IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING HYDROCARBON OILS.
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Young, junior, of Limefield, in the County
of Mid Lothian, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING HYDROCARBON OILS.'
Sealed the 22nd June 1866, and dated the 27th December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Young at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th December 1865.
I, JAMES YOUNG, junior, of Limefield, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING HYDROCARBON OILS," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in treating certain
hydrocarbon oils, such as paraffin, so that their specific gravity is thereby
reduced and their properties otherwise altered. This effect is produced by
heating and distilling these oils under pressure. The vessel used for this
purpose may be made of iron or other metal capable of withstanding one
hundred or more pounds to the square inch, and heated up to the distilling
temperature of the contained oil, the pressure being maintained by a
loaded valve through which the altered oil or vapour escapes, which.oil.or
vapour is made to pass through a refrigeratory apparatus, and collected in
the usual manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
YOUNG, junior, of Limefield, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 27th day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the 29th year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Young, junior, Her special license that I, the
said James Young, junior, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Young, junior, my executors,
administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TREATING HYDROCARBON OILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Young, junior, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 James Young, junior, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, that is to say :-
This' Invention relates to the treatment of certain hydrocarbon oils, such
as those obtained from the distillation of coal or shale at a comparatively
low temperature, and known as paraffin oils, or such as petroleum, either
crude or more or less refined, with a view to the reduction of the specific
gravity of such oils, and otherwise to the beneficial alteration of their
properties. In the preparation of these oils it is desirable for commercial
purposes that the proportion of heavy oils to the lighter or burning oils
should be as small as possible on account of the greater demand for

page_text: burning oils, but in the processes hitherto employed the production of
heavy oils has been unavoidably large, to the great detriment of the
manufacturer.
My Invention applies both to the heavy and light oils, rendering both
lighter and improving their quality, but its importance is greater as applied
to the heavy oils.
In carrying out my Invention I take the hydrocarbon oil to be operated
upon and run it into any convenient boiler or distilling vessel, which to
ensure safety should be made of sufficient strength to resist a pressure of
at least one hundred pounds to the square inch, the heat being applied
thereto in the usual manner. The oil contained therein is thereby con-
verted into vapour, which may be allowed to pass to the condenser under
desired pressure,
any
and such pressure may be regulated by means of a
valve loaded to the extent of pressure required. The compressed vapour
or volatile product of distillation may be allowed either to pass through
such valve or through a separate tube with regulating stop cock to the
refrigeratory or condensing apparatus, where the products are collected in
the usual manner.
An ordinary steam pressure guage may be employed
for the purpose of indicating the pressure. The result of my process is
that a large proportion of the oils originally operated upon are converted
into oils of lower specific gravity. I have found in practice that a pressure
of about twenty pounds to the square inch in the boiler or vapour gene-
rating vessel is suitable for the treatment of heavy hydrocarbon oils
obtained from coal or shale, but such pressure may be varied to some
extent. The apparatus employed may be of various forms, but I have
found that an ordinary steam boiler, not tubular, answers the purpose
efficiently; the more capable it is of being easily cleaned the better, as the
heavy deposits should be removed therefrom at intervals, such deposit, if
allowed to remain, seriously interfering with the process of distillation.
The vaporization or distillation. under pressure may also be applied to the
before-mentioned hydrocarbon oils in various stages of rectification; for
instance, the crude oil or first product of distillation may be at once treated,
or the crude oil may be first distilled in the usual manner, and the products
of such redistillation may be treated according to my Invention; or the
products of distillation may be separated into two portions, and the heavier
of such portions may be treated according to my Invention, but it will be
found in all cases that the result of my process is to convert the hydro-
carbon oils in whatever state they are operated upon into oils of a lighter

page_text: nature. I do not claim any particular form of apparatus employed, but
what I claim is, the distillation of paraffin oils and petroleum under
pressure, thus obtaining improved products therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Young, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.
JAMES YOUNG, JUNIOR. (L.S.)