IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF GAS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Denny Ruck, of Greenwich, in the
County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF GAS."
Sealed the 31st January 1873, and dated the 12th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Denny Ruck
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th September 1872.
I, WILLIAM DENNY RUCK, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture or
production of gas for heating or illuminating purposes.
I propose to employ coal and its products or any carbonaceous
matter, and iron, steel, and other metals, in retorts, ovens, or other
suitable receptacles, to be distilled at a high temperature in the presence
of superheated steam, by which process oxide of carbon and hydrogen

page_text: with carbonic acid, and bisulphide of carbon and sulphuretted hydrogen
are produced.
In order to produce a large quantity of gas, I prepare a combined or
connected arrangement of retorts, condensers, and purifiers, for instance,
if I use a bench of nine retorts, the gas produced by eight of them
instead of being conducted into the hydraulic main as usual in gas
making, is conducted by means of a pipe connected to the ninth retort
from each of the eight, or I may use two or more of the retorts to
receive the gas from the other retorts before passing into the hydraulic
main. By this connected arrangement of retorts any steam not con-
verted into gas in the eight retorts is converted in the ninth.
I also propose to utilize the smoke from furnaces by making it into
gas which combined with the former forms a gas for heating purposes
and generating steam, &c.
For illuminating purposes I propose to pass this gas through petroleum
spirit by a special adaptation, or in the mode set forth in my Patent for
"Improvements in the Mapufacture of Gas," dated 28th December,
1871, No. 3504, but in lieu of air as therein set forth, thus producing a
gas of a highly illuminating power at a much less cost.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Denny Ruck in the Great Seal Patent
: Office on the 12th March 1873.
1,1
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DENNY RUCK, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Denny Ruck, Her special
license that I, the said William- Denny Ruck, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Denny
Ruck, 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,
'

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Denny Ruck, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, 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 Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Denny Ruck, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the samé
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of
gas for heating or lighting purposes.
It is well known that by passing currents of air through ordinary
liquid hydrocarbon, a gas that is used for lighting and sometimes for
heating purposes is produced.
I have discovered that a superior gas may be produced by passing
through hydrocarbon spirit currents of hydrogen gas, prepared and
treated as herein-after described.
The Invention is designed first for the purpose of manufacturing or
producing gas for heating purposes from the products of coal or other
carbonaceous matter treated with iron, steel, or other metals, by the
means and in the manner following:
I propose to employ coal and its products or any carbonaceous
matter in conjunction with iron, steel, and other metals in scrap or
otherwise. I place them when so mixed in retorts, ovens, or other
receptacles, to be brought to a high temperature through the agency of
external heat in the presence internally of superheated steam by which
means hydrogen and oxide of carbon with carbonic acid and sulphuretted
hydrogen are produced.
In order to produce a large quantity of gas, I construct and employ a
large furnace supplied with one or more sets of grates or fires in which I
arrange and support in a pyramidial or other suitable form a stack or
J

page_text: bench of two, three, five, seven, nine, or other number of retorts or
chambers set in a position best adapted to receive the greatest amount
of heat from the fuel of the furnace. If, for example, nine retorts are
used, eight of them I construct of one given size, which I fill with the
carbonaceous matters and metal or metals before mentioned, after which
they are hermetically closed by their lids or covers, each retort being
provided with a mouth piece projecting from the front of the retort, and
forming when closed a portion of the same.
The ninth retort or chamber I make larger than the others, but con-
nected with them as described herein-after; this retort is also filled with
carbonaceous matters, or is so constructed that it can present a great
amount of internal heating surface, for instance, it may be constructed
so as to have a number of tubes running through it, similar to the tubes
of a locomotive or multitubular boiler or other equivalent heating
surface, against or through which the heat of the furnace will impinge
or pass in its course to the flue.
Above these retorts or on one side thereof, or in any other convenient
position in connection with the before-mentioned furnace (or if desired
in a separate furnace), I place a boiler or boilers in which steam is
generated. A pipe from this boiler is connected with a superheating
apparatus also set in the same furnace, the steam from which is conveyed
by pipes into each of the eight retorts, which when filled with the
carbonaceous matter, scrap iron, or other metals, are separately connected
by a main or pipe which conveys the products into the ninth or larger
retort. The superheated steam (when the process of manufacturing
gas is proceeding) enters the heated retorts containing the carbonaceous
matters and metal through the medium of a pipe supported internally
within each retort upon ledges, channels, or grooves that terminate
within a few inches of the rear end of each retort, the superheated
steam being caused to pass through and over the carbonaceous matters
and heated metal carbonic oxide and hydrogen gases are generated.
From each one of these retorts the gases so generated are conveyed
through the medium of connecting pipes to the main before-mentioned,
and thence into the ninth or larger retort where any steam then
remaining unconverted becomes thoroughly decomposed, and where if
there be any carbonic acid or bisulphide of carbon present they may be
destroyed. The gas from this retort may be withdrawn by means of an
exhauster or other equivalent, and passed through a condenser of the

