IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ROCESS OF MANUFACTURING AND PURIFYING GASES PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONSES FOR LIGHTING AND HEATING AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kirkham, of Tonbridge Place, New Road, and
Thomas Nesham Kirkham, of Edith Grove West, Brompton, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE ROCESS OF MANUFACTURING AND PURIFYING GASES
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kirkham and
Thomas Nesham Kirkham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 28th August 1854.
We JOHN KIRKHAM of Tonbridgo Place New Road and THOMAS NESHAM
KIRKHAM of Edith Grove West Brompton in the County of Middlesex
Engineers do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING AND PURIFYING GASES FOR LIGHTING AND
HEATING AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN " to be as follows:--
In manufacturing gas according to this Invention we decompose steam by
bringing it into contact with ignited coke and we then combine the gas thus
obtained (when required for illumination) with a gas rich in carbon. The
furnace we prefer to employ for decomposing the steam is of such a shape
that it will contain a considerable depth of coke. Hot air is introduced
below to blow up the fire, and steam is admitted from the top and caused
23982.

page_text: to percolate downwards through the incandescent coke, by which means it
becomes quickly decomposed and passes out of the furnace in the state of
highly heated gas. This water gas is then conducted into a mixing chamber,
where it meets with a gas rich in carbon and combines therewith. Heat may
be a applied to this chamber for the purpose of volatilizing any tar or other
liquid carbon that may become condensed and causing it to be taken up
by the water gas. In order to obtain hot air for keeping up the fire in the
furnace, the gases of combustion of the coke are led off at the top of the
furnace into a heating chamber provided with a set of vertical metal pipes.
These heated gases of combustion pass down the pipes, and forcing their way
through a water joint make their exit from the heating chamber, and may
then be let off into the air or applied to any suitable purpose. A current of
cold air is brought into contact with the exterior of the vertical pipes in the
heating chamber, and is caused to circulate around them. It is then led off
to an annular chamber with which the furnace is provided and subsequently
conducted in a higly heated state into the furnace. Instead of using a sepa-
rate mixing chamber as above mentioned the carburetted hydrogen gas may
be conducted into the furnace in which the water gas is generated, and there
caused to combine therewith. In carrying on the above-described process, the
blowing of hot air and steam into the furnace is intermittent; in order there-
fore that the supply of water gas to the mixing chamber may be continuous,
two furnaces and heating chambers must be employed for each mixing
chamber, and these furnaces must be brought in like manner into connection
with the mixing chamber. In order to economize the fuel used in the retort
oven, we build up in the middle of the oven vertical air flues into which we
admit air, and conduct it down to. branching flues formed in the side walls
of the fire-place, from which flues it is discharged laterally in streams on to
the burning fuel. By this means we effect the consumption of smoke and
consequently an economy of fuel.
As a purifier for gas we propose to use refuse coke derived from boghead
and other coal, which refuse material when ground or pulverized (and mixed
or not with other materials) we spread over the trays or shelves of dry lime
purifiers, and bring the gas to be purified in contact therewith..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kirkham and Thomas Nesham Kirkham in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME we JOHN
KIRKHAM of Tonbridge Place New Road and THOMAS NESHAM KIRKHAM of
Edith Grove West Brompton in the County of Middlesex Engineers send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of August in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four in the eighteenth year of
Her reign did for Herself Her heirs and successors give and grant unto us
the said John Kirkham and Thomas Nesham Kirkham Her special license
that we the said John Kirkham and Thomas Nesham Kirkham our executors
administrators and assigns or such others as we the said John Kirkham and
Thomas Nesham Kirkham 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING AND PURIFYING GASES FOR LIGHTING AND
HEATING AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN "-upon the condition
(amongst others) that we the said John Kirkham and Thomas Nesham
Kirkham by an instrument in writing under our hands and 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 John Kirkham (on behalf of myself
and of the said Thomas Nesham Kirkham) 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)
The first part of our Invention relates to the manufacture of gas (fit for
lighting and heating purposes) from steam or water (which is decomposed

