IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF VOLATILE LIQUID HYDROCARBONS FROM HYDRO- CARBON GASES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR.”
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph James Coleman, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF VOLATILE LIQUID HYDROCARBONS FROM HYDRO-
CARBON GASES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR.”
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph James Coleman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th October 1874.
I, JOSEPH JAMES COLEMAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF VOLATILE LIQUID HYDROCARBONS FROM
HYDROCARBON GASES AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as
follows, that is to say :—
This Invention, which relates to the obtainment or production of
volatile liquid hydrocarbons from the gases which are evolved as a waste
in oil works and in the process of coking coal, consists in collecting

page_text: these gases and forcing them by pumping or by equivalent means into
a receiver, and thereby compressing them up to a point above the
atmospheric pressure.
Whilst in the compressed state the gases are cooled by admitting
water through a water jacket or through pipes, either surrounding or 5
passing through the receiver, or both surrounding and passing through
the same, or other means of cooling the compressed gases may be
adopted, the means by which the cooling is effected forming no part
of this Invention.
When cooled the gases are allowed to expand into another receiver 1
until their pressure is reduced to that of the atmosphere. In expanding
the gases may pass through one or more openings, but by preference
through finally perforated material such as wire gauze. The expanding
of the compressed gases still further lowers their temperature and causes
them or a portion thereof to be deposited as a liquid volatile hydro- 1
carbon.
Under a modified manner of carrying out this Invention the gases -
may be cooled by mechanical or chemical ice producing machines,
without being first compressed, the cooling having the effect of
depositing a larger amount of liquid hydrocarbons than has hitherto 2
been obtained in the manufacture of hydrocarbons; the gases before
being treated as herein-before described are preferably purified by
passing them through gas purifiers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph James Coleman in the Great Seal Patent 2
Office on the 16th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
JAMES COLEMAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the 38th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph James Coleman,

page_text: Her special license that I, the said Joseph James Coleman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph James Coleman, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF VOLATILE
LIQUID HYDROCARBONS FROM HYDROCARBON GASES, AND IN THE APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph James Coleman, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Joseph James Coleman, do hereby.
declare the nature of my 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 accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
-
is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the obtainment or production of volatile
liquid hydrocarbons from the gases which are evolved from shale oil
works and are commonly called waste gases. Such gases are at present
partially utilized as illuminating gas for towns or villages adjacent to
shale oil works, or are burnt in fuel for raising steam. The Invention
also applies to the waste gases evolved in the process of coking coal, and
it consists in collecting these gases, and forcing them by pumping or by
equivalent means into a receiver, and thereby compressing them to a
point above the atmospheric pressure.
Whilst in the compressed state the gases are cooled by admitting
water through a water jacket or through pipes surrounding or passing
through the receiver, or both surrounding and passing through the same,
or other equivalent apparatus for cooling the compressed gases by water
may be adopted.
When cooled the gases are allowed to expand into another receiver
until their pressure is reduced to that of the atmosphere. The expanding

page_text: '
•
of the compressed gases still further lowers their temperaturo and
causes them or a portion thereof to be deposited as liquid volatile
hydrocarbons.
In carrying my said Invention into practice with reference to the
waste gases evolved from shale oil works, the process is applied to the
gases which remain uncondensed and ordinarily pass off as waste gases
after the liquids separable at ordinary atmospheric temperatures have
been condensed out, whether by simply allowing the hot vapours from
the shale retorts to escape at their normal pressure through the system
of condensers usually employed in shale oil works, or whether the said
hot vapours
have been drawn from the retorts by an exhaust pump or
apparatus and forced through the condensers for the purpose of con-
densing the oils contained therein.
The gases treated under this Invention are permanent at mean
atmospheric temperatures, and they are drawn from the shale oil con-
densers by pumping or equivalent means, and forced into a receiver
wherein they are compressed to the extent of several atmospheres, a
pressure of from 100 to 150 pounds per square inch being preferably
employed.
The gases previously to being pumped or compressed into the receiver
are preferably purified from the tars and sulphur compounds contained
therein in the manner usually employed in the purification of illu-
minating gas, but such purification of the gases may be dispensed with
if desired.
The first receiver into which the gases are compressed as herein-before
described may consist of a vessel containing a large number of pipes
through which the gases are caused to pass, and which are surrounded
or acted upon by a stream or shower of cold water, or cold water may
be passed through the pipes and the gas cooled by being brought into
contact with the outsides of the said pipes or other equivalent means
may be employed, it being explained that the object of the first part of
my process is to bring the compressed gases at or to the mean atmo-
spheric temperature. When the gases have been so compressed and
cooled by water, and after separation of the liquids which are formed by
simple pressure and cooling by water, and which liquids fall to the
bottom of the vessel or receiver, and are therefrom removed through
self-acting or other arrangements of cocks or valves, as is herein-after

