IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS TO GAS ENGINES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Leerhoff Müller, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Merchant and Manufacturer, and William Adkins, of Birmingham
aforesaid, Gas Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS
TO GAS ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Leerhoff Müller
& William Adkins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
20th November 1880.
HENRY LEERHOFF MÜLLER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Merchant and Manufacturer, and WILLIAM ADKINS, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Gas Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS TO GAS ENGINES."
Our Invention relates to such gas engines as are worked by a gaseous mixture
of atmospheric air and the vapour of gazoline or other volatile liquid bydrocarbon,
and our said Invention consists of the arrangements or combinations of parts
hereinafter described, whereby the gas engine is made to supply the motive power
required to effect the impregnation of atmospheric air with the hydrocarbon vapour,
and produce an inflammable gaseous vapour.
We combine with the gas engine a carburreter constructed preferably in the
following manner:-'
-The said carburetter consists of a closed vessel having at its
middle a series of horizontal trays containing gazoline, and so arranged that a
current of air rising from the bottom of the vessel to the top has to describe a
zig-zag path, passing over the said trays and taking up and becoming impregnated
with the vapour of any volatile liquid contained in the trays. The lower part of
the vessel contains a store of gazoline or other liquid volatile hydrocarbon, and
the upper part is charged with the impregnated or inflammable gaseous mixture
produced. Air is admitted into the carburetter at top by means of two pipes
provided with stopcocks. One of these pipes opens into the top of the carburetter,
the other passes down to near the lowest tray. Air introduced through the first
named pipe passes only over the liquid contained in the top tray and becomes only
feebly charged with the vapour of gazoline, while air introduced through the other

page_text: pipe passes over the gazoline contained in all the trays, and becomes highly charged
with the vapour of gazoline.
The two pipes described receive air from a common supply pipe, and by means
of the stopcocks with which the two pipes are provided the proportion between
the feebly and too highly charged currents may be so regulated that the mixture of
the two passing out of the carburetter shall have the required quality.
In order to force the required current of air under pressure through the
carburetter we employ preferably a series of three pumps worked by a three throw
crank shaft, whereby a uniform current of air is forced through the carburetter, but
bellows or other equivalent contrivance may be employed. The inflammable
gaseous mixture produced in the carburetter passes out by a pipe at its top situated
near the side opposite that at which the pipe delivering air into the top of the
carburetter is situated.
The pumps or bellows by which the air is forced through the carburetter are
worked by the gas engine.
The gazoline is raised from the bottom of the carburetter preferably by means of
a small chain pump worked by the engine, the said pump delivering the gazoline
onto the top tray from which it falls to the others, the trays being thus kept
charged with the gazoline.
The quantity of air passed through the carburetter, and consequently the
quantity of inflammable gaseous mixture produced may be only as much as may
be required to work the gas engine or such additional quantity as may be required
for lighting or heating purposes.
In the latter case the inflammable gaseous mixture passes from the carburetter
into a gas holder of any required dimensions. In the former case we prefer to
employ a small gas holder so that there may always be a small reserve of the
inflammable mixture for the purpose of starting the gas engine and for compensating
any slight irregularity in the current from the carburetter.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said Henry Leerhoff Müller & William Adkins in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th May 1881.
HENRY LEERHOFF MÜLLER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Merchant and Manufacturer, and WILLIAM ADKINS, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Gas Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS TO GAS ENGINES."
Our Invention relates to such gas engines as are worked by a gaseous mixture
of atmospheric air and the vapour of gazoline or other volatile liquid hydrocarbon,
and our said Invention consists of the arrangements or combinations of parts herein
after described, whereby the gas engine is made to supply the motive power
required to force atmospheric air through the apparatus, and to effect the
impregnation of atmospheric air with the hydro carbon vapour, and produce an
inflammable gaseous vapour.
We combine with the gas engine a carburetter, constructed preferably in the
following manner, which can either be attached to the engine in the manner shown
in the Drawings or made to form a separate part attached by suitable piping or
other connections.
The said carburetter consists of a closed vessel having a series of horizontal trays
containing gazoline or other volatile liquid hydro carbon, and so arranged that a
current of air rising from the bottom of the vessel to the top has to describe a
zig-zag path, passing over the said trays, and taking up and becoming impregnated
with the vapour of any volatile liquid contained in the trays.
The lower part of the vessel contains a store of gazoline or other liquid volatile
hydrocarbon, and the upper part is charged with the impregnated or inflammable
gaseous mixture produced. Air is admitted into the carburetter by means of two
pipes provided with stop cocks. One of these pipes passes down to the lowest tray
and the other opens into the top tray only of the carburetter. Air is introduced
through the first named pipe, and passing over the gazoline contained in the lower
part of the carburetter, and over all the trays in succession, becomes highly charged
with the vapour of gazoline, while air introduced through the other pipe passes
over the top tray only, and becomes only feebly charged with the vapour of
gazoline.
The two pipes described receive air from a common supply pipe, and by means
of the stopcocks with which the two pipes are provided the proportion between the
feebly and too highly charged currents may be so regulated that the mixture of
the two passing out of the carburetter shall have the required quality.
In order to force the required current of air under pressure through the
carburetter we employ preferably a double action air pump, whereby a current of
air is forced through the carburetter, but bellows or other equivalent contrivance
may be employed.
The inflammable gaseous mixture produced in the carburetter passes out by a
pipe at its top situated near the side opposite to that at which the pipe delivering
air into the top of the carburetter is situated.
The pump or bellows by which the air is forced through the carburetter is
worked by the gas engine.
The gazoline is raised from the bottom of the carburetter preferably by means of
a pump worked by the engine, the said pump delivering the gazoline onto the top
tray, from which it falls to the others, the trays being thus kept charged with the
gazoline.
The quantity of air passed through the carburetter, and consequently the
quantity of inflammable gaseous mixture produced, may be only as much as may

