IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ⚫ MANUFACTURE OF FATTY ACIDS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Adolphe de Milly, of Paris, in the Empire
of France, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
⚫ MANUFACTURE OF FATTY ACIDS."
Scaled the 24th April 1857, and dated the 19th November 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Adolphe de Milly
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th November 1856.
I, LOUIS ADOLPHE DE MILLY, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FATTY ACIDS," to be as follows:-
In this
I effect the decomposition of fatty bodies by the particular application and
employment of alkalies or metallic oxides, whereby they are used in much
smaller proportion than hitherto prescribed, and I employ in the process or
operation a high pressure generated by the application of heat.
manufacture I introduce into a closed boiler of copper, or of sheet iron lined
with lead, a certain quantity of fatty matters, which I melt by injecting a jet
of steam, I then add two per cent. of lime reduced to a pasty consistence. The
mixture and combination of the two materials is produced by the jet of steam,
which agitates the fluid mass during a period of two hours, after which I
bring the boiler to a pressure of eight atmospheres by the external application
of heat, which pressure I continue during a period of five or six hours. At

page_text: the end of this time the operation is completed, and it is formed into calcareous
soaps and glycerine. There remains but to withdraw the liquids from the
boiler, which I effect by means of the steam pressure, causing the contents to
pass out through a pipe, and afterwards to eliminate the fatty acid or acids by
means of sulphuric acid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Adolphe de Milly in the Great Seal Patent Oflico on
the 18th May 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Louis
ADOLINE DE MILLY, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Hler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Louis Adolphe de Milly, Her special licence that I, the said
Louis Adolphe de Milly, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as J, the said Louis Adolphe de Milly, my executors, adminis-
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, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FATTY ACIDS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Louis Adolphe de
Milly, 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 J, the said Louis Adolphe de Milly, 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:-
This Invention consists in the acidification of fatty bodies, by the employ-
ment, 1st, of alkalies or of metallic oxides in quantities much less than that

page_text: prescribed by theory or heretofore used in manufacture for that purpose; 2ndly,
in producing the chemical action under a high pressure.
The following is my mode of operation:-I put in a closed boiler or heater
of pure copper, or of sheet iron lined with lead, a certain quantity of fatty
matters, which I melt by the means of a jet of steam introduced into the
interior of the vessel, I then introduce into the same heating vessel two per
cent. only of lime of a pulpy consistency. The mixture of these two matters
is produced by means of a jet of steam, which agitates the liquid mass; after
this I raise the pressure in the containing vessel to a pressure of eight atmo-
spheres in one of two different manners:-First, by means of a fire applied
to the exterior; secondly, by means of a jet of steam produced from a
generator acting at a pressure of ten atmospheres; this jet of steam raises
gradually the temperature and the pressure of the mixture. In about five or
six hours the operation will be finished, and the mass will have been converted
into calcareous soaps, fatty acids, and glycerine. There now remains only to
eliminate and collect the fatty acid by means of sulphuric acid, which I employ
in very much less quantity than is employed in the ordinary modes of pro-
ceeding, as there is not more than two per cent. of the alkali in combination
with the calcareous soap. The water in which the soap and fatty acids are
bathed contains large quantities of glycerine, and this water marks four degrees
Beaumé, whilst in the ordinary process the same water containing hardly any
glycerine marks no degree at all; glycerine is of course easily obtained by
evaporation if my new process is made use of. The pouring off of the matters
after the chemical action may be effected by the pressure of the jet of steam
itself, or by any other means.
The second process, by injecting steam for raising the mixture to the tem-
perature, and the pressure required for producing the chemical action, is
preferable to the first, on account of the security and the preservation of the
apparatus.
I have given two per cent. of the alkali and eight atmospheres as the
extreme limit to produce the saponification or manufacture of calcareous soap
and fatty acids conveniently, but it must be understood that I can conduct the
operation by augmenting the quantity of the alkali or diminishing the pressure
employed.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of perform-
ing the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention, intended to be
secured by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the acidification of fatty bodies of all kinds by the employment of
lime or other alkalies, or of metallic oxides, in quantities very much less than

page_text: has been heretofore prescribed by theory or used in practice, this acidification
being accomplished under a high and proportional pressure.
Secondly, the employment of copper for the construction of heating vessels
n which the chemical action is produced, also tho employment of such vessels
inade of iron and lined either with lead or with copper.
Thirdly, the employment of the agitation of steam for effecting a stirring or
combination between the fatty bodies and the limo instead of employing any
mechanical agitator.
Fourthly, the production of glycerine in an apparatus acting under a high
pressure.
Fifthly, the descharging or emptying the contents of the beating vessel by
the pressure of steam.
And sixthly, the beating the vessel internally, and the elevation of the pressure
of the mixture by a jet of steam produced in a separate generator, and acting
separately at a bigher and proportional pressure, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, Louis Adolphe de Milly, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
LOUIS ADOLPHE DE MILLY. (L.8.)