IMPROVEMENTS IN CHARGING AND DRAWING THE CHARGE PROM GAS RETORTS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN PERFORMING SUCH OPERATIONS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Green, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of
Lancaster, Gas Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHARGING
AND DRAWING THE CHARGE PROM GAS RETORTS, AND IN THE MACHINERY
EMPLOYED IN PERFORMING SUCH OPERATIONS."
Sealed the 28th December 1860, and dated the 23rd July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Green at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd July 1860.
I, HENRY GREEN, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Gas Engi-
5 neer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CHARGING AND DRAWING THE CHARGE FROM GAS RETORTS, AND IN THE MACHINERY
EMPLOYED IM PERFORMING SUCH OPERATIONS," to be as follows:-
It has heretofore been customary to charge gas retorts with cannel or coal,
and to draw the coke from gas retorts by manual labor. Now, my Invention
consists in performing these operations by machinery, in order to economise
time and labor. In charging retorts, I place the cannel or coal in a scoop,
similar to those now sometimes employed, and this scoop with the cannel or
coal is inserted into the retort by a screw, or other suitable machinery. When
the scoop is in the retort it is turned over by a segment and pinion, or by a
crank, or other equivalent agent, thereby depositing the cannel or coal on to
the bottom of the retort; the empty scoop is then withdrawn by reversing the

page_text: motion of the screw or other machinery by which it is worked. In drawing
the charge of coke from the retorts I make use of an instrument some-
what like a rake or shovel with the teeth or blade hinged or otherwise con-
nected to the shank. This instrument is pushed over the coke until it arrives
at the end of the retort, when its motion is reversed, and the teeth or blade
dropping on to the bottom of the retort, draw the coke out. This rako or
shovel is moved to and fro by a screw, or other suitable machinery. The
machinery may be constructed to operate on one or more retorts at the same
time, and it may be mounted on a travelling frame, which is moved from one
retort to the other; it may also be double-acting, that is to say, while one part
of the machine is charging a retort the other part is drawing the charge from
another retort.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Green in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
GREEN, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Gas Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry
Green, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Green, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Green, 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 CHARGING AND DRAWING
THE CHARGE FROM GAS RETORTS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN PERFORMING
SUCH OPERATIONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Green, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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.

page_text: HOW AAUW 12, that 1, the said fenry Green, do hereby declare tho
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
It has beretofore been customary to charge gas retorts with cannel or coal,
and to draw the coke from them by manual labour. Now, my Invention con-
sists in performing these operations by machinery, in order to economize time
and labour. In charging retorts I place the cannel or coal in a scoop, similar
to those now sometimes employed, and this scoop with the cannel or coal is
inserted into the retort by a screw, or other suitable machinery. When the
scoop is in the retort it is turned over by a segment and pinion, or by a crank,
or other equivalent agent, thereby depositing the cannel or coals on to the
bottom of the retort; the empty scoop is then withdrawn by reversing the
motion of the screw, or other machinery by which it is worked. In drawing
the charge of coke from the retorts I make use of an instrument somewhat
like a rake or shovel with the teeth or blade hinged or otherwise connected to
the shank. This instrument is pushed over the coke until it arrives at the end
of the retort, when its motion is reversed, and the teeth or blade dropping on
to the bottom of the retort draw the coke out; this rake or shovel is moved
to and fro by a screw, or other suitable machinery. The machinery may be
constructed to operate on one or more retorts at the same time, and it may be
mounted on a travelling frame, which is moved from one retort to the other;
may also be double-acting, that is to say, while one part of the machine is
charging a retort, the other part is drawing the charge from another retort.
it
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to
describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the
figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved machinery, shewing also the
mouths of part of a series of retorts placed at different levels, in the usual
manner; Figure 2 is a side view; and Figure 3 is a plan of the same.
My improved machinery consists of a travelling frame composed of the
bottom beams a, uprights a', and top beams a²; the whole frame is supported
on wheels b, running on rails 6', extending the whole length of the series of
retorts; to the top beams a² are attached brackets for the shafts c and d, see
Figure 2; the former is supported in bearings attached to the travelling frame,
and transmits motion to the various parts to be driven; but the latter, which
is square, must be taken the entire length of the retort house, in order to drive
the shaft c in every position of the travelling frame; the wheels c' and d' which
communicate motion from one shaft to the other are clearly shewn in Figure 2.

