IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- PACTURE OF LUBRICATING MATTERS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Williani Little, of the Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF LUBRICATING MATTERS."
Sealed the 8th September 1858; and dated the 14th July 1853.
!
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Little at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th July 1853.
I, WILLIAM LITTLE; of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, do
5 hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF LUBRICATING MATTERS".to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of combining soap with products obtained by
distilling tar resulting from the distillation of coal and- bituminous
matters, and wood or vegetable matters.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Little in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 18th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM LITTLE, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Little, Her special
licence that I, the said William Little, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Little, my exe-
cutors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LUBRICATING MATTERS," upon the condition.
(amongst others) that I, the said William Little, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and scal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 William Little, 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 thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of combining soap with products obtained by s
distilling tar resulting from the distillation of coal and bituminous.
matters, and wood or vegetable matters.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.

page_text: The products of the distillation of coal tar resulting from the
single distillation of bituminous coal, or substances of like nature, are
pitch, coal oil, and naptha. The lighter product, or that which first
<listils over, is the naptha, or "coal naptha," the heavier oil being
known in commerce under the name of "coal oil." The nature of my
Invention consists in combining the heavier oily product of the second
distillation of coal, or any other bituminous or vegetable substance that
produces an oil essentially like the coal oil, with a saponified animal
or vegetable or fish oil or fat, for the purpose of making the compound
a good and cheap lubricator for machinery.
The crude oils or tar resulting from the first distillation I subject to
re-distillation in an iron or copper still; and after setting aside the carly
products, which consist of a thin spirit or oil, I take the remainder,
which is more or less greasy to the touch, and I combine this greasy
oil in various proportions with soapy compounds of animal, fish, or
vegetable oils or fats, with soda or potash, and I employ these soapy
compounds for combining with the greasy oil, either together or sepa-
rately, and I proceed as follows:-
To one hundred parts of tallow melted in a cauldron, I add two
hundred and thirty-five parts of. a solution of caustic soda in water,
making such solution equal in strength to ten or eleven degrees
Beaumé.
This mixture is boiled until saponification takes place, when ninety
parts more of water are added, and the whole again boiled until the
ingredients are thoroughly combined. This constitutes a soda soapy
compound. To this I add a potash soapy compound, thus prepared :-
Seventy parts of a solution of caustic potash, equal to eight or ten
degrees Beaumé, are boiled with thirty pounds of a fish or vegetable
oil, either whale oil or linseed oil, until saponified.
The two soapy compounds being thoroughly mixed by boiling, are
poured into a vessel containing one hundred and fifty parts of the
greasy oil, distilled from the crude oil of coal, and the whole is then
mixed together by stirring until it begins to acquire a thick consistence
by cooling, when it may be allowed to remain..

page_text: The foregoing is my mode of making a solid grease suitable for the
journals of railway: carriages;.or.various other mechanismi...
£
A liquid gréase for ordinary machinery.I prepare by altering the
proportions. Lumix two-parts of the greasy coal oil with one part
of a soapy compound, prepared by taking one part. of, the combined
soapy compounds employed-for making the 'solid grease, and adding
eight parts of water...
I am aware that an animal or vegetable oil or fat, caustic alkali, 'and
water, have been. used,. in combination with mercury or mercurial.
amalgam, plumbago, and lamp black, for the purpose of making a
lubricating composition. Iam also. aware that tallow, oil, rosin, and
spirits of turpentine have been employed together: to: constitute a
lubricator; also that a lubricating oil has been produced. from the
distillations. of rosin. My Invention differs from all of them:
I am also aware that the heavy oils resulting from the distillation of
bituminous substances have been used alone, or mixed with fatty or
oily bodies, for the purpose of-lubricating machinery; but experience
has proved, that in either of these states the heavy oil separates, from.
and cannot he..made to adhere to the frictional surfaces of the ina-
chinery, which thus become bare, and exposed to the oxidating influence.
of the atmosphere. Now the peculiar feature of my Invention consists
in combining the heavy oils obtained from the distillation of coal
and other bituminous substances with saponaceous compounds, such as
I have described previously, and by which the oil is kept in contact
with those parts of the machinery most exposed to attrition, so as not
only to prevent access of air, to the metallic surface, but to diminish
friction, and thereby avoid any undue evolution of caloric.
Another advantage and great peculiarity in the combination of these
bituminous oils with saponaceous compounds is, that at a temperature
of about 60° or 70° Fahrenheit, the bituminous oil makes a perfect
combination with the soapy matters quite liquid and fit for lubricating,
whilst, without the combination with bituminous oil, the soapy matter
at this temperature would be comparatively solid, and totally unfit
as a lubricating agent. This quality of renilering soapy compounds

page_text: liquid at low temperatures forms an important characteristic in these
oils, rendering them peculiarly valuable as lubricating agents when in
combination with saponified fats or oils.
I claim the combination of the "coal oil," or heavier oily product
resulting from the second distillation of bituminous coal (or a matter
that will so produce a like oil) with a saponified vegetable, animal, or
fish oil or fat; and whether the coal oil be combined with the vege-
table, animal, or fish oil or fat after or during the saponifying process;
the said composition being intended as a lubricator for machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Little, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
5
B. GOBEY,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM LITTLE. (L.S.)