IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Symes and James
William Young at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 19th April 1870.
WC, GEORGE SYMES, of Goding Street, Vauxhall, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, and JAMES WILLIAM YOUNG, of Portland Terrace,
Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturing Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS," to be as follows:-
The object of our Invention is the introduction into common and
public use of a cheap and simple apparatus for manufacturing
illuminating gas without danger of explosion or other unpleasant con-
sequences, which apparatus may be readily and conveniently placed in
private dwelling houses, offices, and other buildings, and may also be
advantageously adapted for railway carriages and signals for ships or
vessels, and in all cases where it is necessary or desirable to have a pure
and brilliant light without great expense either in providing the
apparatus or in the production of the light, and where it is absolutely
necessary that there should be no danger from an explosion at any part
of the apparatus.

page_text: We prefer to generate the gas from wood, but we may use coal, paper,
peat, resin, dead oil," and other materials, and we wish it distinctly
understood that no part of our said Invention relates to the use of any
particular substance or compound for producing the gas. For burning
the wood or other substance the apparatus is provided with a box or
retort of iron or other suitable material, which may be placed in a
kitchen range or in any ordinary stove. The said box is closed by a
cover fitted to a face like a valve instead of being made tight by means
of lime or cement as in ordinary gas retorts. The said retort is con-
nected by a pipe or tube to a hydraulic main which may be a cylindrical
vessel of cast iron or other suitable metal, and which may be placed in
the chimney or arranged and supported in any convenient position in or
near the house or structure. This vessel is partially filled with water, and
the pipe or tube which connects the retort with the hydraulic main has
one opening above the water and another opening below the surface
thereof. The hydraulic main is provided with a safety valve, and when
the pressure in the retort rises above a certain degree the safety valve is
forced open and the gas escapes into the chimney or into a pipe or
passage leading into the same. Except when the safety valve is open
the gas leaves the pipe through the opening below the water level and
the apparatus will thereby work with a pressure considerably less than
if the gas entered the main above the water. The exit pipe for the gas
is at the top of the hydraulic main, and the tar pipe is at the end or side
thereof level with the surface of the water. The aforesaid main is
provided with a covered aperture for pouring in the water and with a cock
or tap for permitting the same to escape. By this means the level of the
water in the main can be so regulated as to ensure the continual proper
working of the apparatus. The gaseous products of combustion received
from the retort into the hydraulic main are by the latter separated so
that the gas passes away through the exit pipe while the tar and other
impurities (except the sulphur) are carried of by the tar pipe, which
terminates in a larger tube or cylindrical vessel arranged below the
main. The hydraulic main is connected by the gas exit pipe or tube to
a condenser, which is a vessel having within it a series of vertical
partition plates so arranged that the gas passes alternately over one and
under the other till it leaves the condenser. The latter is connected to
a purifying vessel which is divided vertically into two chambers, in one
of which there is a series of sieves containing lime, and in the other a
series of sieves containing sawdust. The gas as it enters the purifyer

page_text: passes up through the lime and enters the second chamber and decends
through the sawdust, and thence passes free from sulphur away through
a suitable pipe or tube to the gas holder. The said gas holder is
preferably a cylindrical vessel, which may be made of sheet iron, zinc, or
other suitable metal and is partially filled with water. This vessel may
be of any required capacity and is preferably supported upon a metal
stand or column. Inside the cylindrical vessel is an inverted chamber
which opens into the water and which rises and descends in the water in
proportion to the quantity of gas in the holder. At the top, this interior
vessel or chamber is provided with a small tube which passes through a
guide at the top of the holder. This small tube is provided with a
burner whereby the quality of the gas in the holder may be tested at
any time.
Instead of using a cylindrical metal gas holder as above described we
may use an air-tight bag made of india rubber, gutta percha, leather, or
other flexible material. The gas passes away from the holder to the
service pipe from which it is conducted to the burners. In cases where
it is necessary or desirable to increase the brilliancy or power of the
light we provide a small carburetting vessel which is partially filled
with undistilled naptha or other carbonaceous liquid. The gas passes
from the gas holder into this vessel where it absorbs carbon and is taken
therefrom to the service pipe.