IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Williams Box, of the Gas Works,
Crayford, in the County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS.”
Sealed the 28th June 1872, and dated the 1st May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Williams Box
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,.
on the 1st May 1872.
I, WILLIAM WILLIAMS Box, of the Gas Works, Crayford, in the
County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has reference to the rising or ascension pipes attached
to the mouth pieces of the retorts, and are employed to convey the gas
from the retort to the bydraulic main. From a variety of causes those
commonly in use are liable to become wholly or partially choked up, and
the cleaning of them as at present arranged is then a very troublesome

page_text: and sometimes difficult process, one too that is frequently only partially
successful.
The object of this Invention is to reduce the trouble attending the
operation and to ensure the complete removal of any obstruction in the
pipes.
The Invention also aims at the prevention of any substance formed
within the pipes attaining such a condition as to become an impediment
to the free passage of the gas. With this view the mouth piece of the
retort has a socket with lugs cast on to it, the front part of which socket
is removable. The lower part of the H pipe is also constructed in a
similar manner. The ascension pipe, or that part of it which reaches
from the mouth piece to the H pipe, is preferably made of wrought iron,
and is of such a size as will admit of each end when covered with luting
or cement being placed within the half sockets on the mouth piece and
H pipe. The front part of the sockets may then be placed over the ends
of the pipe, when claws which take hold of the lugs are made to bear
against them and the front part of the sockets by means of screws,
wedges, or other suitable contrivance, thus compressing the two parts of
each socket and the luting around the ends of the pipe, tight joints being
formed thereby.
To afford facility for lifting the ascension pipes in and out of position,
it is proposed to attach to the bridge or H pipe at the end of each bed a
clip and bracket to support a bar, upon which is made to run a travelling
pulley with an eye to receive the hook of a set of blocks and falls for
raising or lowering the ascension pipes when the necessity for removing
them arises.
The reason for constructing the ascension pipes of wrought iron is
because they are lighter, more easy to manipulate with, and by virtue of
their thinness remain cooler and more unfavourable to the collection of
any deposit within them. Should however an obstruction occur it will
be seen that by slacking the screw or wedge of each claw the fronts of
the sockets may be removed, the pipe taken out, and a fresh or clean one
inserted in its place and the joint again secured, as above described.
The deposit in the foul pipe may then be burned or otherwise cleaned
out at leisure.
To adapt the Invention to the present arrangement all that is
necessary is to attach to the sockets or flanges of the mouth piece and
H pipe sockets constructed as previously herein described.

page_text: * The Invention is not limited to the use of wrought-iron pipes, because
cast-iron ones may be used for the purpose, but the former are preferred
for the reason before stated.
"
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Williams Box in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILLIAMS Box, of the Gas Works, Crayford, in the County of Kent,
send greeting."
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Williams Box, Her special licence
that I, the said William Williams Box, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Williams Box,
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 APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF Gas," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Williams Box, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 William Williams Box, 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, reference being had to the accom-

page_text: panying Drawings, and to the letters and ngures marked thereon, that is
to say:
-
This Invention has reference to the rising or ascension pipes attached
to the mouth pieces of the retorts, and are employed to convey the gas
from the retort to the hydraulic main. From a variety of causes those i
commonly in use are liable to become wholly or partially choked up, and
the clearing of them as at present arranged is then a very troublesome
and sometimes difficult process, one too that is frequently only partially
successful.
The object of this Invention is to reduce the trouble attending the
operation, and to ensure the complete removal of any obstruction in the
pipes.
The Invention also aims at the prevention of any substance formed
within the pipes attaining such a condition as to become an impedi-
ment to the free passage of the gas. With this view the mouth piece
of the retort has a socket with lugs cast on to it, the front part of
which socket is removable. The lower part of the H pipe is also con-
structed in a similar manner. The ascension pipe, or that part of it
which reaches from the mouth piece to the H pipe, is preferably made of
wrought iron, and is of such a size as will admit of each end, when
covered with luting or cement being placed within the half sockets on
the mouth piece and H pipe. The front part of the sockets may then be
placed over the ends of the pipe, when claws which take hold of the lugs
are made to bear against them and the front part of the sockets by
means of screws, wedges, or other suitable contrivance, thus compressing
the two parts of each socket and the luting around the ends of the pipe,
tight joints being formed thereby.
To afford facility for lifting the ascension pipes in and out of position,
it is proposed to attach to the bridge or H pipe at the end of each bed a
clip and bracket to support a bar, upon which is made to run a travelling
pulley, with an eye to receive the hook of a set of blocks and falls for
raising or lowering the ascension pipes when the necessity for removing
them arises. The bar upon which the pulley travels may also be sup-
ported from the retort bench independently of the H or bridge pipes.
The reason for constructing the ascension pipes of wrought iron is
because they are lighter, more casy to manipulate with, and by
virtue of their thinness remain cooler and more unfavourable to the

page_text: collection of any deposit within them. Should however an obstruction:
occur it will be seen that by slacking the screw or wedge of each claw
the fronts of the sockets may be removed; the pipe taken out, and a
fresh or clean one inserted in its place, and the joint again secured as
above described. The deposit in the foul pipe may then be burned or
otherwise cleaned out at leisure.
To adapt the Invention to the present arrangement all that is
necessary is to attach to the sockets or flanges of the mouth piece and
H pipe sockets constructed as previously herein described.
The Invention is not limited to the use of wrought-iron pipes because
cast-iron ones may be used for the purpose, but the former are preferred
for the reason before stated.
In order that the foregoing may be more easily understood Drawing
are attached hereto, of which the following is a description :-
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the general arrangement, and Fig. 2 a
front elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan of the claw shown at the
socket joint E, Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is the half socket removed from the
corresponding half socket C, Fig. 1..
In Fig. 1, A is the mouth piece; B, the ordinary socket cast on it;
and C, an additional socket made in two halves fitted into B in order to
apply the Invention to mouth pieces as at present constructed. When
providing new mouth pieces the socket B should be cast like the socket C,
thereby obviating the necessity of having two sockets. D is the stud or
lug on the posterior half of the socket on to which the claw shown in
Fig. 3 hooks in the manner exhibited at the upper socket joint E of the
ascension pipe F, and is made in a precisely similar manner to that of the
lower or mouth piece socket. In the case of new H pipes being cast, the
socket G may be dispensed with, the necessary socket being made
like E. I is a clip passing round the outer ascension pipe of each bed of
retorts, and is used to support a bar J, upon which runs a travelling
pulley K for the purpose before mentioned. Similar letters indicate the
same parts in the different views.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of this
Invention, and the manner in which the same may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have described or

page_text: referred to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of this Invention; but what I
consider to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
construction of ascension pipes and their connections together with the
lifting apparatus, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Williams Box, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two