IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EXHAUSTING, FORCING, PURIFYING GAS FOR HEATING AND ILLUMINATING PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cleland, of Linacre, near Liverpool,
in the County of Lancaster, Manager of Gas Works, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EXHAUSTING, FORCING,
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cleland at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th May 1870.
I, WILLIAM CLELAND, of Linacre, near Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Manager of Gas Works, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EXHAUSTING,
FORCING, AND PURIFYING GAS FOR HEATING AND ILLUMINATING PURPOSES," to be
as follows:
This Invention consists essentially in the employment of a stream
or streams of steam or of the vapour of gas liquor, or other con-
densible vapour at pressure for the purposes of exhausting, forcing,
and purifying coal, cannel, and other gas, and for cleansing the appa-

page_text: ratus used in the manufacture of gas. The said steam or vapour is
admitted between the body of the retort and a condenser through jets
or nozzles of any desired form in such manner as to produce a current
in the desired direction, whereby the gas is conveyed away mixed with
the steam or vapour, thereby relieving the retort from objectionable
pressure. The mixed fluids pass into a condenser for the purpose of the
conversion of the steam or vapour into liquid. The gas is thereby
purified and improved.
The exhausting and forcing apparatus which I prefer consists of an
annular or central jet, or of several jets placed at a contracted part or
contracted parts of the apparatus, and such jet or jets direct the steam
or vapour and the induced gas into an induction piece or induction
pieces increasing in transverse sectional area in the direction of the
current.
The purifying apparatus which I prefer has its parts so arranged that
the liquor from the gas is kept in contact with the gas and flows in
the same direction for the purpose of removing ammonia and other
impurities.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Cleland in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLELAND, of Linacre, near Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Manager of Gas Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Cleland, Her special
license that I, the said William Cleland, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Cleland, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should in 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,

page_text: the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED
MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR EXHAUSTING, FORCING, AND PURIFYING GAS FOR
HEATING AND ILLUMINATING PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said. William Cleland, 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 Cleland, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 accompanying Sheet of
illustrative Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
This Invention consists essentially in the employment of a stream or
streams of steam or of the vapour of gas liquor or of other condensible
vapour at pressure for the purposes of exhausting, forcing, and puri-
fying coal, cannel, and other gas, and as a result cleansing the apparatus
used in the manufacture of gas. The said steam or vapour is admitted
between the body of the retort and a condenser, or pipes, mains,
passages, or parts acting as a condenser, through jets or nozzles of any
desired form, in such manner as to produce a current in the desired
direction, whereby the gas is conveyed away mixed with the steam
or vapour, thereby releiving the retort from objectionable pressure.
The mixed fluids pass into a condenser for the purpose of the conversion
of the steam or vapour into liquid, the gas being cooled at the same time.
The gas is thereby purified and improved.
The exhausting and forcing apparatus which I prefer consists of an
annular or central jet or of several jets placed at a contracted part or
contracted parts of the apparatus, and such jet or jets direct the steam
or vapour and the induced gas into an induction piece or induction pieces
increasing in transverse sectional area in the direction of the current.
The purifying apparatus has its parts so arranged that the liquor from
the gas is kept in contact with the gas and flows in the same direction
for the purpose of removing ammonia and other impurities.

