IMPROVEMENTS  IN  TREATING  FATTY  AND  OILY  MATTERS.  121 
SPECIFICATION  OF  THE  PATENT  GRANTED  TO  RICHARD 
ALBERT  TILGHMAN,  OF  PHILADELPHIA,  U.  S.  OF  AMERICA, 
CHEMIST,  FOR  IMPROVEMENTS  IN  TREATING  FATTY  AND 
OILY  MATTERS,  CHIEFLY  APPLICABLE  TO  THE  MANUFAC- 
TURE OF  SOAP,  CANDLES,  AND  GLYCERIN.— Dated  January  9, 
1854. 
The  first  part  of  my  said  invention  consists  in  a  mode  or  modes 
of  obtaining  free  fat  acids  and  solution  of  glycerin  from  those 
fatty  or  oily  bodies  of  animal  and  vegetable  origin  which  contain 
glycerin  as  their  base. 
For  this  purpose  I  subject  these  fatty  or  oily  bodies  to  the 
action  of  water  at  a  high  temperature  under  pressure,  so  as  to 
cause  the  elements  of  those  bodies  to  combine  with  water,  and 
to  obtain,  at  the  same  time,  free  fat  acids  and  solution  of  glycerin. 
I  mix  the  fatty  body  to  be  operated  upon  with  from  a  third  to 
a  half  of  its  bulk  of  water,  and  the  mixture  may  be  placed  in 
any  convenient  vessel  in  which  it  can  be  subjected  to  the  action 
of  heat,  to  a  temperature  about  the  same  as  that  of  melting  lead, 
until  the  operation  is  complete  ;  and  the  vessel  must  be  closed, 
so  that  the  requisite  amount  of  pressure  may  be  applied  to  pre- 
vent the  conversion  of  the  water  into  steam. 
The  process  may  be  performed  more  rapidly  and  also  continu- 
ously by  causing  the  mixture  of  fatty  matter  and  water  to  pass 
through  a  tube  or  continuous  channel  heated  to  the  temperature 
already  mentioned,  the  requisite  pressure  for  preventing  the  con- 
version of  the  water  into  steam  being  applied  during  the  process  ; 
and  this  I  believe  is  the  best  mode  of  carrying  this  part  of  my 
invention  into  effect. 
In  the  drawing  hereunto  annexed  are 
shown  figures  of  an  apparatus  for  per- 
forming  this  process  speedily  and  con- 
tinuously, but  which  apparatus  I  do 
not  intend  to  claim  as  any  part  of  my 
invention. 
Fig.  1,  is  a  vertical  section  of  this 
apparatus ;  and 
Fig.  2.  shows  the  various  parts  of  the 
apparatus  in  horizontal  section  ;  I  place 
