A MANUFACTURE IN THE EXTRACTION OF OLEAGINOUS MATTER FROM A CERTAIN FOREIGN VEGETABLE KERNEL, AND THE APPLICATION OF THE SAID OLEAGINOUS MATTER TO THE MAKING OF OIL, CANDLES, SOAP, OR OTHER ARTICLES OF COMMERCE
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DEMEUR, of Water Lane,. Tower Street, in the City of London, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of April, in the second year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Demeur, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said John Demeur, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Demeur, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "A MANUFACTURE IN THE EXTRACTION
OF OLEAGINOUS MATTER FROM A CERTAIN FOREIGN VEGETABLE KERNEL, AND THE
APPLICATION OF THE SAID OLEAGINOUS MATTER TO THE MAKING OF OIL, CANDLES,
SOAP, OR OTHER ARTICLES OF COMMERCE," a part of which Invention was com-
municated to me by a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said John Demeur, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of

page_text: Chancery within twelve calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Demeur, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in manner following:-
The well-known article of commerce termed palm oil, or butter of palm,
which is of a yellow or brownish colour, is the produce of a tree growing most
abundantly in Africa and South America, where, as well as in other parts of
the world, it is obtained from the outer shell or pulpy rind of the palm nut,
while the kernel of the nut contained within the inner indurated shell is
thrown away as a useless material in the preparation of oil or other oleaginous
articles of commerce. These kernels, however, I find to abound in oleagi-
nous matter of superior quality eminently calculated for the production of a
fine fluid oil, of candles, of soap, and to be generally applicable to those
purposes for which other fluid and concrete oils are used.
For extracting the oleaginous matter from the said kernels, any of the pro-
cesses adopted by oil manufacturers in operating upon analogous vegetable
substances may be employed, but the mode or modes which I have found to
answer the purpose is as follows:-I first subject the kernels to a slight
heating in an oven or other convenient apparatus, carrying the process only so
far as to render the kernels comparatively crisp and brittle when cold, which
facilitates the subsequent operation of grinding them to a paste in a mill.
This paste I dilute with one fourth of its weight of boiling water, and then
put it into bags (of the usual kind employed in oil mills), wherein I subject it to
mechanical pressure by the ordinary mechanism employed for similar purposes,
preferring, however, to place the said bags containing the paste between heated
metallic plates. By the joint action of heat and pressure so applied, the
oleaginous matter is copiously exuded through the interstices of the bags,
and is collected in suitable receivers to undergo a purification. This purifi-
cation I usually effect by remelting the last-mentioned product, and filtering
it whilst in a fluid state; and if it be desired to refine or purify it still
further, or to remove the slight tinge of colour it may yet possess, I again
melt it in a metallic vessel coated with tin, and mix therewith, by agitation
or stirring, some very dilute sulphuric acid. By this process the impurities
are precipitated or subside by rest to the bottom of the vessel, and the oleagi-
nous matter floats above the water, whence it is removed and subsequently
consolidated by evaporating the aqueous particles that were commixed with

page_text: it in the previous operation.
The product resulting from the last-described
process is a whitish and partially concrete matter, as it consists of two distinct
substances termed by modern chemists "elain" and "stearine," the former
being an oil fluid at the ordinary temperature of our atmosphere; the latter
a concrete body at the same temperature approximating in consistence to wax
or spermaceti. To separate these two distinct bodies I put the combined
substance into bags and submit them again to mechanical pressure without the
aid of artificial heat if the weather be warm; but should the temperature
of the atmosphere be under 65° of Fahrenheit it will assist the operation, and
reduce the required amount of mechanical force to heat the oleaginous matter
slightly through the medium of the aforesaid metallic pressing plates so as
to communicate a temperature to the matter operated upon of from 70° to 90°
of Fahrenheit. By these means a fine fluid oil (of the nature of "elain") is
expressed, which affords a brilliant white light upon burning in lamps, and is
extensively applicable to other purposes. The concrete matter which remains
in the bags (of the nature of "stearine"), I chiefly apply to the making of
candles and soap. The candles made from it are much harder, and afford a
superior light to those made of ordinary tallow, and are scarcely inferior to
those made of bees' wax. It is besides peculiarly applicable to the prepara-
tion of the finer kinds of medicinal and toilet soaps, from its possessing pure
whiteness, and an aromatic violet odour. The processes employed in the
manufacture of candles and soap from this new material are the same as
those usually practised upon those materials which are in general use.
Having now explained the nature of my aforesaid Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I proceed distinctly to specify the
exclusive privileges which I claim under my Patent. These are as follows,
vizt:
First, I claim the right of extracting the oleaginous matter from the afore-
said kernels of the palm tree by any of the modes known or in practice by oil
manufacturers; and,
Secondly, I claim the right of manufacturing the said oleaginous matter,
whether the same be extracted from the aforesaid kernels abroad or at home,
into fluid oil, candles, soap, and all other articles of commerce to which the
said matter is applicable.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Demeur, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.
JOHN (L.S.)
DEMEUR.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twelfth day of April, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Demeur came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute 5
in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twelfth day of April, in the year above written.