IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR LIGHTING AND HEATING PURPOSES, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joshua Kidd, of 24, Martin's Lane, in the City
of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR LIGHTING AND HEATING PURPOSES, AND IN THE
APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."-Partly a communication from
abroad by Tevi Arnold, of the City and State of New York.
+
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joshua Kidd at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th January 1875.
I, JOSHUA KIDD, of 24, Martin's Lane, in the City of London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR LIGHTING AND HEATING
PURPOSES, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows
I place coal tar, petroleum, naphtha, or other liquid hydrocarbon in
an ordinary boiler or still, and apply heat to it till vapour is generated.
in the boiler is about 10 lbs. on the square
pressure of vapour
When the

page_text: inch, I allow the vapour to escape through a small jet or orifice
arranged as shown at O, H, G, Figures 1, 2, and 3, in Patent Specification
No. 1917 of 1873. The escaping force of the vapour will suck or
exhaust gas through any suitable pipe from the place where it is stored,
and force it mixed with the vapour from the jet into and through t
suitable red-hot retorts. If the gas mixed with the escaping vapour is
poor in carbon, in passing through the red-hot retort it will be
thoroughly changed into a permanent fixed gas of high illuminating
power. To make this method of making gas successful, care should be
taken not to charge the gas to be carburetted with too much hydro- 1
carbon vapour. By adjusting the orifice of the vapour jets the mixture
of gas and vapour may be very nicely regulated.
The second part of my Invention consists in a novel arrangement and
method of setting retorts, by means of which a much larger yield of
gas can be obtained from each ton of coal than at present.
My improvements consist in connecting together two, or by preference
three, horizontal coal gas retorts, and placing the same one above
another. This combination of retorts must have but one stand pipo or
outlet leading to the hydraulic main, so that two sets of the combined
retorts would form a bench of six single retorts having only two outlets 2
or stand pipes.
When using a combination of three retorts they must be so connected
and arranged that the gas from the lower retort must pass over the coal
placed in the two upper retorts, and the outlet to the hydraulic main
must be from the top retort only.
A very good result may be obtained by attaching the outlet or stand
pipo to the bottom retort instead of the top one, and causing the gas
to travel downwards over the coal placed in the lower retorts. The
combined retorts should have a wide communication between cach other,
so as to allow the gas a free passago; they should be charged with coal
and operated in the ordinary way.
The mixture of gas and vapour described and forming the first part of
my Invention may be made into a fixed gas by forcing it through the
combined retorts heated to a red heat.
1

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joshua Kidd in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joshua
KIDD, of 24, Martin's Lane, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joshua Kidd, Her special licence,
'that I, the said Joshua Kidd, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joshua Kidd, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR LIGHTING AND HEATING PURPOSES, AND IN THE APPA-
RATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," partly a communication to him from abroad
by Levi Arnold, of the City and State of New York, and partly the result
of his own Invention, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Joshua Kidd, 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 In-
vention, 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 Joshua Kidd, 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:—
My improved method and apparatus for manufacturing gas for lighting

page_text: buretting the same with the heated vapour of liquid hydrocarbons, and
afterwards changing it into a fixed gas by passing it through one or
more red-hot retorts.
The second part of my Invention consists in a new method of setting
retorts by combining two or more retorts together, by which arrange-
ment a much larger yield of gas is obtained from the distinctive dis-
tillation of coal than at present.
In carrying out the first part of my Invention I place in a closed
boiler or vapour generator coal far, petroleum, naphtha, dead oil,
naphthalene, or other oil rich in carbon. I heat the vapour generator
containing the oil till the pressure of the vapour will indicate to from
ten to thirty pounds on the square inch; I then allow the vapour to
escape from a small jet into a pipe with a large orifice. This pipe must
be connected to the retorts or other apparatus where a non-luminous gas
is being generated or stored. The escaping force of the hot vapour from
the jet draws or carries with it a large volume of non-luminous gas, and
the mixture thus formed is conducted or forced through one or more
red-hot retorts. The gas and vapour being equally and thoroughly
mixed in suitable and adjusted proportions is rapidly decomposed or
changed into a permanent gas.
The non-luminous gas suitable for the purposes of my Invention may
· be produced from small coal either separately or mixed with chalk or
lime, or from any other gas producing substance by subjecting tho
materials to a higher heat and longer distillation than at present in
ordinary coal gas retorts. Or the gas may be withdrawn from the
retorts at that stage of the distillation when it is poorest in lighting
power.
The non-luminous gas may also be generated by passing superheated
steam through incandescent materials placed in retorts, or by a Siemens
or other form of gas producing furnace, as shewn in the Drawings at
Fig. 2.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention I join or connect
together three retorts and place them one above another, as shown in the
Drawings at Figs. 3 and 4. These retorts must be charged with coal
and operated in the ordinary manner. The gas from the lower retort
before escaping has to pass over the fuel contained in the two upper

page_text: retorts. By this combined arrangement of retorts a much larger yield
of gas can be obtained and much less tar produced than at present.
I find that an equally good result may be obtained by allowing the
gas to escape from the lowest retort, as shown in the two combined
retorts at Fig. 3, but when so arranged they are not so convenient to work.
This method of setting and combining retorts may be advantageously
used for decomposing and making a fixed gas of the mixture of non-
luminous gas and hydrocarbon vapour before described, and forming the
first part of my Invention.
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