A NEW PROCESS OF MAKING ILLUMINATING AND HEATING GAS DY A DOUBLE DISTILLATION WITHOUT RETORT
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jacinto Dias Damazio, of Lisbonn, in the Kingdom
of Portugal, Merchant, for the Invention of "A NEW PROCESS OF MAKING
ILLUMINATING AND HEATING GAS DY A DOUBLE DISTILLATION WITHOUT RETORT."
A communication.
Sealed the 12th December 1856, and dated the 19th June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacinto Dias Damazio
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th June 1856.
I, JACINTO DIAS DAMAZIO, of Lisbonn, in the Kingdom of Portugal,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW
PROCESS OF MAKING ILLUMINATING AND HEATING GAS BY A DOUBLE DISTILLATION
WITHOUT RETORT," to be as follows, (a communication.)
For making heating or illuminating gas by this new process any kind of
carbonaceous material may be used. The coke (the residue) is servicable for
domestic purposes, and is equally so for the heating of locomotive or other
engines, or for the fusion of metals.
No retort being used for the distillation of the coal, there is a saving of the
fuel used for that purpose, and the coke that is left after the gas is drawn off
is of as good a quality as if burnt on purpose in special kilns. This process
consists in placing the coal which is to furnish gas in a special furnace, oven,
or kiln, somewhat similar to coinmon coke ovens. The gas as it issues frou
the furnace passes through a retort of a special disposition, having one or

page_text: several partitions or diaphragms therein, and which is filled with coke in
fragments of common size. There is also a stream of steam conveyed by a
suitable tube, which stream rushes at the same time through the retort amidst
the same coke, and the gas is .conveyed through tubes into receivers in the
usual manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jacinto Dias Damazio in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACINTO
DIAS DAMAZIO, of. Lisbonn, in the Kingdom of Portugal, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of, June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Jacinto Dias Damazio, Her special license that I, the said Jacinto
Dias Damazio, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Jacinto Dias Damazio, 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, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "A NEW PROCESS OF MAKING ILLUMINATING AND HEATING GAS BY A
DOUBLE DISTILLATION WITHOUT RETORT," (a communication,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Jacinto Dias Damazio, 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.
NÓW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jacinto Dias Damazio, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly, described and ascertained in and by, the
following statement :-
Ilitherto the best method for making illuminating gas has been by: an
expensive system of retorts, which required a considerable expenditure, of fuel
to heat them.! Attempts have been made to extract gas from coke ovens, būt

page_text: his process was very incomplete, which can be easily explained. The lis
illation of pit coal in coke ovens for the purpose of extracting gas and other
products is performed in closed chambers and at rather low temperature. In
his process, water, oil, or tar and gas are produced by the coal, but the gas
hus obtained is poor and scanty, because the oil that is condensed carries
away with it the hydrocarburets, which at a higher temperature are distilled
and increase the production of the lighting gas, which has more density and
lighting power; this gas has a greater value than the other products in several
places. Having closely and carefully studied the distillation of pit coal in gas
works and coke kilns or ovens, for the purpose of obtaining a quality of coke,
good either for railways, mettallurgical operations, or house heating, and to
produce besides, in the same time, at pleasure, gas in all required conditions
either for lighting or heating purposes, I succeeded to build an apparatus
which produces the double result which I was in search of.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the distilling apparatus, showing a part of it in
cross vertical section; Fig. 2 is a plan or over top view, showing part of it, in
1 erect
horizontal section, under the floor; Fig. 3, a side sectional elevation.
two coke ovens adjoining one another; these ovens are built in the same
manner as good coke ovens, the floors of which are heated by each other in
order to make useful the otherwise wasted heat, and to accelerate the baking
(carbonisation). Between the ovens, and towards the bind part, I place a
vertical cast-iron cylinder E, containing about 2 or 3 feet of small pieces of
coke in height. This cylinder has an aperture at its lower part for cleaning
and emptying it; this aperture is hermetically closed by two plugs, made fast
by bolted flange and stirrup, and luted with fire clay. The cylinder placed in
the passage of the flame, in its way downwards when rushing under the floor
of the ovens, is heated at the required degree for effecting the double decom-
position which takes place, as will be explained hereafter. In the beginning
of the process, when the ovens are hot to the right degree, the pit 'coal to be
listilled is placed into one of the said ovens, which is closed likewise with a
suitable door or plug, luted also with fire clay, and made fast with a bolted
cross iron piece; about 30 or perhaps 60 minutes may now elapse till the
watery matters are cleared off, and the ovens are become heated by the
burning of the first evolving weak gas; the ovens require to be at first heated,
because they lose heat when loading them with coal and taking out the coke.
The cap
B, which is over the top of the chimney of the oven A, is then
lowered; and falls on a bed of fine sand and shuts closely. At this period of
the process I employ what I term a extractor, which will be alluded to here-
the said extractor does the work of a sucking and forcing pump, siuce
after;

