IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING. . A PRODUCT OBTAINED IN Refining the Oil OF COTTON SEEDS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Doughty, of Lincoln, and William Drake
Key, also of Lincoln, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING.
. A PRODUCT OBTAINED IN Refining the Oil OF COTTON SEEDS."
A PRODUCT OBTAINED IN REFINING THE Oil of COTTON SEEDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Doughty and
William Drake Key at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 15th April 1864.
We, CHARLES DOUGHTY, of Lincoln, and WILLIAM DRAKE KEY, also of
Lincoln, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING A PRODUCT OBTAINED IN REFINING THE OIL OF COTTON SEEDS," to be
as follows:
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating a product
obtained in refining the oil of cotton seeds.
In refining the. oil of cotton seeds a residue or waste called mucilage is
obtained, and it is to the treatment of this product that the present Invention
applies. The mucilage is placed in an open vessel and heated by free steam
till it comes to about 212° Fahrenheit, when a quantity of cream of lime or
quicklime mixed with water is stirred in. The boiling by free steam is con-

page_text: tinued for some hours. The contents of the vessel are then allowed to cool
and sulphuric acid is added. The materials are then again boiled by free
steam for some hours, the scum being removed from time to time. The
contents of the vessel are then allowed to stand, and they will separate into
three layers, the fatty matters will float at the top, below the fatty matters
there will be water combined with alkali or other matters in solution, and at
the bottom the heavier matters will be found. The fatty matters may be
readily drawn off or removed separately, also the water, leaving the lime and
heavier residue in the vessel. The fatty matter is well washed and boiled for
some hours in water, acid being used in the event of any free lime or alkali
being present. After the boiling these materials are allowed to stand, the
fatty matter rises to the top and is separated from the water, it is then fit for
use for some purposes.
It is, however, preferred to subject the fatty matter to distillation, using
free steam, which is introduced into the still when the fatty matter is cold,
till the temperature is raised to about 200° Fahrenheit, then the contents
of the still are further heated by fire-heat, free steam being continually
supplied. The first products come over at about 350° Fahrenheit, and the
whole of the products are brought over at about: 550° to 560° Fahrenheit.
The products are fit for being made into candles and soap. The alkali may
be obtained from the water by evaporation, and from the residue by washing
the lime and evaporating the wash waters; or the water and other residue
may be used in preparing manure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Doughty and William Drake Key in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 13th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
DOUGHTY, of Lincoln, and WILLIAM DRAKE KEY, also of Lincoln, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Charles Doughty and William Drake Key, Her special licence that
we, the said Charles Doughty and William Drake Key, our executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others'as we, the said. Charles Doughty and
William Drake Key, our 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING A PRODUCT OBTAINED IN REFINING THE OIL OF COTTON SEEDS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Charles Doughty and
William Drake Key, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us or them, 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 we, the said Charles Doughty and William Drake
Key, do, hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by, the following statement thereof, that is to say:
This Invention essentially consists in a method of treating the.. residuum or
mucilage obtained in the refining of cotton-seed oil in the usual manner by
means of alkaline lyes:. To extract from this mucilage the oils or .fatty
matters which it contains we take three tons of the said mucilage, which are
put into a strong iron-bound wooden vat capable of containing six tons, and
having a two-inch perforated lead coil round the bottom; steam is then
applied to the mucilage until the temperature is raised to 200 degrees
Fahrenheit, and then to every one hundred pounds of fatty matter the muci-.
lage is found to contain ten pounds of lime are added, (white or creech lime.
being preferred,) the lime having been first mixed with water to the..con-
sistency of cream. The lime is gradually added and continuously stirred
until the boiling point is reached; the scum and fibre then commence rising
to the surface, and as it appears it should be removed by skimming with a
bowl or ladle with a perforated bottom, so as to allow such fat as may be
mixed with the scum to return into the vat. The boiling is continued for six
hours after the boiling point has been attained, care being taken that none of
the
as it rises gets again boiled in with the mass. At the expiration of..
the six hours boiling the steam is turned off, and. 250 pounds of sulphuric
acid (1.850 specific gravity) diluted with 750 pounds of water, is, added to
each ton. of the e mucilage by being poured through a round vessel with a
scum

page_text: 23
perforated leaden bottom, placed over the centre of the vat, so as to distribute
the acid in minute streams over the boiling mass. The contents of the vat
should now be- violently stirred, rousing well-up from the bottom until the
whole of the acid is introduced, taking care that it is added gradually, so that
that the vat does not overflow. More scum will rise. during the introduction
of the acid, which must be skimmed off as before. Steam is then again sup-
plied and the mass again boiled for four hours, after which we turn off the
steam and leave it ten hours to subside, when the fat will occupy the upper-
most part of the vat, a clear liquor containing chemical matters the centre of
the vat, and the sulphate of lime and heavy matters will be precipitated to the
bottom. The fat is then drawn off into another vat containing a dry or
unperforated steam coil, where it is heated to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit,
and. well washed with water acidulated with sulphuric or oxalic acid to
entirely free it from lime, and then allowed to repose until the water has
settled to the bottom, after which the fatty matter is drawn off into casks
ready for distillation, or other purposes for which it may be found applicable.
The chemical matters in the clear liquor and those obtained by washing the
thick residue from the bottom of the vat after the grease bas separated may
either be recovered by evaporation or used as a manure, for which they are
well adapted.
We would remark, that in place of adding sulphuric acid to the mucilage
muriatic acid may be employed, but not, we believe, so advantageously. In
distilling the grease obtained by the process free steam should be introduced into
the still immediately after it is charged to heat the grease up to 212 degrees
Fahrenheit by this means alone before fire-heat is applied. At this point the
fire-heat should commence, and when the temperature is raised to 350 degrees
the products will begin to come over, and will all come over by the time-
that 550 degrees to 560 degrees has been reached. The free steam should
be continuously used during the whole time of distillation. The products are
fit for being made into candles and soap. The pitchy residue will then easily
be blown out by the ordinary pipe at the bottom of the still..
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine our-
selves to the exact details of the process above set forth; but what we claim is
the treating, as above described, the residuum or "mucilage" from the refining
of cotton-seed oil with lime, and then with acid, to extract from it the oils or
fatty matters which it contains; we also claim the distilling in the manner
described the grease recovered from mucilage, viz., by heating it at the com-

page_text: mencement of the process by free steam, and the applying, in conjunction with
the free steam, fire-heat beneath the still.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Doughty and William Drake
Key, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
CHARLES DOUGHTY..
(L.B.)
WILLIAM DRAKE KEY. (L.S.)
CHARLES DOUGHTY..
(L.B.)
WILLIAM DRAKE KEY. (L.S.)