IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF OIL, FOR ILLUMINATING PURPOSES, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd January 1881. A communication
from abroad by François Ferdinand Rohart, of Paris, in the Republic of
France.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF OIL, FOR ILLUMINATING
PURPOSES, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
A com-
munication from abroad by François Ferdinand Rohart, of Paris, in the Republic of
France.
This Invention relates to the use of bitumen, crude petroleum, heavy oils of
petroleum, tar, and other hydrocarbons, for the purposes of illumination, the said
materials being subjected to the treatment hereinafter described, in order to obtain
an oil or product therefrom applicable to illuminating purposes.
By means of this Invention materials of small value, and which are commonly
found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, may be converted into an important article of
commerce, which has heretofore been obtained almost exclusively from America.
This conversion is effected by submitting bitumen or other natural hydrocarbons,
being either a natural product or obtained in any process of manufacture, to the
combined action of an alkali or alkaline earth (by preference lime), and of heat in an
alembic for distilling, the heat being maintained for several hours near the boiling
point of the hydrocarbon under treatment before proceeding with the distillation.
The alembic only differs from the apparatus ordinarily employed for distilling
in respect of the hood or cover, properly so called, carrying the neck or tube for the
escape of the vapours, the said cover being movable in order to enable a species of
skeleton or open work tub or skip constructed of round iron, and containing broken
quicklime, to be raised and lowered with facility. This moveable skip or cage is of
the same height and diameter as the interior of the alembic, a small span or play
being allowed all round-in order to facilitate its manipulation. By means of this
arrangement a quantity of lime may be employed in the apparatus representing
double the weight of the hydrocarbons which are to be converted without causing
the level of the latter to rise above two thirds of the total capacity of the
vessel.
The apparatus being arranged as hereinbefore described, the cover is lowered
into its place and secured to the body of the apparatus by ordinary means, such as
bolts pressing a bend of tow or (which is preferable) asbestos paper rendered
impermeable by coating it with syrupy silicate of soda.

page_text: When it is desired to convert bitumen into petroleum, or to reduce dense oils
and tar to the condition of oil fit for illuminating purposes, it is important to
maintain the whole at a temperature approaching their boiling point for about
12 hours previous to proceeding with the distillation.
If on the other hand the treatment is applied to crude petroleum, the distillation
may be proceeded with at once, always on condition that the temperature is gradually
raised with care in a regular and uninterrupted manner, employing a good air
thermometer as a guide, special care being taken to avoid burning the materials.
The same data, the same principles, and the same means are necessarily applicable
to heavy oils, and tar obtained from schist, lignite, and peat, as both vegetable and
mineral tar alike belong to the order of hydrocarbons.
When the treatment is carefully conducted and the heat well managed, at least
one hour is required in order to raise the temperature of the mass operated upon
to two hundred degrees centigrade; three hundred and fifty degrees may be
attained in the next two hours, and so on, conducting the operation with great
care until the conclusion of the operation, the extreme limit of which is reached
when an almost imperceptible redness is observed.
When operating as hereinbefore described the same charge of lime, say, two
hundred per cent. of the crude petroleum, may be used four times over without
being changed.
The refuse lime may be employed for agricultural purposes in the same manner
as gas lime.
With regard to bitumen, heavy oils, and tar, it may happen that even under
the conditions herein before described the desired result is not obtained by the first
operation on account of the nature of these products, which is always extremely
complex according to their origin and the possibly injudicious treatment to which
they may have been submitted. In this case a second treatment with lime may
be necessary;
an infallible indication is moreover obtained which is that in
principle a pretroleum, which becomes considerably discolored after distillation, is a
product imperfectly exhausted and unfit for use, as it still contains foreign
substances which affect its purity.
With regard to all the other accessories of the manufacture the ordinary worms
or coils for effecting the condensation are employed for performing the same
functions as heretofore, but in considerably smaller proportions, the degree of
temperature employed being very considerably reduced.
The quantity of lime to be used varies according to circumstances, from, say,
fifty per cent. of lime in exceptional cases, such as when treating the material
obtained in the distillation of petroleum for the manufacture of the new product
known as vaseline, to, say, two hundred per cent. in the case of the by products of
the petroleum manufacture which have been injured by improper treatment or
exposure to elevated temperatures.
A general rule, and absolutely necessary in the case of bitumen and the by
products of manufactures, consists in applying the prolonged action of heat with
the employment of lime for from twelve to twenty four hours, according to
circumstances, and maintaining the whole of the materials for this period at a
temperature near the boiling point before proceeding with the distillation.
conditions are not necessary in the case of crude petroleum which may be distilled
on the spot.
These
It should be observed that caustic lime is incapable of acting upon petroleum
proper, that is to say, it is unable to affect it in such a manner as to deprive it of.
its essential qualities.