page_text: by being brought into contact with ignited coke) and to the combination of
gas so obtained with a gas rich in carbon, for the purpose of imparting thereto
the requisite illuminating properties.
In Sheet I of the accompanying Drawings Fig: 1 shews in sectional cle-
vation and Fig: 2 in sectional plan the apparatus which we employ in carrying
out the first part of our Invention. This apparatus it will be seen is for the
most part in duplicate, the object of so constructing it will be hereafter
explained, but for the sake of simplifying the description of the working of
the apparatus we shall in the first instance refer only to one furnace and the
parts in immediate connection therewith. A is the furnace in which the
steam or water is to be decomposed. This furnace is constructed of fire brick
cased with iron and forming a deep cylindrical space for the reception of
coke. It is closed at top by a water-joint cover A' which is removed to permit
of the furnace being charged with coke. At the bottom of the furnace is an
opening A to gain access to the interior for the purpose of igniting the coke
and also for clearing out the furnace when required. This opening when the
coke is well lighted, is kept closed (air-tight) by a door until the end of the
operation. C, C are openings made in the sides of the furnace to admit
heated air thereto for keeping up the combustion of the coke.
The air is supplied to the furnace from a vertical pipe C which is con-
nected with an annular chamber C built into or forming part of the furnace.
This chamber is fitted with a radial partition (see Fig: 2) at one side of
which a branch pipe C enters the chamber and supplies heated air thereto
while on the opposite side of the partition a branch of the pipe C leads off
from the chamber to conduct away the air after it has made the circuit
of the mass of incandescent coke in the furnace and is thereby further
heated.
The emperature of the atmospheric air supplied to the furnace is pri-
marily raised by being conducted by a pipe C into a central chamber C' of
an air-heating apparatus fitted with vertical flue pipes b, b, b, which open at
top and bottom into the chambers B' and B. The upper chamber B' is con-
nected by a pipe B with the upper part of the furnace A and is intended to
conduct the heated gases of combustion therefrom. A cock F is fitted to this
pipe for the purpose of cutting off the passage of the gases of combustion at
certain periods of the process; but when this cock F is open the hot gases
pass along the pipe B into the chamber B₁ and down the metal flues b, b, into
the chamber B. The hot gases will now have parted with most of their heat
and the cold air entering the chamber C' by the pipe C will by moving

page_text: upwards in contact with the metal flues b, b, take up a considerable portion
of the heat imparted to the flues by the descending gases and thus enter the
annular chamber C3 at a high temperature.
The gases of combustion having reached the chamber B will in order to
escape therefrom have to pass through the water in the tank B³ and they
will finally make their exit at the pipe B'. Near the bottom of the furnace A
opposite the firing hole is an opening D from which a short pipe pro-
vided with a stop-cock G leads to a chamber E which we term the mixing
ohamber. The upper part of this chamber is provided with a grid or
grating for supporting a porous mass of broken bricks or other material H,
suitable for facilitating the mechanical admixture of the gases admitted
into this chamber. For the purpose of ensuring in all cases a proper
mingling of the gases provision is made for supplying a furnace heat to the
chamber E.
The steam or water to be decomposed in the furnace A is supplied thereto
by the pipe d, and the gas rich in carbon is admitted to the mixing chamber
by the pipe D'.
The operation of this apparatus will be as follows-The coke in the furnace
A having been fired through the opening A' air is admitted through the pipes
C to different levels of the furnace to facilitate the complete ignition of the
coke, the cock F is then opened and the cock G is closed-the steam is
likewise shut off from the steam pipe d.
The products of combustion rise in the furnace and pass off by the pipe B, B
to the chamber B', thence down the pipes 6, 6, 6, as shewn by the arrows, and
finally escape into the atmosphere at the pipe B' as above mentioned. The
atmospheric air which enters the pipe C for the purpose of supplying the fur-
nace we prefer to force in by a blower, and this blast of air which as before
explained becomes highly heated before entering the furnace we keep up until
the mass of ignited coke has attained the required heat, viz' to that of fused
iron or thereabouts. When the furnace has reached about that heat the cock
F is then shut, the supply of air is cut off and the egress of the propucts of
combustion by the pipe B is then stopped. Steam or water is now injected
on to the red-hot coke through the pipe d and the cock G is turned on to open
a communication between the furnace and the mixing chamber E. The steam
on entering the upper part of the furnace will pass down through the mass of
red-hot coke and on arriving at the point of greatest heat it will become decom-
posed into its elements, the hydrogen thus liberated will pass off by the open
cock G into the chamber E.-This chamber is supplied by the pipe D', with a