page_text: .
be required to work the gas engine, or such additional quantity as may be required
for lighting or heating purposes.
In the latter case the inflammable gaseous mixture may be passed from the
carburetter into a gas holder of any required dimensions, but we prefer to use a
small pair of bellows or gas bag with a regulating valve, so that whether one or
more lights be used there may always be a regular pressure at each burner.
We will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings
the manner in which our Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation a part of a gas engine containing our
improvements or additions; Figure 2 represents a longitudinal section of the
carburetter used with the gas engine; Figure 3 represents a plan and Figure 4 a
cross section of the carburetter.
The same letters indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the Drawings.
a is the cylinder of the gas engine, and 6 the piston of the said cylinder. By
the reciprocating motion of the piston b, motion is communicated by the crank rod c
to the crank d on the shaft e. The shaft e is the main shaft of the gas engine from
which motive power is obtained. The pumps of the carburetter are worked from
the shaft e in the following manner :- is an eccentric on the shaft e, by the clip g
of which the pump h is worked; i is a crank plate on the shaft e, by the rotation
of which the air pump k is worked. The k oscillates on its centre k²; I is the
carburetter containing a series of horizontal trays m, m, subdivided in a manner
which ensures an even and constant supply of gazoline therein. These trays
contain layers of gazoline n. A store of gazoline p is contained in the lower part
of the carburetter, and is pumped up by the pump h and delivered on the top tray,
from which it descends through the overflow holes u, w, x, y, from the top to the
second, and from the second to the third, and so on to the bottom tray (see
Figure 3), the overflow returning into the lower part of the carburetter. The
apertures u, w, x, y, also act as outlets for the passage of the air in the opposite
direction. The current of air to be impregnated with the vapour of gazoline is
forced through the carburetter by the pump k. The said air enters the carburetter
by the two pipes 7, 8, provided with a check valve r¹ and stop cocks 72, 82, by which
the air entering the carburetter may be regulated. The air entering by the pipe r
is delivered on the gazoline n in the top tray, and being exposed only to the
gazoline in one tray, is only partially impregnated with the vapour of gazoline.
The air entering by the pipe 8 passes through the passage t in front and at each
end of the carburetter, and is delivered underneath the bottom tray. Rising
through the passages u and w, it passes in the direction of the arrows, Figure 3,
and ascending through the passages x, y, is exposed to the gazoline in the bottom
tray, but one passing over the same in the direction of the arrows. From this tray
the air passes to the next tray above through passages in a similar position to those
in the bottom tray at u and w, and in this way makes à zig-zag path, and passes
over the gazoline in the several trays in succession.
The air is very highly impregnated with the vapour of gazoline, and on reaching
the upper part of the carburetter may be diluted with the feebly impregnated air
which may be delivered through the pipe r. By means of the stop cocks r², 82, the
mixture of air and vapour may be made to contain a greater or less proportion of
the vapour of gazoline as may be required. The quantity of air passed through
the carburetter by the pump k may be regulated by means of the valve 2, Figure 1,
controlled by the governor G².
By means of this valve a greater or less quantity of air forced by the pump k is
allowed to escape through the holes 3, the remainder passing to the carburetter in
the quantity required for actuating the engine, or for illumination, as may be
required. The gazoline is introduced into the bottom of the carburetter by the
pipe 5, an arrangement which admits of the carburetter being replenished whilst
the engine is working. A float 6 provided with a cap 7 indicates at any time by
unscrewing the said cap the quantity of gazoline in reserve in the carburetter.
The impregnated air or vapour passes out of the carburetter by the pipe 4, and

page_text: is conveyed directly to the gas engine for working the same, or when part of the
gas produced is required for illuminating or other purposes, we pass it into a
suitable gas holder, bellows, or bag, from which also the supply to work the gas
engine can be taken if more convenient.
We do not limit ourselves to the use of a pump of the kind described and
illustrated for forcing air through the carburetter, neither do we limit ourselves to
the kind of pump described and illustrated for raising the gazoline from the bottom
of the carburetter, and delivering it onto the trays, as other equivalent apparatus
may be employed.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we claim as our
Invention of "Improvements in or Additions to Gas Engines,"
First. Connecting to or combining with gas engines a carburetter for the supply
of a mixture of atmospheric air, and the vapour of gazoline or other volatile liquid
hydro-carbon for working the said gas engines, and for illuminating or other purposes,
the said carburetter being furnished with an air pump or other equivalent
apparatus for forcing air through the carburetter, and with a lifting pump or other
equivalent apparatus for raising the gazoline or other volatile liquid hydro-carbon
to the trays of the same.
Secondly. The peculiar construction of the carburetter itself, whereby gas can be
made of different qualities suitable for working gas engines, and for illuminating
and other purposes, so that no matter in what position the carburetter is situated,
there is always a free passage for both the air and gazoline or other volatile liquid
hydro-carbon, and the gas can be produced under all varying circumstances.
Thirdly. The valve and mode of controlling it by a governor by which the
surplus air not required to be carburetted for producing gas is allowed to escape.
Fourthly. The method of filling the carburetter. at the bottom so that the store
of gazoline or other volatile liquid hydro carbon can be replenished whilst the
engine is at work, and whilst the gas produced is being used, all substantially as
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Leerhoff Müller, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-one.
5 Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
HENRY LEERHOFF MÜLLER. (L.S.)