IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND DECOMPOSING FATTY SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Hughes, of the Firm of Hughes &
Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND DECOMPOSING FATTY SUBSTANCES.".
-A communication from abroad by Charles Leroy and Joseph Jean
Marie Durand, both residing at No. 25, Route de Fontainebleau, at
Chantilly, near Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 13th December 1859, and dated the 17th June 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas Hughes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th June 1859.
I, EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes & Son, Patent
Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., do hereby. declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND DECOMPOSING FATTY
SUBSTANCES," a communication from abroad by Charles Leroy and Joseph Jean
Marie Durand, both residing at No. 25, Route de Fontainebleau, at Chantilly,
near Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in an improved means of decomposing fatty
substances in one operation, thereby separating the solid fatty substances from
the liquid glycerine more effectually, economically, and with greater security
to the workmen than has hitherto been practised, the solid substances usually

page_text: denominated acid stearic, although in reality consisting in a combination of
stearic and margaric acids, being afterwards submitted to the ordinary pro-
cesses to render them available for illuminating purposeses.
The apparatus I employ consists in a large vessel or receiver open at the
top, or provided with a hermetically sealed cover, in which I place the fatty
substances either cold or previously fused, and add to the mass a certain
quantity of sulphuric acid; I then introduce steam in direct contact with these
said fatty substances, and subsequently shutting off the supply of the said
steam having direct communication with the said fatty substances, communi-
cate fresh heat to them by means of ordinary steam or superheated steam,
according to circumstances, admitted through one or more serpentine tube
circulating through the mass or through a false .bottom, or a steam jacket,
the steam in either case being provided with an exit situated above the level
of the liquid fatty substances; by this second application of steam, that which
was previously admitted and condensed is evaporated and driven off, the
decomposing energy and action are maintained, and a certain quantity of the
glycerine that has not been converted into fat acid is driven off with the steam,
and received in an apparatus arranged for that purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Thomas Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes & Son, Patent Agents, 128, Chancery
Lane, London, W.C., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Thomas Hughes, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Thomas Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND DECOMPOSING FATTY SUBSTANCES," a communication

page_text: from abroad by Charles Leroy and Joseph Marie Durand, both residing at
No. 25, Route de Fontainebleau, at Gentilly, near Paris, in the Empire of
France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Thomas
Hughes, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, 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 (that is to say) :-
These improvements in treating and decomposing fatty substances are
accomplished in three different manners with the aid of the apparatus hereafter
described.
In order that the improvements may be better understood, I have repre-
sented the apparatus whereby they are effected in the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, where Fig. 1 is an elevation illustrating the whole process; and
Figs. 2 and 3, details of certain parts, the whole being drawn to a scale of

page_text: nient manner, and then the cock C is still further opened, the steam thereby
admitted acting in two different way, viz., mechanically as an agitator, and
chemically as a dissolving agent on the glycerine, which is carried off in
solution with the said steam through the pipe N to the refrigerator F, where
they are condensed. This part of the operation is carried on slowly for the
first four hours, and then the above-mentioned cock' c is thrown full open, and
the process continued uninterruptedly for from four and twenty to thirty-six
hours, the time varying according to whether a parcial or complete decompo
sition is to be effected, and during the last six hours, as water will have been
added to the tallow by the condensation of the steam, and the sulphuric acid
will have diminished in density to twelve or fifteen degrees centigrade, the
steam cock G is turned on, which admits steam from the boiler D through
the vertical serpentine H, which steam acts merely as a heating agent, and
does not mix with the fatty substances; at the expiration of from four and
twenty to thirty-six hours, both the cocks C and G are turned off, and a small
quantity of the fatty acid drawn off through the tap I, in order to ascertain
whether the decomposition is thoroughly effected, and in case it is not perfect,
the operation as above is continued until it is so, and then the whole of the
fatty acids are drawn off in the vat J, where they are washed in acidulated
water in the usual manner, run into moulds, left therein until cold, and the
blocks thus obtained afterwards compressed in the usual manner for manu-
facturing stearine candles.
SECOND MANNER OF OPERATING.
The tallow or other fatty substances are introduced in the vessel A as
stated in the first manner of operating, but instead of adding thereto concen-
trated sulphuric acid, I add to the said tallow or fatty substances an equal
quantity in weight of acidulated water at two or three degrees centigrade; the
cover B is then lowered and screwed down hermetically on the receiver, and the
cock G opened, admitting steam in the serpentine H, and then the cock k is
opened, which admits superheated steam from the heating apparatus L, through
the horizontal serpentine M in direct contact with the fatty substances contained
in the receiver A; this part of the operation is continued for eight hours, the
cock k admitting superheated steam at two hundred degrees centigrade, and
the cock G, ordinary steam to augment the heating surface and maintain the
required temperature. During this part of the operation the tallow which
is in contact with the water that is slightly acidulated, parts with its gly-
cerine, which is dissolved in the water and carried off with the rush of super-
'heated steam through the pipe N to the refrigerator F, where they are

page_text: Sapom
titres of m
than have been made use of until now, by the aid of superheated steam and
ordinary steam acting as stated with regard to the second manner of operating.
Having thus fully described the nature and particulars of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondents, I desire it to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the exact details or proportions as herein described; but
I claim,
First, the construction and arrangement of the apparatus above specified,
which can be worked for the purpose above mentioned at a high or low tem-
perature, with steam exerting no sensible pressure.
Secondly, the acidulation of fatty substances by means of concentrated
sulphuric acid, avoiding carbonization or a sensible coloring of the fatty acids,
combined with the use of steam employed in the manner heretofore specified.
Thirdly, instead of making use of concentrated sulphuric acid as above
stated, employing acidulated water at a density of two or three degrees centi-
grade, combined with superheated steam and ordinary steam as above
specified.
And, fourthly, the use of superheated steam as above specified, to effect the
known processes of saponification of fatty substances with the assistance of
lime.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fiftheenth day of December, One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named Edward Thomas Hughes, in the
presence of
JULES MULOT.