{
  "patent_number": "US 1049667",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How William Burton Invented Modern Gasoline Refining",
  "original_title": "Manufacture of gasolene.",
  "summary": "A 1913 patent by William Burton that describes a thermal cracking process to turn heavy crude oil into usable gasoline for automobiles.",
  "what_it_does": "The patent describes a method for increasing the yield of gasoline from crude oil by heating heavy oil fractions under pressure. By applying heat and pressure in a closed vessel, the process breaks down larger, heavier hydrocarbon molecules into smaller, lighter ones suitable for internal combustion engines. This thermal cracking process allowed refiners to extract significantly more fuel from every barrel of oil compared to simple distillation.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover catalytic cracking, which uses chemical catalysts to speed up the reaction.",
    "Does not cover modern hydrocracking techniques that use hydrogen gas to improve fuel quality.",
    "Does not cover the extraction of crude oil from the ground.",
    "Does not cover the design of the internal combustion engines that consume the gasoline."
  ],
  "filed": "1912-07-03",
  "granted": "1913-01-07",
  "expires": "1932-07-03",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "Standard Oil Co",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/standard-oil-co",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "William M Burton",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/william-m-burton"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 2,
  "tags": [
    "energy",
    "mechanical",
    "materials"
  ],
  "abstract": null,
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/1049667/petroleum-cracking-burton",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/1049667/petroleum-cracking-burton/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US1049667",
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}