IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF GAS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE MATERIALS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to the Reverend William Renwick Bowditch, of Wake-
field, in the County of York, Clerk, Bachelor of Arts, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF GAS, AND IN THE APPLICATION
OF THE MATERIALS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 1st March 1854, and dated the 10th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Renwick Bowditch
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th January 1854.
I, the Reverend WILLIAM RENWICK BOWDITCH, of Wakefield, in the
County of York, Clerk, Bachelor of Arts, do hereby declare the particulars of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF GAS, AND IN THE
APPLICATION OF MATERIALS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists, firstly, in the purification of gas for the purpose of
illumination by the employment of alumina or any of the salts or hydrates
thereof, or by clay or other aluminous earth, singly or in combination, and with
or without lime or any of the salts thereof, and the employment of the purifying
material when impregnated with ammonia for the purpose of manure, or for
the preparation of a solution or any of the salts of ammónia, either dry or in
any state of wetness, alone or mixed with cinders, gravel, or other material,
to render it porous, the gas being passed through or over, or in any other mode
brought into contact with the above substances,

page_text: The second head of my Invention consists in the employment of all or any
of the above purifying materials after having been employed, in the purifying
process and when impregnated with amnionia for manure, or for the production
of liquid ammonia or any of the salts of ammonia, and also the application of
the same purifying materials to the purposes of scouring and cleansing textile
materials and fabrics.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said William Renwick Bowditch in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, the
Reverend WILLIAM RENWICK BOWDITCH, of Wakefield, in the County of York,
Clerk, Bachelor of Arts, send greeting."
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Renwick Bowditch, Her special license that I, the said William
Renwick Bowditch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Renwick Bowditch; my executors, administrators; or
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 THE PURIFICATION OF GAS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE
MATERIALS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Renwick Bowditch, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Renwick Bowditch, 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 follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
:-
My said Invention relates to a mode of purifying coal and other
for the purpose of illumination by the aid or employment of clay
gas employed
or aluminous

page_text: earth, applied either alone or with the addition of lime, together with the
application and use of the clay or other earth when impregnated, with ammonia
and other nitrogenous compounds from the gas as a manure or fertilizing agent.
The agents to which I have referred are used either in a dry or wet condition,
and either alone or mixed with cinders, gravel, sawdust, or other convenient
material to render the mass porous, and the crude or impurified. gas is then
passed through it or so as to be brought well in contact with it.
By this treatment I am able to remove more completely than has hitherto
been done the injurious matters contained in the gas, viz', carbonic acid,
ammonia, sulphuretted hydrogen, cyanogen, and bisulphuret of carbon, and the
compounds of these several matters.
m.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I shall
now proceed to describe my process or routine of treatment and the materials
therein adopted.
The purifying material which I use is clay or aluminous earth, "but I find
that which is of a red or yellow color to be: best suited for such purpose, more
especially after it has been subjected to the disintrigating action of rain, air, and
natural changes of temperature:
The clay or earthy mass used for this purpose is best prepared for its:office
by drying it in the open air, or by the agency of artificial heat, ranging, as I
prefer, not higher than about two hundred and twelve degrees of Fahrenheits
scale. It is pulverized by beating or grinding, and it is then wetted or
moistened with water until it attains the. consistency of. that which is technically
known in gas manufacture as "dry line," being capable of being formed into a
ball in the hand by gentle pressure:
-
When thus prepared the purifying material is spread: out to a depth-of from
two to six inches upon trays, riddles, or shelves, in scrubbing. or. purifying.
vessels; and the crude gass is then inade to pass through these purifying layers
in the manner commonly adopted in the dry lime purification of coal gas.
The purifying vessels containing the clay or aluminous earth are alternated.
with dry lime purifyers, the lime and clay being used in about.equal proportions,
but the gas under treatment ought to be: passed through a clay-purifyer at the
termination of the series.
The number and size of these purifyers must
depend upon the quantity of impurities in the gas. As a general guide I would
recommend the quantity of lime to be the same as that now used in dry lime
purifications.
Or instead of. using separate clay and lime vessels placed alternately I prefer
to use alternated layers or strata of clay and lime disposed in each purifying!
vessel, the final purifying layer being.clay,

page_text: I also find it to be highly beneficial to pass the gas through a "scrubber"
placed between the "condenser and the purifiers, this scrubber to contain
clay spread upon riddles or trays, and either mixed or not with breeze or other:
porous matters to facilitate the passage of the gas, and also through a vessel of
a similar nature placed in the line of the outlet main communicating between
the
gas works and the consumers.
This last cleanser is used for the removal of any impurity which may have
been but partially removed by the purifiers, or have passed to the gas holder
with the unpurified gas at the change of the purifyers, or from other
sources.
The spent clay, after having purified the gas, is removed from the purifiers,
and is spread out and exposed to the action of the air when part of the absorbed
impurities are volatilized, and the clay being thus partially cleansed may then
be used over again, and I have generally found that the clay will act efficiently
for three times.
This process refers especially to the employment of the clay and aluminous
matter in the manner of "dry lime." If the "wet lime" system of purification
is to be applied to this clay process, then the purifying matter is to be mixed
with water until the mass attains the consistency of what is known in the gas
manufacture as "wet lime." Such moistened matter is applied in the purifying
process in exactly the same manner as wet lime, and alternately with it, the
quantities of wet lime being the same as those usually employed.
And in addition to the above process or to the ordinary purifying process, I
propose also to apply my Invention to the purifying gas upon the premises of
the consumer in a vessel called a domestic purifier. The Figure on the Sheet
of Drawings hereunto attached represents such a domestic purifier in vertical
section.. This domestic purifier may be made of iron or of other suitable
material, and when clay only is employed its form is shewn in the annexed
Drawing. A is the body of the internal box; B, B, is a perforated or permeable
diaphragm at the bottom to hold the purifying agent with which it is to be
filled. This vessel has its lower end prolonged as at C, to form a hydraulic
joint. The gas enters from the main. by the pipe D, passing as indicated by
the arrows beneath the cover plate E, and thence issuing through the purifying.
layer B.
Above this layer the enclosed space forms a reservoir for the purified gas
which escapes by the side pipe G. As here arranged, the gas from the main
is assumed to have been purified at the works by the alternated clay and lime
layers, hence it now passes through a clay layer only on its way to the place of
consumption. Where the gas at the works is not purified by passing through

page_text: alternations of line and clay, it is desirable to alternate them on the premises
of the consumer, in which case the domestic purifier must be fitted with the
necessary shelves or trays. This domestic purifier is to be erected on the
premises of the consumer, so that by passing it through his own purifying
strata prior to burning it, he may conveniently remove all impurities which
may remain in the gas. as it comes from the works, or which it has absorbed
from the foul mains or meters through which it has passed.
The spent clay, as discharged from the purifiers and saturated with
impurities, makes a useful manure, and I apply this material accordingly,
allowing it to dry, pulverizing it, and then spreading it over the ground.
When the material has been well saturated I find that five or six hundred
weight per acre is a good quantity; a somewhat greater quantity will be required
if the material is not fully saturated.
I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my said 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,―
First, the purification of coal and other illuminating gas by the use of clay
or aluminous earth, employed either singly or in combination with lime, in the
manner herein-before described.
Second, the employment of the clay or aluminous earth as a manure or
fertilizing agent after the same has been used in the purification of gas.
In witness whereof; I, the said, Reverend William Renwick Bowditch,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of July, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four..
W. R. BOWDITCH. (L.S.)