IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR DISTILLING OILS AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Marius Macrum at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
January 1866. A communication from abroad by James Johnston and
John Davis, both of Allegheny City, in the State of Pennsylvania, United
States of America.
I, JAMES MARIUS MACRUM, of Hill Street, Knightsbridge, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR DISTILLING OILS AND
OTHER LIQUIDS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The Invention consists in exhausting air from the still, condenser, and
receiving vessel so that the distilling process may be carried on under a
partial vacuum, and in the arrangement or construction of the still and its
furnace, and of the condenser and receiving vessel composing the apparatus.
The distilling apparatus herein-after described rests on supports or piers of
brick or stonework corresponding in form and size to the parts of the apparatus
resting on them. On one of these piers is placed a cylindrical vessel for holding
crude coal oil or petroleum, connected- by means of a pipe provided with a
stop-cock to the lower part of the furnace, which is called the fire chamber.
The furnace and fire chamber may be made of heavy sheet iron, and may be
lined (all above the fire chamber) with brick if desired. The fire chamber
of the furnace should be made water or oil tight, and be of a conical form at

page_text: top, and through its centre passes an air flue extending above the top of the
fire chamber; this flue is furnished with a crown or hollow dise on the
under side, and near the outer edge of which is a number of small holes
for the purpose of distributing the air which passes up through the centre
flue. The coniformed top of the fire chamber is surrounded by a narrow
air flue, the cavity between the walls of the furnace, which is a continuation
of the lower part of the fire chamber and the coniformed arch plate used
in forming the air flue around the top part of the fire chamber, being
filled up with clay or brickwork. The top part of the fire chamber is in open
communication with the furnace, which is provided with a proper stack or
chimney. The still which is placed in the furnace is provided with an
ordinary man-hole covered with a cap, the still is also furnished with an ordinary
condensing pipe which rising a little above the top of the still is turned down
and passes through a vessel containing water and into the side of another
larger vessel which is the receiving vessel, and which at its lower part is
separated by a division, the two divisions being connected by a small pipe
provided with a valve, just above the said condensing; pipe in the receiving
vessel is placed a rack consisting of a series of bars which extends across the
whole diameter of the receiving vessel, upon this rack common wood charcoal
is placed in lumps or pieces of about the size of walnuts. The depth of this
body of charcoal should be about 2 feet, it is used for absorbing the fixed or
uncondensed gas which may pass over and through the condensing pipe with
the distilled oil. The receiving vessel is also furnished on the side opposite to
that on which the condensing pipe enters with two stop cocks or valves, one a
top and one at bottom, with a glass tube which communicates with the interior
of the vessel, this tube is secured to a scale plate fixed to the side of the receiving
vessel. The still, the condensing pipe, and the receiving vessel with its
2 valves and glass tube should be made perfectly air-tight and be so arranged
with relation to each other that in exhausting the air from either the still,
condensing pipe, or receiving vessel the air would be exhausted from all of
them at the same time, thus if an air pump be attached to the condensing
pipe about midway between the still and the vessel for containing the water
through which the said condensing pipe passes, or at the centre of the top of
the receiving vessel, the air can be exhausted from the condensing pipe, still
receiving vessel, and glass tube at the same time.
The operation is as follows:-The vessel for containing crude oil or
petroleum is filled, the fire chamber is filled to within an inch or thereabouts
of the top with water, and the desired quantity of oil is put in the still, the
air is then exhausted from the still, the condensing pipe, and receiving vessel

page_text: by means of an air pump; the desired quantity of oil is then admitted by a
regular flow into the fire chamber through the pipe connecting it with the
vessel containing the crude oil or petroleum; this oil as it passes into the
fire chamber will rise to the surface of the water, and it is there lighted or set
fire to, the air will pass up through the air flues and the oil in the still will be
heated by the flame produced by the burning oil, and will evolve a vapour
which will pass into the condensing pipe where it will be condensed and flow
into the receiving vessel, and its height will be indicated by the glass tube
and scale at the side thereof. In the above description I have given a
statement of the application of the Invention to the distillation of oils, but it
will be readily understood that the principle of distilling with a partial
vacuum produced by the exhaustion of the air from the still, condenser, and
receiving vessel may be applied to any ordinary distilling apparatus used for
other liquids than oils.