Ovtsyn, Ivan

Dates of birth and death unknown. Russian self-educated inventor.

Ovtsyn was the first in Russia to invent an apparatus for the dry distillation of wood that utilized all the distillates. He began constructing his device in October 1823 in St. Petersburg (near Okhta) and completed it in the beginning of 1824. Earlier devices, such as that of the French engineer P. Lebon, recovered either pitch and resin alone or illuminating gas alone, while Ovtsyn’s device also obtained acetic acid. Apparently, the manufacture of turpentine by the direct dry distillation of wood was begun in Russia after Ovtsyn’s successful experiments.