IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING HYDROCARBON AND ROSIN OILS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Charles Sterry and John Sterry, both
of the Rotherhithe New Road, in the County of Surrey, Oil Refiners,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING HYDROCARBON AND
ROSIN OILS."
Sealed the 24th January 1871, and dated the 1st November 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Charles Sterry
and John Sterry at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 1st November 1870.
We, ARTHUR CHARLES STERRY and JOHN STERRY, both of the
Rotherhithe New Road, in the County of Surrey, Oil Refiners, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PURIFYING HYDROCARBON AND ROSIN OILS," to be as follows :-
1
This Invention relates to an improved and economical method of
purifying petroleum or earth oil, and the oils obtained by the destructive
distillation of various kinds of coal or shale, of peat, of lignite, or brown.
coal, of bitumen, or of earth wax, all the oils so obtained being known as.
hydrocarbon oils; also unsaponifiable rosin oils. In refining oils of the

page_text: above class in the usual manner with acid and alkali we have observed
that the exposure of the oil to the influence of the atmospheric air during
the treatment is detrimental as regards the stability of the color of the
oil, which is apt to darken after the refining is completed, and also as to
the smell of such oil.
This Invention consists therefore in treating oils of the above
description either in the crude state or after they have been partially
refined, also paraffine, crude or partially refined with caustic alkali
or alkaline carbonates and sulphuric acid, or with either one of them,
separately in vessels from which the atmospheric air is excluded during
such treatments either by exhaustion of the air from the vessel or by so
completely filling the vessel with the material to be treated that the
atmospheric air is totally expelled; or otherwise by substituting for
atmospheric air some innoxious gas or vapor. By this means we
succeed in producing a purified oil superior in quality both as regards
color and smell and capable of preserving its color permanently.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Charles Sterry and John Sterry in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ARTHUR
CHARLES STERRY and JOHN STERRY, both of the Rotherhithe New Road,.
in the County of Surrey, Oil Refiners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty- 1
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Arthur Charles Sterry and John Sterry,
Her special licence that we, the said Arthur Charles Sterry and John
Sterry, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Arthur Charles Sterry and John Sterry, our executors, adminis- a
trators, 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,

page_text: and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING HYDRO-
CARBON AND ROSIN OILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Arthur Charles Sterry and John Sterry, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 per-
formed, 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 we, the said Arthur Charles Sterry and John
Sterry, do hereby declare the nature of our 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):-
This Invention relates to an improved and economical method of
purifying petroleum or earth oil, and the oils obtained by the destructive
distillation of various kinds of coal or shale, of peat, of lignite, or brown
coal of bitumen, or of earth wax (all the oils so obtained being known
as hydrocarbon oils); also unsaponifiable rosin oils. In refining oils
of the above class in the usual manner with acid and alkali we
have observed that the exposure of the oil to the influence of the
atmospheric air during the treatment is detrimental as regards the
stability of the color of the oil, which is apt to darken after the refining
is completed, and also as to the smell of such oil.
Now the object of our Invention is to prevent the return of the color
after treatment, and to this end when operating upon oils of the above
description (after they have been partially refined) with alkalies and
sulphuric acid we carry on the operation in vessels from which the
atmospheric air is excluded during such treatments, and for that purpose
we either exhaust the air from the vessels or so completely fill the
vessels with the material to be treated that the atmospheric air is
totally expelled, or we substitute for atmospheric air some innoxious gas
or vapor.
In carrying out our Invention we prefer to proceed as follows:-
We take the oil at the final distillation (the oil having been
previously distilled and treated, if necessary), as it runs. from. the
still, and we conduct it without its being allowed. to come in contact.
with the atmosphere into a closed tank containing some gas or vapor,
as hereafter specified, and also a solution. of caustic alkali.. The oil as.

page_text: it runs into the tank displaces the gas, and when the tank is nearly full
we agitate the oil with the caustic alkali with or without the application
of heat. After being thoroughly mixed the oil is allowed to settle and
then run into a closed acid agitator which also contains. some innoxious:
gas.
In this apparatus the oil is agitated with the sulphuric acid, means
being adopted to allow the sulphurous acid generated during the process
to escape. When the contents have been allowed to settle the oil is
run into a closed alkaline agitator containing gas or vapour and an
alkaline solution, where it is well agitated with the alkali. When the
contents have had time to settle the oil is run out into the bleaching
tanks or filtered to render it at once fit for the market. The oil as it
runs from the still instead of being treated as above described may be
passed continuously through the agitators, and thus the purifying process
will be made a continuous one. In this case we interpose between the
agitators closed settling tanks in which the alkaline or acid tars are
deposited, and from these the oil passes to the next agitator or is dis-
charged from the apparatus.
Instead of gas or vapor being used to exclude the air during the
treatment with acid or alkali, as the case may be, the agitators and
settling tanks may be completely filled with the oil and alkali or acid to
expel the air, and maintained full during the operation.
The innoxious gases or vapor which we prefer to employ during the
treatment with alkali when caustie alkali is used are hydrogen, car-
buretted hydrogen, or other hydrocarbon gas, nitrogen, carbonic oxide, or
steam. If carbonated alkali be used in addition to the above gases
carbonic acid may be employed, and during the acid treatment carbonic
acid, hydrogen, carburetted hydrogen, or other hydrocarbon gas,
sulphurous acid, carbonic oxide, or nitrogen may be used.
When oils are treated as above described they are not so liable to form
an emulsion with alkalies after the acid treatment.
The more perfectly the air is excluded during the treatment of the oils
by the above-described methods the better will be the result. When it
is not convenient to treat the oil while running from the still we prefer
to store it in closed tanks so as to keep it as much as possible from the
air before it is treated, but we find that however long the oil may have
been exposed to the air after distillation the exclusion of the air during
the subsequent treatments is still of great advantage.

page_text: Rosin oils which are not saponifiable by alkalies, such as rosin oil
distilled off fuller's earth, are treated in the same manner and with
similar results to those described above.
The vessels used in the above mode of treatment may be filled with
the required gases, or vapor for the exclusion of air by means of a gas
holder or directly from the street mains, or in the case of steam from a
steam boiler, and in any convenient manner.
Having now set forth the nature of our said Invention, and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent we claim,
protecting hydrocarbon and rosin oils from contact with the atmospheric
air during the process of purification in the manner and for the purpose
above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Arthur Charles Sterry and John
Sterry, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the First day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-one.
ARTHUR C. STERRY. (L.S.)
JOHN STERRY.
(L.S.)