AN IMPROVEMENT IN DISTILLING PRODUCTS FROM COAL
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Lavender, of 30, Aston Street, Limehouse,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
DISTILLING PRODUCTS FROM COAL."
Sealed the 9th March 1858, and dated the 9th September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Lavender at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th September 1857.
I, EDWARD LAVENDER, of 30, Aston Street, Limehouse, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN DISTILLING PRODUCTS FROM COAL," to be as follows:-
"This Invention has for its object an improvement in distilling products from
coal, and consists in subjecting coal to the action of superheated steam in a
suitable chamber or vessel, and thus to cause products to be distilled over
which are to be condensed. For this purpose the chamber or vessel may be of
east iron or other suitable material; and it is preferred that the highly heated
steam should be introduced under a perforated false bottom on which the coals
are placed, and the vessel or chamber should also be provided with an opening
and door or cover, to facilitate the feeding in the coal and removing the coke;
also an opening or passage with suitable pipe to a condenser to convey off and
condense the products distilled over, and in some cases the products are

page_text: conducted into acidulated water. The steam is to be highly heated, and
conveyed by a suitable pipe under the false perforated bottom. The chamber
or vessel is not to be externally heated, and it is desirable that the chamber or
vessel when of cast iron should be coated externally with nonconducting
materials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Lavender in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
LAVENDER, of 30, Aston Street, Limehouse, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Lavender, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Lavender, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward
Lavender, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
DISTILLING PRODUCTS FROM COAL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Edward Lavender, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Lavender, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
.
This Invention has for its object an improvement in distilling products from
coal, and consists in subjecting coal to the action of superheated steam in a
suitable chamber or vessel, and thus to cause products to be distilled over

page_text: which are to be condensed. For this purpose the chamber or vessel may be
of cast iron or other suitable material; and it is preferred that the highly
heated steam should be introduced under a perforated false bottom on which
the coals are placed, and the vessel or chamber should also be provided with
an opening and door or cover to facilitate the feeding in the coal and removing
the coke; also an opening or passage with suitable pipe to a condenser to
convey off and condense the products distilled over, and in some cases the
products are conducted into acidulated water. The steam is to be highly.
heated and conveyed by a suitable pipe under the false perforated bottom.
The chamber or vessel is not to be externally heated, and it is desirable that
the chamber or vessel, when of cast iron, should be coated externally with
nonconducting materials.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
In carrying out my Invention, the form and dimensions of the apparatus
used may be greatly varied, and made of any suitable materials. The
arrangement which is recommended is as follows:-A cylindrical cast-iron
chamber or vessel, about six feet long and two feet diameter, with a door at
one end to admit of the chamber or vessel being readily charged with coal and
discharged of.the coke or residue; this chamber or vessel is placed in a
horizontal position, and externally clothed with brickwork or other non-
conductor of heat. Near the bottom of the chamber is placed a perforated
bottom, on to which the coal to be treated is charged to the extent of six or
eight inches in depth, the coal being first broken into pieces, by preference not
exceeding two to three inch cube. Under the perforated bottom a coil or
zig-zag of steam pipe of cast or wrought iron is placed, which is perforated
with numerous small holes in order to diffuse the highly heated steam
introduced thereby in numerous jets. The false bottom may be dispensed
with and the coals placed directly on the coil or zig-zag pipes. A pipe is
connected to the upper part of the chamber or vessel, by which the vaporized
products are conveyed off to be condensed; the end of this pipe passes into a
closed vessel and dips a few inches below the water or slightly acidulated
water contained therein; the vapour, rising above such water, is then conducted
by a pipe to a condenser, which is of the ordinary kind used when distilling
products from pitch or tar, and also similar to condensers used to condense
like products from boghead and other coal when distilling by means of heat
applied in a different manner to that herein described. On one of the pipes
used for conveying the vapours from the chamber or vessel to the condenser is
a cock, by which some of the vapour may at any time be drawn into a small

page_text: glass or other vessel containing water, and if it is found that no solid or oily
product is condensed on the surface of such water; the charge in the chamber
or vessel is completed. Steam from about twenty to fifty pounds on the
square inch above the atmospheric pressure is used, but this may be varied,
and the steam in its passage from the boiler to the perforated pipe in the
chamber or vessel is caused to be as highly heated as may be, in like manner
to that practised in heating atmospheric air for producing hot blast, and also
for heating steam when for distilling fatty and oily matters, all which is well
understood, and separately is not claimed by me. And I would state that the
classes of coal used by me are boghead and others rich in hydrocarbons, such
as have heretofore been employed when distilling by other means than those
herein described to obtain condensed products without carrying the destructive
distillation to the extent of producing carburetted hydrogen gas. The con-
densed products thus obtained are to be purified and used as like products
obtained from coal have been heretofore purified and used. From the above
description it will be understood that the chamber or vessel is not externally
heated by fire, but that the heat employed for producing the distillatory process
is conveyed or carried in by the steam, which is heated by a suitable fire or
furnace, previously to its being diffused amongst the coal in the retort; and
it is in this respect that the peculiarity of my Invention consists.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Lavender, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
EDWARD LAVENDER. (L.S.)