IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF EXTRACTING AND REFINING COCOA-NUT OIL FOR MEDICINAL AND TOILET USE
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Polson Ashbourne, of the City of Boston, in the
State of Massachusetts, one of the United States of America, for an Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF EXTRACTING AND REFINING COCOA-NUT
OIL FOR MEDICINAL AND TOILET USE."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Alexander Polson Ashbourne
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th April 1880.
ALEXANDER POLSON ASHBOURNE, of the City of Boston, in the State of
Massachusetts, one of the United States of America. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PROCESS OF EXTRACTING AND REFINING COCOA-NUT OIL FOR MEDICINAL AND
TOILET USE."
This Invention relates to improvements in the process of extracting and refining
cocoa-nut oil for medicinal and toilet use, whereby the impurities causing rancidity
inay be removed.
In carrying out my Invention I take any quantity of cocoa-nuts and carefully
pare them, then take the meats and pulverize or grate them fine, then take
the grated mass and place it in a large steain-kettle and steam it four hours. Then
to each hundred pounds of steamed meats I add four gallons of boiling water and
let it boil one hour, then I stir it thoroughly, and then remove it from the kettle
and place it in a large cloth or bag and tie it up. 1 then place the same in a
powerful press and press it until all the liquid is removed therefrom.
Then I take this liquid and place it in a large copper kettle and boil it until it
gathers a head or scum, then I separate the oil from the water and carefully scum
it. I then place the oil in porcelain-lined kettles and boil it about three hours,
when the impurities and coarse matter will have settled at the bottom leaving a
clear oil on top.
Then I draw this clear oil off from the sediment, and place it into porcelain-lined
kettle preparatory to being refined.
Now I add to each gallon of clear oil three table-spoonfuls of pulverized white
sugar, and the whites and shells of three eggs, and one half ounce of pulverized
alum; I then place a condenser over the kettle and place the kettle over a
moderate fire, and let the contents boil very slowly for an hour and a half; by
these means the evaporation of the steam into the condensor carries with it all

page_text: impurities and rancid properties, thereby leaving the oil clear, pure, white, and
odorless, and free from all deleterious substances which are liable to cause such oils
to become rancid.
The oil thus refined is more particularly adapted for medicinal and toilet use,
as it will remain unchanged for a great length of time.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I would have it understood that I claim,―
The process of extracting and refining cocoa-nut oil for medicinal and toilet use,
consisting in boiling it with sugar, eggs, and alum, substantially as herein described,
as and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Polson Ashbourne, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
ALEXANDER POLSON ASHBOURNE. (L.S.)