IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HEAVY HYDROCARBON OILS, AND IN APPARATUS USED THEREIN
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HEAVY HYDROCARBON OILS, AND
IN APPARATUS USED THEREIN."-A communication from abroad by
Joshua Merrill, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, United
States of America.
Sealed the 11th June 1869, and dated the 16th April 1869.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Tomlinson
Bousfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition and Declaration, on the 16th April 1869, pursuant to the
9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County
of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HEAVY HYDROCARBON OILS, AND IN
APPARATUS USED THEREIN," (that the same has been communicated to me
from abroad by Joshua Merrill, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts,

page_text: United States of America,) and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in a mode of treating heavy hydrocarbon oils
whereby the disgusting odours peculiar to these oils are removed and the
oils rendered more oleaginous. Also in an arrangement and combination
of a steam superheating coil and pipes with a still heated by fire,
substantially as herein-after described, whereby the working of the pro-
cess is facilitated.
The oils to which this Invention relates are the heavy hydrocarbon oils
which have heretofore been produced by distilling crude petroleum and
also by distilling the crude oils obtained from the distillation of bituminous
coals, bituminous shales, bituminous schists, rosin, asphaltum, and other
substances producing hydrocarbon oils by distillation.
It has been the practice to treat such heavy oils with acids and alkalics
for the purpose of removing from them the peculiar disgusting odours
which render them extremely objectionable for use in the arts and and
for lubricating purposes.
Such processes are well known and improve the character of the odour
of the oil, but nevertheless the oils so treated have a persistent dis-
agreeable smell, which makes them offensive and undesirable for use in
close warm rooms as in woollen manufactories. Attempts have been
made to remove the smell by filtration with but partial success.
To make heavy hydrocarbon oils of superior oleaginous properties and
free from the characteristic unpleasant odours of heavy hydrocarbon oils,
I take the heavy oils which have been separated from the lighter oils
and from mechanical impurities by distillation, and after chilling and
expressing the solid paraffin, when such operation is necessary, place
them in a still heated by a fire underneath, and slowly and gradually
raise the temperature until from ten to thirty per cent. of the contents
of the still are distilled over, when the still is cooled down and the
remaining contents removed. The matters which go over to the con-
denser have a very foul, offensive, and disgusting odour, but the oil
remaining in the still, if the operation has been properly conducted, is
free from the characteristic offensive odour of hydrocarbon oils and has
no smell except a slight odour similar to that of fatty oils. It can be
mixed in all proportions with sperm oil, lard oil, fish oils, and vegetable

page_text: oils, and is so neutral in its character that it takes the odour of the oil
with which it is mixed. If mixed with twenty per cent. of sperm oil it
does not perceptibly change the smell of the sperm oil. It is moreover
of a more oily nature than the oil from which it is manufactured.
The process may be conducted in a common still heated by fire heat,
as above mentioned, but will be facilitated and oil of a lighter color
produced by introducing superheated steam into the heated oil within
the still, as herein-after more particularly described.
When operating by this process upon the paraffin, heavy oils obtained
from petroleum, bituminous coals, and shales, and other substances pro-
ducing paraffin oils, the distillation is continued until the oil which
comes from the condenser has a specific gravity of 36° Beaumé's
hydrometer, when if the distillation be stopped the remaining oil in the
still is inodorous or free from empyreumatic odours; but by carrying the
distillation further and raising the temperature until the oil running
from the condenser has a specific gravity of 32° Beaumé, the remaining
oil will be thicker or more oily and yet be inodorous.
When operating upon heavy oils made from rosin, asphaltum, and
substances that do not contain paraffin the distillation is continued until
the oil running from the condenser has a specific gravity of from 18° to
14° Beaumé for rosin oil, and from 28° to 25° Beaumé for asphaltum
oil.
The temperature within the still will depend upon the character of the
oil acted upon and upon the mode of working the still. When super-
heated steam is used the temperature is much lower than when the
operation is conducted without it, the steam materially assisting in
vaporizing the matters that it is desirable to remove.
66
It is not practicable to specify particularly the specific gravity of the
heavy oils used in this process; these oils are well known to the trade and
distinguished from the lighter burning oils and napthas by the term
heavy oils," their specific gravity vary greatly between the rosin
oils and paraffin oils. Heavy hydrocarbon oils produced from the same.
substances vary considerably in specific gravity by reason of the presence
of more or less of the lighter oils which are always to be found mixed
with them, and therefore the per-centage of oil to be distilled over in
working this process will vary considerably, the lighter portions going
over at the temperature required to vaporize the odorous matters. If
the oil remaining in the still were to be distilled over instead of being

