IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE ILLUMINATING POWER OP GAS, AND FOR PRODUCING GAS BY THE VAPORIZATION OF HYDROCARBONS. AND ESSENCES OF PETROLEUM
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Archibald Brooman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, witli his Petition, on the
21st May 1864. A communication from abroad by Gustave Bouchery
and Jules François le Batteux, of Paris, France.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE ILLUMINATING POWER OP
GAS, AND FOR PRODUCING GAS BY THE VAPORIZATION OF HYDROCARBONS. AND ESSENCES
OF PETROLEUM," to be as follows:-
•
The objects of this apparatus are either to increase the illuminating power
of gas passed through it by bringing it in contact with hydrocarbons or essences
from petroleum oils, which increase its lighting qualities, or to produce gas by
vaporising these essences under heat. The apparatus may be used for various
purposes. 1st, as a carburetter, that is to say, for increasing the illuminating
power of gas with or without heat applied internally. 2nd, as a gazogene or
gas producer, in which case an intense heat must be maintained. The
apparatus consists of two cylindrical parts superposed, the upper of which is a
feed reservoir and the lower is that in which the essences are vaporized. The
two parts are formed with flanges at their junction, a packing of leather is
interposed, and the flanges are secured by bolts. The feed reservoir is separated
into two compartments by the partition L, see the accompanying Drawing. The
compartment R carries the stopper X and receives the fresh liquid. The
compartment R¹ is intended to receive the essences which falling through the

page_text: valve in the reservoir R fill the bottom of the apparatus F. The essences
may be vaporized as often as desired, either separately by opening only the
valve S', or when there only remains a liquid difficult to be vaporized separately
by mixing with it fresh liquid, for which purpose it is necessary to open the
valve S by means of the handle B, the handle B works the valve S¹. These
valves are conical tubes, the lower orifice in which is closed by the part E,
which is made of tin. In the feed reservoir and lower part of the compart-
ment R' there is a tap M intended for drawing off the residues which may be
no longer serviceable or for testing the strength of the essences after having
passed once or oftener through the heated compartment. Thus the lower part
of the apparatus is fed through the valves S, S¹. These valves are regulated
to only allow of the introduction into the lower part of the apparatus of the
equivalent of so much as has been gasified, so as not to encumber the bottom
of the apparatus;
N is a gauge to shew the level of the essences which have
fallen into the lower part of the apparatus. The compartment in which the
gases are generated consists of a second casing, also cylindrical, of vessels or
receivers V, V, V, placed over one another which receive the essences at
their upper part, and are exposed at their lower part to the heating agent,
water or steam, and of partitions slightly inclined towards the centre.. The
object of the inner casing is to compel the air admitted through the pipe A to
follow all the sinuosities indicated by arrows before leaving the apparatus, and
that in order to its being saturated with the volatilized products forming
affinity therewith and carrying them off to the burners. This air before
issuing from the pipe A¹ passes over all the heated vessels, and comes in con-
tact with the partitions C¹, Cu, C, which it traverses at the same time as the
liquid through the orifices O, O', 0". The receivers vary in number and size
with the size of the apparatus. These receivers are in the form of vases at
top, but towards the centre, where the partition separates the part containing
the essences from the part exposed to the beating medium, small tubes placed
perpendicularly are added, the lower orifice of these tubes is soldered to the
bottom of the conduit in which the heating medium circulates, the top of the
tubes is soldered exteriorly to the upper part of this same conduit, the upper
orifice is thus open to the liquid, which descends to the bottom of the heat
reservoir in S, S, Su, S³, thereby increasing the heating action, every
tube becoming a heater. To each receiver there is a pipe T, T', T", com
municating with the receiver below. it; these pipes conduct the heating
medium, steam or water, which enters at a and issues at a¹. The partitions
C, C, C, slightly inclined towards the centre are intended to open up
communication for the essences from one receiver to the other, and, as before

page_text: stated, to direct the currents of air, which finding no escape except through the
orifices o, o', o¹¹, is at each partition projected at the centre of the receivers.
These partitions, placed immediately below the heated compartments, contribute
also to the vaporization of the liquid, and to a greater extent if covered with
any fabric which retards the flow of these essences. The liquid descended
through the valves fills first the pipes of the upper receiver V, then the receiver
itself, the overflow from which falls upon the first partition C¹ and thence
through the orifices O into the second receiver V₁, which becomes filled in a
similar manner to the first. From receiver to receiver the liquid falls into
the bottom of the apparatus into F. When the level is upon the point of
being obtained, indicating that the essences are upon the point of stopping up
the orifices O", the pump must be worked. As a precautionary measure. I
provide in the bottom of the apparatus an overflow reservoir F" communi-
cating with F through the pipe T, by this means the passage of the gases
in O is not closed until the overflow reservoir F is full; M¹ is a tap in the
lower part of the reservoir F". The apparatus may be used not only to pro-
duce gas from the essences derived from petroleum oils, but for utilizing
directly natural petroleum oils, extracting the essences they contain without
loss, and leaving as a sub-product an oil fit for burning in lamps with wicks.
However, in operating upon natural oils and other matters leaving a residuum,
I reserve the right of substituting for the plates with tubes, and the partitions
which separate them, a spiral pipe, with the centre of the apparatus as its centre,
and hermetically boxed in the cylindrical caze Z. The reason for this change
is that for products which leave a residuum it follows that in a given time the
receivers V, V, V", and the tubes at the bottom of these receivers will only
contain a residuum which cannot be vaporized, or upon which the heating
medium exerts so little influence as to produce only insignificant results. By
this alteration the liquid fallen through the valves S, S', without resting in
any receiver is nevertheless subjected during its longer course to a tempera-
ture higher, because the heat circulates between two heating reservoirs. The
lower part of the spiral upon which the liquid circulates is a heat conduit,
and the return of this conduit upon itself at a very slight interval produces
a new action. To divide the liquid more regularly over the inclined plane,
and check its downwards progress, I use a wick or fabric, the upper end of
which dips in a cup where it is fed by capillarity.