IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF NAPTHAS AND OTHER VOLATILE HYDRO-CARBONS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1853

page_text: Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Professor of Chemistry,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF NAPTHAS
AND OTHER VOLATILE HYDRO-CARBONS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE
SAME TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES."-A communication.
Sealed the 27th February 1854, and dated the 27th December 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Crace
Calvert at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th December 1853.
I, FREDERICK CRACE CALVERT, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF NAPTHAS AND
OTHER VOLATILE HYDRO-CARBONS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME TO
VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the discovery that pure benzine and several
of the volatile hydro-carbons obtained by the dry distillation of bitumi-
nous coal, shale, and certain organic substances containing benzine

page_text: possess to a high degree the property of dissolving fatty, oily, and tarry
substances, which can be applied to the various useful purposes herein-
after mentioned.
To obtain benzine or nearly pure benzine from the volatile hydro-
carbons above mentioned, they are submitted to a treatment, the object
of which is to destroy the carburetted hydrogens contained in them in
their impure state. To do this limpid commercial coal naptha or other
hydro-carbon obtained as above mentioned, is placed in a suitable vessel,
and sulphuric acid in small quantities is added until no discoloration is
produced. It is then washed with pure water or with a solution of an
alkali, and submitted to distillation in a copper or other suitable still,
the product of which distillation, after being allowed to cool, is benzine
or nearly pure benzine.
The applications which I intend making of the benzine or benzine
obtained from volatile hydro-carbons, as by me before described, are,―
First, in the removal of spots and stains caused by fatty, oily, and
tarry substances, wax, or resin from cotton, woollen, silk, and various
other fabrics.
Second, in the removal of fatty and oily matters from hair, furs, and
feathers, and in the cleaning of gloves and other articles made of
leather.
Third, in the removal of fatty and oily matters which exist naturally
in cotton, wool, and other fibrous substances.
Fourth, in the removal from wool of tar, pitch, grease, and similar
substances used by farmers in marking or smearing sheep.
Fifth, in the removal of fatty and oily matters from woollen yarns,
cloths, and other fabrics made from dyed slubbed wool, and also for the
purification of impure fatty matters.
Sixth, in the manufacture of furniture paste.
The first five applications are effected by placing the articles, mate-
rials, and fabrics mentioned in such applications in contact with the
benzine in suitable vessels, until all the matters above mentioned are
removed from the articles, materials, and fabrics, which are then sub-
mitted to pressure or rubbing and dryed, or all or any of them as the
case may be. Spots and stains when slight may be removed from silk

page_text: dresses and other similar articles by the mere application of the benzine
to the articles taken singly by a sponge or camel hair pencil.
The sixth application is effected by heating wax and resin submerged
in the benzine in a suitable vessel until the whole is dissolved, and on
cooling the paste is formed.
The benzine containing the fatty, oily, and tarry matters in solution
is submitted to distillation, and after the benzine goes over from the
still the substances remaining are applicable for greasing machinery
and locomotive engines or for other railway purposes; and the benzina
so distilled can be used again in the several applications above men-
tioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Crace Calvert in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
FREDERICK CRACE CALVERT, of the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Professor of Chemistry, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in
the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Crace Calvert,
Her special license that I, the said Frederick Crace Calvert, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick
Crace Calvert, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF NAPTHAS AND OTHER
VOLATILE HYDRO-CARBONS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME TO VARIOUS
USEFUL PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the

