IN APPARATUS DISTILLING MINERAL OILS, AND IN "IMPROVEMENTS " THEREFOR
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Richard Southby, of Shotts, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Chemist, for the Invention of
IN APPARATUS
DISTILLING MINERAL OILS, AND
IN
"IMPROVEMENTS
"
THEREFOR.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Richard
Southby at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 8th September 1870.
I, EDMUND RICHARD SOUTHBY, of Shotts, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLING MINERAL OILS, AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to the process of distilling mineral oils, in
which process as ordinarily practised the contents of the still are heated
to different temperatures in succession in order to effect a first separation
into products distilling at the said different temperatures.

page_text: The Invention consists, in the first place, in using three or more stills
or vessels connected by pipes, so that the oil may be transferred from
one to the other. A limited range of temperature is applied to each
vessel, and the ranges of temperature are successively higher in the
vessels into which the oil or residue is successively transferred. By
these means both time and fuel will be much economised, and they will
avoid the ordinarily great risk of injuring the stills or vessels by refilling
them with comparatively cold oil when they are highly heated.
The Invention consists further in connecting to the bottom of the
first or coolest still or vessel (in which the temperature may range from
below to a little above 212 degrees Fahrenheit) a vessel which is not
heated, and in which watery and other impurities may settle down from
_the_crude oil,_and_from_which they may be drawn off before ebullition
and heat currents cause them to be retained in suspension and to be
carried forward to the succeeding stills or vessels, in which their
subsequent deposition may injure the apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edmund Richard Southby in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
RICHARD SOUTHBY, of Shotts, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, beting date the Eighth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edmund Richard Southby, Her special
licence that I, the said Edmund Richard Southby, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edmund
Richard Southby, 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

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLING MINERAL OILS, AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said: Edmund
Richard Southby, my executors or administrators; by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,.should par-
ticularly 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmund Richard Southby, 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
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the process of distilling mineral oils; in
which process, as ordinarily practised, the contents of the still are heated
to different temperatures in succession in order to effect a first separation
into products distilling at the said different temperatures.
My Invention consists, in the first place, in using three or more stills
or vessels connected by pipes, so that the oil may be transferred from
one to the other. A limited range of temperature is applied to each
vessel, and the ranges of temperature are successively higher in the
vessels into which the oil or residue is successively transferred.
My Invention consists further in connecting to the bottom of the
first or coolest still or vessel a vessel which is not heated and in which
watery and other impurities may settle down from the oil, and from
which they may be drawn off before ebullition and heat currents cause
them to be retained in suspension and to be carried forward to the
succeeding stills or vessels, in which their subsequent deposition may
injure the apparatus.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet
of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to and representing
apparatus for distilling mineral oils as arranged for carrying out my
improvements.
Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus, and Figure 2. a corresponding
vertical section.

page_text: Various forms of stills or vessels may be used, but I have shown on
the Drawings those that I prefer.
The first still 1, which is shown in section, is a spherically ended
vertical cylinder with a jacket space 2 round its lower part for the
introduction of steam of a suitable temperature for distilling the oil. The
jacket space 2 does not extend over the central part of the bottom, and
there is connected with that part a vessel 3, into which the watery and
other impurities may settle down and from which they may be with-
drawn by the cocks 4, 5. The still 1 is filled by means of a pipe 6 up
to the level of a gauge cock 7, and after the impurities have settled into
and been drawn off from the bottom vessel 3 heat is applied and the
distillation continued until the level is lowered as far as the gauge
cock-S.-With-ordinary_crude_mineral_oil_this operation will generally
occupy about twenty-four hours with a still of the size shown in the
Drawing. The remaining oil is then transferred by a pipe 9 to the
second still 10, the transference being effected by admitting steam to
the top of the still 1 by a pipe 11, the stop valve on the exit pipe 12
leading to the condenser 13 being of course closed. The second still 10
is also a vertical cylinder with rounded top and bottom; it is heated by
a flue heat, being placed in a brickwork seating over flues 14, through
which pass the fire gases from a furnace 15 below, and it is fitted with
three gauge cocks, the top one 16 to prevent overfilling, the next lower
one 17 to fix the time for drawing the fire, and the lowest one 18 to
determine when the residue is to be transferred to the third still 19.
In the lower part of the second still 10 I sometimes arrange a revolving
scraper, indicated by dotted lines at 20 and worked by means of a
vertical shaft 21 passing out through a stuffing box above in order to
prevent incrustation of carbon or other sediment forming on the bottom
of the still which may happen when the oil treated has been originally
very impure. The third and (in the delineated example) final still 19
is a horizontal cylindrical one, and being placed at a lower level than
the second still 10 the residue is transferred from one to the other by
simple gravitation by means of a pipe 22 connected to the bottom of
the second still 10. To prevent the stoppage of this pipe 22 a branch 23
is led from it to a higher part of the still 10, with which arrangement
the oil will circulate through the pipes and so prevent deposits. The
third still 19 is placed in a brickwork seating, and is heated by a
furnace 24, flues 25 from which are constructed, to traverse over its

page_text: bottom and sides, and in this still the remaining oils are distilled off,
the carbonaceous residue being removed from it after each operation by a
door 26 at its front end. As in the case of the first still 1 the vaporised
products of the second and third stills 10, 19, pass by exit pipes 27, 28, to
separate condensers 29, 30. A pipe 32 is fitted to the third still 19 for
leading off the last of the volatilised products which it is considered
undesirable to pass through the condenser 30, and which are prevented
from proceeding thither by means of a stop valve 33 on the exit pipe 28.
The pipe 32 is represented as being directed into the furnace for the
purpose of getting rid of the products discharged by it by burning, when
from the state of the market it is not worth while to save them.
When more than three stills are used in a set the first and last are
arranged like the first and third of those shown in the Drawings and
herein-before described, the other stills being intermediate and re-
sembling the second one, herein-before described, being both or all
fitted with scrapers (20).
The temperatures applied to each still will, in practise, vary with the
kind of oil treated, and will be determined by the quantities distilled off
in each case. I may, however, observe that the temperature applied.
to the first still 1 in the delineated example is intended to range from
below 212 degrees Fahrenheit to a little above that heat; whilst the
heat applied to the other stills will require to be gradually increased
until the predertermined quantities of oil have in each case been distilled
over, these quantities being variable in practice as may be found
desirable. With these improved arrangements time and fuel will be
much economised, and they will avoid the ordinarily great risk of
injuring the stills or vessels by refilling them with comparatively cold
oil when they are highly heated.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated; but
that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The distilling of mineral oils according to the improved system,
and by means of the improved combination of apparatus, herein-before
described.

page_text: :
2. The connecting of a vessel (3) to the bottom of the first still·(1)
for the collection and removal of watery and other impurities prior to
the distilling of the oil, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Richard Southby, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of Novem-
ber, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
EDMUND R. SOUTHBY. (L.S.)