IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF MINERAL OILS AND HYDROCARBONS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cassell, of La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate
Hill, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF MINERAL OILS AND HYDROCARBONS."-A communication
from abroad by Louis Martin, of Paris.
Sealed the 18th November 1863, and dated the 21st May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cassell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
May 1868.
I, JOHN CASSELL, of La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF MINERAL OILS AND HYDROCARBONS," (being a
communication to me from abroad by Louis Martin, of Paris,) to be us
follows:-
This Invention of improvements in the treatment of mineral oils and hydro-
carbons consists as follows:-After these mineral oils and hydrocarbons have
been in preference first treated with sulphuric acid and alkali in the usual
way, I introduce them into a still heated by the naked fire or by superheated
steam, and add to them from one to ten per cent., the quantity depending upon
the nature of the oil to be treated, of a mixture composed of the bichromate
of potash and caustic soda, in preference in the following proportions:-One
part of bichromate of potash and two parts of caustic soda at thirty-six degrees,
and then distil them. Potash may be substituted for soda, and instead of

page_text: bichromate of potash and caustic alkalis, I may apply any of the salts of
chromium, alone or in combination with the alkalis, caustic or otherwise,
although I prefer those stated above; after this distillation the oils may be treated
as before with sulphuric acid and soda.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Cassell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CASSELL, of La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Cassell, Her special licence that I, the said John Cassell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Cassell, 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 TREATMENT
OF MINERAL OILS AND HYDROCARBONS," being a communication to me from abroad
by Louis Martin, of Paris, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Cassell, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Cassell, 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,
that is to say-
This Invention of improvements in the treatment of mineral oils and hydro-
carbons consists as follows:-After these mineral oils and hydrocarbons have
been in preference first treated with sulphuric acid and alkali in the usual way,
I introduce them into a still heated by the naked fire or by superheated steam,

page_text: and add to them from one to ten per cent., the quantity depending upon the
nature of the oil to be treated, of a mixture composed of the bichromate of
potash and caustic soda, in preference in the following proportions:-One part
of bichromate of potash and two parts of caustic soda at thirty-six degrees,
and then distil them. Potash may be substituted for soda, and instead of
bichromate of potash and caustic alkalies, I may apply any of the salts of
chromium, alone or in combination with the alkalies, caustic or otherwise,
although I prefer those stated above; after this distillation the oils may be
treated as before with sulphuric acid and soda.
I claim as my Invention the employment of bichromate of potash and the
salts of chromium in combination with the caustic alkalies, not before or after
the distillation, but during the distillation itself in the distillatory apparatus.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cassell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JOHN CASSELL. (L.S.)