the froth begins to rise; then
I add twenty-eight pounds. of liquor from No.: 1 vat and let it boil for two
hours, or until the oil- begins to separate, then turn off steam. Secondly, I
slack the lime, in-No. 2 vat, and when hot I mix in five and a half pounds of
black oxide of manganese, five pounds of sulphate of soda, six pounds of
sulphate of potassa, add water, and keep stirring the mixture until the glass
stand at 45°; and when the first" boiling has stood two hours I turn on-the
steam again, and during the boiling I add fifty-six pounds No. 2 liquor, and
violently agitate the whole for three hours, then turn off steam, and allow it to
repose and get clear; I then prepare another vat; each capable of holding.
from 500 to 700-gallons, with a worm. in it from the top to the bottom, with.
branches extending to near the inside of the edge of the vat, and all the
branches.reclining, and to revolve. round at pleasure by means of machinery,
with the centre main to pass through the bottom, with flanch and condensing
cock to allow water to pass off; I then dip the said mixture from the last
boiling into this vat, and when all is in I throw it into gear and continue the
ebulliton for several hours, and during the time the agitation is proceeding I
add acid diluted in water to mark on glass 35°, and boil it for one hour, turn

page_text: off steam, and it will settle bright; I then dip it off into shallow tins and form
it into cakes, when cold put it into hot press and press it at 120° Fahrenheit,
and it is fit to refine, which I do by boiling in water until all is melted; then
I put in a little sulphuric acid and water, let it boil for half an hour, and
turn off steam, and when bright block it, and it is fit for the use of the candle
makers.
Having now described the nature of my Invention in producing stearine and
stearic acid from the oil of seeds and nuts (cocoa nuts excepted), I would have
it understood that I do not claim the mode of extracting oils by hydraulic
pressure, neither do I claim pressing in bags or coir mats, or the rolling or
grinding the seeds or nuts, nor do I confine myself to the precise details herein
described. And my reason for obtaining the harder oils or matters (stearine)
of such seeds or nuts before operating with alkalies is, that the alkalies injure
the fluid oils; at the same time, stearic acid from seeds or nuts (cocoa nuts
excepted) may, according to my Invention, be obtained by acting on the whole
of the oils obtained from such seeds or nuts; but I do claim as my Invention
or improvements the process of separating and dividing the different properties,
whereby I produce a stearine and stearic acid from the oils of seeds and nuts
(cocoa nuts excepted); and such my Invention, improvements, or discovery, to
the best of my knowledge and belief is entirely new, I hereby claim. to
maintain the exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention, improvements,.
or discovery.
In witness whereof, I, the said I, the said Joseph Browne Wilks, have
'hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of October, in the
year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.