page_text: To the shaft c is connected the sliding catch box e, which, with the mitro
wheels e', e², and f', drives the upright shaft f; to this shaft is connected by a
key fitting in a groove the mitre wheel f³, gearing into the wheel g', fixed to
the end of the screw g, by which the scoop h is taken into and withdrawn from
the retorts. To the shaft c is also connected the sliding catch box i, which,
with the mitre wheels i, 2, and j, gives motion to the upright shaft j, which
is also grooved to receive the key in the mitre wheel, by which the screw k
is driven; this screw works the scraper for withdrawing the coke from the
retorts. Both the screws g and k are supported on the table m, which is raised
and lowered within the travelling frame, so as to bring the scoop and scraper
on a level with the various heights of retorts, in the following manner:
To the shaft c is fixed a worm c³, gearing into a wheel n', fixed to the shaft n;
to this shaft is connected the sliding catch box n', which, by means of the mitre
wheels n³, n', and o', gives motion to the upright shaft o, to which is also con-
nected by a key and groove the mitre wheel o³, gearing into the wheel pl, fixed
to the shaft p, revolving in bearings, fixed to the table m; the shaft p, by
means of mitre pinions, drives the shaft 9, which in like manner drives the
shaft r; to the shafts p and are fixed spur pinions p² and ³, gearing into the
upright racks s, which connect the bottom beams a and top beams a³ of
the travelling frame. To the shaft n is also connected the sliding catch box t,
which by means of the mitre wheels t', ts, and u³, gives motion to the diagonal
shaft ; at the lower end of this shaft is a mitre wheel u, gearing into the
wheel w¹, fixed to one of the axles w of the supporting wheels b; by this means
the travelling frame is moved along the rails b¹.
The scoop his supported at the end near the retorts by a bracket, either
cast or attached to the table m, and at the other end it is connected to the
bar A', bolted in the sliding bracket h; a spiral spring h³ is applied between
the end of the scoop and the bracket, which yields when the outer end of the
scoop comes against the end of the retort; the lower part of the bracket h³
forms the nut of the screw g, and it slides to and fro ou the guides m', form-
ing part of the table m. The scraper is connected in a similar manner to the
bracket, the lower part of which also forms the nut of the screw k.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The Drawing represents the travelling
frame in the position for supplying a charge of cannel or coal to the retort A,
and for drawing the coke from the retort B. As soon as the proper charge of
cannel or coke has been supplied to the scoop h, the attendant by means of a
lever, which is not shewn in the Drawing, moves the catch box e into gear
with the wheel e', thereby causing the upright shaft f and screw g to revolve
in the proper direction for pushing the scoop into the retort; when the end of

page_text: the scoop arrives at the end of the retort, the catch box e is again placed in its
central position to stop the screw; the catch box can be thrown out of gear by
the attendant or by a sliding bar and upright shaft acted upon by the
bracket ; the scoop is then turned over by a lever or other equivalent
apparatus, thereby depositing the cannel or coal on to the bottom of the retort;
the catch box e is then thrown into gear with the wheel e, which reverses
the motion of the upright shaft f and screw g, thereby withdrawing the empty
scoop. During the operation of charging the retort A, the scraper 7, by means
of the catch box i and wheels 2 and 1 can be made to draw the coke from
the retort B. When the scraper is entering the retort it is held up by a lever
or other apparatus, so as to pass over the coke, but as soon as it reaches the
end of the retort the position of the lever is changed, to allow it to drop on to
the bottom, so that when the scraper is withdrawn, the coke is drawn out with
it. It is evident that the scraper can be lowered before it arrives at the end
of the retort to draw the charge at two or more operations. The scraper must
be weighted, or connected to the lever or other apparatus, by which its position
is changed, to prevent it riding over the coke when being withdrawn. When
the travelling frame has been moved along the whole row of retorts to operate
on the lowest tier, the table m is raised by the means above described, to bring
the scoop and scraper on a level with the middle tier, and afterwards to the top
tier, after which the table is again lowered. I wish it to be understood that
the mechanism for working the scoop and scraper may be considerably varied
and modified to suit the particular arrangement of retorts to which the appa-
ratus is applied; the machinery may also be constructed to charge two or more
retorts at the same time, and, in some cases, the apparatus for charging and
for drawing the charge can be mounted on separate travelling frames.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that I claim the charging and drawing the charge
from gas retorts by means of self-acting machinery, as described, and the com-
bination of machinery described, or any modification of machinery for producing
the same results.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Green, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
HENRY GREEN. (Ls.)