US28448A - Luthee atwood - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUTHER ATWOOD, on NEW warty-7v. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OILS OBTAINED FROM CbAL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 28,44 8,5 dated May 29, 1860.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LUTHER Arwoon, of the city and county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Hydrocarbon IlluminatingOils; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference thereon.

Thin hydrocarbon oils suitable for illuminating purposes, and such as are now burned in the Deitz, and similar chimney lamps, are usually obtained from petroleums or natural oils, and crude oils obtained by distilling at comparatively low temperatures bituminous coals, bituminous shales, bituminous schists, peat asphaltums,rosin,and the tarry or pitchy residue remaining in the process of manufac turing adamantine or stearine candles. These natural oils and the crude oils, distillates of the above-mentioned and similar substances, it has heretofore been the practice to distill over in a castiron still suitable for such purposes, and to separate and set aside the first or lighter portion of the distillate, or such portion as comes over until the temperature in the still rises to about 600 Fahrenheit, for the purpose of manufacturing into illuminatingoil,with the exception, sometimes, of such exceedingly volatile part as can be steamed off during the process of manufacture. The lat ter portion of the distillate,which comes over at an increased temperature, is termed heavy oil. It generally contains visible crystals of paraffine, and has heretofore been generally manufactured into lubricating-oils and candles. By repeated simple distillations of the heavy oil a further quantity of thin oil has been obtained, the heavy oil remaining containing larger proportionate quantities of paraffine. I mention this in order that it may not be confounded with my process.

My saidinvention consists in a method of treating these heavy oils, parafline, fatty oils and acids, or the crude oils and natural oils from which the heavy oils are produced, as above mentioned, so that the whole or as much as desired may be converted into thin oil suit able, when purified, to burn in lamps.

My process is a practical development, em

vapors and fixed gases from the heavier oilvapors, and continuous condensation and return of the latter to the sphere of action of the heat until the whole is broken up, or nearly so, or as much as desired, by exposing the eliminated vapors in a chamber or receiver of considerable capacity situate between the point of forming the vapor and the condenser to a temperature about the boiling-point of the lighter vapors and below the boiling-point of the heavier vapors, so that the heavy vapors gradually liquefy and return to be broken up by further action of the heat, while the desired light product passes over to the condenser, where it is liquefied and separated from the fixed gases.

It will be observed that, owing to the fact of the return to the action of the heat of the heavy oil when it is nearly at the boiling-point, a comparatively small increase of temperature is necessary to break it up. This gives my process a great economical advantage over the former practice of successive plain redistillations, by which a further portion of thin oil has heretofore been obtained from heavy oils, as described in the beginning of this specification.

The apparatus I prefer to use is figured in the annexed drawings, of which Figure No. l is a plan View; Fig. No. 2, a front elevation; Fig. No. 3, horizontal section through dotted line :0 a:, Fig. No. 2; Fig. No. 4, horizontal section through dotted line 1 y, Fig. No. 2; Fig. No. 5, transverse section through dotted line a; m,'Fig. No. 1;-Fig. No. 6, vertical longitudinal section through dotted line 3 y, Fig. No. 1.

Letter A represents a cast-iron still constructed with a removable lower section for the purpose of convenient repair. The bottom of the still is heated by products of combustion supplied to the chamber B from the fire-box E, the arch E, with its piers and passages, serving to divide and distribute the products of combustion equably within the chamber B.

B is a short horizontal passage connecting the chamber B with the flue B which is furnished with a damper, B, and connects with the chimney O.

D is an uptake opening out of the passage 13 and leading up to the flue D, which, passing around the sides of the still, connects with the chimney O by the passage D which is furnished with a damper, D \Vhen the damper 13 1s closed and the damper D open, the products of combustion from the chamber B are forced to pass through the flue D, heating the sides of the stillon their way to the chimney. I use the flue D in this manner in commencing a distillation. After the distillation has commenced, I shut the damper D1 and open the damper B in the passage B", which connects the chamber B directly with the chimney.

Letters F F are two man-holes for removal of residue, provided with the covers and fastenings.

Letter G is a filling-pipe provided with a stop-cock, (shown broken off,) but must be connected with a reservoir of unfinished oil.

Letter H is a funnel-pipe provided with a stop-cock, used also for filling the still.

Letter I is a weighted safety-valve on the dome of the still, through which Vapors can escape when. from any cause, the worm be comes choked. The stem of the valve isfitted to receive a slotted weight, and terminates in a ring-handle, by which it may be raised up and hooked on the hook I when necessary to keep the passage open.

Letter J is a main or condensing pipe, connected with the safety-valve by the blow-oil pipe J. The condensable products escaping through the safety-valve and saved in the main J flow out through the small pipe J into any suitable receiver, the fixed gases and vapors not condensed escaping through the dischargepipe J (shown broken oifi) but to be carried up through the roof of the building, or in any suitable manner away from the vicinity of the still.

Letter K is a pipe connecting the wormcondenser with the still through the anglevalve L.

Letter M represents a vertical cast-iron chamber of cylindrical form, standing on the top of the brick-work casing of the still and near the still. This chamber I call a separating chamber. It connects with the still by the superior pipe N through the angle-valve 0, also by the inferior pipe P,which is furnished with a stopcock. The pipe Q, provided with a stop-cock, connects the top part of the separating-chamber with the worm-condenser through the pipe K. The separator is made in sections connected by flanges .and screwbolts for the purpose of conveniently increasing or diminishing its capacity. The wormcondenser is situated in a water-tub, R, supplied with cool water from a force-pump or a reservoir, by the inflow-pipe S, the surplus flowing out through the pipe T. The worm terminates in a small chamber, U, from the bottom of which the liquid products escape through the sealed siphon-pipe V, the fixed gases passing up through the gas-pipe vV, (shown broken off,) but to be carried up through the roof or away from the vicinity of the still. The gas-pipe W is furnished with a stop-cock, to be closed when necessary, to blow steam through the chamberU and siphon V for the purpose of removing obstructions or to cleanse them.