page_text: said Frederick Crace Calvert, by an instrument in writing under m
hand and seal, 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 Frederick Crace Calvert, 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 :-
I find that pure benzine and some of the volatile hydro-carbons
obtained by the dry distillation of bituminous coals and shales, which
also contain benzine, possess to a high degree the property of dissolving
fatty or oily matters; and I propose to apply this property of benzine
to various useful purposes herein-after described. In order to render
the various products that contain benzine suitable for their several
applications, I submit them to the following-treatment, the object_of
which is to destroy or remove sonic of the carburetted hydrogens which
are mixed with them, and which not being sufliciently volatile interfero
with the application of benzine.
I take coal and shale napthas, and for my purpose I prefer the
limpid coal naptha of commerce, and put it in a suitable earthenware
or leaden vessel, and add to it sulphuric acid, in small quantities, until
no more coloration is produced, consequently the quantity of acid
employed will vary with the relative degrees of purity of the coal or
shale naptha.
The naptha so treated I then wash with pure water or with a solu-
tion of an alkali, and submit it to distillation in an ordinary still. These
operations are to be repeated until it is sufficiently pure for the various
purposes to which it may be applied. For certain purposes on a large
scale, as herein-after applied, it is only necessary to take a commercial
coal naptha and distil it at a temperature which does not exceed 212°
Fahrenheit.
The first application that I make of the purified coal naptha or
nearly pure benzine is for the removal of spots and stains caused by

page_text: fatty or oily matters, tar, paint, wax, or resin from cotton, woollen, silk,
and other fabrics, and owing to its great volatility no mark or perina-
nent odour remains on the fabrics operated upon.
The second application of the purified coal naptha or nearly pure,
benzine is the removal of fatty or oily matters from hair, furs, feathers,
and wools, and to the cleaning of gloves and other articles made of
leather, hair, fur, and wool.
The third application of the purified coal naptha or nearly pure
benzine is for removing the fatty matters which exist naturally in wool.
The fourth application of the purified coal naptha or nearly pure
benzino is for the removal from wool of tar, paint, oil, grease, and
similar substances which are used by farmers for marking, salving, and
smearing their sheep.
The fifth application of the purified coal naptha or nearly pure
benzine is for cleansing or removing the oily or fatty matters which are
contained in cotton waste that has been used or employed for cleansing
or wiping machinery or other articles to which oil or grease has been
applied.
To effect the several applications above named, I simply apply
purified coal naptha or nearly pure benzine to articles of small size by
rubbing them with it; but for other things of a larger size, I place the
several articles and fabrics to be operated upon in a suitable vessel, and
allow the purified coal naptha or nearly pure benzine to flow into the
vessel, and after leaving them in contact for several hours, run off the
fluid and pass the articles and fabrics through squeezers, and submit
the yarn to pressure, so as to remove a great portion of the purified
coal naptha or nearly pure benzine containing the paint, tar, grease,
oily or fatty matters in solution, and which I separate from the liquids
by distillation in a suitable vessel. The greasy, oily, or fatty matters
so obtained may be applied in lubricating machinery and locomotive
engines, and for other similar purposes.
The sixth application of this purified coal naptha or nearly pure
benzine is for making furniture paste.
To effect this object, I dissolve one part of wax and one of resin to
two parts of purified coal naptha or nearly pure benzine, by the aid of

page_text: heat, until the whole is dissolved; it is then allowed to cool, and the
paste is fit for use.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the mode of
performing the same, I claim, firstly, the application of purified coal
naptha or nearly pure benzine for the removal of spots or stains of
fats, oils, waxes, paints, tars, or resins from cotton, woollen, silk, and
other fabrics.
I claim, secondly, the application of purified coal naptha or nearly
pure benzine for the removal of fatty, oily, waxy, tarry, resinous, or
bituminous matters from hair, furs, feathers, and wools, and the cleaning
of gloves and other articles made of leather, and also for the removal
of fatty matters which exist in wool in a natural or manufactured state,
as well as for the removal of wax, resin, paint, tar, and fatty matters
that may have been applied to it.
I claim, thirdly, the application of purified coal naptha or nearly
pure benzine for cleaning or removing the oily, greasy, or fatty matters
that are contained in spent cotton waste.
I claim, fourthly, the application of purified coal naptha or nearly
pure benzine for the making of furniture paste, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Crace Calvert, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of
June, in the year of our Lord 1854.
וח.
F. CRACE CALVERT. (..)