page_text: As steam or vapour in projection under pressure from a circular orifice
powerfully tends to assume a conical form, it is advantageous, though not
essential under my Invention, that the outlet part of the induction piece
should be of capacity increasing in the direction of the current by
giving it the form of an elongated cone, such as is shewn by Fig. 1.
The pressure of the mixed steam and gas against the interior of the
induction přece and the consequent resistance to their passage is thus
diminished. It is recommended that for a short distance in front of the
issuing jet of steam (the size of which jet must manifestly depend on
the work to be done in exhausting and forcing and the pressure of steam
in the boiler) the induction piece should have parallel or nearly parallel
sides, and that thereafter it should increase in area so that the longi-
tudinal lines of the internal surface may form an angle to the axis of
from about 5 to 6 degrees. The axis or longitudinal centre line of the
steam jet, the induction piece, and the connecting main or pipe into
which the mixed steam and gas flow should be identical. The diameter
of the induction piece at its throat or narrowest part ought to be pro-
portioned to the size of the main or passage in which it is placed, as
well as to the quantity of gas to be exhausted and forced in a given
time. One-fourth or one-fifth of the diameter of the main or passage is
a convenient diameter.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of apparatus with a central
jet and expanding induction piece. a denotes the central steam jet
fitted with regulating and stop valve b; c, induction piece; d, portions
of the main. In this as in all the Drawings the arrows shew the
direction of the currents.
Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal section of a modification of Fig. 1,
an annular steam jet and an induction piece increasing in area outwards
from the mouth of the steam jet being used. Here e is the annular
jet; f, the expanding induction piece; g, portions of the main.
Although I prefer the apparatus with an expanding induction piece
above described and delineated by Figs. 1 and 2, cylindrical induction
pieces may be used with advantage. They are convenient for adaptation
to existing works. In such cylindrical pieces the length ought to be
proportioned to the diameter and the diameter to the size of the main
or passage and the quantity of gas to be exhausted and forced in a
given time. In practice I have found that one-fourth to one-fifth of
the diameter of the main is a convenient size. The length of the said

page_text: cylindrical piece is also important. If too short the mixed steam and
gas under the influence of the back pressure will eddy or return through
the induction piece. If too long objectionable friction will result. A
length equal to about eight or ten times its diameter is suitable. I
have successfully used an arrangement of this kind with a central
jet ¾ in. diameter in a cylindrical induction piece 3 ft. long and 4 inches
diameter for passing 50,000 cubic feet of gas per hour through an 18
in. main against a back pressure equal to a column of water 13 inches
high while maintaining a steady vacuum of 2 inches of a column of
water.
Fig. 3 shews a longitudinal section of a modification of this kind.
h, denotes a central steam jet shewn closed by the valve i; j, induction
piece made bell-mouthed at the inlet end; k, gas main.
Fig. 4 illustrates a cumulative or successive arrangement of small jets
to be used instead of one large one. Cylindrical induction pieces
similar to the one shewn in Fig. 3 are shewn. 1, are central steam jets ;
m, induction pieces; n, gas main. The jets and induction pieces may
be placed at any convenient distance apart in the course of the gas from
the retorts onwards. Two or more separate induction picces may be used
with one steam jet, the stream of mixed steam and gas from the smaller
induction piece serving as a jet for the larger one. The number of
induction pieces which may be used with one jet is very limited inas-
much as the velocity of the mixed steam and gas rapidly diminishes
with each induction piece added and becomes insufficient to overcome
ordinary backward pressures.
Fig. 5 shews an arrangement of this kind with two separate induc-
tion pieces; and Fig. 6 a transverse section a C, D. o is a central
steam jet; p, funnel ended cylindrical smaller induction piece; q, bell-
mouthed expanding larger induction piece. The supply of gas to the
latter is through openings in the plate or flange r.
Instead of one
large jet or several small cumulative or successive ones being used a
group of two or more jets may be arranged to act simultaneously to
exhaust from the same source and to force into one or more pipes or
channels.
Fig. 6 shews an arrangement with three jets adapted to exhaust from
onc source and to force into one outlet; 8, are steam jets; t, cylindrical
funnel ended induction pieces; u, inlet main; v, outlet. Each of these
steam jets is provided with a regulating and stop valve, and each of the

