IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING OIL FROM CARBONACEOUS SUBSTANCES, IN UTILISING THE BYE PRODUCTS AND RESIDUES, AND IN MAKING MANURE AND MOULDER'S BLACKENING
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James, Greenshields
ST "
•
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th. January 1870..
"I,
I, JAMES GREENSHIELDS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Oil Refiner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING OIL FROM CARBONACEOUS SUBSTANCES, IN
UTILISING THE BYE PRODUCTS AND RESIDUES, AND IN MAKING MANURE AND
MOULDER'S BLACKENING," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its objects to improve, simplify, and cheapen-
the processes for obtaining oil from carbonaceous substances, to utilise
[Price 8d.]
-

page_text: the bye products and residues formed in the processes, and to advan-
tageously apply certain of such bye products or residues in making
manure and moulder's blackening.
The Invention consists in the first place. in mixing an acid such as
sulphuric acid with the carbonaceous substances previously to subjecting
them to the process of destructive distillation, the said carbonaceous
substances being, by preference, reduced by crushing or grinding when
requiring it in order to render the mixing intimate.
The process may be modified by causing free hydrogen to be present
in the retort or still, either by introducing it in a gaseous form or by
introducing iron or other suitable metal amongst the materials in the
retort or still, so that the action on it of the acid may cause the
evolution of hydrogen. The crude oil produced by the distillation is
purer, the quantity greater, and of less specific gravity than that
ordinarily obtained, and after being treated with acid and alkali and
washed yields on a first redistillation as pure an oil as has hitherto been
obtainable only by repeated or more complicated processes. In treating
crude oil with acid abye product known as "acid tar' is obtained,
which has hitherto been a source of great trouble to oil refiners, on
account of its heretofore valueless character and of the difficulty of
getting rid of it.
"
By the present Invention, however, this acid tar is utilised by being
mixed with the raw carbonaceous substances prior to their destructive
distillation instead of or in addition to the acid as herein-before
described. The acid remains in the residue in the retort or still in
which the destructive distillation is conducted, and a portion of it
combines with and fixes the ammonia in the substances operated upon.
The residue in consequence contains sulphate of ammonia, whilst if it
is mixed with excreta the surplus or free acid in it will deodorise the
latter and fix their ammonia, and thus form a mixed manure possessed
of valuable fertilising properties. The residue may also be made into a
material suitable for use as moulder's blackening by being re-ground
and purified.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,"
filed by the said James Greenshields in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th July 1870.
t
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES.
GREENSHIELDS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Oil Refiner, send greeting.
"
1.'
>
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Greenshields,. Her special
licence that I, the said James Greenshields, my executors,. . adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Greenshields,
my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
OBTAINING OIL FROM CARBONACEOUS SUBSTANCES, IN UTILISING THE BYE PRODUCTS
AND RESIDUES, AND IN MAKING MANURE AND MOULDER'S BLACKENING," upon, the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Greenshields, my;
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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.
4.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Greenshields, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its objects-to--improve, simplify, and
cheapen the processes for obtaining oil from carbonaceous substances.
to utilise the bye products and residues formed in the processes, and to

page_text: advantageously apply certain of such bye products or residues in making
manure and moulder's blackening.
"
.
I intend to. apply my improvements principally in obtaining hydro-
carbon oils from shale, coal, lignite, and peat, but they are applicable in
treating any carbonaceous substances from which oil is or may be
obtained.
In carrying out my Invention I mix an acid such as sulphuric acid
with the carbonaceous substances previously to subjecting them to the
process of destructive distillation, or the acid may be added during
distillation, being in that case made to flow or drop into the retort or
still through one or more pipes, or again the acid may be placed in a
separate vessel or compartment in the retort so as to be separated from
the carbonaceous matters except when these are vaporised.
The process may be modified by causing free hydrogen to be present
in the retort either by introducing it in a gaseous form or by introducing
iron or other suitable metal amongst the materials in the retort, so that
the action on it of the acid may cause the evolution of hydrogen. I
prefer to use the acid in a state of mixture with carbonaceous matter
as it exists in what is known as "acid tar," a bye product formed in the
process of refining crude oil, and which is thus advantageously utilised
instead of being as heretofore a source of trouble. A portion of the
acid combines with and fixes the ammonia, and some of the sulphate of
ammónia thus formed passes over with water and is easily separated.
The residue in the retort contains the remainder of the acid, and if this
residue is mixed with excreta the free acid will deodorise the latter and
fix their ammonia, and thus form a mixed manure possessed of valuable
fertilising properties. The residue may also be made into a material
suitable for use as moulder's blackening by being re-ground and purified.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I will now proceed to particularly
describe by way of example a mode in which I consider it may be most
advantageously practised, and I have hereunto appended an explanatory
Drawing to be herein-after referred to, and representing certain
apparatus which I prefer to use, but to which I by no means restrict
myself.
The retorts or stills and condensing apparatus connected therewith.
may be such as are ordinarily used for the destructiive distillaton of

page_text: shale or other carbonaceous mineral or substance. I reduce the shale or
other carbonaceous substance by crushing or grinding (if required) and
mix the acid or "acid tar" with it in as complete a manner as is con-
veniently practicable. When using sulphuric acid alone in the case, for
example, of shale moderately rich in carbon, I add about one part by
weight to every eighty parts of the shale, and when using acid tar I add
as much as will make the proportion of the acid about the same as that
stated for acid alone. The quantity of acid must be increased in pro-
portion as the shale or other carbonaceous substance is capable of
yielding a larger quantity or better quality of. oil.. The distillation is
effected in the ordinary way as far as regards the heat employed, but the
vapors are, by preference, not led away as in ordinary arrangements.
directly to the condensing apparatus.
.
I find in practising my Invention that the portion of the distillate
which solidifies at ordinary temperatures (and which consists principally
of paraffin) exhibits a tendency to separate from the more fluid distillates
immediately on leaving the retort; I therefore adapt to the retort a
separating or collecting vessel such as is shown in vertical section in the
accompanying Drawing. This vessel may be made of any convenient.
form, but is represented as a vertical cylinder with a flat bottom and
dome-shaped top. It communicates with the retort by as short a pipe 1
as can be conveniently connected, this pipe rising up in the centre of
the vessel some distance above the bottom 2. Above the top of the
pipe 1 there are fixed several diaphragms or layers 3 of wire, wire gauze,
perforated sheet metal, or other permeable material for the vapor to
strike against and pass through, which renders more perfect the.
separation of the solid or semi-solid distillates from the fluid distillates.
Or unperforated plates may be used to deflect the vapor with a similar
effect. The
which do not condense in the separator pass
onwards by a pipe 4, which I prefer to carry upwards a distance of at
least two feet above the top of the separator, before leading it in a
horizontal or inclined course to the usual condenser. The distillate
which condenses and collects in the separator, and consists of paraffin
and heavy oil, is withdrawn thence from time to time by a discharge
pipe 5 having a stop-cock. The separating vessel shown in the Drawing
is of the size and proportion which I consider suitable for a retort
holding ten hundredweight of shale at a charge, but it is not essential
vapors

page_text: 5. The making of moulder's blackening of the residue left in the
retorts when distilling carbonaceous substances to which acid or "acid
tar" has been added as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Greenshields, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JAMES GREENSHIELDS. (L.S.)