IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FROM WOOD, PEAT, OR OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Lee at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd February 1878. A communication
from abroad by George Ramsdell, of Oswego, in the County of Oswego and
State of New York, United States of America.
JOSEPH LEE, of Dublin, in the County of Dublin, Ireland. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FROM WOOD, PEAT, OR OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,
AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR." [A communication from abroad by
George Ramsdell, of Oswego, in the County of Oswego and State of New York,
United States of America.]
This Invention relates to,
(1.) A process of making wood or peat gas or gas from vegetable substances by
successive operations executed as follows:-First, by subjecting the substance to
heat in a retort; second, conveying the gaseous products thence through water;
third, conveying the gaseous products therefrom through hydrocarbon contained in
a separate vessel, all substantially as herein-after described.
2nd. The use in combination with a pipe (herein-after called pipe f) which
connects a gas holder with a chamber containing hydrocarbon of a double drip
composed of drip boxes, a pipe, and a pump, substantially as herein-after described..
3rd. The use of a float with open bottom and central tube provided with dome-
shaped partition perforations, and downward conduits in combination with the
pipe f, substantially as herein-after described.
In carrying out this Invention, I use a retort provided with a close door and
situated in a chamber or furnace; a wall of masonry and a partition wall adjacent
to the smoke stack serve to cause the products of combustion to circulate freely
around the retort and to expend the greatest amount of heat upon it before
escaping through the smoke flue, a suitable pipe is provided through which the
gaseous products are conveyed from the retort through water into a gas bolder.
The gas holder is of ordinary construction, open at the bottom and floated in a
tank of water. The gaseous products are admitted into this wåter. at the bottom
of the tank and bubble, through it, by which procedure they are thoroughly
washed and cleansed of impurities. Collecting in the upper part of this holder, the
gaseous products are conveyed through a pipe (called pipe f) that projects above

page_text: the water into a separate chamber containing hydrocarbon, and herein-after called
the hydrocarbon chamber. The pipe fas it enters the hydrocarbon chamber passes
up through and above the hydrocarbon into a float, this float is buoyed by the air
contained in a cavity beneath a dome-shaped partition. It has no bottom, but has
a central tube through which the pipe passes and discharges the gaseous products
into the chamber of the float that is above the dome partition; at the outer edges
of this dome partition and close to the partition are small openings through the
outer wall of the float, and the gaseous products passing out through them are
conveyed downward through the casing or tubes into the hydrocarbon, and in
bubbling up through the latter into the chamber take in their carbon and are 1
ready for use.
"
The form of the float. may be varied without altering the principle of the
Invention, or other means may be employed for forcing the gaseous products
through the hydrocarbon. However I prefer to use a float, and in employing the
latter, I prefer such a one as is above described.
]
The object of the dome-shaped partition, is to collect upon it the sediment or
drip and direct it outward and downwards instead of throwing it back into the
pipe f. I also attach a series of drips connected by a pipe, that I term a double
drip; a drip box is placed at the joint beneath the float, and a pipe connects this
drip box with a similar box situated near the gas holder, and at this point I place a 2
pump by which the drip may be pumped away.
After the gas has passed through its manufacturing process as herein described,
either before or after it reaches the hydrocarbon chamber, it may be fixed by being
brought into contact with a surface sufficiently heated to accomplish that object.