IMPROVEMENTS IN ILLUMINATING LIGHTHOUSES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE MANU- FACTURE OF ILLUMINATING GAS GENERALLY
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Richardson Wigham, of Albany House,
Monkstown, in the County of Dublin, Ireland, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ILLUMINATING LIGHTHOUSES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
FOR THAT PURPOSE, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE MANU-
FACTURE OF ILLUMINATING GAS GENERALLY."
Sealed the 1st April 1869, and dated the 6th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
left by the said John Richardson
Wigham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th October 1868.
1, JOHN RICHARDSON WIGHAM, of Albany House, Monkstown, in the
County of Dublin, Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ILLUMINATING LIGHTHOUSES, AND
RATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE
MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING GAS GENERALLY," to be as follows:-

page_text: 1866, No. 2871, I described the employment of illuminating gas prepared
from certain substances for illuminating lighthouses.
Now one part of my present Invention consists in illuminating light-
houses by means of combustible gases prepared from certain substances
and compounds other than those set forth in my aforesaid Specifications,
that is to say, from coal, coke, or other similar carbonaceous substances,
in a more or less pulverized state, and mixed with parafline, petroleum,
or shale oil, or other liquid or semi-liquid hydrocarbons; also from peat,
sawdust, and other similar vegetable matters, either alone or mixed
with oil, paraffine, shale oil, petroleum, or other liquid or semi-liquid
hydrocarbons.
My Invention consists furthermore in burning such gases or any
gas in lighthouses in combination with the vapour of any of the aforesaid
or other hydrocarbons, or with oxygen or ozone, such combination being
used to increase the illuminating power of the burning gas.
My Invention consists furthermore in an improved apparatus for the
manufacture of illuminating gas for the use of lighthouses or for any
other purpose to which illuminating gas may be applied, but which is
particularly adapted for the use of lighthouses, inasmuch as gas for that
purpose is required to be of the best and purest description.
Such apparatus is constructed in the following manner:-The retorts
for the destructive distillation of the coal or other gas-making material
are arranged in a horizontal position (in place of vertical, as described
in the Specification to my Patent No. 2795 of 1861), each retort to be
somewhat arch-shaped, and to have in its interior surface near the spring
of the arch a projecting fillet, which fillet is to support an arched cast
or wrought-iron lining, so constructed in two or more pieces that when
placed in their proper positions they will have the effect of causing the
greater part if not all of the gas distilled from the coal or other gas-
making material to pass under and over them, thereby causing a great
part of the tarry condensible vapours to be converted into dry gas, and at
the same time preventing the nuisance of great accumulations of gas tar,
and the great inconvenience of having gas fittings, pipes, and burners
stopped up and clogged thereby. In other respects the gas apparatus is
similar to those ordinarily in use. I prefer to use luted joints for the
purifiers in order to gain more purifying surface than is generally pro-
cured by the ordinary construction of purifiers. The additional space thus