page_text: gas rich in carbon obtained by the ordinary process of gas making. The two
gases will then pass upwards into and through the mass of porous material H
and being by that means divided into minute streams they will become
thoroughly mixed together. The carburetted hydrogen thus produced is then
led off by the pipe D to the purifiers where it may be purified in the usual
way and rendered fit for burning-When the coke has parted with a great
portion of its heat and it is no longer able to decompose the steam the supply
of steam is cut off and the cock G is shut. The cock F is then opened and
atmospheric air is again thrown into the furnace to raise it to its former high
temperature. As soon as this is attained the decomposition of the steam and
the transfer of the gas to the mixing chamber is repeated. It will now be seen
that the action of the apparatus must necessarily be intermittent we there-
fore avail ourselves of the use of a pair of furnaces A (or two or more pairs
according to the amount of gas required to be produced in a given time)
and these two furnaces (which are similarly provided with an air-heating
apparatus) we connect to the same mixing chamber and work them so that
they shall alternately supply gas thereto to be mixed with a gas rich in
carbon as above explained. Thus while one furnace is decomposing steam
and generating gas the other will be getting up its heat and vice versa by
which means a continuous supply of gas will be given off from the apparatus.
It will be obvious that when the water gas thus produced is intended to be
used merely for heating purposes, the rich hydrocarbon which we have said is
introduced into the mixing chamber will not be required. In that case the
water gas instead of passing into the mixing chamber may be conducted off
from the furnace to the purifier.
The second part of our Invention relates to a mode of economizing the fuel
used in retort ovens by the introduction to the fire-places of such ovens of
streams of heated air which derive their heat from air flues formed in the
brickwork. For this purpose we build up in the middle of the oven vertical
air flues into which we admit air and conduct it down to branching flucs
formed in the side walls of the fire-places from which flues it is discharged
laterally in streams on to the burning fuel.
In Sheet II of the Drawings this improved arrangement of flues or air
passages is shewn Fig: 1 being a longitudinal vertical section of the retort
oven Fig: 2 a cross section, and Fig. 3 a horizontal section taken in the
line 1, 2, of Fig: 2. The air for supplying the fire-places A we admit into the
horizontal flues a, a, which lead to the bottom of their respective vertical flues
b, b. When the air has ascended to the top of the flue 6 it passes over a

page_text: division wall of the flues, and descends to the bottom of a flue marked c, where
it meets with branching flues d, d, formed in the brickwork of the side walls
of the fire-place and from these flucs it is discharged in lateral streams through
the small flues e, e, e, on to the burning fuel.
In Fig: 2 we have shewn one fire-place as provided with a brick lump (in
place of fire bars) and burning solid fuel such as coke or coal, but in the
other fire-place the fuel employed is coal tar either in a liquid state or solidified
by being mixed with breeze or other suitable substance; and in this instance
the fire is made on the hearth. The course of the air is represented in all the
Figures by arrows-By the use of this arrangement of flues we are enabled
to raise the air to a very high temperature before it enters the fire-place. The
gases of combustion pass off in the ordinary way by the exit flues which lead
to the cross flue h, and by it are conducted to the chimney. The quantity of
atmospheric air supplied to the fire we regulate by valves g, g, fixed at the
entrance of the flues a, a.
By this means of applying hot air to the fire-places of retort ovens we
effect a more perfect combustion of gases and smoke than heretofore and
consequently obtain an economy of fuel.
The last part of our Invention relates to the purification of gas and consists
in the employment as a purifier of gas of the refuse coke derived from bog-
head coal which refuse material when ground or pulverized (and mixed or not
with other materials) we spread over the trays or shelves of dry lime purifiers
and we then bring the gas to be purified in contact therewith.
The substances we propose to mix with this material are those now in use
for the purification of gas, such as lime and animal charcoal. The boghead
coke mixed with either of these substances will after having absorbed the
impurities of the gas form a valuable manure.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements in the
Process of Manufacturing and Purifying Gases for Lighting and Heating and
in Apparatus to be Employed therein" and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect we wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent we claim―
First. The general arrangement of apparatus as described with reference
to Sheet I of the Drawings whereby the well-known operation of decom-
posing steam or water may be economically and expeditiously effected and
the hydrogen derived therefrom may when required be combined with a gas
rich in carbon. And particularly we claim effecting the combination of the
gases in a mixing chamber which receives the water gas direct from the
furnace or furnaces in which it is generated.

page_text: Secondly. We claim the arrangement of air flues as described with reference
to Sheet II of the Drawings for the purpose of heating the air prior to its
introduction to the fire-places of retort ovens.
Thirdly. We claim the use of ground or pulverized coke derived from bog-
head coal as a purifier for gas.
In witness whereof I the said John Kirkham have hereunto set my
hand and seal the Twenty-eighth day of February in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness
J. W. MOFFATT,
66 Chancery Lane.
J. KIRKHAM. (L.S.)