IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING GAS, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO CULINARY OR OTHER DOMESTIC PURPOSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Mizen, of Deptford, in the County of Kent,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING GAS, PARTLY
APPLICABLE TO CULINARY OR OTHER DOMESTIC PURPOSES."
Sealed the 22nd May 1857, and dated the 3rd December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Mizen at tho
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd December 1856.
I, JAMES MIZEN, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING
GAS, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO CULINARY OR OTHER DOMESTIC PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
The principal object of this Invention is to economize gas making, and to
place the means of making gas for lighting and other domestic purposes
within the reach of all persons, and to apply the heat (which is now lost at
gas works) to culinary and other domestic and useful purposes.
the
The apparatus to be employed consists of a retort or retorts of a cylindrical,
rectangular, or other suitable form, which is or are to be applied at the back
or side of an ordinary domestic range, provided with boiler and oven, as usual,
or to any other ordinary fire grato of the usual or other convenient shape.
The said retort is intended to distil coal, bones, wood, oils, and fatty matters,
or any other material from which gas can be evolved by distillation. The top

page_text: or mouth of the said retort, or retorts is to be closed by means of two covers or
lids, the inner one fitting in a gallery or groove made to receive it, and pro-
vided with a hole in the top through which passes the escape pipe for the gas.
This cap or lid is covered with a second cap or cover, through which the pipe
also passes, and the space between them is filled with sand, loam, or other
suitable earth or, material, to prevent the escape of the gas. The outer cover
is secured by means of eye-bolts and pins, or in any other suitable manner.
The escape pipe, which is provided with stop-cocks and union joints, conveys
the gas to an ordinary dry lime or other purifier, whence it passes into a suit-
able receiver or gasometer, to be used for lighting, cooking, and other domestic
purposes.
A second part of this Invention consists in providing the top or lid of the
boiler attached to the domestic range or grate above named with a hole, in
which is inserted a pipe, having a funnel-shaped or other head, to receive
liquids intended to be warmed, the lower end of the pipe being closed or
provided with a stop-cock for the purpose of drawing off the liquids when
required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Mizen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MIZEN, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of December, in tho year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Hor
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, tho
said James Mizen, Her special licence that I, the said James Mizen, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Mizen,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING
GAS, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO CULINARY OR OTHER DOMESTIC PURPOSES," upon tho
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Mizen, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of

page_text: their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Mizen, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be por-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, and on reference to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:
The principal object of my Invention is to economize gas making, and to
place the means of making gas for lighting and other domestic purposes
within the reach of all persons, and to apply the heat which is now lost at the
gas works to culinary and other domestic and useful purposes.
The apparatus to be employed consists of a retort or rotorts of a cylindrical,
rectangular, or other suitable form, which is or are to be applied at the back or
side of an ordinary domestic range, provided with boiler and oven, as usual,
or to any other ordinary fire grate of the usual or other convenient shape.
Tho said retort is intended to distil coal, bones, wood, oils, and fatty matters,
or any other refuse or other material from which gas can be evolved by dis-
tillation. The top or mouth of the said retort is to be closed by means of a
cover or lid properly luted and secured by a cross bar and screw, or in any
other suitable manner, and the retort is furnished immediately below the lid
with a pipe for conveying away the gas. This pipe, which is provided with
union joints and a stop-cock, conveys the gas to an ordinary dry lime or other
purifier, whence it passes into a suitable receiver or gasometer to be used for
lighting, cooking, and other domestic purposes. The pipe is also furnished
between the retort and the purifier with a vessel to receive the tar and other
liquid products of distillation.
A second part of this Invention consists in providing the top or lid of the
boiler attached to the domestic range or grate above named with a hole, in
which is inserted a pipe, having a funnel-shaped or other head, to receive
liquids intended to be warmed, the lower end of the pipe being closed or
provided with a stop-cock for the purpose of drawing off the liquids when
required.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention of "Improvements
in Apparatus for Making Gas, partly applicable to Culinary or other Domestic
Purposes," I will proceed to describe the same more in detail; and in order
that my Invention may be perfectly understood, I have caused to be annexed
to this Specification two Sheets of Drawings illustrativo thereof, and have

page_text: marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with
those in the following explanation thereof.
The Drawings are made to a scale of about three inches to a foot. In
Sheet 1 of the Drawings, Figure 1 represents a front elevation, and Figure 2
a plan view, of an ordinary domestic range with my Invention applied thereto.
In Sheet 2 of the Drawings, Figure 3 shows a section of the range, and Figures
4, 5, and 6 are various parts of the apparatus detached. a, a, is the boiler;
b, b, the front bars; and c, c, the oven; d, d, are the bottom bars or grate.
The checks e, e, (see Figure 3) are furnished with grooves f. f, in which a
moveable back f*, f*, slides. This back may either be in the form of a grate,
as shown in Figure 4, or of perforated or plain metal, as occasion may require.
g. 9, is the retort, the top h, h, of which is properly luted and secured by
cross bar i, i, and screw k, k. The retort is supported upon two inclined
blocks 1, 1, (see Figures 3 and 5,) and is enclosed at the back by a plate-iron
casing m, m, leaving a space all round the retort. Below the retort is a trap"
n, n, which (upon withdrawing the slide o, o, by means of the knob p) falls
and discharges any ashes that may have accumulated beneath the retort into
the ash-pit below.
3
I would here observe that the retort g, g may be made of a cylindrical,
semi-cylindrical, or other form (if preferred); but I have found the form
shewn in the Drawing to produce the maximum amount of gas by the heat
from an ordinary fire. Although a deeper retort may be employed with good
effect by placing the back part of the bottom grate with the trap n, n, a few
inchos lower down. In order to economize the heat when the top and front
of the fire are not used for cooking purposes, the heat may be confined and
deflected backwards against the retort by a sheet-iron or other metal cap,
which rests upon the top front bar and the boiler and oven, and slopes back-
wards over the fire, leaving an opening into the chimney of only about six
inches. The coal or other material to be distilled is placed in the retort in an
inner case, which may be made of hoop iron, as shewn at Figure 6, or of
wire, or of perforated or plain shect iron. 29, is the escape pipe, through
which the gas passes to the purifier and receiver. The pipe q is furnished
with a stop-cock and with an union joint r, r, for the purpose of disconnecting
the retort when required.
In Figures 1, 2, and 3, s, s, is a vessel fitted into a hole in the top of the
boiler, and connected with a pipe t, t, which passes through the hot water in
the boiler, and communicates with a tap u. Any liquid poured into the
vessel s. s, will soon become heated by the hot water and steam in the boilor
and may be drawn off by the tap u.

page_text: Iaving thus described the nature and object of my said Invention of "Im-
provements in Apparatus for Making Gas, partly applicable to Culinary or
other Domestic Purposes," together with the manner of carrying the same into
practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I claim as my Invention
the general construction and arrangement of the apparatus for the above
purposes, as shewn in the Drawings, and herein-before particularly described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Mizen, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
BRISTOW HUNT,
Sol & Patent Agent,
1, Serle St., Lincoln's Inn.
JAMES MIZEN (L.S.)