AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR REFINING PARAFFINE AND SPERMACETI
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fordred, of Blackheath, in the County
of Kent, Chemist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR REFINING PARAFFINE AND SPERMACETI”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fordred at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th March 1871.
I, JOHN FORDRED, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR REFINING PARAFFINE AND SPERMACETI," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a simple and economical mode of refining
paraffine and spermaceti.
When applying the Invention to the refining of crude paraffine, from
whatever source derived, the use of expensive volatile solvents of the
coloring matter now commonly employed is rendered unnecessary, and
the consequent risk from fire (which is almost inseparable from the
present system) is entirely avoided. The crude paraffine after having

page_text: been separated from mechanical impuritics is subjected to a kneading
action in a bath of soap and warm water. This kneading action has the
effect of exposing a continually fresh surface of the crudo paraffine to
the action of the warm soap and water, which rapidly carries away the
5
coloring matter and holds it in suspension.
When the paraffine has been sufficiently decolorized it may be washed
with hot water or steam, and if necessary further bleached with chemicals
or charcoal, or with sulphuric acid and fuller's earth or with fuller's
carth alone, as described in the Patent of Fordred, Lambe, and Sterry,
No. 610, and dated February 24th 1868.
I would however remark that in applying the fuller's carth to the
bleaching of solid paraffines I find that a higher temperature than that
named in the above-mentioned Patent is advantageous.
1
The process of washing out the coloring matter of crude paraffines on
this system may be performed by hand, the paraffine being by preference ]
enclosed in a cloth or bag, and thus submitted to the action of the
soapy solution, but when working on a large scale I prefer to employ
mechanical power to effect the kneading. Thus in a suitable tank I
mount a pair of corrugated rollers, and between these rollers I pass
the paraffine which I enclose (in a solid state) in an endless bag or cloth,
weighting the same by means of a roller near the bottom of the tank.
Into this tank I run a warm solution of soap and maintain it at such
a level as to immerse the bag or cloth. To the nipping rollers I give
rotary motion which will cause the endless bag or cloth charged with
the paraffine to move continuously between the rollers and undergo the
desired kneading action.
Instead of the liquor in which the paraffine is kneaded being a solution
of soap, a solution of alkali, or a mixture of soap and alkali, or other
liquor which will have the effect of washing out and holding the
coloring matter in suspension may be used. A solution of soap and
water can also be used very efficaciously in separating paraffine oils,
waxes, and the like from fuller's carth, after it has been used for
purifying those substances.
Crude spermaceti I purify by washing in a similar manner to that
described for paraffine, and it may be finished with fuller's carth, but in
this case the temperature is not carried so high whilst in contact with
the fuller's earth, and the use of sulphuric acid will be unnecessary.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Fordred in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 30th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, JOHN
FORDRED, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Chemist, send
grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in thic year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Fordred, Her special licence
that I, the said John Fordred, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, tho said John Fordred, my exccutors,
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 MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR REFINING PARAFFINE AND SPERMACETI," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Fordred, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 Fordred, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention relates to a simple and economical mode of refining
paraffine and spermaceti.
When applying the Invention to the refining of crude paraffine the
use of expensive volatile solvents of the coloring matter (now commonly
employed) is rendered unnecessary and the consequent risk from fire,

page_text: which is almost inseparable from the present mode of refining, is entirely
avoided.
Crude paraffine from whatever source derived consists essentially of
solid paraffine united or combined with heavy hydrocarbon oils, and the
object of the refiner is to separate the solid wax from these associated
oils and bleach it.
The operation therefore consists (1) in removing the oil and low
melting paraffine; and (2) in bleaching and purifying the wax.
Under the systems at present known the first part of the above
operation is usually accomplished by the aid of some volatile solvent and
the use of powerful presses, and the process occupies much time, it is
this dangerous and expensive operation which the present Invention
entirely dispenses with. The crude paraffine after having been separated
from mechanical impurities is subjected to a kneading action in a bath
of soap and warm water. This kneading action has the effect of
exposing a continually fresh surface of the crude paraffine to the action
of the warm soap and water, which rapidly carries away the oil and
coloring matter and holds them in suspension. The kneading may be
effected in any approved manner, but for this purpose I prefer to employ
the apparatus hereafter described.
In carrying my Invention into practice I proceed as follows:-I take
say one ton of crude parafline having, for example, a melting point of
one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit and melt it carefully in
an iron tank, and allow the mechanical impurities, such as tar, sand,
and the like to fall to the bottom; after a few hours repose I run
off the clarified paraffine into a number of flat metal trays, in which it
solidifies into cakes weighing about ten pounds each, these cakes are
then placed edge to edge in a long bag of peculiar construction and
submitted to heat in a warm room or in a bath of warm water till
brought into a plastic condition, when this object has been attained the
bag of paraffine is submitted to the action of the kneading machine which
is supplied with a solution of soft soap in water made in the following
proportions:-

