IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING COMBUSTIBLE GASES AND IN THE ARARATIIS REDLOVED UND READ
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William George Valentin, of the Royal College of
Chymistry, Government School of Mines, Oxford Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Chymist, and Frederick Levick, of Blaina, in the County
of Monmouth, Ironmaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GENERATING COMBUSTIBLE GASES AND IN THE ARARATIIS REDLOVED UND READ "
Sealed the 12th May 1863, and dated the 3rd February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William George Valentin
and Frederick Levick at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd February 1863.
We, WILLIAM GEORGE VALENTIN, of the Royal College of Chymistry,
Government School of Mines, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Chymist, and FREDERICK LEVICK, of Blaina, in the County of Monmouth,
Ironmaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN GENERATING COMBUSTIBLE GASES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
Our Invention of "Improvements in Generating Combustible Gases and in
the Apparatus employed therefor," relates more particularly to the generation
of gases for heating purposes, such as heating, puddling, and other reverberatory
furnaces and evaporating liquids, heating boilers, and generating steam, and for
any other purposes in which the combustion of such gases may be serviceable.

page_text: Our object is to produce in an expeditious and economical manner large
volumes of combustible gases, consisting chiefly of hydrogen and carbonic oxide,
which can be obtained by the combustion of coal, wood, peat, tar, or other
carbonaceous substances by means of atmospheric air and steam.
To this end we burn the carbonaceous substance in vertical retorts, ovens,
generators, or chambers of considerable depth, which are by preference provided
at bottom with a grate formed in steps so that it is wider at top than at
bottom. A hot blast of air is conducted to a space underneath this step grate,
and issues under a certain amount of pressure from one or more tuyeres, which
should be constructed and arranged so as to spread it equally over the whole
of the grate. The space of the generators underneath the grate is provided
with well-fitting iron doors, which are kept closed whenever the fire does not
require attention. The upper part of the vertical chamber or generator is
closed by a plate, to which is adapted a hopper or other suitable contrivance
whereby the chamber is filled or charged with the carbonaceous substance.
This hopper is provided with a cover, which is closed by an hydraulic joint or
otherwise hermetically sealed, so that none of the gases can escape except
through the proper exit pipe or pipes which are provided for the purpose. To
the lower end of the hopper is attached a fire-clay or other tube which extends
down some distance into the vertical chamber, and when the apparatus is
charged this tube will contain a considerable body of carbonaceous matter
which will be coked by the heated mass surrounding the vertical tube. The
vapours and gases thus generated in the fire-clay or other tube are drawn
from the hopper and conducted down a suitable pipe or channel to the lower
part of the vertical chamber or generator, into which they are driven or con-
ducted amongst the incandescent carbon in combination with a blast of air.
A jet of superheated steam may also be introduced with it or separately if
required. The vapours and gases thus conducted through the incandescent
carbon become 'decomposed by coming in contact with the incandescent carbon
and 'the blast, and the resultant combustible gases will be 'chiefly bydrogen and
carbonic 'oxide, which ascend to the upper part of 'the chamber, and are con-
veyed away by a suitable exit tube or tubes 'to any furnace or other
apparatus in which the gases are to be consumed for heating purposes.
By this mode of burning the carbonaceous substances, and operating upon
'the first gases or vapours obtained therefrom by means of hot blast, any
injurious lowering of the temperature (which the gases possess when they
leave the generating apparatus) by the introduction of fresh quantities of cold
fuel through the hopper is avoided. The water contained in the fuel is brought
round in the form of steam, and is passed through the whole mass of incan

page_text: descent fuel, when it will be decomposed into its elements and partly assimilated
by the carbon.
In order to prevent the pipe, which conducts the vapours and gases from
the funnel at top to the fire chamber below, from becoming clogged or stopped
by a deposit of tar, this pipe should be surrounded by a jacket or should be
passed down a space provided for it in the walls of the apparatus, so that it
may also be kept hot, and the tar thereby prevented from condensing therein.
By the use of the vertical fire-clay or other tube below the hopper, the coal
or carbonaceous substance, however bituminous it may be, will be first charred
or coked and a portion of it decomposed, so that no caking of the carbonaceous,
substance will take place, it will therefore be possible to employ for the com-
bustible gases carbonaceous matters which could not formerly be used for the
purpose in high generators of this class.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William George Valentin and Frederick Levick in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
GEORGE VALENTIN, of the Royal College of Chemistry, Government School of
Mines, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, and FREDERICK
LEVICK, of Blaina, in the County of Monmouth, Ironmaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign, did
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said William
George Valentin and Frederick Levick, Her special license that we, the said
William George Valentin and Frederick Levick, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said William George Valentin and
Frederick Levick, 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 Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GENERATING COMBUSTIBLE GASES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William George Valentin
and Frederick Levick, by an instrument in writing under our hands and

