IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AND CARBURETTING ILLUMINATING GAS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING
AND CARBURETTING ILLUMINATING GAS."-A communication from abroad
by Cordello D. Elmer, of Southold, in the State of New York,
United States of America.
Sealed the 7th November 1871, and dated the 18th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 18th May 1871.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING
AND CARBURETTING ILLUMINATING GAS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to apparatus in which hydrogen gas is generated
by the decomposition of water by the chemical action of an acid on
metal immersed in the acid and water. Sulphuric acid and zinc may

page_text: be employed for the purpose, but other acids and metals will effect the
same object. The hydrogen gas thus produced is afterwards carburetted
by passing it through a hydrocarbon oil.
The apparatus employed for the purpose consists of two hydrogen
gas generators combined or connected together so that the exhaustion
of one of the generators automatically puts the other into operation.
Whenever the burners arc closed so that gas is not drawn off the float
of the generator which is in action immediately rises and lifts the metal
out of the acid solution, and thereby stops any further generation of
gas. To these ends the floats of the generators have combined with
them a partially revolving gas cock which is subject to the control of
the floats. The floats act on the gas cock by means of an intervening
shaft and arms operated by a weighted cord passed over a wheel
or pulley. A tank or carburetting chamber is arranged within the
gasometer, and is provided with a perforated pipe which carries off the
carburetted gas. This perforated pipe connects the carburetting tank
with the gas generator.
It is connected to the carburetting tank
at or near its top, and is
its bottom, so that the gas is most thoroughly distributed and purified
in its passage up through the water which seals the gasometer.
coiled around the body thereof to or near
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her
special licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: 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
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AND CARBURETTING ILLUMINATING
GAS," being a communication to me from abroad by Cordello D. Elmer,
of Southold, in the State of New York, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to apparatus in which hydrogen gas is generated
by the decomposition of water by the chemical action of an acid on metal
immersed in the acid and water. Sulphuric acid and zinc may be
employed for the purpose, but other acids and metals will effect the same
object. The hydrogen gas thus produced is afterwards carburetted by
passing it through a hydrocarbon oil.
The apparatus employed for the purpose consists of two hydrogen
gas generators combined or connected together in such a manner
that the exhaustion of one of the generators automatically puts the
other into operation. Whenever the burners are closed so that gas is.
not drawn off the float of the generator which is in action immediately.
riscs and lifts the metal out of the acid solution, and thereby stops any
further generation of gas. To these ends the floats of the generators..
have combined with them through means of an intervening shaft and
arms operated by a wheel and weight or their equivalents a partially
revolving gas cock or cocks which is or are subject to the control of
the floats. A tank or carburetting chamber is arranged within the
gasometer and is provided with a perforated pipe which carries off the
carburetted gas. This perforated pipe connects the carburetting tank
with the gas generator. It is connected to the carburetting tank at, or

page_text: near its top and is coiled around the body thereof to or near its bottom,
so that the gas is most thoroughly distributed and purified in its
passage up through the water which seals the gasometer.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents a partly sectional
elevation of the apparatus complete; Fig. 2 is a partly sectional plan of
the same; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the carburetter and
gasometer detached.
In the Drawing, A and B represent two hydrogen gas generators
placed side by side or near each other and constructed in the main
exactly alike, and are similar in their operation. Each of these
generators is composed mainly of an outside cylinder C provided with
upper and lower bottoms b, b', forming a drip pan D. Connected also to
and mounted on the upper bottom 6 is an inner and shorter cylinder E.
Both of these cylinders may be open at their tops. The annular space
formed by these two cylinders C and E is filled with water up to nearly
the top of the inner cylinder. Arranged within this water space is a
third cylinder or float F having a raised top c. This cylinder is free to
rise and fall, and is subject to or is controlled by the pressure of the gas
within it. The lower portion of the cylinder E constitutes a tank for the
acid solution. G is a perforated vessel or basket in which is placed the
zinc or scrap iron, and is immersed in the acid and water within the
cylinder E. This vessel G is suspended by straps d from the raised
top c of the float F. The top has a screw cap e to cover or close the hole
by which the metal is passed to the basket G, as also the solution to the
cylinder E. The screw cap e has a rod f which passes up through a
stationary guide bar g. The vessel E is fitted with a draw-off pipe and
cock for the acid solution. This pipe has mounted on it (inside of the
cock) a glass tube or indicator i to indicate the height of the solution in
the tank or cylinder E. A draw-off pipe for water and a draw-off pipe for
any substance that may collect in the drip pan D may also be provided.
H, H', are gas pipes leading from the generators to a main pipe I by
means of upper horizontal-connecting branches K, K', and other suitable
bends or elbows, as represented in Figures 1 and 3 of the Drawing,
and forming a system of outside pipes which are readily accessible
in case of necessary repair. The upper horizontal branches K, K', of the
gas pipes are fitted with gas cocks J, J', one to each pipe. These gas
cocks are connected by a shaft K working in bearings or uprights 1, lª,
and carrying a pulley m, attached to which is a cord and weight n. The

