IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE DISTILLATION OF SOLID AND LIQUID COMBUSTIBLE MATTERS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer & Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE DISTILLATION OF SOLID AND LIQUID COMBUSTIBLE MATTERS."-
A communication from abroad by Mr. Etienne Charles Zacharie Bou-
chard, Civil Engineer, of 29, Bouleyart St. Martin, Paris, in the Empire
of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
⚫ June 1861.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer & Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DISTILLATION OF SOLID AND LIQUID COMBUSTIBLE
MATTERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a new mode of distilling combustible materials, so
as to obtain lighting or heating gas, or it may be charcoal. This new method
consists in injecting in the middle of the combustible materials hot incom-
bustible gases, so that the heating and destructive distillation may be, so to
speak, internal and molecular, and have an active effect on the gaseous or
liquid products which are evolved. I employ this method of distillation for
all combustible materials, either solid or liquid, or a mixture of the two.
Under the name of incombustible gas, I imply azote, carbonic acid, hydrogen,

page_text: & other gases, employed either separate or together, and previously heated.
I can employ especially the fumes resulting from complete carbonization. I
apply, for example, this new method of distillation to peat placed in furnaces
similar to those used in the manufacture of gas.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Clark, Her special licence that 1, the said William Clark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE DISTILLATION OF SOLID AND LIQUID COMBUSTIBLE MATTERS," a
communication from abroad by Mr. Etienne Charles Zacharie Bouchard, Civil
Engineer, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, in the Empire of France, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Clark, 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 Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-

page_text: This Invention relates to a new mode of distilling combustible materials, so
as to obtain lighting or heating gas, or it may be charcoal. This new method
consists in injecting in the middle of the combustible materials hot incom-
bustible gases, so that the heating and destructive distillation may be, so to
speak, interior and molecular, and have an active effect on the gaseous or
liquid products which are evolved. I employ this method of distillation for all
combustible materials, either solid or liquid, or a mixture of the two.
Under
the name of incombustible gas, I imply azote, carbonic acid, hydrogen, and
other gases, employed either separately or together, and previously heated. I
can employ especially the fumes resulting from complete carbonization.
I apply, for example, this new method of distillation to peat placed in furnaces
similar to those used in the manufacture of gas.
In order to obtain greater results and more perfect distillation, I re-heat
the volatile products generated in a new and special retort, in which all the
carbonate of hydrogen, liquids, or tar, are converted into gas.
In the annexed Drawing, Fig. 1 represents a central vertical section of the
distilling apparatus, whereby incombustible gas, azote, & carbonic acid in
combination produce perfect combustion in a close apparatus; Fig. 2 shows a
transverse section of a furnace, showing, 1st, the distilling retorts; 2ndly, the
rectifying retort, in which the second distillation of the volatile liquids
generated by the first retorts takes place. In the two Figures the same letters
represent the same parts where they recur in different views.
a, hermetically closed furnace, which is furnished, 1st, with a chimney b,
which is connected to the chimney c, common to the several furnaces; 2ndly,
of a tube d, for the return of the flame, communicating with the worm e;
3rdly, with a door for supply fuel; 4thly, with a pipe f, introducing a
blast of air. The furnace can, by means of the tue-iron f, be urged, and so
heat the incombustible gases evolved in the furnace, which are intended for
heating or distillation, they being injected directly on the combustible material
contained in the generating retorts. h, retort furnace having 3, 5, 7, or 9
retorts, it is, if required, furnished with furnace i, and each of these retorts j
can, by the action of the tubes and registers or dampers k, communicate with
the worm e, and receive from it in its interior the heating gases. The injection
of heating gases in the retorts is effected at the proper time by opening the
dampers or stop cocks k; 1, duct or pipe conducting the gas produced into the
hydraulic main m; n, exit tube leading to the gasometer o, or to the purifiers,
which are not represented. The whole being arranged as described, and the
retorts j charged with such combustible material (solid or liquid) to be dis-

page_text: tilled, or a mixture of the two, the furnace a is lighted, and urged by the blast,
as described ; the heated products of combustion of the furnace are injected
amongst the combustible materials to be distilled contained in the retorts j;
the gases so injected are again heated in retorts ; by the furnace i, which itself
operates directly the distillation of the combustible materials, either by heating
01 extraction. This distillation being produced, the registers are opened, and
the gases pass to the gasometer o, where they are separated by known means.
Several injections of heating gas can be made in the same retort to complete
the distillation if the first is insufficient. In order to obtain gases altogether
combustible in the gasometer, instead of injecting as heating gas azote &
carbonic acid, I inject hydrogen, produced by any known means; for instance,
by the simple and pure distillation of peat. This incombustible heated
hydrogen combines with the carburets of hydrogen of the combustible materials
in process of distillation, and forms carbonated hydrogen, which will pass to
the gasometer in such state that there will be no separation necessary.
I will now describe the apparatus represented at Fig. 2, for producing a
double distillation, that is to say, to convert into bicarbonated gas the
carbonated liquefiable products which escape from the retorts in the first
distillation. The retorts j enclose the blocks of peat simply steeped in tar, for
example, or any other carburet of hydrogen. The retorts j distil and transmit
their gaseous products, which are transformed into bicarbonated hydrogen in
the central retort p, in which is placed coke, slag, or broken bricks, so as to
create an amount of interruption in the course of the gas, and so produce a
certain pressure.
a tube, and thus receive a portion of heating gas to effect the distillation of
the combustible materials it contains. The heating of distilling incombustible
gases necessitates a heating such that a high pressure is generated,
which all the apparatus must be capable of resisting; therefore, instead of
the gasometer represented, I can dispose reservoirs or receptacles to receive
the gas in a compressed state at a high pressure, and so that by simply closing
the stop cocks, each of the receptacles which may be portable will contain gas
under pressure, without any expense being incurred in the condensation.
Each of the retorts ; can communicate with the worm e by
Having described the nature of this invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the rapid distillation of solid or liquid combustible materials by
means of incombustible heated gas injected amongst the combustible
materials.

page_text: Secondly, the double distillation of the tarry products in a special retort, as
described.
Thirdly, the apparatus represented at Fig. 1, to produce and heat the
incombustible gases, and to generate the lighting gases, also for distilling the
combustible materials amongst which the injection of heating distilling gases
takes place.
Fourthly, the apparatus above described for producing the double distillation
in a central retort, as described.
Fifthly, the manufacture of gas in a compressed state for portable and other
purposes, produced by the high pressure at which it is generated in this
apparatus, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
W. G. E. SWINNOCK,
53, Chancery Lane, W.C.
W. CLARK (L.S.)