A METHOD OF PREPARING OILS FOR LUBRICATING AND BURNING
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HUTCHISON, of Glasgow, in the Shire of Lanark, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth
day of September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and give and
grant unto me, the said George Hutchison, my exors, adññors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said George Hutchison, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Hutchison, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "A METHOD OF PREPARING OILS FOR LUBRICATING AND
BURNING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said George Hutchison, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, may more fully and at large.
annear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Hutchison, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in imparting to common or inferior oils a greater
degree of fluidity than they possess naturally, by mixing with them such pro-
portional quantities of an oily ether as are or may be found sufficient to
produce in them the degrees of fluidity most suitable for the purposes of lubri-
cation and burning. It is well known that oily substances used as lubricants
diminish the friction of rubbing surfaces, by preventing contact of those
surfaces, and by transferring the abrading action, which the two metals would
otherwise exert on each other, to the matter of the lubricant. The lubricant
must therefore possess a certain degree of mutuosity or "body" in order that
a film of it may remain always interposed between the solid surfaces, and may
not be extruded by the pressures upon them, and consistently with that con-
dition the more the internal mobility of its particles among themselves is
increased the better is the lubricant adaptod to the purpose it is designed to
. serve, for the less its viscidity is, the less resistance does it offer to the moving
force, and so much the smaller fraction of the motive power is expended in
overcoming the friction of the rubbing parts of the machinery. It is because
sperm oil possesses these qualities in a higher degree than other oils that it
superior to them as a lubricant, for while it is equally stable it is more fluid
than other oils, which is on account of its containing more hydrogen in
proportion, and a less highly oxidized base. In order therefore to impart
to common oils a degree of fluidity equal or superior to that of sperm oil,
which is especially the object of my Invention, it is necessary and sufficient to
mix with them some portions of an oleate possessing a still higher degree of
fluidity than even the oleate of cotyle; and the oleates of the oxides of
ethyle, methyle, and of the bases of the other alcohols, possess this quality of
greater fluidity. In carrying my Invention into effect, I therefore employ the
oleates of those bases prepared in the way to be hereafter described for mixing
with the common or inferior oils, in such proportions as may be suitable.
do not confine myself to any particular proportions, for these proportions are
found to vary according to the degree of viscidity of the particular kind or
quality of oil operated upon; but that my Invention may be fully understood
I here state by way of illustration that I find the addition of one part of
oleate of oxide of ethyle is sufficient to communicate to two parts of neutral
tallow oil, lard oil, and oils of like natural viscidity, such a degree of fluidity as
renders them equal as lubricants to the best sperm oil. It is also known that
for the purpose of artificial illumination sperm oil is superior to other fixed
I

page_text: oils, chiefly on account of its greater fluidity, in consequence of which it flows
more freely in the lamp wicks through which it is burned than the more viscid
oils, and for that reason, and in order to improve those oils for burning by impart-
ing to them the quality of fluidity so desirable, and on which the superior value
of sperm oil in great part depends, I mix them as before described with suitable
quantities of an oily ether, in the same way as in preparing them for the
purpose of lubrication. That my Invention may be wholly understood I will
now describe the method by which I prepare oleic ether for the purpose of
mixing with common or inferior oil, as aforesaid. I adopt the proportions of
materials recommended in treatises on scientific chemistry, that is to say, I
digest by boiling in a suitable vessel or still, and over a fire of moderate inten-
sity, a mixture composed of one part by measure of sulphuric acid, eight parts
of alcohol, and four parts of oleic acid, until the union of the base of the
alcohol with the oily acid is complete. The time necessary to effect this
digestion depends on several circumstances, as, the activity of the fire, size and
construction of the apparatus employed, and the strength of the materials
composing the mixture; but supposing that the still or digestor employed is
capable of containing about sixty gallons, and that the materials used are of
the ordinary commercial strengths, with a moderate fire, which is also pre-
ferable as well for convenience as for economy, the process will generally
occupy about five hours, for the first charges at the commencement of the
cycle of operations, according to which the etherification is practically con-
ducted, and latterly about twelve hours at the end of each operation or "bout."
I replenish the residuary liquor with about an eighth part of the original
charge of alcohol and about a fourth or fifth part of the original quantity
of sulphuric acid. I do this for the purpose of maintaining the etherifying
power of the mixture, which is gradually reduced by the appropriation of
the constituent and mixed water of the alcohol converted into ether, and
the basic water of the olcic acid. The liquor after being thus "refreshed" is
again digested with a new quantity of oleic acid, equal to the first charge, and
the boiling is again proceeded with, and continued until the union is complete,
as before. The process is to be thus continually repeated by adding always
fresh alcohol and sulphuric acid at each charge, and digesting anew, till
the alcoholic liquor in the digester has become so much weakened by the
continued accumulation of water as to be incapable of etherification, that is to
say, until the quantity of the water bas so much accumulated as to have an
atomic relation to the sulphuric acid, of four atoms of water to one atom of
acid, and this I find usually to happen after about seven charges have been
worked off with alcohol and acid of the ordinary commercial strengths. The
kind of apparatus which I prefer consists of a leaden still or digestor, approach-

page_text: ing to a spherical shape, over which I place a condensing worm, for the
purpose that the alcoholic and ethereal vapours may be condensed therein, and
returned in a liquid state to the still, and so continue the operation. To
purify the oleic ether after it is taken from the digestor, and render it
thoroughly neutral, and fit for being mixed with oils, intended to be employed
in lubrication, I treat it with an alkaline solution, and afterwards wash it
with water and filter it. The oleate thus prepared is to be mixed with
common oils, in such proportions as will impart to them the degree of fluidity
desired.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying it into effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to any particular form or kind of digestor or proportions of the materials used
in preparing the oleates, nor in mixing them with the oils to be improved;
but what I do claim, is,-
First, the mixing of common or inferior oils with an oily ether, for the
purpose of imparting to them greater fluidity, or of rendering them less viscid.
Second, the application of a worm or condenser to the digester employed in
making oleic ethers, whereby the alcoholic and ethereal vapors are condensed,
and continually returned to the digestor.
Third, the maintaining of the etherifying power of the alcoholic liquor in
the process of making oleic ethers by continued additions of sulphuric acid,
causing thereby the proportion of acid continually to increase, as it becomes more
diluted by the accumulation of water from the alcohol converted into ether.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Hutchison, have hercunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.