page_text: more particularly set forth, the gases are expanded in another receiver
until their pressure is reduced to that of the atmosphere.
During the act of expanding the gases great lowering of their
temperature is produced and which is intensified when the gases are
expanded in the act of doing work. To ensure such intensified decrease
of temperature the gases are preferably expanded into the second
receiver through the cylinder of a motive-power engine, wherein they
are employed, previous to complete expansion, in pumping or com-
pressing fresh portions of the gases into the receiver first referred to.
The cold produced in so expanding and employing the gases is utilized
in acting upon and still further decreasing the temperature of other
portions of the gases expanding in and passing through the second
receiver, whereby further portions of liquid volatile hydrocarbons are
deposited in the second receiver in addition to the liquid obtained in the
first receiver by simple pressure and cooling to atmospheric temperature.
By means of this combined process the whole or the greater portion of
the condensible hydrocarbons obtainable from the gases of shale oil
works usually allowed to escape as waste gases (after the liquids
obtainable from the hot vapours issuing from the retorts have been
condensed out by the ordinary means) are recovered.
The liquid volatile hydrocarbons (when the gas I employ is cooled to
about 60° Fahrenheit) obtained in the first receiver have a density of
about 0-700, whilst those obtained in the second receiver have a density
of 0.650 to 0-660, water being taken as unity.
Various arrangements of apparatns may be employed in treating the
waste gases of shale oil works for the recovery of liquid volatile hydro-
carbons therefrom as herein-before described. Two forms of such
apparatus for practising my said Invention are illustrated by the Figures
on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a vertical section of a receiver into which
the gases may be expanded as herein-before described. The receiver A
communicates by a pipe B with the receiver into which the gases are
compressed by the [pumping or forcing 'apparatus, and it is provided
with a piston O accurately fitting the receiver, and maintained in a
vertical position by a piston rod D which is or may be attached to a
chain or rope and counterweight at its upper end, or a spring or springs
or other equivalent means may be employed for that purpose. Between
the opening of the pipe B and the under side of the piston C layers E

page_text: of finely perforated wire gauze or other equivalent material are placed
as shewn. The receiver A is provided at its upper end with two pipes F
and G for the admission and escape of water into and out from the
receiver A, and an escape pipe H is also placed at the lower end of the
receiver as illustrated at Figure 1. The pipes B, F, G, and H, are each
provided with stop cocks or valves which are or may be opened and shut
by any suitable arrangement of self-acting levers or other equivalents.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Water is first admitted on
the upper sido of the piston C through the pipe F in quantity sufficient
to fill the space in the receiver A above the piston C when the latter is
at the lower end of its stroke, as shewn in the Drawing. The cock or
valve of the pipe F is then closed and that in the pipe G opened. The
cock or valve of the pipe B is next opened and a quantity of the com-
pressed gas is allowed to pass therethrough into the lower end of the
receiver A wherein it expands and raises the piston O to the upper end
of the receiver, forcing the water or other liquid outwards through
the pipe G. During the act of expansion the gases are reduced in
temperature and on closing the cocks or valves of the pipes B and G,
and opening those of the pipes H and F, the expanded and cooled gases
together with the liquid volatile hydrocarbons produced during the said
expansion and cooling of the gases are ejected from the receiver A by
the descent of the piston O into any suitable receptacle placed in
communication with the pipe H. The cooling of the gases in the act of
expanding cools the wire gauze or other finely perforated material placed
at E, which therefore again absorbs heat from fresh quantities of the
gases subsequently introduced through the pipe B, and these also after
expansion and performing the work of lifting the loaded piston O
cool the material at E, the cooling action thus becoming continuous.
Figure 2 of the Drawings hereunto appended is a plan of a complete
arrangement of apparatus which it is also intended to employ in carrying
my said Invention into practice. Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical
section of the receivers forming part of the said apparatus, the section
being taken on the line a, b, Figure 2, whilst Figure 4 is a part
horizontal section and part plan of one receiver.
As shewn more particularly at Figure 2 the apparatus consists of two
horizontal engines A, B, to which double acting pumps C, D, are
attached, the piston of the cylinder and that of the pump in cach

