Prospectus of the Liverpool and Ramsey Oil Refining and Chemical Works Co. Ltd.,1863

PROSPECTUS

THE LIVERPOOL AND RAMSEY OIL REFINING AND CHEMICAL WORKS COMPANY. (LIMITED.)

Capital £40,000. Shares of £5 each. Deposit £1 per Share application, and £1 on allotment.

DIRECTORS.

• T. C. Gibson, Esq. Ramsay, Isle of Man, Chairman.
• John Baker Edwards, Esq. F.C S. Liverpool.
• W. T. Dixon. Esq. (Dixon ami Wynne.) Merchant, Liverpool.
• J. S. Thomson, Esq. (Thomson, and Co.) Broker, Liverpool
• Thomas J. Fennell. (Wakefield, Nash and Co.) Merchant, Liverpool.
• James P. Mawdsley, Esq. (Mawdsley and Son) Liverpool.

SECRETARY: Mr. J. Wood.

MANAGER: Mr. A. Norman Tate.

BANKERS:. The Merchant Exchange Bank, (Limited.) I.iverpool The Bank of Mona, Ramsey, Isle Man.

AUDITOR: Mr. John S. Blease.

SOLICITORS: Messrs. Anderson and Collins, 16, Cook Street, Liverpool

SHAREBROKERS: Theakstone and Hargreaves India Buildings, Liverpool

WORKS: Ramsey. Isle Man. Temporary Offices, l6, Cook-street, Liverpool

THIS Company has been formed for the purpose of carrying on, upon an extended scale OIL REFINING and CHEMICAL WORKS of Mr. T. G. Gibson of Ramsey in the Isle of Man. The Directors have purchased from Mr. Gibson the whole of the Freehold land, Manufactories. and Properties where the business has heretofore been carried on, together with the entire plant. including Vitriol Chambers, Manure Works, Petroleum and other Stills, and large Floating and other Tanks, and the new Barque Jane, of 300 tons, and fitted with a new tank, for the sum of £20,000. In payment of which amount he has agreed to take Shares in the Company.

In the PETROLEUM DEPARTMENT the operations of the Company will embrace the purchase in America of the Crude Oil to be shipped to this country in iron tank vessels specially built for the purpose, the refining of the oil at the Company a works, and the sale of the refined oil and spirits in Liverpool and other markets. The Company will therefore make the profit not only of the importer but of the refinery: and from calculations which have been made it is confidently expected that returns to the shareholders will average from 15 to 20 per cent, on the paid up capital. With regard to the works, particular attention is directed to the accompanying report of Dr. Edwards, from which will be seen that no expense has been made to make them the most complete and perfect of their kind in kingdom.

From the carrying on of the CHEMICAL WORKS, which are to embrace the manufacture of Artificial Manure, Vitriol, and Ammonia, and the distillation of tar, the Directors also confidently expect a very large return. The Directors have much pleasure in announcing that the vessel “Jane" has now arrived in this country, from Philadelphia. after a passage of 24 days, with 220 tons of Crude Pennsylvanian Oil, will enable the Company to commence operations at once, under very favourable circumstances.

To T. C. Gibson. Ramsey, Isle of Man.

Royal Institution Laboratory. Liverpool,

July 1st 1863

Sir.-—I have, at your request, made a close inspection of your Chemical Work at North Ramsey, and beg you now to hand you a report on the condition of the works. THE MANURE WORKS include a Vitriol Chamber, capable of producing an ample supply of Sulphuric Acid for all the purposes of the Works and also an overview, which will always command ready sale; the process is simple and profitable and requires no great chemical skill for its satisfactory work. The Bone Mills are large and powerful, and upon the best principle and most modern construction; and the Sifting and Disintegrating Machinery are of the best and most costly kind. The General Arrangement and Warehouse in this department is such as to economise labour to the utmost.

The AMMONIA, COAL-TAR, PITCH and NAPTHA MANUFACTORY is undergoing some change by removal of stills &c. with a view to relinquishing some of the processes. I should not however, recommend the destruction or removal of such apparatus as now standing because, although the demand for these products may limited, still the processes may be made to pay very well with the small supply from the local gas works: the ammonia especially valuable in the Manure Department, and the processes may work economically with the other branches of manufacture, I therefore see no sufficient cause for their abandonment.

The PETROLEUM REFINERY is the most costly and important department the works, and will absorb most of the capital and labour —at the same time need not at all interfere with either of the branches previously named. Your arrangements for the Importation of Petroleum, which has been brought home in Tank Vessels and Pumped direct from them in few hours into the Large Iron Floating Tanks alongside the Works, are, I consider, in every respect wise and economical, all must effect great saving over the present system of importation in casks. The apparatus for refining is well arranged, capable of working off an enormous quantity, and if the refining process is any where, at market prices, you will certainly command extra profit for cheapness of the Crude Material and Economy in Refining of it. I have had occasion to inspect a number of Petroleum Works but I have not seen any capable of doing so much work, or economical in its arrangements as these. You have, in fact, two chemical factories, which may be profitably conducted either separately or conjointly and upon each of which £10,000 of capital may be judiciously invested with a fair expectation of from fifteen to twenty per cent. Profit— 1st, the Manure, Tar. and Ammonia; 2nd, the Petroleum Refinery. The importation oil and ship ownership would also be a good investment for a similar amount The whole undertaking may advantageously conducted as one business, but would large responsibility for a small firm to undertake, and considering the advantages of your position, as Shipowner, Merchant, and Manufacturer, and the cheapness of labour, freight and rent, and other charges the Free Port of Ramsey, I consider the circumstances peculiarly those in which a profitable investment, with dividend responsibility. May bee secured by the formation of a Public Company, with limited liability. I am sir, your faithful servant.

JOHN BAKER EDWARDS, PhD, F.R.S.

Consulting and Manufacturing Chemist, and Lecturer on Chemistry,

Liverpool