Letters (0, b, and 0 are steam-pipes. each provided with a suitable Valve or stop-cock, connecting,respectively,with the dome of the still, the pipe K, and the pipe N, and by a branch coupling with a stealn-pipe, d, (shown broken off,)'but which must be connected with a steam boiler.

Letter 6 is a draw-cock used for the purpose completion of a distillation, and also after removal. of the residue, to prepare the still, when hot, for the safe reception of a charge of oil by forcing steam into the still in sufficient quantity to displace atmospheric air, as described in other Letters Patent of the United Y States to me.

WVhen the angle-valve L is shut and the stopcock in the pipe Q, which connects the separating-chamber with the pipe K, is closed, steam may be blown through the worm-condenser from the steam-pipe b, for the purpose of removing obstructions and cleansing the condenser. When the angle-valve O is shut and the stop-cock closed in pipe P and 'the pipe Qopen, steam maybe blown through the separating-chamber and condenser from the steam-pipe C.

For the purpose of the process herein described, the direct connection from the still to the worm-condenser through the angle-valve L' is kept closed, to be opened when desirable to interrupt the process of obtaining light thin oil from heavy oil, and to run over heavy oil. In that case the connections to and from the separating-chamber are to be closed.

The operation of my process is as follows: The apparatus having been arranged for the operation as above described, I place the substance to be acted on in the still and gradually and continuously apply sufficient heat externally to initiate chemical changes,which results in breaking up or decomposing the substance acted on, forming light and heavy oilvapors, with comparatively small quantity of permanent gases, and with accompanying de- KKAM A position of carbon in the still. The vapors and gases pass through the superior pipe N upward into the separating-chamber M. The separating-chamber being exposed externally to the cooling influence of the atmosphere of the still-room, and heated only by the radiated heat from the top of the still and the incoming vapors and gases, a temperature comparatively higher or lower in proportion to the relative quantity of incoming vapor, but sufficiently below the boiling-point of the major portion of the heavier or higher boiling-point vapors to gradually liquefy them is maintained internally, and as they liquefy and'fall to the bottom of the separating-chamber they are continuously returned to the still through the inferior pipe P. The lighter vapors and permanent gases gradually rise to the top of the separator and pass on through. the pipe Q, to the worm-condenser, the liquid products passing out at V,tl1e gases escaping upward through the pipe XV.

From the above description it will be evident to those skilled in the art that the particular character of the distillate will depend on the degree of rapidity with which the operation is conducted within such limits as it can be carried on at all in the above-described apparatus. If vapors are not formed with sufiicient rapidity and in sufficient quantity to keep the internal temperature of the sepa rator up to a point about the boiling-point of the lighter vapors, they will, of course, all coir dense and fall back in the still. If heat is applied so actively as to form vapors rapidly enough to keep the temperature nearly up to about the boiling-point of the heavy vapors, a portion of them will be forced over and condensed with the lighter vapors. Therefore the particular degree of change resulting from any one operation will be governed by the relative quantity and degree of heat applied.

It is not material in the practical working of my process to effect the desired change in one operation, neither is it generally convenient or practical to do so; but within the lim' its above mentioned the slower the operation is conducted the greater will be the change effected by one distillation.

During the necessary and commonly practiced processes of purifying hydrocarbon illuminatingoils by treating them repeatedly with acids and caustic alkalies, they are subjected to redistillation, which may be performed by my process, and the operation of converting heavy oil into light oil go on with the purification process, with which it does not interfere.

When carrying on my process in this manner, after the purification is completed I prefor to distill over such portion of the purified oil as will go over at below about 600 Fahrenheit, with the still arranged so as to have direct communication with the condenser through the angle-valve L, and with the separating-chamber cut off. This portion isthen fit for use. The remaining contents of the still are then run over through the separator, and, for reasons not necessary to mention here, being obvious to those skilled in the art, subjected to further treatment.

\Vhen crude oil is subjected directly to my process the light portion, generated simultaneously with the heavy bodies in the original production of the crude oil by distilling coal or other substances, passes over until the temperature of the still rises above about 600 Fahrenheit, when my process of breaking up the heavy bodies commences. The relative height of the separating-chamber is an important element in its proportion, because it favors separation of the vapor by difference of specific gravity.

- The proportion, situation, and arrangement of the separating-chamber as figured in the drawings I consider best for a still such as shown with a body or boiler of about seven feet in diameter. In a still of such dimensions I carry on the operation at the rate of ten gallons per hour.

Although I prefer the apparatus herein described and figured, and consider it best adapted to carry on my process rapidly and profitably, I will nevertheless use any form of apparatus or still in which I can practically carry on my process.

The illuminatingoils resulting from my process, when purified and finished as usual with illuminating oils heretofore manufactured from the lighter parts of the crude oils, do not differ materially from them in color or mobility; but owing, perhaps, to the greater proportionate quantity of paraffine in the source from which they are immediately derived, they possess greater illuminating-power. In the practical manufacture of these oils they may be beneficially mixed with other light oils; or when operating on crude oil the distillate of both light and heavy parts may be suffered to run into the same cistern or other receiver.

By the use of my process above described the manufacturer can, by a comparatively LUTHER ATIVOOD.

Witnesses:

BRAIND. G. La'rmnn, F. O. TREADWELL, Jr.