IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING OILS FROM COAL AND OTHER MINERALS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Collier Bakewell, of No. 6, Haverstock
Terrace, Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING OILS FROM COAL AND OTHER MINERALS."-
A communication from abroad by David Alter and Samuel A. Hill, of
Pittsburgh, in the United States, North America.
Sealed the 6th December 1859, and dated the 19th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Collier Bakewell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th July 1859.
I, FREDERICK COLLIER BAKEWELL, of No. 6, Haverstock Terrace, Hampstead,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING OILS FROM COAL AND OTHER MINERALS," being
a communication from abroad from David Alter and Samuel A. Hill, of Pitts-
burgh, in the United States, North America, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the extraction of oil and volatile oleaginous pro-
ducts from coal, bituminous shale, and other minerals by a low heat in retorts
to which a rotary or other equivalent motion is given during the process of
distillation, for the purpose of subjecting the contents of the retorts to a
more uniform temperature, thereby expediting the process and increasing the
amount of the products.
In the most approved method of effecting the above objects, the retort is
set horizontally in a furnace of a suitable construction, in such manner as to

page_text: admit of its being turned on its axis. The axis has a tubular projection from
each end of the retort, and it is mounted on suitable supports. The tubular
projection at the back has a spherical end turned very smoothly, into which the
end of the pipe that conveys away the distilled vapours fits exactly, so as to
be air-tight; that pipe descends into a larger horizontal one wherein the
vapours are condensed and conveyed away. Rotary motion is given to the
retort by means of a large bevelled cog wheel fixed at one end which gears
into a smaller one. The motion may be oscillatory instead of rotary, though
the latter is preferred. To prevent the end of the retort from being choked by
its-solid-contents, an iron disc fixed inside to a rod that passes through the
retort and through the hollow axis is made moveable by a handle outside:
The coal to be distilled is introduced through a man-hole in the fixed lid of
the retort.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,' filed
by the said Frederick Collier Bakewell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
COLLIER BAKEWELL, of No. 6, Haverstock Terrace, Hampstead, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the Twenty-third year of Her reign,
did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederick Collier Bakewell, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Collier Bakewell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, 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 EXTRACTING OILS FROM COAL AND OTHER
MINERALS," (a communication from abroad from David Alter and Samuel A.
Hill, of Pittsburgh, in the United States, North America), upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, my exe-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and, ascertain the

page_text: nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Frederick Collier Bakewell, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement: -
This Invention consists in extracting oil and volatile oleaginous products
from coal, bituminous shale, and other minerals by a low heat in retorts, to
which a rotary or other equivalent motion is given during the process of distil-
lation, for the purpose of subjecting the contents of the retorts to a more
uniform temperature, and thereby expediting the process and increasing tho
amount of the products. The great difficulty hitherto experienced in the
extraction of oil from coal and other bituminous substances has arisen from
the generation of permanent gas, instead of condensable oleaginous vapour,
during the process of distillation, which result is dangerous to works not con-
structed for the manufacture of inflammable gas, and detrimental to the
production of oil. The object of this Invention is to overcome that difficulty
by applying a low degree of heat to the retorts containing the substances under
treatment in such manner that it may be equally diffused through the whole
mass, and this is done by giving to the retorts a slow rotary or other equi-
valent motion, whereby all the parts become equally exposed to the action of
the heat.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 is a front elevation of one
of the improved retorts; Figure 2 is an elevation of the same seen from the
back; Figure 3 is a vertical section through the axis of the retort; Figure 4
represents a moveable head, placed inside the retorts, near the back, to
prevent the choking of the pipe through which the volatile products of the
distillation are conveyed. In each Figure, like letters of reference denote
similar parts of the apparatus. The letter a shows a cylindrical retort, which
is set horizontally in a furnace of any suitable construction, in such a manner
as to admit of its being freely turned on its axis, with both ends projecting from,
or at least flush with, the face of the front and rear walls of the furnace.
The retort is closed at both ends by the end-pieces b, b', each of which has a
tubular axis or journal projecting from its centre. The front axis c and the
piece 6 are supported on an iron arch d, or other device, as a journal block;
and the axis c of the rear end of the retort is supported on a frame f as its
journal block. The retort thus supported can revolve freely on its axis.

