IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BURNING OF LIQUID CARBONS, AS THE TARRY RESIDUES LEFT REFINING OF MINERAL OILS, AS A FUEL IN FURNACES, AND IN THE DANSATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS AND FURNACES THEREFOR."
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wilson Robinson, of the Firm of "J. and
E. Robinson," Paraffine Oil Manufacturers, and Thomas Murray,
Foreman to the said Firm, all of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of 'IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
BURNING OF LIQUID CARBONS, AS THE TARRY RESIDUES LEFT
REFINING OF MINERAL OILS, AS A FUEL IN FURNACES, AND IN THE
DANSATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS AND FURNACES THEREFOR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the sand John Wilson Robinson
and Thomas Muay at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 15th October 1869.
We. JOHN WILSON ROBINSON, of the Firm of "J and E. Robinson,"
Paraffine Oil Manufacturers, and THOMAS MURRAY, Foreman to the said
Firm, all of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, do
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
THE BURNING OF LIQUID OARBONS, AS THE TARRY RESIDUES LEFT IN THE
Price 8d.]

page_text: REFINING OF MINERAL OILS, AS A FUEL IN FURNACES, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION
AND ARRANGEMENT OF Apparatus AND FURNACES THEREFOB," to be as
follows, that is to say:
This said Invention consists in the use or utilization and burning of
the liquid carbons or tarry and other residues left in and after the
refining or distillation, or other first or after treatment of mineral, coal,
and shale oils and petroleum as a fuel in furnaces for heat producing
purposes, and mainly in the furnaces of the oil works where the said
residues or fuel is produced, as in those for heating the boilers or stills
for the distillation and treatment of the said oils, and also in the form
and construction of the parts of the said furnaces, and in the construction
and arrangement of the pipes and other apparatus to be used for or
connected with the said purpose, whereby great economy and saving is
effected in the use of such fuel and the working of such furnaces,
particularly in such oil works where the said fuel is necessarily produced,
and not always a demand for it for other purposes.
One mode of performing or carrying out this said Invention consists
in pumping up or otherwise filling the said liquid carbon or tarry
residues into a heating cistern or vessel, so high that they will flow by
gravitation through pipes led from its bottom or lower side along the
front brickwork of the furnace or furnaces, each furnace having a small
service cock and pipe for regulating and leading the desired quantity of
the liquid into a larger pipe or kind of tuyer conduit open at the two ends,
and lying at such an angle down and into the furnace as to deliver the
desired stream or quantity on to the central part of a fire-clay block or
brick bridge or arcli placed or formed over and across the front part
of the fire and grate, of sufficient strength or thickness to stand the
white heat of the fire below and above it, and sufficient width to
allow all the liquid fuel to spread over it in a thick layer, which is
formed into a bright red-hot cake of free burning solid carbon or coke
while all the volatile oily matters are burned off in gaseous flame
A doorway and regulating shutter is formed over the ordinary furnace
door in front of the brickwork, nearly level with the arch, for the
admission of air to support the combustion of the gases and fuel taking
place above the arch, and to enable the attendant to break up the cakes
of coke formed on it into pieces, which are scraped or drawn with a
rake or claut 22 over the front edge of the arch down through a space

page_text: or recess in front on to the dumb-plate or hearth in front of the
furnace bars, so as to supply and form the main furnace fire by being
pushed or spread back and burned below the arch and over the furnace
bars. Part of the heated currents and flame thus produced pass up the
front space and over the fuel receiving and coking arch, all so as to heat
the arch thoroughly, and produce and burn the gases evolved over it,
which afterwards meet and mix with the great heated currents at the
back of the arch forming the main body of the grate fire, which may
also be fed and kept up when desired by raking back a portion of the
fresh made coke off the arch above, all fired and mixed with an
Occasional portion or charge of coal dioss or other fuel when desired.
It is preferred to protect the lower front part of the still or boiler
over the fuel receiving and burning arch by a lining or thin arch of
fire-brickwork."
Air openings or ducts controlled by the doors may be provided for the
admission of air near the bridge or behind it, by preference after being
heated, as by passing through a flue in the hot brickwork, in addition
to the working air doors in front, all so as to mingle and burn
with the gases as they are produced from the liquid fuel over the
bridge: and the main furnace door and ash-pit may be arranged with
sliding or other doors, so as to regulate the air admitted to the furnace
through them.
lion rods or bars are used occasionally by the attendant, inserted from
both the outer and inner end of the wide open pipe for conducting the
liquid fuel to the arch, so as to break off or prevent the solid carbon
from adhering to or choking it up, so that the liquid fuel may run
regularly on to and spread over the coking arch, which may be made of
other superficial shape and material than the arched form of fire-clay
brickwork herein-before described, capable of facilitating the spreading
of the fuel and the breaking of it up, and which will stand the great
heat required.
The construction of the said stills or boilers and the furnaces, and
airangement and mode of making the flame and heated currents act on
the stills and boilers under these improvements, may all otherwise than
as described be made of any of the usual constructions and arrange-
ments heretofore in use; but it will be obvious that so much of the