page_text: shaft K also carries (or has attached to it) arms L, L', with their ends
bent at right angles to catch upon or against the rods f of the rising and
falling cylinders F, and which arms as well as the openings in the two
gas cocks J, J', with respect to the pipes they control are arranged at
right angles to each other, or thereabouts, so that when the one cock is
opened the other is closed. M is the outside cylinder of the gasometer
and carburetter fitted with upper and lower bottoms o, o', forming a
drip pan N. In the centre of this cylinder is arranged a tank or car-
buretter O, preferably made of cylindrical form with convex ends, and
resting on the upper bottom o of the cylinder M. The space around the
tank O is filled with water, as represented in Fig. 2. In this space is
arranged the float or rising and falling vessel P of the gasometer. It
is provided with a guard 9 on the top, the lift or drop of the vessel P
being controlled by the pressure of the gas on the inside of it, as in
other gasometers. The vessel P is prevented from rising out of the
water in the cylinder M by the guard a striking a fixed bar or stop r.
The tank or carburetter O is partially or nearly filled with light petro-
leum oil or other carburetting material, as represented in Fig. 3, and is
provided with a draw-off pipe and cock S. The draw-off pipe has
mounted on it inside of the cock a glass tube or indicator to indicate
the height of the oil in the carburetter O, and is formed with a cup
or mouth on its top to provide for the filling of the carburetter. A
draw-off pipe for the water and another for any substance that may
collect in the drip pan N may also be provided. The main gas pipe I
from the generators enters. the carburetter O at its bottom, and extends
through the oil up to the top of the vessel and down through the oil
again to the bottom of the carburetter, where the gas is forced out, and
rising through the oil collects in a carburetted condition in the space
above the oil, from whence it is taken out at the top of the carburetter
through a pipe Q which is perforated, and is arranged so as to coil around
the outside of the carburetter, as shewn at Fig. 3. The gas as it is
forced out through this perforated pipe Q is thoroughly distributed
within the water surrounding the carburetter O, and; is caused to rise
up through the same into the gasometer or space P above the car-
buretter. The carburetted gas thus washed or purified is then passed
off by a pipe R to the burners, or for use as required. When the
generators A and B are charged their floats or operating cylinders F
at once rise by the pressure of the gas, as does also the float P of the
gasometer, till the baskets G containing the metal used in generating

page_text: the gas are lifted out of the acid solution in the vessels E, when all
action ceases. This continues to be the condition until a vent is
pro-
duced for the gas, as by lighting the burners when the float of that.
generator which for the time being is open to the main gas pipe begins
to fall, which immerses the zinc or metal in the basket again in the
solution, and more gas is formed. Whenever the burners are closed
the float of the generator (which is then in action) at once rises and
lifts the zinc or metal out of the solution, and all action ceases. When
a generator becomes exhausted its float sinks or falls and its rod f falls
below the arm L or L' of the shaft K which allows the shaft under the
action of the weight n to make a quarter revolution, thereby closing
the gas cock of the exhausted generator and instantly opening the gas
cock of the other generator, which consequently at once comes into
action to keep up the supply of gas. The exhausted generator may
then be recharged, when its float at once rises and is in a condition for.
keeping up the action upon the exhaustion of the other generator.
Thus the exhaustion of one generator brings the other automatically
and instantaneously into action.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner.
of carrying the same into effect, I claim, as the Invention secured to
me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the within-described apparatus for
generating and carburetting illuminating gas, constructed, combined,
and arranged substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-