IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ECONOMISING AND PURIFYING GAS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Sleight Bentley, Gas Fitter, and William
Isham, Mechanic, both of Boston, in the County of Lincoln, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ECONOMISING AND
PURIFYING GAS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Sleight Bentley
and William Isham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 18th July 1870.
We, WILLIAM SLEIGHT BENTLEY, Gas Fitter, and WILLIAM ISHAM,
Mechanic, both of Boston, in the County of Lincoln, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
ECONOMISING AND PURIFYING GAS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention has for its object economy in the consumption of gas
without diminishing its illuminating power, and also purifying it after it
leaves the meter. And our Invention for this purpose consists in
adapting and applying as near to the meter as convenient on the con-

page_text: sumer's side an apparatus composed by preference of brass, by which the
gas instead of passing as usual from the meter to the burners is inter-
cepted, and its pressure regulated, and its impurities removed before it
passes on to the burners. The apparatus for this purpose consists of an
inlet tube leading from the meter, which tube is screwed through the
end of a conical box fixed to another box conical in the opposite direction
so that when the flanges of the two boxes are screwed together the widest
part of the chamber formed by them is at or inside the flanges. The said
inlet tube enters a conical or tapered tube which is open at one end
and closed at the other, and the pressure of the gas is regulated as
required by screwing the inner end of the inlet tube towards the smaller
and closed end of the conical or tapered tube. The gas on leaving the
inlet tube enters the conical or tapered tube and returns towards the
larger and open end, whence it passes out into the chamber, and expanding
into its wider part passes through perforations in a plate arranged in a
circle, and thence through a layer of asbestos or other suitable material,
and through a second similarly perforated plate into the part of the
chamber formed by the secondly above mentioned box; in which is inserted
a third perforated plate, and in the end of which is a outlet for the gas,
which outlet enters the pipe leading to the burners. The perforations
in the three plates above referred to are made smaller in the second than
in the first, and still smaller in the third, in order to increase the pressure
of the gas before it leaves the apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Sleight Bentley and William Isham in the 2
Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
SLEIGHT BENTLEY, Gas Fitter, and WILLIAM ISHAM, Mechanic, both of
Boston, in the County of Lincoln, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said William Sleight Bentley and William Isham, Her
special license that we, the said William Sleight Bentley and William 3

page_text: Isham, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said William Sleight Bentley and William Isham, our 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 APPARATUS
FOR ECONOMISING AND PURIFYING GAS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said William Sleight Bentley and William Isham, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said William Sleight Bentley and William
Isham, do hereby declare the nature of our 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) :-
Our Invention of "Improvements in Apparatus for Economising and
Purifying Gas," has for its object economy in the consumption of gas
without diminishing its illuminating power, and also purifying it after it
leaves the meter. And our Invention for this purpose consists in
adapting and applying as near to the meter as convenient on the con-
sumer's side an apparatus composed by preference of brass, by which the
gas instead of passing as usual from the meter to the burners is inter-
cepted, and its pressure regulated, and its impurities removed before it
passes on to the burners. The apparatus for this purpose consists of an
inlet tube leading from the meter, which tube is screwed through the end
of a conical box fixed to another box conical in the opposite direction, so
that when the flanges of the two boxes are screwed together the widest
part of the chamber formed by them is at or inside the flanges. The said
inlet tube enters a conical or tapered tube which is open at one end and
closed at the other, and the pressure of the gas is regulated as required
by screwing the inner end of the inlet tube towards the smaller and closed
end of the conical or tapered tube. The gas on leaving the inlet tubes

page_text: enters the conical or tapered tube, and is caused to return towards the
larger and open end, whence it passes out into the chamber, and
expanding into the wider part of the same passes through perforations in`
a plate arranged in a circle, and thence through a layer of asbestos or
other suitable material, and through a second similarly perforated plate
into the part of the chamber formed by the secondly above mentioned
box in which is inserted a third perforated plate, and in the end of which
is an outlet for the gas, which outlet enters the pipe leading to the
burners. The perforations in the three plates above referred to are made
smaller in the second than in the first, and still smaller in the third, in
order to increase the pressure of the gas before it leaves the apparatus.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention we will describe
more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed by the
aid of the accompanying Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents in section full sized an apparatus adapted for five
lights; Fig. 2 is a plan or horizontal view of the first perforated plate;
Fig. 3 is a similar view of the second, and Fig. 4 of the third plate.
A is the inlet tube leading from the meter, which tube is screwed
through the end of the conical box B, which is fixed by bolts and flanges
to the box C. The inlet tube A enters a conical or tapered tube D, which
is open at one end and closed at the other; E is a perforated plate with a
central hole, enabling it to fit over the tube D and form a partition at the
junction between the two conical boxes B and C. A second plate F is
inserted at the closed end of the tube D, which plate has perforations in 2
it smaller than those in the plate E, and the space G between these two
plates is filled with asbestos or other suitable purifying material. Between
the plate and the end of the box C is fixed a third plate H, with
perforations smaller than those in the plate F. To the outlet at the end
of the box C is screwed the pipe I leading to the burners.
It will be seen on reference to Fig. 1, that the gas passing from the
inlet tube A enters the conical or tapered tube D, the smaller end of
which being closed the gas is caused to return towards the larger and open
end, and whence it passes out into the box or chamber B, and expanding
into the wider part of the same passes through the perforations in the a
plate E, and thence through the asbestos or purifying material at G, and
through the smaller perforations in the plate F and the still smaller.

page_text: perforations in the plate H, until it finally passes through the outlet of
the box or chamber C, and into the pipe I leading to the burners. It
will thus be perceived that the gas is allowed to expand, and its pressure
is reduced before it passes through the purifying material, and is after-
wards compressed so as to increase the pressure again before it passes to
the burners. It is also to be observed that the original pressure of the
gas may be regulated as required by adjusting the inner end of the inlet
tube to the proper distance from the closed end of the conical or tapered
tube D.
The apparatus may be altered in scale and in some of its detail
without departing from its main features as above described.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we hereby declare that what we claim
as of our Invention is, the adaptation and application between the meter
and the burners of apparatus capable of intercepting the gas on its
passage from the meter and of purifying it, and regulating its pressure in
the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Sleight Bentley and
William Isham, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the
Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
JAMES BROWN,
WILLIAM SLEIGHT BENTLEY. (L.S.)
WILLIAM ISHAM.
(L.S.)
No. 8, Witham Bank,
Signal Inspector.