page_text: I
The axis e of the rear end of the retort is tubular, and as is open at both
ends, one of which communicates with the interior of the retort, and the other
endo is made spherical externally and very smooth, and works in the conical
end of the pipe g, into which it fits so closely as to form a close joint, like a
ball-and-socket, to prevent the products of distillation from escaping. The
pipe inclines downwards, so as to prevent the return of condensed vapour
into the retort, and it terminates in a large horizontal pipe or main m, which
receives the products of distillation, and conducts them to a condenser. This
main extends along a series of retorts set side by side, and serves to remove
-the-products-of-distillation from the whole series. The aperture e, at the rear
end of the retort is protected from being choked up by means of the moveable
head h (Figure 4), which is a disc of iron somewhat smaller in diameter than
the inside of the retort, and supported in its place near that end of the retort
by the rod i. This rod, which is fixed to the disc, passes horizontally through
the centre of the retort, and through the perforated centre of the axis c, to
which end of the rod a handle k is attached, by which the disc of iron may be
moved backwards or forwards; for which purpose a screw is cut on that part
of the rod to work in a female screw in the perforated axis c. The front
end 6 of the retort is double, and is lined with clay to keep in the heat. The
space between the rear end piece 6', and the disc or moveable head h, serves
also the purpose of retaining the heat. In the front is an opening or man-
holen for charging the retort and for removing the residuum, which opening
is closed by a lid p, fastened and luted in the usual manner. A slow revolving
motion is communicated to the retort by means of a large bevel wheel g.
firmly attached to the axis e, between the journal block f and the spherical
end o, which wheel gears into a smaller bevel wheel r, that is fixed to and
moved by the shaft 8, which extends horizontally at the back of the series of
retorts, and communicates motion in a similar way to each retort of the
series. The method of communicating motion to the retorts may, however,
be varied as convenience suggests. A cylindrical metal retort is preferred,
but it is evident that retorts of other forms, or of other suitable material,
may be used.
The rotary motion communicated to the retort in the manner described fully
accomplishes the requisite objects of agitating the contents during distillation,
of exposing them to an uniform beat, of maintaining the retort itself of an even
temperature, and of expediting the process of distillation at a low red heat;
but should it be found convenient to give the retort any other equivalent
motion, or to intermit the motion at short intervals, it may be done if the
substantial objects of the Invention be attained.

page_text: I will now proceed to describe the mode of distillation, premising that it is
desirable, in order to increase the rapidity of the process and the yield from a
given quantity of materials, that the coal or other mineral substance to be
operated on should be reduced to powder or broken small before being placed
in the retorts. The retorts are then charged about half full, and the lid being
closed and luted, the heat of the fire in the furnace is so regulated as to keep
the retort at a low red heat, say about 850 degrees of Fahrenheit, or less if
permanent gas be largely evolved at that temperature. The retorts are made
to revolve about once in every twenty seconds, but should the heat increase,
the rotation of the retorts is accellerated to prevent injury to the products of
the distillation, and to diminish the generation of gas, the rotation of the retort
being continued during the whole process of distillation. By this means the
heat is much more rapidly transferred from the retort to its contents than is
possible with the use of stationary retorts, and the distillation is effected with a
much lower degree of heat, and the process is completed in much shorter
time and without injury to the products of distillation or the generation of any
large quantity of permanent gas.
Novelty is not claimed in this Invention for the use of retorts so constructed
as to rotate on their axes; but what is claimed in this Invention is, the
destructive distillation of coal or other bituminous substances for obtaining
the liquid products thereof in the form known as coal oils by combining the
employment of a temperature not exceeding a dull red heat with the use of
retorts so constructed as to have a rotary or other equivalent motion, in
substantially the same manner and for the purposes herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1860.
FRED. COLLIER BAKEWELL. (L.S.)