IMPROVED ECONOMICAL APPARATUS FOR MAKING GAS FOR ILLUMINA-TION
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
CORDEN, of Nottingham, Tobacco Manufacturer, and SIDNEY SMITH, of the
same place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirtieth day of April, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Robert Corden and Sidney Smith, Her especial licence, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that we, the said Robert Corden and Sidney Smith, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as we, the said Robert
Corden and Sidney Smith, our executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, our In-
vention of "IMPROVED ECONOMICAL APPARATUS FOR MAKING GAS FOR ILLUMINA-
TION; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging us, the
said Robert Corden and Sidney Smith, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particularly to

page_text: describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Robert Corden and Sidney Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is parti-
cnlarly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is the construction of a convenient economical
apparatus for generating carburetted hydrogen gas, and the adaptation thereof
to the grates, stoves, or fireplaces which are ordinarily used in private dwellings
or other houses or buildings, so that the heat of such fireplaces when in use
may be employed for the distillation of gas from coal or any other material.
This object is effected by removing the ordinary back plate of the stove or grate,
and fixing or placing a retort, made of wrought iron, at the back of the grate
in lieu thereof, so that the fuel in the fireplace is in immediate contact with an
external surface of the retort, and the coal contained therein can become
heated sufficiently to generate gas. The shape and size of the retort must of
course be varied according to circumstances and situation; as, for instance, in
some cases it may be more convenient to place the retort at the side, although
we generally prefer using it at the back, as shewn in Sheet I. of the accom-
panying Drawings, in which the Figures represent the retort as forming the
back and bottom of the grate. But wherever the retort is placed, care must
be taken that one surface at least is in contact with the combustible materials
at a red heat, otherwise the coal within the retort will not be brought to such
a temperature as will generate a sufficient supply of gas.
Fig. 1 represents a front view of a kitchen range, with all the gas apparatus
complete; Fig. 2 is a plan or horizontal view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a
The retort a, a, is
transverse section taken through the fireplace and retort.
constructed of wrought iron, as before mentioned, although retorts made
of cast iron or fire clay may be also used. It will be seen that an open way
or flue b, b, is made all round the retort, for the purpose of allowing the heat o
the fire to play as freely as possible on all sides. The retort is charged once a
opening in the top, which is
day, the first thing in the morning, through an
afterwards closed by the cover c, and kept air-tight by the cross bar and screw d

page_text: The retort is discharged through an opening at the bottom, which is closed in
a similar way to the upper one by means of a cover e, and cross bar and
screw f. The coke that is withdrawn from the retort, after being operated
upon, may be employed for keeping up the fire and heating the retort; it will,
therefore, be perceived that there is no extra expenditure or waste of fuel
incident particularly to the production of the gas, as it is not necessary to main-
tain a larger fire than is ordinarily kept up in kitchens. The gas, when liberated
from the coal in the retort, rises up through the pipe 9, 9, into the hydraulic
main h, from whence it passes through the pipe i into the purifier, and, when
sufficiently purified, it is eventually conducted by means of the pipe j into the
gasometer k, k. The tar from the hydraulic main h is conducted therefrom by
means of the syphon pipe into the tar cistern or vessel m below. A supply
pipe n, furnished with a stopcock, conducts the gas from the gasometer & to
the house or building where it is intended to be consumed.
In Sheet II. is shewn another method of carrying this Invention into effect.
Fig. 4 represents a vertical section of a common German stove, in which is
placed a retort for generating gas. The retort is fixed vertically in the stove,
and is of a similar form to that above described. It is charged from above at c,
and the coke is withdrawn at e. The gas is conveyed to the other part of the
apparatus by the pipe g.
Fig. 5 also represents a vertical section of another form of stove, in which
the retort is placed in a horizontal position, or nearly so; and Fig. 5*
cand e are the charging and discharging aper-
represents an end elevation.
tures; and 9 is the gas pipe, as in the other Figure. If thought desirable, the
retort may be placed in a slightly inclined position, as shewn in the Figure, in
order to facilitate the charging and discharging of the same.
In Sheet III. is shewn a method of adapting a retort to the furnace of a steam
boiler. Fig. 6 is a transverse section of a steam engine boiler and furnace,
shewing the retort extending across the furnace, and Fig. 7 is a longitudinal
section of the same. As a consilerable supply of gas is generally required
in factories or places where steam engines are employed, the retort should
be of larger dimensions than those above described, and two or more retorts
may be employed if the furnace is a large one. The retort a, a, is of a
circular form, and is built into the brickwork of the sides of the furnace just
in front of the bridge, but, if thought more desirable, it may be placed behind
the bridge; or, by employing D-shaped retorts, constructed either of wrought
iron covered with fire clay, or built entirely of fire bricks, as shewn in Fig. 8,
the retort may be made to answer the purpose of a fire bridge.
The retorts may be placed in other positions in the furnaces of steam

page_text: engines, but those above described are the most desirable, as the heat of
the furnace is sufficiently intense for the production of gas, and the retorts
in those situations are acted upon by the spare heat which would otherwise
be wasted, one great advantage of this Invention being in the economy of
generating gas from the spare heat of fires used for other purposes. g is
the pipe for conducting the gas from the retort to the hydraulic main h,
from whence it passes into and through the other parts of the apparatus:
A condenser, such as is generally employed in the manufacture of gas, is
not shewn or described, since it may be dispensed with in the domestic appa-
ratus, or that shewn in Sheets I. and II.; but should it be found advisable to
employ one in connection with the apparatus shewn in Sheet III., it may be
easily applied.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed and conveniently carried into effect, we wish it to
be understood that we lay no claim to generating gas from coal for the purposes
of heating and illuminating buildings, as the same has been long known and in
use; nor do we claim placing retorts or vessels containing coal in the flues
or chimnies of houses or dwellings; nor do we claim anything in respect of
the various parts of the apparatus taken separately, or the mode of filling the
retorts and closing them, or of purifying and preserving the gas. But what
we claim, as the Invention to be secured to us by the herein-before recited
Letters Patent, is,―
First, the fixing or placing a retort or retorts contiguous to the combustible
materials at a red heat, and so as to form part of the back or sides of kitchen
ranges or fireplaces in ordinary use for domestic purposes.
Secondly, we claim the adapting or applying retorts for the generation of
gas to stoves or fireplaces, as shewn and described in Figs. 4, 5, and 5*, so that
they may be acted upon by the spare heat.
And lastly, we claim the placing retorts under steam boilers, or in furnaces
used for other purposes than making gas, as shewn and described in reference
to Sheet 3.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Corden and Sidney Smith, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-eighth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
ROBERT (L.S.) CORDEN.
SIDNEY
(L.S.) SMITH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-eighth day
of October, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Robert Corden
and Sidney Smith came before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of October, in the year above written.