page_text: it sucks the gas from the ovens, and forces it through all the apparatus to the
gas metre or receptacle. The process is as follows:-The gas and oil, in a
stato of vapour, issue from the oven through the pipe C, which is provided
with a valve to stop the communication between the two ovens, and commu-
nicates with the cylinder E, where they are compelled to pass over the ignited
coke in order to escape through the pipe D in the lower part of the cylinder.
The pipe D conveys the gas to the cylindrical pump chamber G, where the
substances which should not have been distilled increase the quantity of gas,
which is carburated by them, producing a greater quantity of a very fine illumi-
nating gas. This gas is then sucked out from the recieving or pump chamber
G, and conveyed through a condenser by the extractor, which forces it to flow
through a purifier. The purification can be effected either by the dry or wet
process, and thence the gas is conveyed to the gas metre. As yet but half of
the system of my process has been explained, and the production of gas can be
increased at pleasure, according to the use for which it is required. It consists
in the addition of pure hydrogen gas, produced by superheated steam. For this
purpose I convey steam through a pipe K into the cylinder E; the flowing of
steam is regulated by means of a stop-cock L; the pipe K is double, and
passes under the floor of the oven where it is heated; the steam is compelled
to flow through the whole length of the pipe before entering the cylinder E.
This superheated steam flows over or through the ignited coke, together with
'the oils arising from the coal; the hydrogen produced by the steam siezes the
hydrocarburets issuing from the decomposition of the oils and gives a good
illuminating gas, which mingles simultaneously with the other gas as it flows
through the ignited coke. On these conditions only can the gas for lighting
purposes be plentiful and of a superior quality; and this result cannot be
obtained by any of the processes hitherto used. In order to obtain a much
larger quantity of heating gas, the quantity of steam introduced through the
coke must be increased two or three fold; the gas obtained is less carburated,
but it is well known that the pure bydrogen has a superior heating power than
the carburetted hydrogen.
From what has been heretofore described, it is easy to understand that with
my system I can at pleasure, and according to the requirements, produce either
excellent illuminating gas by the decomposition of mineral oils, or simul-
taneously a large quantity of gas for heating purposes, by means of superheated
steam, decomposed during the same operation of the carbonisation of the coal,
without increased expenditure of fuel, since the waste heat required at the
completion of the coal-baking of each oven is sufficient for heating reciprocally
this simple apparatus for double distillation.

page_text: It is well understood that the ovens ought always to be charged from 12 to
16 hours after each other, so that the process of carbonisation or baking may
be going on in one of the said ovens when the other is being charged. The
cap or stopper B is then removed; the flame, finding a free passage, rushes out,
and passes under the floor of the adjoining oven, and vice versa. This system
will be of great advantage to gas works, because, 1st, it saves the fuel bitherto
used for heating the retorts; 2nd, retorts are no longer required; 3rd, heating
or illuminating gas is produced at pleasure, and the quantity produced is
increased or lessened according to the use to which it is to be applied; 4th,
coke of the first quality is produced, which can be used for any industrial
purpose.
My system of double distillation may be applied in a like advantageous
manner to peat, wood, bones, and other substances which can be submitted to
carbonisation, and being the most advantageous for making heating or illumi-
nating gas. Coke ovens or kilns of any kind may at any time be converted,
and my apparatus applied to them easily. Tho present gas works may also bo
altered to this system without much difficulty or expense.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jacinto Dias Damazio, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 18th day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Signed and sealed in the presence of
L. D'AUBREVILLE.
J. D. DAMAZIO. (L.S.)