AN IMPROVED COMPOUND OR COMBINATION OF MATERIALS TO BE USED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ILLUMINATING GAS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Greenshields, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOUND
OR COMBINATION OF MATERIALS TO BE USED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF
ILLUMINATING GAS."
Sealed the 28th June 1867, and dated the 21st March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Greenshields at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st March 1867.
I, JAMES GREENSHIELDS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "AN
IMPROVED COMPOUND OR COMBINATION OF MATERIALS TO BE USED FOR THE PRODUCTION
OF ILLUMINATING GAS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention which has for its object the admixture or combination of
certain animal, vegetable, and mineral substances for forming a compound to
be used for the production of illuminating gas consists in admixing together
the following substances, namely, rosin, pitch oil, otherwise known as dead
oil or heavy oil, paraffin oil or paraffin tar, and paraffin in other forms,
petroleum, animal tar, and an alkali which may be either soda, borax, lime,
or other saponifying substance, it being understood that other mineral,
vegetable, or animal substances in addition to or in place of those or some of
those herein-before specified may also be used. The substances to be sapo-

page_text: nified are boiled together, and after being completely commingled the
resulting liquid is allowed to cool, when in a short time it will be solidified,
and is easily formed into blocks or lumps of any convenient form or size
which are particularly applicable for storage and shipment. A great advantage
resulting from this combination of substances is that the saponified compound
is not liable to evaporation as is found to be the case with gas producing
compounds at present known. In addition to the foregoing substances, if
it should under any circumstances appear desirable, a proportion of pitch,
coal shale, peat, sawdust, or lignite may be used.
It is further to be understood that the degree of saponification may be
varied, so that the compound may be obtained either in a solid or a more or
less plastic state, and that in converting the compound into gas it is heated
in a retort in the ordinary manner at present employed at gasworks for
distilling coal.
"The proportions of the ingredients preferred for forming the compound are,
three parts of crude or refined paraffin oil or tar, two parts of bone tar or animal
oils, one part of mineral or heavy pitch oil, and one part of rosin or vegetable
oil; these being boiled with caustic ley of the usual strength until saponi-
fication is complete, when a small quantity of dry powdered lime is added,
which causes the whole to congeal into a thick hard soap."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Greenshields in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GREENSHIELDS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Greenshields, Her special license that I, the said James Greenshields,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Greenshields, my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED COMPOUND OR
COMBINATION OF MATERIALS TO BE USED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ILLUMINATING GAE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Greenshields,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 I, the said James Greenshields, 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, that is to say:-
My said Invention which has for its object the utilization of certain animal,
vegetable, and mineral substances for forming a compound to be afterwards
used either by itself or in combination with shale, or other carbonaceous
material for the production of illuminating gas consists in admixing together
the following substances, namely, rosin, pitch oil, otherwise known as dead oil,
or heavy oil, paraffin oil, or paraffin tar, and paraffin in other forms, petroleum,
animal tar, with an alkali being either potash, soda, or lime, or any other
alkali, earth, or metallic oxide capable of saponifying and making a soluble or
insoluble compound, as required. The substances to be saponified are boiled
together with an alkali, and after being completely commingled the resulting
liquid is allowed to cool, when in a short time it will be solidified, and is easily
formed into blocks or lumps of any convenient form or size, which are par-
ticularly applicable for storage and shipment; or the substances can be boiled
for a shorter time so as to leave the compound in a soft, plastic, liquid, or
soluble state.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I now
proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or under
which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, that is
to say:-
In forming gas-producing compounds under the present Invention I use
certain animal, vegetable, and mineral substances, and for the purpose of
thoroughly combining these ingredients, as well as imparting to the compound
a hard and stable condition, at the same time rendering the compound non-
evaporable at atmospheric temperatures, I saponify them by the addition
thereto of an alkali or other substance capable of effecting the saponification of
the oleaginous substances under the influence of an exalted temperature. The
animal substances I prefer to employ are what are commonly known as bone tar,

page_text: animal and fish oils, and their "foots" or refuse. The vegetable substances
are resin in any of its commercial forms, and vegetable oils and their "foots"
or refuse, whilst the mineral substances are heavy pitch oil, otherwise known as
dead oil or heavy oil, crude or refined paraffin oil, paraffin tar, paraffin pitch,
and paraffin in all its other commercial forms, and petroleum. The alkalies I
prefer to use are potash, soda, and lime, and I sometimes in combination with
one or more of these or other alkalies, or without combination therewith,
adopt the salt borax to produce the saponification of the herein-before mentioned
animal, vegetable, and mineral substances; but it is to be understood that I
do not limit myself to those alkalies and the salt which I have herein-before
referred to, as my Invention may be carried into effect with other alkalies,
earths, or oxides of metals capable of saponifying and forming the admixture
of animal, vegetable, and mineral substances into a soluble or insoluble
compound, as required.
The proportion of the afore-mentioned substances which I prefer to employ,
although I do not bind myself thereto, are crude or refined paraffin oil or tar,
three parts; animal oils or their "foots" or refuse, bone tar, or pitch, two
parts; mineral or heavy pitch oil, one part; and rosin or vegetable oils, or their
"foots" or refuse, one part. These substances are boiled together with caustic
ley of the strength ordinarily employed for saponifying processes until saponi-
fication is complete, after which a small quantity of dry powdered lime or
other alkali or a salt is added, which causes the whole to congeal, when
allowed to cool, into a thick, hard, and saponified substance. The substance
thus produced may by any of the means ordinarily employed for such opera-
tions be easily formed into blocks or lumps of any convenient size or form for
storage and shipment, or, if required, the saponification may be stopped so as
to leave the compound in a soft, plastic, or liquid state. A great advantage
resulting from this combination of substances is that the saponified compound
is not liable to evaporation, as is found to be the case with gas-producing
compounds at present in use. In addition to the foregoing substances, if it
should under any circumstances appear desirable, a proportion of pitch, ground
or unground, coal, shale, peat, sawdust, or lignite may be used. It is further
to be understood that the degree of saponification may be varied, so that the
compound may be obtained in a solid or in a more or less plastic or liquid
form, and as a soluble or insoluble compound, and that in converting the com-
pound into gas with or without pitch, coal, shale, peat, sawdust, or lignite, it
is subjected in the retorts to rather a higher heat than in the ordinary manner
at present employed at gasworks for distilling coal.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in

page_text: which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would
observe in conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
First, the combination of animal, vegetable, and mineral substances in a
saponified state, forming a soluble or insoluble compound to be used for the
production of illuminating gas, substantially as herein-before described.
Second, the combining with the saponified gas-producing compound, whether
soluble or insoluble, one or more of the carbonaceous materials, substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Greenshields, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven.
5 Witness,
ST. JOHN VINCENT DAY, C.E.,
Patent Office,
166, Buchanan St.
Glasgow.
JAMES GREENSHIELDS. (L.S.)