IMPROVE- MENTS IN INCREASING THE ILLUMINATING POWER OF GAS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Théodule Launay and Jules Chopin, Gas-
fitters, of Paris, in the French Empire, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN INCREASING THE ILLUMINATING POWER OF GAS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Théodule Launay
and Jules Chopin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 4th August 1856.
We, CHARLES THÉODULE LAUNAY and JULES CHOPIN, Gasfitters, of Paris,
in the French Empire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN INCREASING THE ILLUMINATING POWER OF GAS," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists in causing gas from coal, peat, &c. and hydrogen
gas to pass through or in contact with wicks, cottons, or other suitable vehicles,
kept, saturated with an essential or volatile oil or carburetting spirit, after the
gas issues from the meter, and prior to its reaching the burner or burners.
Various apparatuses will suffice to keep the wick saturated with oil or spirit,
such as those employed in moderator or carcel lamps. The apparatus must
of course be enclosed, to prevent the escape of any gas, except through the
regular outlet provided for it.
We intend to claim forcing gas after it issues from a meter through
essential oil or carburetting spirit, distributed by suitable means in thin films
or streams, in order to increase the illuminating power of the gas on its
passage from the meter to the burner or burners.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Théodule Launay and Jules Chopin in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 3rd February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
THEODULE LAUNAY and JULES CHOPIN, Gasfitters, of Paris, in the French
Empire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Charles Theodule Launay and Jules-Chopin, Her special licence that we, the
said Charles Theodule Launay and Jules Chopin, our executors, adininistrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Charles Theodule Launay and
Jules Chopin, 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 INCREASING THE
ILLUMINATING POWER OF GAS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Charles Theodule Launay and Jules Chopin, or one of us, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in, writing under our, or their, or one of
our or their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Charles Theodule Launay and Jules
Chopin, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
'tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto, annexed, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to increase the illuminating properties of gas
from coal, peat, and other substances, and of hydrogen gas.
Our Invention consists in passing or forcing gas after it issues from the
meter, and prior to its reaching the burner, through or in contact with wicks,
cottons, or other similar textile materials inmoistened with an essential or
volatile oil, liquid, hydrocarbon, or. other carburetting liquid, by the end or
ends thereof dipping or being inserted in cups or compartments containing
such liquid.

page_text: The annexed Drawings illustrate the manner in which our Invention is
carried into effect.
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 a vertical section, of an apparatus in
which the essential or volatile oil or carburetting spirit is supplied to the ends
of a series of wicks placed in a horizontal position, and through which the gas
is conducted in its passage from the meter to the burner. A is a chamber into
which the oil or spirit is conveyed (through the pipe d by an elevator b from
a reservoir C; this elevator may consist either of a number of balls attached
on a chain, as at b, Figure 2, or of a cup chain, as at b', Figure 3, or the oil
or spirit may be lifted by a pump, or supplied to the end or ends of the wick
Below this chamber A the body of the apparatus is divided into a number of
compartments f, f',f,f", placed one below the other, and so formed as to
leave a space or central chamber X between them, as shewn in the Figure;
over the inner edges h, h', h", of these compartments are laid a number of
wicks or cottons 1, 1, 1", "", stretched across the space X, and kept away from
the inner sides of the compartments by the wires or ledges k, k. A small
space is left between each of the wicks in each compartment, and also between
every adjoining compartment, for the free circulation of the gas and flow of
the carburetting fluid. Figure 4 is a plan, and Figure 5 a sectional view, of
one of these compartments f.
The oil or spirit having been conveyed into the chamber A, trickles drop by
drop through a number of orifices e (which may be provided with regulators)
into the top compartment f, and thence through overflow orifices 9 into the
succeeding compartments f', f", &c., until it reaches the lowest compartment
F, from which it trickles through a pipe G into a reservoir C, to be used over
again. The ends of the wicks dip into the oil or spirit in the compartments,
and the whole wick imbibes it by capillary attraction. The gas is brought
from the meter through the pipe m into the lower part of the central chamber
✗, whence it rises through the whole set of wicks, becomes charged with the
carburetting property of the fluid, and passes off in that condition through the
outflow n.
Figure 6 is a side elevation, and Figure 7 a vertical section, of another
apparatus in which the wicks are arranged in a vertical position. The car-
buretting liquid is supplied by a pump A to the chamber B, whence it flows
through the sides D, D, and escapes through the overflow pipe E into the
reservoir C. The wicks are held at top in slots M in a plate P, (shewn
detached in Figure 8,) and at bottom in a perforated plate Q, (shewn in plan,
Fig. 11,) while they are kept in place by another plate G provided with pegs
K, K; this plate is shewn detached in section, Figure 9, and plan, Figure 10;

page_text: the gas is made to enter through the tube H, passes through the wicks D, D,
through the outflow pipe J to the burners.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we declare that we aware it has hitherto
been proposed to pass gas through hydrocarbonaceous liquids, but that from
the liquid having been presented in too great a body the plan has not suc-
ceeded; and that we claim as of our Invention for increasing the illuminating
power of gas,
First, the passing of gas through an apparatus or chamber in which hydro-
carbonaceous or carburetting liquid or fluid is presented to the gas in thin
or minute streams or films_through_wicks,-cottons, or other similar textile
materials, the ends of which are made to dip in cups or compartments con-
taining the same.
And, second, the particular arrrangements of apparatus herein-before
described and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed for carrying our
Invention into effect.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Theodule Launay and Jules
Chopin, have hereunto set our hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven.
Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD, Ing" Civil,
Boulevard de Strasbourg, No. 23,
á Paris.
C. T. LAUNAY. (L.S.)
(L.S.)
J. CHOPIN.