page_text: cooled down and removed the distillate would have the objectionable
odours that are avoided or removed by stopping the distillation. These
odours probably arise from matters resulting from decomposition of a
portion of the heavy oil at the high temperature at which it distils over,
which odorous matters when condensed with the heavy oil will sub-
sequently vaporize and distil over at a lower temperature than that
required to distil over the great body of the heavy oil, and consequently
may be removed by distillation without further decomposition of the
heavy oil by conducting the process at a temperature below that required
to distil over the main body of the heavy oil and stopping it when the
specific gravity of the oil running from the condenser indicates that the
process is completed.
This process is applicable to the distilled heavy hydrocarbon oils for
sale in the market, whether they have been treated with chemicals or
not, the result in either case being the same. It is also applicable to
distilled hydrocarbon oils containing heavy oil, but from which the
lighter burning oils and napthas have not been separated, because the
light oils and napthas will go over at the temperature required to remove
the odours from the heavy oil, leaving the heavy oil remaining in the
still free from said odours; but this would not be an economical way of
working the
process.
The accompanying Drawings represent a form of distilling apparatus
preferable for carrying out this Invention.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the still and condenser; Figure 2 a
plan view, and Figure 3 a vertical cross section of the still and
furnace.
Letter a represents the still; b, the fire-place formed in brickwork
upon which the still is placed, the fire being applied to the bottom of
the still; c, the grate; d, the ash-pit; e, the outlet from the fire-place
to the chimney; f, the man-hole for access to the interior of the still
covered by a suitable man-hole plate; g, the goose neck or pipe leading
from the still to the condenser h; i, the casing surrounding the still
provided with doors j, j, j, covering apertures in front of the casing,
and lids k, k, k, k, covering circular apertures in the top of the casing
designed to be opened to admit air to the body of the still within the
casing, in order to regulate the temperature of the still and to cool it down
rapidly when the fire is removed from below. m is a small filling pipe,
shown broken off in the Drawing, but which should be connected with

page_text: a pump or reservoir of oil, and provided with a shut-off cock to be closed
when the still is filled.
The peculiar apparatus for superheating steam within the steam and
applying it to the oil, which forms the second part of this Invention is
constructed as follows:-A perfectly tight coil of steam pipe n is placed
within the still near the bottom and connected at one end with a
steam boiler by a pipe n¹ which passes through the top of the still and
is furnished with a cock n³ to control the admission of steam to the
coil. The other end of the coil is connected with an outlet pipe p
which passes up through the top of the still. A stop-cock p' is placed
near the open end of the outlet pipe. A return piper connected
with the outlet pipe between the stop-cock p¹ and the still passes
down into the still, terminating in a horizontal discharge pipe 1
perforated as usual with small holes for the escape of the superheated
steam into the oil. The return piper has a stop cock to control the
passage of the superheated steam from the outlet pipe through the
return pipe to within the still, so that when it is shut no superheated
steam passes into the oil. The advantage of this arrangement of super-
heating coil and pipes is that the steam is superheated in the coil to
about the temperature of the oil by the heat of the oil itself, and then
carried above the top of the still through the outlet pipe in order that
the operator may by turning the cock p¹ near the open end of the
outlet pipe discharge any water that has collected in the coil and
ascertain if the steam is sufficiently superheated before letting it into
the oil within the still through the return pipe.
This arrangement of superheating coil and pipes can be used for any
operations carried on in stills heated by a fire and which require super-
heated steam of about the temperature of the contents of the still.
In carrying ou the process which constitutes the first part of this
Invention by the use of the above-described still and superheating
apparatus the heavy oil to be deodorized is placed in the still and heated
by the fire bencath to the required temperature to commence the opera-
tion, the steam being shut off from the coil and the outlet cock p¹opened
to admit of the expulsion of the water from within the coil. When
the oil is heated to from about 220° to 300° Fahrenheit's thermometer
depending upon the boiling points of the oils treated, which vary
greatly, the steam cock is carefully opened by the operator and steam

page_text: admitted to the coil, wherein it becomes rapidly superheated to about
the temperature of the oil.
Having ascertained that the steam passing through the coil is
sufficiently superheated the operator closes the outlet cock and carefully
opens the cock in the return pipe to let a small amount of superheated
steam pass down into the still, where it escapes by the small openings
through the pipe into the body of the hot oil. The superheated steam
passes up through the body of the oil and over to the condenser, carry-
ing along with it the more volatile portions of the oil containing the
odorous matters which are condensed and flow from the condenser into
a tank provided for their reception; this operation is continued, keeping
the fire dull and moderate under the still, and the temperature slowly
rising all the time until all the volatile matters are distilled off, which
will readily flow out with the steam usually distilling off from twenty to
thirty per cent., as the case may be; the fire is then drawn, the steam
shut off, and the remaining oil left to cool in the still, the openings in
the still casing being thrown open to facilitate the cooling of the still.
When cool the oil is drawn into suitable tanks and is ready for use. It
has been so completely divested of its foetid and pungent odours, having
only a slight smell like a fatty oil, and has become so oily as to be
greatly improved and increased in value as a lubricating oil, or for
curriers' use or for other purposes for which it may be used either alone
or mixed with other oils.
It is preferable to work the process which constitutes the first part of
this Invention with superheated steam, because it can be worked at
lower temperatures than by fire heat alone; but this part of the Inven-
tion is not limited to working the process by the aid of the superheated
steam, nor to any especial manner of applying superheated steam,
neither is it limited to any especial mode of applying heat to the oil
within the still, because the same result can be accomplished by working
the process in a still heated by any known mode.
The Invention of the arrangement and combination of superheating
steam coil and pipes with the still herein described as the second part of
the Invention does not extend broadly to any combination of super-
heating coil and pipes with a still, but is limited to an arrangement
of the superheating coil within a still heated externally by a fire, and

page_text: to having a provision for carrying the superheated steam without the
still and returning it within through a return. pipe, substantially as
described.
I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as afore-
said,-
First. The within-described method substantially of treating heavy
hydrocarbon oils for the purpose of deodorizing them by distilling off a
portion containing the odorous matters, and then stopping the dis-
tillation, leaving the main body of the oil in the still free from the
characteristic odours of heavy hydrocarbon oils, and having when cooled
only a slight smell like a sweet fatty oil.
Second. In combination with a still suitable for distilling oils the
superheating coil within the still, with its steam pipe, outlet pipe,
and return pipe, and their stop-cocks, arranged substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the George Tomlinson Bousfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)