366 



Manufacture of Eleaine and Stearine from Lard. Vol. VI. 



Manufacture of Eleaine and Stearine 

 from Lard. 



By a new process, patented by J. H. Smith, 122 

 Front Snnth St. N. Y. 



" The first process to be performed upon 

 the lard is that of boiling, which may be ef- 

 fected cither by the direct application of fire 

 to the kettle, or by means of steam. "When 

 the latter is employed, I cause a steam-tube 

 to descend from a steatn boiler into the vessel 

 and be coiled round on the said bottom so as 

 to present a large heating surface to the lard, 

 provision being made for carrying ofl^lhe wa- 

 ter and waste steam, in a manner well known; 

 I usually perforate this tube with numerous 

 small holes along the whole of that portion 

 of it which is submerged below the lard, 

 thus allowing the whole of the steam to pass 

 into and through the lard. To operate with 

 advantage, the vessel in which the boiling is 

 effected should be of considerable capacity, 

 holding, say, from ten to one hundred barrels. 

 The length of time required for boiling will 

 vary much, according to the quality of the 

 lard : that which is fresh may not require to 

 be boiled for more than four or five hours, 

 whilst that which has been long kept may 

 require twelve hours. It is of great import- 

 ance to the perfecting of the separation of 

 the Stearine and Eleaine that the boiling 

 should be continued for a considerable period, 

 as above indicated. 



My most important improvement in the 

 within described process consists in the em- 

 ployment of alcohol, which I mix with the 

 lard in the kettle or boiler at the commence- 

 ment of the operation. When the lard has 

 become sufficiently fluid, I gradually pour 

 and stir into it about one gallon of alcohol to 

 every eighty gallons of lard, taking care to 

 incorporate the two as intimately as possible; 

 and this has the effect of causing a very per- 

 fect separation of the Stearine and Eleaine 

 from each other by the spontaneous granula- 

 tion of the former, whicii takes place when 

 the boiled lard is allowed to cool in a state 

 of rest. 1 sometimes combine campiior with 

 the alcohol, dissolving about one fourtli of a 

 pound in each gallon of alcohol, which not 

 only gives an agreeable odour to the products, 

 but appears to co-operate with the alcohol to 

 effect the object in view; the camphor, how- 

 ever, is not an essential ingredient, and may 

 be omitted ; while spirit of a lower proof 

 than alcohol may be used, but not with equal 

 effect or benefit. 



After the boiling of the lard with the al- 

 cohol has been continued for a sufficient length 

 of time, the fire is withdrawn or the supply 

 of steam cut off, and the mass is allowed to 

 cool sufficiently to be ladled or drawn ofi'into 

 hogsheads or other suitable coolers, when it 



is to be left at perfect rest to cool down and 

 acquire the ordinary temperature of the at- 

 mosphere; and as the cooling proceeds, the 

 granulation consequent upon the separation 

 of the Stearine from the Eleaine will take 

 place and become perfect. The material is 

 then to be put into bags and pressed mode- 

 rately under a press of any suitable kind, 

 which will cause the Eleaine to flow out in 

 a state of great purity, there not being con- 

 tained within it any appreciable portion of 

 Stearine; and this pressure is to be continued 

 until the Stearine is as dry as it can be made 

 in this way. The masses of solid matter 

 thus obtained are to be re-melted, and in this 

 slate are poured into boxes or pans of the ca- 

 pacity of ten or twelve gallons and allowed 

 to form lumps or blocks; which when re- 

 moved from these vessels are piled or stacked 

 in a room for a week or ten days more or 

 less, the room at a temperature of nearly 80°, 

 which will cause a sweating or oozing from 

 the blocks, and they will improve in quality. 

 The blocks are then to be rolled in cloths or 

 put into bags and these placed between plates 

 are to be submitted to very heavy pressure 

 by means of an hydraulic press. After this 

 pressure it is brought again into the form of 

 blocks, and these are to be cut up by means 

 of revolving or other knives or cutters, when 

 the pieces thus obtained are to be put into 

 bags and subjected to the action of hot water 

 or of steam, m a press, until it becomes hard 

 enough to be manufactured into candles, or 

 put up for other purposes to which it may be 

 desired to apply it. And the manner of sub- 

 jecting it to the action of heated water or 

 steam is, to place the bags containing the 

 Steal ine in a box or chest mto which heated 

 water or steam may be introduced, but not to 

 such extent as to fuse the Stearine. A fol- 

 lower is then to be placed against the bags 

 contained in the chest or box, and moderate 

 pressure made upon them, and the material 

 will now be found to have acquired all the 

 required hardness, and to possess a wax-like 

 consistency, such as would generally cause it 

 to be mistaken for wax. 



I am aware that alcohol has been used for 

 the purpose of separating Eleaine and Stearine 

 from each other in analytical chemistry, but 

 the lard or other fatty matter consisting of 

 these substances has, in this case, been dis- 

 solved in the heated alcohol, and the whole 

 has been suffered to cool together ; but this 

 process would be altogether inapplicable to 

 matmfacturing purposes, as the cost would 

 exceed the value of the product. In my manu- 

 facturing process, instead ofdissolving the lard 

 in alcoiiol, I add a small proporti(jnate quanti- 

 ty of the latter to the former, tlie whole of 

 which is driven off' at an early period of the 

 ebullition, but by its presence, or catelytically, 