page_text: heat by these improvements is produced from the flame of the gases and
air that the steady heat of the furnace and still or boiler is much more
easily regulated and controlled by the admission of the liquid fuel and
the air without the production of unutilized or unconsumed gases and
smoke than is the case with the furnaces fired with the better class of
coal and coal dioss in the usual manner.
When the liquid fuel is too thick or cold to flow from the supply
cistern it may be heated so as to do so by a small fire below the cistern,
or by a small supply of steam from any adjacent boiler, or from the
blow-off steam pipe of the supplying steam pipe of the oil still or boiler
itself, led in either case through a coil of undulating heating pipes
within the cistern near the bottom, with a small discharge cock or
aperture at the extreme end for the escape of the condensed steam
water within the pipes, and when necessary the conducting pipes of
the liquid fuel to the furnace may be cased in or covered with non-
heat-conducting material, and the point or inner end of the wide open
pipe conducting the liquid fuel to the arch within the furnace may,
when desned, be formed in the same manner as a tuyer, so as to enable
it to be kept so cool or at a temperature that the liquid fuel would
always run through it, or at least seldom be solidified or cai bonised
so as to close it up.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Wilson Robinson and Thomas Murray in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, JOHN
WILSON ROBINSON, of the Firm of J. and E. Robinson," Parafline Oil
Manufacturers, and THOMAS MURRAY, Foreman to the said Fum, all of
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS ller most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thnty-
third year of le reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Wilson Robinson and Thomas

page_text: Murray, Her special licence, that we, the said John Wilson Robinson
and Thomas Murray, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John Wilson Robinson and Thomas Murray, our
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 (ireat Britam and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BURNING OF LIQUID CARBONS, AS THE TARRY RESIDUES
LEFT IN THE REFINING OF MINERAL OILS, AS A FUEL IN FURNACES, AND IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS AND FURNACES THEREFOR," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Wilson Robinson
and Thomas Murray, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
In wuting under our, or then, 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 l'atent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Wilson Robinson and
Thomas Murray, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement in writing,
reference being had to the accompanying Diawings, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say:—
Our said Invention consists in the use, utilization, and burning of the
liquid carbons or tairy and other residues (of little money value) left in
and by the refining, distillation, and other first and after treatments of
mineral, coal, and shale oils, and petroleum as a fuel in furnaces for
producing heat for various purposes, and mainly or substantially in and
for the various boiler furnaces of oil works where the said residues are
produced, namely, in the furnaces for heating the steam boilers and
other boilers or stills for the distillation and treatment of the said oils,
and particularly also in connection with the form, construction, and
arrangement of the parts of the said furnaces, and the construction and
arrangement of the pipes and other apparatus and appliances to be used
for and in connection with the working of the said furnaces and purpose
or purposes, whereby greater economy and a saving are effected in the