page_text: |matter contained in the crude paraffine will rapidly combine with the
soapy liquor and form a temporary emulsion.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in side elevation, partly
in section, my improved kneading machine with a bag of paraffine
applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same.
A, A, is a tank in which is mounted a drum B, say thirty-six inches
in diameter. This drum is intended to receive one or more bags of the
paraffine to be operated upon, the number of the bags intended to be
employed at the same time determining the length of the drum. This
drum consists of two or more flanged wheels of cast iron keyed to a
shaft C, and carrying at their periphery a series of parallel bars of
wood b, which fit into radial notches formed in the flanges of the wheels,
and have their outer angles rounded off so as to present semicircular
ribs projecting beyond the flanges. The drum thus formed is intended
to rotate (under a nipping pressure) the bag or bags of paraffine to be
operated upon. Mounted in pairs of crank arms D, D situate at cither
side of the drum are nipping rollers E, E, which are constructed in a
manner precisely similar to that of the drum B, but of say one-fourth
its diameter. These arms D are keyed to rock shafts having their
bearings in brackets. bolted to the bottom of the tank A, and keyed
to each of these shafts is an arm D', which arms are connected by means
of link bars D2 to the opposite ends of a rock lever D³ extending upwards
from the tank and fitted at its upper end with a handle. This lever
carries a sliding spring bolt which locks into a notched bar D' made
fast to one side of the tank. By moving this lever D³ in the direction
of the arrow the rollers E will be brought to bear upon the bag of
paraffine, and in this position they will be retained by the dropping of
the spring bolt into the notched plate D. On motion being given to
the machine the combined action of these rollers and the drum will
impart to the paraffine the desired kneading action. Rotary motion is
transmitted to the drum from a driving shaft F, which carries a spur
pinion in gear with a ring of internal cogs G, made fast to the end
wheel of the drum B; H is a pipe for supplying liquor to the tank;
I is the waste pipe at the bottom of the tank; K is a coil of steam pipe
for maintaining the heat of the soapy liquor, and L, L, is the endless
bag of paraffine laid around the drum B. This bag I construct of two
pieces of strong linen cloth which when sewn together will form a tube
open at both ends and of such a length as will allow (when the tube is

page_text: have given up the oil and soft paraffines they held in suspension in such
a condition that they can easily be removed from the top of each
respective liquor. Heating these liquors will facilitate this separation.
The four liquors can then be used again for the purification of another
quantity of crude paraffine instead of new liquor, using them in the same
order; as, however, some small portion of soap is carried away in the
paraffine, it is necessary occasionally to add a little fresh soap in order to
keep the liquors as nearly as possible at the original strength, viz., ten
per cent. When the paraffine has been sufficiently washed the bag con-
taining it is to be removed from the machine and its contents emptied
out into a tank provided with bottom and side cocks, and heated by
close steam or otherwise sufficiently to reduce the paraffine to a liquid
state; it will then deposit the solution of soap which had become
entangled with it mechanically. The clarified paraffine being drawn off
by the side cock is now to be run into a second tank containing about
ten per cent. of a solution of soda crystals or caustic soda, and the whole
contents are then blown up with free steam for thirty or forty minutes,
finishing with plain water. When this has well settled out the
supernatant paraffine may be run off and cast into cakes in the usual
manner. The paraffine thus prepared will be found sufficiently pure for
many manufacturing purposes. The paraffines removed from the respec-
tive tanks a, b, c, d, will be found to possess various melting points,
that from tank a being necessarily the lowest. This portion] I melt,
settle out the soapy liquor, and cast into cakes, which I subsequently
submit to pressure to separate the heavy oil therefrom; the resulting
solid paraffine may be worked over again in the machine or added to the
next parcel of crude. The paraffines removed from the tanks b, c, d, I
melt to disengage the soapy liquor therefrom, and then cast into cakes,
which I re-work in the machine without any previous pressing.
The paraffines which have undergone the before-described process of
washing with soap and water can be further bleached with animal
charcoal in the usual well-known manner, or they may be treated with
sulphuric acid and fuller's earth or with fuller's earth alone, as described
in the Patent of Fordred, Lambe, and Sterry, No. 610, and dated
February Twenty-fourth, One thousand cight hundred and sixty-eight,
in order to render them perfectly white and sweet.
I find that any kind of soap soluble in water will answer for the
above nurnose but I prefer to use the best soft soan of comman and

page_text: in the proportions named. I do not confine myself to the use of a bath
of soap and water only, as I find that various other liquors will act upon
the paraffine whilst in a warm and plastic condition, such as solutions
of the carbonated and caustic alkalis, mixtures of those with solutions
of soap, a solution of rosin in alkali, the residual acid or alkaline liquor
deposited from acidified hydrocarbon oils after washing or neutralization,
and for some purposes even warm water itself is sufficient.
When refining crude spermaceti I proceed as follows:-I melt the
crude spermaceti, and after allowing the dirt and impurities to settle out,
I cast it into cakes, and proceed as before directed for paraffine, taking
care however that the soap baths are much lower in temperature, ranging
say from seventy degrees to ninety degrees Fahrenheit, on account of
the relatively low melting point of spermaccti. I may remark that
spermaceti does not assume a plastic condition like paraffine.
After purification by kneading in the soap bath and subsequent clari-
fication I add to the refined spermaceti whilst in the liquid state about
ten per cent. of fuller's earth in fine powder and agitate them well
together for about twenty minutes at a temperature of two hundred and
fifty degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts. On allowing the mixture to
rest the fuller's carth subsides to the bottom, and the clear spermacet.i
can then be filtered and cast into blocks in the usual manner.
I find that fuller's earth so applied to spermaceti at any stage of its
manufacture greatly improves and sweetens it.
Wherever in the above Specification I have described a particular
temperature or proportion of material or time to be employed in the
different processes, it must be understood that I do so merely as
indicating that which I have found most efficacious, but I do not limit
myself to such temperature, or proportion, or time, but intend to cover
by this Patent all temperatures, or proportions, or duration of time by
the use of which the results which I have described may be attained.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved
Mode of and Apparatus for Refining Parafline and Spermaceti," and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to
be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I
claim,―
First. The purification of paraffine by kneading it whilst in a plastic
condition in contact with soap and water or its equivalent, in the
manner and for the purpose above described.

page_text: Secondly. The apparatus for effecting the kneading of the paraffine
constructed substantially as described.
Thirdly. The refining of spermaceti in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jolin Fordred, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, the Thirtieth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.