page_text: seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 George Valentin, on behalf
of myself and of the said Frederick Levick, 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,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
Our Invention of improvements in generating combustible gases, and in
the apparatus employed therefor, relates more particularly to the generation of
gases for heating purposes, such as heating puddling and other reverberatory
furnaces, and evaporating liquids, heating boilers and generating steam, and
for any other purposes in which the combustion of such gases may be
serviceable.
Our object is to produce in an expeditious and economical manner large
volumes of combustible gases, consisting chiefly of hydrogen and carbonic oxide,
which can be obtained by the combustion of coal, wood, peat, tar, or other
carbonaceous substances by means of atmospheric air and steam.
To this end we burn the carbonaceous substance in vertical retorts, ovens,
generators, or chambers of considerable depth, such as those shewn in the
accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation shewn partly in
section of a gas generator constructed according to our Invention; Fig. 2 is
a vertical section of the same.
a, a, a, a, is the deep vertical retort, oven, chamber, or generator above
referred to. This chamber or generator is provided at bottom with a grate
b, b, formed in steps so that it is wider at top than at bottom. A hot blast
of air is conducted to the ash-pit or space c underneath this step grate, and
issues under a certain amount of pressure from one or more tuyeres d, d
which should be constructed and arranged as shewn in the Drawing a
Fig 2, so as to spread the blast equally over the whole of the grate. The ash
pit or space c of the generators underneath the grate is provided with well
fitting iron doors e, which are kept closed whenever the fire does not require
attention. The upper part of the vertical chamber or generator a is dome
and closed by a plate f, to which is adapted a hopper g, or other suitable
contrivance, whereby the chamber a is filled or charged with the carbonaceou
substance from which the combustible or heating gases are generated. Thi

page_text: and
hopper is provided with a cover g¹, which is closed by an hydraulic joint g³
or otherwise hermetically sealed, so that none of the gases generated in the
chamber a, can escape therefrom except through the proper exit pipe or pipes
which are provided for the purpose. To the lower end of the hopper is
attached a fire-clay or other tube h which extends down some distance into the
vertical chamber a, and when the apparatus is charged this tube will contain a
considerable body of carbonaceous matter which will be coked by the heated
mass surrounding the vertical tube. The vapors
gases thus generated in
the fire-clay or other tube h and the hopper g are drawn therefrom and
conducted down a suitable pipe or channel i, Fig. 1, to the lower part of the
vertical chamber or generator a, into which they are driven or conducted
amongst the incandescent carbon in combination with a blast of air at j, Fig. 2.
A jet of superheated steam may also be introduced with the gases from the
hopper or separately if required. The vapours and gases thus conducted
through the incandescent carbon in the vertical chamber or generator a become
decomposed by coming in contact with the incandescent carbon in this chamber
and the blast; the resultant combustible gases will be chiefly hydrogen and
carbonic oxide which will ascend to the upper part of the chamber, and
be conveyed away by an exit tube or tubes, as at k, Fig. 2, to any furnace
or other apparatus in which the gases are to be consumed for heating purposes.
By this mode of burning the carbonaceous substances, and operating upon
the first gases or vapours obtained therefrom by means of hot blast, any
injurious lowering of the temperature of the gases which would be occasioned by
the introduction of fresh quantities of cold fuel through the hopper g is avoided.
The water contained in the carbonaceous matter employed for the generation
of the gases is brought round in the form of steam, and is passed through the
whole mass of incandescent carbon in the vertical chamber or generator a,
where it will be decomposed into its elements and partly assimilated by
the carbon.
a
In order to prevent the pipe i, which conducts the vapours and gases from
the funnel or hopper 9 at top to the fire chamber below, from becoming
clogged or stopped by deposit of tar, this pipe should be surrounded by a
jacket as shewn in the Drawing, or should be passed down a space provided
for it in the walls of the apparatus so that it may be kept hot, and the tar
thereby prevented from condensing therein.
By the use of the vertical fire-clay tube h, below the hopper g, the coal or
carbonaceous substance, however bituminous it may be, will be first charred or
coked and portion of it decomposed, so that no caking of the carbonaceous
substance will take place, it will therefore be possible to employ for the

page_text: generation of combustible gases carbonaceous matters which could not formerly
be used for the purpose in high generators of this class.
Having now described our Invention of "Improvements in Generating Com-
bustible Gases and in Apparatus employed therefor," and having explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, we claim as the Invention secured
to us by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the mode of and apparatus for generating,
combustible gases as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William George Valentin, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Third day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
W. GEO. VALENTIN. (L.S.)