page_text: working of such furnaces and oil works (where the said residues or fuel
is necessarily produced and frequently not saleable) than heretofore.
And in order that our said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, 'we have hereunto appended two
Sheets of explanatory Drawings showing one application of the Inven-
tion or improvements to the furnace of an oil rectifying still or boiler to
be here-after referred to, the same letters and numerals indicating the
same or like parts in all the Figures, that is to say:-
Figures 1 and 2 on Sheet 1 are respectively a longitudinal vertical
section and a horizontal section of the furnace of an ordinary construc-
tion and arrangement of boiler for rectifying or distilling crude mineral
oils having our improvements applied thereto, and Figures 3 and 4 on
Sheet 2 are respectively a front end elevation and a transverse section of
the same furnace, corresponding to Figures 1 and 2, and illustrative of
one modification of our Invention suflicient to show its application for
other forms and constructions of furnaces than the one shown.
Referring to these several Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, the boiler 1 and its
arrangement of mounting are of an ordinary construction used for the
purpose of distilling mineral oils, and built in the brickwork 2 and over
a furnace 3, and arrangement of grate 4, and flues 5', all much of an
ordinary construction, except that as herein-after distinguished and
referred to by letters, and that it is preferred to have the boiler higher
above the grate than usual to allow more room for the greater volume
of flame produced from this fuel and greater open space of heating
chamber and flues 5' for its combustion and action on the surface of
the boiler. The said liquid carbon or tarry residues are pumped up or
otherwise filled into a cistern or vessel capable of being heated when
necessary at such a height that they will flow or gravitate from the
lower part of the vessel through and along the main pipe a placed above
and in front of the brickwork 2 of the furnace 3, or furnaces when there is
a range of them desired to be supplied with the pipe a common to all.
Each furnace is supplied with the liquid fuel from the pipe a by a small
service cock band branch or supply pipe b', so as to regulate and lead
in the desired quantity of the liquid into a larger pipe or kind of tuyer
conduit c open at the two ends and lying at such an angle down and into
the furnace at the point c as to deliver the desired stream or quantity
on to the central part of a carbonizing and new burning hearth d by pre-

page_text: "
ference constructed in the form of an arch of a fire-clay block or of brick-
work placed or formed over and across the front part of the furnace or
fire 3 and grate 4, and of sufficient strength or thickness to stand the great
or white heat of the fire below and above it, and of sufficient width to
allow all the liquid fuel to run and spread over its upper arched surface
in a thick layer or layers, where it is solidified and formed into a bright
burning red hot cake of freely burning solid carbon fuel or coke, all
while the liquid fuel is running in and the volatile oily matters are being
burned off as a gaseous flame or heating fuel over the arch d. A door-
way e and regulating shutter e' is formed over the ordinary furnace
door 6 in front of the brickwork 1 nearly level with the arch d, for the
admission of a proper supply of air to carbonize the solid part of the
fuel, and support the combustion of it and the gases evolved from the
fuel above the arch d This door e further enables the attendant to
see the action of the combustion and break up the cakes of hot coke
as formed on it into lumps or pieces, which are then scraped or drawn
(with a rake, "claut, or other such ordinary implement) over the
front edge d' of the arch d, down through a space or recess f in front
on to the "dumb plate" or hearth in front of the furnace bars 4, so as
to supply and form the fuel for the main furnace fire below at 3, 4, as
a hot solid yet free burning fuel, which is pushed and spread back over
the whole grate where it is burned, as well as below the arch d. Parts
of the heated currents and flame thus produced from the combustion
on the lower hearth at 4 pass up the front space f, and over the fuel
receiving and coking arch d, all so as to heat and carbonize it thoroughly
and produce and burn the gases evolved over it, which hot gases after-
wards meet and mix with the great body of heated currents at the
back of the arch d forming the main flame heating chamber 5 behind
the furnace and fire-grate 3 and 4. The heat and fuel of the furnace
may also be fed and kept up when desired by raking a portion of the
fresh made coke off or over the back edge of the arch d, on to the
grate 4 below, where the fire is kept up, when preferred, by an occasional
charge of ordinary dross coal or other fuel fed in through the ordinary
furnace door 6 as usual, but spread over or mixed with red hot burning
carbon made and used all otherwise in the new or improved manner
described. We prefer to protect the lower front part of the still or
boiler A over the fuel receiving and burning arch d by a lining or thin
arch g of fire-brickwork. Additional openings or ducts (to the one

