IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANufacture OR PRODUCTION OF Paraffine Oil
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Meldrum, of Dechmont, in the County
of Linlithgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANufacture OR PRODUCTION OF Paraffine Oil."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Meldrum at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th July 1873.
I, EDWARD MELDRUM, of Dechmont, in the County of Linlithgow,
North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF
PARAFFINE OIL," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the production of paraffine oil from coal or
shale, and consists in effecting the distillation of coal or shale in a
cupola or furnace similar to a blast furnace, so constructed and arranged
that the non-condensible or permanent gases from such distillation may
be introduced above the place at which the air is admitted, in order
that any free oxygen may combine with such gas before coming in

page_text: contact with the products of distillation, and thus prevent their oxidation
and destruction.
'
In carrying out my said Invention I make use of a brick furnace
(instead of an iron retort, as hitherto practised) similar to an iron
smelter's cupola, or on a larger scale similar to an iron manufacturer's
blast furnace, admitting air at the bottom of the furnace to cause com-
bustion of carbon in the spent shale, and I admit gas obtained from the
shale at several places round the furnace from one foot to several feet
above the air inlet near the bottom of the furnace to ensure complete
combustion and combination of atmospheric oxygen and prevent
destruction of the products of distillation, the said furnace being closed
at the top, and having exit pipes to carry off oil, vapour, and gases to a
condenser.
The destructive distillation of shale in the furnace is due to heat
carried up by the products of combustion, regulated in such a manner
by admission of air and gas to cause low destructive distillation, and
thus formation of paraffine oil, in a space inside the furnace imme-
diately above the place of combustion, and regulated in such manner
by admission of gas that no oxygen can possibly pass upward to the
place of distillation uncombined with carbon or hydrogen, the said gas
being an incondensible product of distillation from the shale.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Meldrum in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD 2
MELDRUM, of Dechmont, in the County of Linlithgow, North Britain,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty- 3
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Meldrum, Her special license
that I, the said Edward Meldrum, my executors, administrators, and

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Meldrum, my executors,
administrators, or 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
THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF PARAFFINE OIL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Meldrum, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Edward Meldrum, 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, that is to say :-
My improved method of effecting the distillation of coal or of shale
for the production of paraffine oil consists in effecting such distillation
in a distillatory apparatus, constructed by preference of brick, and
similar in form to a cupola or furnace, the dimensions of which may be
about equal to those of the cupolas or blast furnaces employed in the
smelting or production of cast iron.
The distillatory apparatus may be in height about three times its
mean diameter, but those proportions may be varied. The lower third
part contains red hot carbonaceous residue, the centre third part is for
the distillation of the shale or coal, and the upper third part serves to
hold the supply of fresh materials.
The distillatory apparatus is provided with doors at the bottom for the
admission of air, such by preference being placed opposite each other.
Two of these doors are used for the extraction of residue by rakes or
otherwise, and the others are used for increasing or diminishing the
admission of air by means of sliding doors, and for regulating the work
going on inside the red hot part of the distillatory apparatus.
Gas which is obtained from the distillation of shale or coal is intro-
duced into the lower third part of the distillatory apparatus and above

page_text: the inlet or inlets of the air or blast in sufficient quantity so as to
consume all free oxygen which may escape the red hot carbonacious
materials, and also to regulate and assist the combustion of the coke
resulting from the shale or coal contained in this lower third part of the
distillatory apparatus.
The gaseous products are drawn off by means of iron pipes from
the upper third part of the distillatory apparatus through a series of
condenser pipes, which may be constructed similar to those used in gas-
works, by means of which the condensable or liquid portion is retained
in the form of paraffine oil and other liquid hydrocarbons, and is run off
at the bottom of the condenser, whilst the non-condensable or permanent
gases pass on through the condenser, and may be utilized for heating
purposes in the works.
Superheated steam may be introduced into the upper portion of the
distillatory apparatus in order to carry the oil vapour forward into the
condenser.
A set of guide rails are laid on the floor or on bars forming the floor
of the cupola or furnace, projecting at two opposite doors, and upon
these rails a rake travels backward and forward the length of the dia-
meter of the cupola or furnace. This rake consists of an iron plate,
fastened to a rod of iron actuated by steam power, and serving to push
the spent shale out by the forward movement at one door, and to draw
it out by the backward movement through the opposite door into iron
waggons placed underneath to receive the burnt residue, care being
taken that unexhausted or flaming residue be not drawn out..
The size of the iron rake and the speed of its movement regulates
the work done in the kiln continuously and independently of manual
labour.
The heat is regulated by the admission of air at the bottom doors of
the distillatory apparatus and by the exhausting action through the
condenser and distillatory apparatus, the exhaust being obtained by
means of a fan, an air pump, or by any of the other numerous appliances
adapted for such purpose.
According to this Invention the heat carried up by the gases passing
through the red hot material in the lower third part of the distillatory
apparatus is applied for effecting distillation in this manner without any
.

page_text: risk of loss, and is utilized and exhausted by its passage through and
amongst the materials contained in the upper part of the distillatory
apparatus, and the heat essential to the most economical manufacture of
paraffine oil is thus obtained by the ascent of the hot gases, the heat of
these gases being gradually reduced by the materials inside the dis-
tillatory apparatus to the degree of temperature required to decompose
or to effect the destructive distillation of the materials under treatment.
By the adoption of this Invention the use of iron retorts, the employ-
ment of coal, and much manual labour are obviated, and thus inferior
shales may be economically treated.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carred into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, effecting
the distillation of coal or shale in a cupola furnace or other distillatory
´apparatus into which air is admitted, so constructed and arranged as that
permanent or non-condensable gases resulting from the distillation of
coal, shale, or other carbonaceous materials are introduced above the
inlet or inlets of the air, in order that the oxidation or destruction of the
products of distillation may be prevented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Meldrum, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of January
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
EDWARD MELDRUM. (L.S.)