Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ernst Friedrich Richard Lucas, of Coatham,
Redcar, in the County of York, Consulting Chemist, for the Inven-

page_text: with pieces of fire-brick or other suitable material. The dark coloured
oil obtained by this operation is submitted to distillation, and the
distillate which passes over after 360 degrees Celsius is collected
separately, cooled, and pressed, the press cake thereby obtained being
crude anthracene. The liquid oil resulting from this distillation is again a
passed through red hot pipes or retorts, and another portion of anthracene
is obtained therefrom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ernst Friedrich Richard Lucas in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 24th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ERNST
FRIEDRICH RICHARD LUCAS, of Coatham, Redcar, in the County of
York, Consulting Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Ernst Friedrich Richard Lucas, Her
special licence that I, the said Ernst Friedrich Richard Lucas, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Ernest Friedrich Richard Lucas, my executors, 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
ANTHRACENE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ernst
Friedrich Richard Lucas, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, 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 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ernst Friedrich Richard Lucas,
do hereby declare the nature of my 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 :-
My said Invention consists in the treatment of certain heavy coal tar
oils by introducing the same either in the liquid state or in the form of
vapour into pipes or retorts heated to and maintained at red heat, con-
densing the products of such distillation, and further working the latter
in the usual way for obtaining anthracene, by which treatment a larger
yield of anthracene is obtained than by the ordinary process. The heavy
coal tar oils which are applicable for treatment by this process are those
which distil at from.260 degrees to about 360 degrees of heat Celsius,
and which are known in the trade as, first, yellow, and green creosote
oils, which distil over before the anthracene; secondly, the residual oils
of the creosote oil after the oils distilling before 260 degrees Celsius have
been distilled therefrom; and, thirdly, the so-called anthracene oils or
press oils after the anthracene has been separated therefrom by pressing
or distillation. Some of these oils have hitherto not been looked upon
as a source of anthracene, as by the ordinary manner of working none of
that substance, or only unworkable quantities of the same, was or were
produced.
The oils which I employ for the purpose of my process may have been
obtained either directly from the tar stills, or they may result from the
fractional redistillation of coal tar oils, and of all such oils. I employ
those of the whole range of distilling points stated above or any fractional
part of them, that is to say, I employ either the mixture of all the oils,
distilling at from about 260 degrees to about 360 degrees Celsius together,
or those distilling between any two intermediate points lying within the
limits of 260 and about 360 degrees Celsius severally..
The construction of the apparatus, by means of which I carry out my
process may be varied in many ways, but I will here describe one which
I find to answer in practice.
A set of pipes or retorts mounted in brickwork in a similar manner to
gas retorts, are heated from below by means of a fire which is capable
of heating them to and maintaining them at red heat.
The dimensions of the pipes or retorts most suitable are about 6 inches
in diameter, and about seven to nine fect in length. If larger retorts

page_text: should be used it is advisable to fill them with pieces of fire-brick, coke,
or any other suitable material, in order to increase the heated surface over
which the oil vapours have to pass. These pipes or retorts are supplied
at one end with a blank flange or cover, into which a pipe of small
diameter is inserted, and which admits of the oil being run from a
reservoir in regulated quantities into the pipes or retorts in a small jet
or in the form of vapour. To the other end of the pipes or retorts is
attached a suitable condensing apparatus, the condensation being effected
either by air or water. The form of condenser which I prefer consists
of a set of straight pipes diminishing gradually towards the end, the ends
of the condensing pipes dipping into a hydraulic main in order to prevent
the ingress of air into the apparatus.
The method of carrying my process into effect is as follows:-As soon
as the pipes or retorts are heated to redness the heavy oil is allowed to
flow into them in a regulated jet, or is admitted in the form of vapour,
into which it may be converted by any known means. By the action of
the heat on the oils a change takes place, by which a part is converted
into gas, whilst the remainder condenses as oil and is collected, the gas
being allowed to escape from the hydraulic main into a fire or elsewhere.
During the process of superheating the oil vapours a certain quantity of
carbonaceous matter is deposited in the retorts, and which requires to be
removed therefrom from time to time, for which purpose it is advisable
to have the first length of the condensing pipe supplied with a removeable
cover, which admits of the pipe and the retort being cleaned out without
disturbing any other part of the apparatus.
As herein-before stated the oils which have been submitted to this
process have so changed in character that by redistilling them in ordinary
stills anthracene will crystallize out freely, and they may be so distilled
in the usual manner until anthracene begins to come over. When this
takes place, and the temperature in the still is about 360 degrees Celsius,
and when the distillate begins to set in cooling, the distillate which is
afterwards obtained is collected separately, cooled, filtered, and pressed,
the press cake obtained being crude anthracene, which may be purified
in the usual way. The oils resulting from the distillation and pressing
may be again submitted to the heating process herein-before mentioned
as often as workable quantities of anthracene are obtained thereby.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would observe in

page_text: conclusion that what I consider novel and original and therefore claim
as constituting the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the manufacture of anthracene from heavy coal
tar oils by passing such oils or their vapours through red hot pipes or
retorts, condensing the products and extracting the anthracene there-
from substantially as herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof I, the said Ernst Friedrich Richard Lucas, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
ERNST FRIEDRICH RICHARD LUCAS. (L.S.)
R. S. MORDAUNT VAUGHAN,
Patent Agent,
Darlington.