page_text: shown at e in front) may be sometimes provided for the admission of
air near the bridge d, or behind it as indicated in red lines at h, the
air by preference being first heated, as by passing through a flue in the
hot brickwork, as also indicated in red lines at h', so that the air
so admitted through the ducts and openings h', h, mingles with the
gases as they are produced from the liquid fuel so as to burn together
over the bridge 10 and the main furnace door 6, and the ash-pit 7
may, when desired, be arranged with sliding or other doors at 8 and 9,
as indicated in blue lines, so as to regulate the air admitted to the
furnace. The course of the liquid fuel in the pipes is indicated by
black arrows, and that of the air towards the furnace by blue arrows while
the direction of the flame and heated products of combustion is indicated
by red arrows. Iron rods or bars are used occasionally at short intervals
by the attendant inserted from both the outer and inner ends of the wide
open pipe c (for conducting the liquid fuel to the arch) which is made wide
for the purpose to allow the bar to work round between it and the feeding
branch b', all so as to remove or break off and prevent the solid carbon from
adhering and accumulating to choke up the inner end c¹. The air door
e in front also allows the attendant to work a chisel-pointed or other bar
to clean off any solid carbon which may form and adhere to the inner end
c' of the feeding tuyer c, which would thus allow the liquid fuel to run
regularly and spread freely over the hearth d, which although described
as made of fire-clay and of an arch form to spread the fuel may also be
made of other materials and superficial shapes than those lierein-before
described capable of allowing the liquid fuel to spread and be carbonized
or broken up upon it and stand the great heat required. The con-
struction of the stills or boilers and the furnaces, and arrangement and
mode of making the flame and heated currents act on the stills and
boilers under these improvements may all, otherwise than as particularly
described and distinguished and referred to by the italic letters, be made
of any of the usual constructions and arrangements heretofore in use,
but it will be obvious that so much of the heat by these improvements
is produced from the flame of the gases and the air admitted that the
steady heat of the furnace and still or boiler is much more easily
regulated and controlled by the admission of the liquid fuel by the tap b
and the air by all the doors without the production of unutilized or
unconsumed gases and smoke than is the case with furnaces fired with
coal dross in the usual männer. When the said residuary material is

page_text: that known as "acid waste" or "acid tar" it is desirable to wash the acid
out of it as far as possible by means of steam and otherwise in the
ordinary manner before use, and when the liquid fuel is too thick or
cold to flow from the supply cistern through the pipes a it may be
heated so as to do so by a small fire below the cistern or by a small
supply of steam from any adjacent steam boiler, or from the blow-off
steam pipe of the oil still or boiler itself (when the improvements are
applied to the furnace of a stili) led in either case by preference through
a coil of undulating heating pipes within the liquid fuel supply cistern
near the bottom with a small discharge cock or aperture at the extreme
end for the escape of the condensed steam water formed within the
pipes, and when necessary the pipes a for conducting the liquid fuel to
the furnaces may be heated by steam pipes surrounding on laid close to
them, in either case covered in with some ordinary non-heat conducting
material, and the point on inner end of the wide open pipe c conducting
the liquid fuel from the supply branch b to the arch d within the
furnace may, when desired, be formed in the same manner as a luyer
for metal smelting and other furnaces with cooling tubes, so as to enable
it to be kept cool or at a temperature so low that the liquid fuel would
always run through it, or at least seldom carbonize or be solidified on it
so as to close it up, and this outer feeding tube c may when preferred
be covered with or wholly made of fire-clay to stand the heat.
Having thus particularly described the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is or may be performed, we have to
state that we do not restrict ourselves to the precise details herein
described or delineated, but what we believe to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The use and burning of the tary and other residues left in the
refining and distillation treatments of mineral oils as a fuel in furnaces
in connection with the new or improved construction and arrangements
of the parts of furnaces and apparatus or appliances therefor, all sub-
stantially as herein described.
Second. The construction and use of an open-ended pipe o tuyer
for conducting the liquid fuel into the furnace, substantially as herein
described

page_text: Third. The construction and use of a carbonizing hearth over the
main fire of the furnace, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Wilson Robinson and Thomas
Murray, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirteenth
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy.
Witness.
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
20, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow.
J. W. ROBINSON.
(L.S.)
THOMAS MURRAY.
(L.s.)