page_text: engine being directly coupled by placing them on the same piston rod.
The pumps C, D, communicate by pipes E with the usual condensers of
the oil works wherein the liquids separable at ordinary temperatures are
condensed out, and through the pipes E the gases uncondensible at such
temperatures are drawn into the pumps and thence forced through
pipes F into the compressod gas receiver G with which the pipes
communicate by openings or branches formed at each side at or near the
level marked I, Figure 3.
Instead of communicating directly with the condensers the pipes E
may communicate with a gas purifying apparatus, in which the
gases after leaving the condensers and previously to being drawn
through the pumps C, D, deposit their tars and are freed from sulphur
compounds.
At the interior of the receiver G a series of vertical pipes c are placed
and fixed into diaphragms & and e, which divide the receiver into three
sections or chambers superposed. In the central chamber a stream of
cold water or other cooling liquid is caused to act on the pipes c and so
extract the heat generated in compressing the gases into the receiver,
suitable branches being formed at the upper and lower ends of the said
chamber for the ingress and egress of the water or other liquid.
The liquid volatile hydrocarbons produced by simple pressure and
cooling of the gases in the receiver G pass downwards with the gases
through the pipes c and collect in the chamber J, from whence they
pass off through the pipef provided with a self-acting ball valve or cock,
as shewn, or these liquid hydrocarbons may be otherwise withdrawn.
From the receiver G, the gases which remain uncondensed by pressure
and cooling to atmospheric temperature pass off through the branch and
pipe K into the upper part of a similarly constructed receiver L through
which they are conducted downwards to the branch M to which a
pipe leading to the slide valve chest on the cylinder B, of the second
engine is attached. In the cylinder B, the gases are partially expanded,
and in the act of expanding are caused to actuate the piston in the
cylinder B, which being attached to the piston of the pump D and to the
crank of the fly wheel shaft has the effect of driving that engine, and
pumping fresh quantities of the gases into the receiver G. The partially
expanded gas passes from the exhaust port of the cylinder B at a
temperature at or below zero of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and it is

page_text: from thence conducted back into the central compartment of the
receiver L, through a pipe connected to the branch N, in which com-
partment the gas is still further expanded and its temperature is again
decreased, and passing upwards to the branch O escapes from the
receiver L after acting upon the pipes g and reducing the temperature
of the compressed gas passing therethrough. Such reduction of
temperature causes a further condensation of liquid volatile hydro-
carbons which collect in the lower parts of the receiver L, and these are
removed therefrom in manner similar to that herein-before described in
reference to the receiver G. By means of this arrangement of apparatus
the greater portion of volatile hydro-carbons condensible from the waste
gases of shale oil works are recovered.
In lieu of employing two receivers, as shewn on the Drawings, any
other number of such receivers communicatng with each other may be
used..
In practising my said Invention with reference to the waste gases
produced in coking coal the process and apparatus herein-before described,
or modifications thereof are employed, it being explained that it is
preferred to draw the gases through a water trap previous to condensing
them in order to remove soot and other impurities admixed therewith.
The volatile hydrocarbons condensible from gases produced in coking
coal differ in their character from those produced in retorts employed in
the destructive distillation of shale.
:
Under a modification of my said Invention the waste gases herein-
before referred to may be treated for the condensation of their volatile
hydrocarbons by machinery or apparatus similar to that employed in
cooling water for the mechanical or chemical production of ice. The
machines under this mode are employed in circulating cooled brine or
other saline solution or liquid around the tubes of receivers, or in
condensing apparatus containing the gas.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe
in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
: First. The production of volatile liquids from the waste gases of shole