page_text: induction pieces is also provided with a valve. Thus each jet and its
induction piece can be used as a separate exhauster. The steam to any
of the above jets can be regulated by hand, but in practice I prefer to
use the self-acting water governor shown attached to Fig. 4, and by
Fig. 8, which is a transverse section at the line A, B, Fig. 4, such
governor being the same in principle as those used with ordinary ex-
hausters. The pipe w through which gas enters and leaves the gasholder
x of the governor is connected to the vacuum part of the main or passage
in rear of the point where the steam enters; it may be provided with a
throttle valve. The motion given to the beam y by the rising and falling
of the gasholder is transmitted through the weighted chain and rod z, or
their equivalents to the regulating and stop-cock 2¹ or to a cock or valve
of any convenient construction or arrangement. Thus when the steam
jet or jets exhaust too powerfully the gasholder x falls and immediately
checks the flow of steam. The converse takes place when the jets do
not produce sufficient vacuum. The governor may be arranged to act on
one or a group of steam valves or cocks.
Having ascertained that jets of steam act more advantageously in
exhausting and forcing when admitted amongst cold gas than amongst
hot gas, I prefer when one jet or a group of two or more jets acting
simultaneously is used to admit the steam at the outlet from the
ordinary or primary condenser. It will be obvious however such
jets may be admitted at any convenient points between the retorts
and the gasholder. When cumulative or successive jets are used I
prefer to place one at the inlet to each of a series of purifying and 1
condensing apparatus constructed as hereafter described, or when
the said purifying and condensing apparatus is not used at any
convenient points between the outlet of the primary condenser and the
gasholder.
I would have it understood that under my Invention the induction 3
pieces are not indispensible in gas works where the mains are so small
as to allow the issuing steam to reach the internal surface of the said
main at high velocities, but even in such cases it is desirable to adopt
them. The forms of jets and induction pieces shewn it will be obvious
may be varied. The steam admitted amongst the gas for the purpose of a
exhausting and forcing becomes intimately mixed with the gas, and by
condensation supplies liquor, whereby the gas is freed from ammonia,
sulphuretted hydrogen, sulphide of carbou, and other impurities.

page_text: gas from
Purifying apparatus constructed in accordance with my Invention, that
is to say, apparatus in which the condensed liquor flows in the same
direction as the gas, is delineated by Fig. 9 on the Drawings. This
apparatus is made by preference of sheet metal. a¹ is the inlet leading
to the compartment 6', which is protected by a jacket of air or other
suitable covering if desired to prevent the mixed steam and
condensing in that part and to maintain them at a uniform temperature
over the pipes; c¹, c¹, are vertical pipes provided with throttle valves d'
to regulate the flow when necessary; e¹, the condensed liquor compart-
ment, outlet; g', syphon. A large number of the pipes c¹ is
preferred, and their united transverse areas being much greater than
the area of the inlet main the mixed steam and gas necessarily travels
slowly through the said pipes and the steam becomes condensed cheifly
in the upper part thereof. As the liquor trickles slowly down the surfaces
of the pipes, which are by preference of considerable length, ammonia
and other impurities are removed, and the liquor when it reaches e¹ has
acquired a useful degree of strength. Pipes of large transverse area may
be used advantageously when occupied with some light and loose
material, such as wood shaving, twigs, or coke, which may be supported
on grids resting on the ledges f¹ or otherwise. My said purifying
apparatus thus serves as a scrubbing condenser capable of yielding liquor
of high degrees of strength without the use of pumps or other
distributors. The impurities remaining in the gas can be removed by
oxide of iron or other means in the ordinary way, but if it should be
desired to purify still further before the gas reaches the ordinary purifiers
I admit a further supply or successive supplies of steam, which may
perform its or their share of work in exhausting and forcing, and I also
employ one or more of my said purifying apparatus. Should the liquor
from the last mentioned purifying apparatus be too weak to be run into
the general ammonia cistern it may be converted into steam for
exhausting and forcing and for purifying in the first set of my said
purifiers. By employing my said purifying apparatus as a primary
condenser the production of weak ammonia liquor in large quantity is
in a great measure avoided, and the use of scrubbing machinery to raise
it to a marketable strength is obviated or lessened.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my said improvements, and parti-
cularized the same in such manner that others will be enabled to carry
my Invention into effect, I claim, the means and apparatus for exhausting,
forcing, and purifying gas, substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cleland, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
In the presence of,
J. T. KING,
Patent Agent,
Liverpool.
WILLIAM CLELAND. (L.S.)