page_text: ordinary or other convenient form into the receiver or gasholder where it
is stored in the condition of a permanent gas which may be employed for
heating purposes.
This Invention is also designed for the purpose of manufacturing
illuminating gas. The hydrogen gas prepared and treated as above
described is made into an illuminating gas by the following process:-
A gas holder or receptacle containing hydrogen gas prepared as above
described is connected by means of a pipe (having governing or regu-
lating cocks or taps) with an ordinary gas purifier and a closed chamber
or receptacle. The closed chamber is supplied with hydrocarbon spirit,
which should be a spirit which distils at from 50 to 70 degrees of centi-
grade, from a cistern containing the same through the medium of a pipe,
and is regulated in its flow thereto by governing taps. The receiving
closed chamber is also supplied with indicators for regulating the height
or quantity of spirit admitted, and a thermometer for indicating its
temperature is attached thereto.
The pipe forming the communication between the closed chamber or
receptacle, and the purifier and gasholder terminates at a point in such
chamber that will admit of its being constantly immersed in the spirit
contained therein; this closed chamber is also provided with an internal
coil or other form of pipe through which steam or hot air is caused to
pass to maintain the spirit contained in the chamber at one uniform
temperature of about from 60° to 70°, or if desired other heating
mediums may be employed for the same purpose. Thus the gases after
having been prepared as before-mentioned will when admitted into this
chamber from the gas holder become impregnated with the spirit whilst
passing through the same.
Care should be taken to prevent too low a temperature from being
produced, as it will be found to prevent the absorption of the spirit,
hence the necessity of the heating medium which must be governed so
as to maintain the spirit or contents of the closed chamber at about the
temperature above-mentioned.
The hydrogen and other gases thus saturated with the hydrocarbon
spirit may be passed through a condenser filled with water or other
ordinary form of condenser, and thence into and through the service
pipes. These gases previous to their passing through hydrocarbon
spirit have great heating properties, and they only require a small

page_text: amount of the said spirit to render them illuminating. On this account
the manufacture of my improved gas being a permanent gas is more
cfficient and economical, having regard to the results produced than the
manufacture of what is ordinarily termed air gas by the ordinary
method.
The Sheets, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, of Drawings hereunto attached made to a
reduced scale of an inch to the foot, shew the general arrangement of
apparatus I have found most serviceable for the purpose above stated.
Figure 1 represents a front view of the general arrangement of the
apparatus for manufacturing heating gases, one half being shewn in
section, and the other in elevation, in which double benches of retorts
are shewn, having the boiler for generating steam situated between
them. These benches for the purpose of more practically carrying out
the Invention are each composed of five retorts; by this arrangement the
cight retorts receiving steam from the superheater are still employed,
but in lieu of one large converting retort receiving the whole of the gas
from the other eight as herein before described, I have in this arrange-
ment of the apparatus shewn two, that is, one for each bench of four
retorts. Figure 2 represents a longitudinal section of the same, the
section being taken through the line y, y, of Figure 1; and Figure 3.
represents in elevation (quarter size) the apparatus employed for giving
the heating gas illuminating properties. a, a, are the furnaces supplied
with fuel at the openings b, b, within these furnaces the retorts c, c, c, c,
c, c, c, c, and c³, c³, are supported in a position that will allow the heat
to act well upon them; d is a boiler or steam generator also placed in
the same furnaces and heated by them; e is a superheater conveying
steam from the boiler d to the retorts c, c, c, c, c, c, c, c, through the
medium of the pipes c¹, c¹, c¹, c¹, c¹, c¹, c¹, c¹, which enters at the front
and projects internally as seen in section Figure 2, retort c², to a point
within a few inches of the back or rear of such rétorts.
These retorts are all previously charged before being hermetically
closed with carbonaceous matter and metal scraps, so that when heated
by the furnaces b, b, and the superheated steam admitted as before
mentioned, hydrogen and oxide of carbon are formed. From these
retorts the gases so formed are conveyed by the pipes f, ff, ff; £;£;£;
to the larger retorts c², c³, where any steam then remaining unconverted
becomes thoroughly decomposed. The gases from this retort pass
through the pipe to the hydraulic main h, and thence through a

page_text: condenser into the gasholder where it is stored as a gas to be employed
for heating purposes.
In Figure 3, Sheet 3, is shewn the special apparatus referred, to for
making heating into an illuminating gas. The gas is passed from the
gas holder through the purifier, if desired into the closed chamber or
receptacle i, by means of the pipe k, the said chamber being supplied
with hydrocarbon spirit from the cistern through the pipe m.
The spirit by preference should be of a specific gravity that distils at
from 50° to 70° centigrade, and may be mixed with caustic soda which
neutralizes carbonic acid. The pipe terminates in the vessel i, at a
point below the level of the spirit, an uniformity of temperature to the.
spirit being maintained through the medium of the heating chamber n,
into and through which steam or hot air is caused to pass, or the tempe-
rature of the spirit may be maintained by other equivalent or suitable
means.
The gases passing through the chamber i become saturated with spirit
and are thereby converted into an illuminating gas, and pass off through
the pipe o.
My present improvements may in some cases be advantageously used
by passing the hydrogen gas prepared as above described through the
bydrocarbon spirit and caustic soda in the manner described in the
Specification of former Letters Patent granted to me, and dated
December 28th 1871, No. 3504. The hydrogen gas being employed in
lieu of air carbonic acid may thereby be removed from the saturated gas
and the resulting carbonate of soda may afterwards be recovered and
utilized.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be distinctly understood
in conclusion that what I claim as my Invention is,-
First. The manufacture of gases to be employed for heating purposes
by treating coke or other carbonaceous matters in combination with iron,
steel, or other metals and superheated steam in heated retorts con-
structed and arranged substantially as herein described and set forth.
Secondly. I claim the manufacture of illuminating gas by my
improved process herein-before described, which consists in passing

page_text: through the hydrocarbon spirit currents of hydrogen gas prepared sub-
stantially in the manner herein set forth.
Thirdly. I claim the use for the purposes above described or for
analagous purposes of apparatus constructed and arranged as herein-
before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Denny Ruck, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
ALEXR. PRINCE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
W. D. RUCK. (L.S.)