page_text: procured may also be used as washer space or scrubbing space, without
the necessity for complicating the apparatus with additional vessels for
that purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Richardson Wigham in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 5th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
RICHARDSON WIGHAM, of Albany House, Monkstown, in the County of
Dublin, Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Richardson Wigham,
Her special licence that I, the said John Richardson Wigham, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Richardson Wigham, 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 ILLUMINATING LIGHT-
HOUSES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE, WHICH APPARATUS 19
ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING GAS GENERALLY," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Richardson
Wigham, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Officè within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW. KNOW YE, that I, the said John Richardson Wigham, do-
the natuwa of the said Invention and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures & letters marked
thereon, that is to say:
In the Specification to certain Letters Patent granted to me, and
bearing date respectively the 4th April 1865, No. 945, and 6th November
1866, No. 2871, I described the employment of illuminating gas prepared
from certain substances for illuminating lighthouses.
Now one part of my present Invention consists in illuminating light-
houses by means of combustible gases prepared from certain substances
and compounds other than those set forth in my aforesaid Specifications,
that is to say, from coal, coke, or other similar carbonaceous substances
in a more or less pulverized state, and mixed with parafline, petroleum,
or shale oil, or other liquid or semi-liquid hydrocarbons; also from peat,
sawdust, and other similar vegetable matters, either alone or mixed
with oil paraffine, shale oil, petroleum, or other liquid or semi-liquid
hydrocarbons. Such mixture may be made by grinding the solid
matters before applying the liquids, or by pressing solids and liquids
together into a compact mass in the form of blocks of convenient shape,
such blocks to be used, whole or broken, in the usual manner for gas
making by putting them into retorts. The illuminating power of the
flame resulting from such gases may be increased by the introduction
into it of some solid refractory body, such as metallic gauze, lime,
magnesia, &c., in a similar manner to the oxy-hydrogen flame or Bude
light heretofore employed, and which application of refractory bodies I
do not claim as part of my present Invention.
My Invention consists furthermore in an improved apparatus for the
manufacture of illuminating gas for the use of lighthouses, or for any
other purposes to which illuminating gas may be applied, but which is
particularly adapted for the use of lighthouses, inasmuch as gas for that
purpose is required to be of the best and purest description.
Such apparatus is constructed in the following manner:-The retorts
for the destructive distillation of the coal or other gas-making material
are arranged in a horizontal position (in place of vertical, as described
in the Specification to my Patent No. 2795 of 1861), each retort to be
somewhat arch-shaped, and to have in its interior surface near the spring
of the arch a projecting fillet, which fillet is to support a moveable

page_text: arched cast or wrought iron lining or partition, so constructed in one,
two, or more pieces that when placed in their proper positions they
will have the effect of causing the greater part if not all of the .gas
distilled from the coal or other gas-making material to pass under and
over them, thereby causing a great part of the tarry condensible vapours to
be converted into dry gas, and at the same time preventing the nuisance
of great accumulations of gas tar, and the great inconvenience of having.
gas fittings, pipes, and burners stopped up and clogged thereby.
prefer to use luted joints for the purifiers in order to gain more purifying
surface than is generally procured by the ordinary construction of
purifiers. The additional space thus procured may also be used as
washer space or scrubbing space without the necessity for complicating
the apparatus with additional vessels for that purpose.
I
Figures 1 to 3 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings shew my
before-described improved construction of retort. Figure 1 shows a
longitudinal section through the retort without the arched plates or
lining; Figure 2 shows the same section with the said plates; and
Figure 3 shows a transverse section through the retort and lining.
The retort A is provided with projecting fillets a, a, on each side,
upon which rest the arched plates B.
The gas, as it is distilled from
the carbonaceous matter in the retort, is caused to pass first under and
then over the highly-heated plates B before arriving at the outlet
aperture C, whereby a great portion of the tarry and condensible vapours
carried along with the gas are converted into dry gas, and whereby
consequently also the accumulation of tar in the pipes is more or less
prevented.
Having thus described the nature of the several parts of my Invention,
and in what manner they are to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I am aware gas retorts have been constructed with divisions or
partitions therein, and I therefore do not claim this generally; but what
I claim is,
First. Illuminating lighthouses by means of combustible gases pre-
pared from coal, coke, or other carbonaceous compounds in a more or
less pulverized state, and mixed with parafline, petroleum, shale oil, or
other liquid or semi-liquid hydrocarbons; also from peat, sawdust, and
other similar vegetable matters, either alone or mixed with oil, paraffine,

page_text: shale oil, petroleum, or other
other liquid or semi-liquid hydrocarbons,
substantially as herein-before set forth.
Second. Providing gas retorts with one or more arched metal plates
resting upon fillets or their equivalents on each side at the upper part
of the retort, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Richardson Wigham, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JOHN RICHARDSON WIGHAM. (L.S.)