IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING BURMESE NAPTHA WHEN OBTAINING PRODUCTS THEREFROM
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Warren De la Rue, of Bunhill Row, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING BURMESE
NAPTHA WHEN OBTAINING PRODUCTS THEREFROM."
Sealed the 23rd November 1855, and dated the 4th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Warren De la Rue at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th September 1855.
I, WARREN DE LA RUE, of Bunhill Row, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
BURMESE NAPTHA WHEN OBTAINING PRODUCTS THEREFROM" to be as follows:-
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, I described certain
processes for treating Burmese naptha, which consisted in part of subjecting
that substance to the action of steam, for the purpose of distilling successively
therefrom various products.
Now, my present improvements consist of subjecting Burmese naptha to the
action of free steam, at a temperature of about 212° of Fahrenheit, to drive off
the more volatile constituents, and so as to produce a residue of sufficient
consistence to be used alone or combined with other matters, for lubricating.

page_text: machinery, and I purify such product or residue by means of dilute acid, and
afterwards with weak solutions of alkalies. The acid combines with substances
of an alkaline nature, and produces valuable products.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Warren De la Rue in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th February 1856.
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TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WARREN
DE LA RUE, of Bunhill Row, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Warren De la Rue, Her special licence that I, the said Warren De la Rue,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Warren
De la Rue, 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 TREATING
BURMESE NAPTHA WHEN OBTAINING PRODUCTS THEREFROM," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Warren De la Rue, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Warren De la Rue, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, I described certain
processes for treating Burmese naptha, which consisted in part of subjecting
that substance to the action of steam, for the purpose of distilling successively
therefrom various products.
Now, my present improvements consist of subjecting Burmese naptha to the
action of free steam, at a temperature of, about 212° of Fahrenheit, to drive

page_text: off the more volatile constituents, and so as to produce a residue of sufficient
consistence to be used alone or combined with other matters, for lubricating
machinery, and I purify such product or residue by means of dilute acid, and
afterwards with weak solutions of alkalies. The acid combines with substances
of an alkaline nature, and produces valuable products.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will now proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
I introduce the Burmese naptha or petroleum into a suitable vessel provided
with a close cover, and in such quantity as not to more than about half fill it.
The vessel is to be provided with means of heating the charge by a steam coil,
or by an external steam jacket, and also with a mechanical stirrer working
through a stuffing box. When the Burmese naptha or petroleum is melted, I
add to it about ten per cent. of its weight, of a mixture of one part by volume
of ordinary oil of vitriol of commerce (sulphuric acid), and two parts of water,
and agitate the mixture for about twelve hours; or I add instead of sulphuric
acid the same quantity (ten per cent.) of undiluted strong muriatic acid of
commerce, which need not for this purpose be free from iron and other usual
impurities. The action of these acids is to combine with bodies of an alkaline
nature, and also with other constituents, and to form with them in part a pitchy
compound. Nitric acid, even in a very dilute state, is not quite so suitable for
this purpose as sulphuric, or muriatic acid, as it is liable to form nitro com-
pounds with some of the hydrocarbons, as I have shewn in the Specification of
a former Patent. After the mixture has been allowed to stand in a fluid state
a sufficient time for the acid and pitchy residue to subside, I run off the super-
natant and partially purified Burmese naptha, and introduce it into a still, into
which an open steam pipe passes to within a short distance from the bottom,
and I introduce into the still one part by weight of fused caustic soda, or an
equivalent of caustic potash, to one hundred parts of Burmese naptha, or as
much of a strong solution of either of these alkalies as would contain the same
quantity of solid hydrates. I then pass steam of sufficient pressure to over-
come the resistance of the column of fluid for so long a period as is necessary
to drive off those portions of fluid hydrocarbons as vaporize readily in steam
of about 212° Fahrenheit generally five or six hours. These vapours are
conducted to a suitable condenser, and the resulting hydrocarbons separated
from the condensed water. The alkaline liquid, which will have become
gradually more and more dilute in consequence of the condensation of some
of the steam employed, is run off after subsidence, and steam is then again
passed amongst the Burmese naptha for about an hour. After subsidence
and removal of the aqueous portion, the Burmese residue is run off through

page_text: a strainer to separate accidental light solid impurities, and is then allowed to
settle and cool. This residue thus purified is a very excellent lubricant for
machinery, especially for railway carriages, wheel work, and heavy shafting;
and it may also be employed in admixture with tallow, palm oil, cocoa nut oil,
or other oily matter, or with potash or soda soap, the proportions of which
may be varied. The mixing is effected when the materials are melted, and
the compound is to be agitated until nearly cold. It is not possible to state
precisely the proportions for such admixtures, as they may be varied almost
infinitely, the Burmese purified naptha rendering the substances I have
named much better lubricants than when they are used alone, especially for
the axles of carriages and heavy machinery. The acid employed in the puri-
fication of the Burmese naptha combines with some bodies of an alkaline
I prefer, when I wish to save the alkaloids, to use muriatic acid, and
I boil the residual acid and pitchy compound after removal from the Burmese
naptha with successive quantities of water, which I filter off and evaporate, so
as to drive off the excess of acid, and I thus obtain as a residuum an impure
muriate or impure muriates, from which the alkaloids can be separated by
stronger bases, as potash, soda, lime, or baryta.
In witness whereof, I, the said Warren De la Rue, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
WARREN DE LA RUE. (L.S.)
Witness,
ROB WARINGTON,
Apothecaries' Hall, Blackfriars.