THE OBTAINING OF CALORIC BY A NEW CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL PROCESS
Year: 1858

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Etienne Briollet at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th November
1858. A communication from Mr. Mundo, resident at Naples, in the
Kingdom of Sicily.
I, ETIENNE BRIOLLET, of 58, Torrington Square, County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "THE OBTAINING OF CALORIC
BY A NEW CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL PROCESS," (a communication to me
from Mr. Mundo, resident at Naples, in the Kingdom of Sicily), to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in reducing water to vapour, and in this state (mixed
to one-fifth of its volume with a substance I will hereafter describe) causing it to
circulate through a series of red-hot tubes, some of which are perforated, & in
connexion with other tubes also perforated, from whence the atmospheric air
escapes by pressure. The water thus decomposed & whose hydrogen is mixed
with that of the other substance to be hereafter described in its escape from
the perforated tubes encounters the oxygen of the outer or atmospheric air, &
entire combustion immediately ensues, each orifice in the tubes acting as a
blow pipe.
This is briefly the theory of my Invention which is applicable to all furnaces,.
machines, &c., where a great degree of caloric is required, combined with
economy in fuel; necessarily my apparatus must vary in form according to its
application.
Fig. 1. The apparatus here represented is adapted to locomotives, & has a
copper or iron recipient with double casing, similar in form to one barrel

page_text: within another. The interior A is to be filled with one of the substances of
which description will follow; the bottom is fitted with a copper pipe C, which
goes through the outer recipient B; this pipe C is fitted with a tap, and enters
into a copper pipe of larger dimensions E. The pipe F, which is placed at the
top of the apparatus, communicates with the steam thrown off by the machine,
and conducts it into the outer recipient B, from the bottom of which a copper
pipe D fitted with a tap communicates with the pipe E; the steam enters the
pipe E, and mixes to a given degree with the substance contained in the
recipient A by means of the pipe C.
Fig. 2 represents the apparatus when the steam enters the red-hot tubes in
the interior of the furnace. The substances placed in the recipient B then
become decomposed, form hydrogen more or less carbonated, and leave the
carburet exposed, which encountering the steam decomposes it, and forms
hydrogen, oxyd of carbon, and carbonic acid. These gases enter a pipe placed
horizontally in the lower section of the apparatus opposite the mouth of the
furnace. Four other pipes I branch out from it, and divide it lengthways
into four equal parts, occupying nearly the whole length of the furnace; these
pipes I are connected at one end with the gas pipe H, and the other end,
which is stopped, rests on another large pipe K. Three pipes L branch out
from the air pipe K, communicating at one of their extremities with the
above-mentioned air pipe K; the other, which is stopped, rests against the gas
pipe H. These three air pipes L are perforated on each side, and occupy the
space left between the gas pipes I; these nine pipes form together the grating
.of the furnace, leaving between them sufficient space for the passage of
cinders and the introduction of air.
Fig. 3 represents the upper part of the four gas pipes I, to each of which
three vertical pipes are joined, dividing the length into three equal parts;
these twelve vertical pipes uphold three horizontal pipes N, which are placed
transversally in the furnace with which they communicate; they are stopped
at their extremities, and perforated lengthways on one side only.
Fig. 4 represents the three air pipes L which communicate with the three
pipes above P; these latter are placed transversally and upheld by three vertical
pipes O; they are also stopped at their extremities and perforated on each
side, the holes corresponding with those in the gas pipes N.
Fig. 5 represents a ventilator worked by the machine or by a handle for
carrying air into the great air and gas pipes by means of two copper pipes
fitted with taps.
The substances to which I alluded above, & which I employ for the
decomposition of the water, are all sorts of greasy or oily substances, volatile

page_text: oils, resines, all sorts of tar or pitch, either vegitable or mineral, hydro-
carbonated hydrogen, schist oils, and in case of necessity even unrefined
pyroligneous acid. I have successfully employed a mixture composed of gas,
tar, pyroligneous pitch, & hydro-carbonated hydrogen or naptha.
The advantages offered by my system and apparatus are,—