AN IMPROVED COLD VAPOR
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Pierre Mongruel, of 7, Rus Vivienne, Paris, in
the Empire of France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COLD VAPOR
LETTERS PATENT to Louis Pierre Mongruel, of 7, Rus Vivienne, Paris, in
the Empire of France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COLD VAPOR
GENERATOR, WHICH MAY ALSO BE USED IN THE CARBURATION OF ILLUMINATING
Louis
the Empire of France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COLD VAPOR
GENERATOR, WHICH MAY ALSO BE USED IN THE CARBURATION OF ILLUMINATI
LAS
Sealed the 5th September 1862, and dated the 17th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Pierre Mongrue
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th March 1862.
I, LOUIS PIERRE MONGRUEL, of 7, Rue Vivienne, Paris, in the Empire of
France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED'
COLD VAPOR GENERATOR, WHICH MAY ALSO BE USED IN THE CARBURATION OF
ILLUMINATING GAS," to be as follows:-
My improved apparatus is composed of a metal glass or earthen vase
or chest, cylindrical, angular, or of other form and of any suitable dimensions.
This vase is divided into two compartments, forming when the apparatus is
upright two chambers one above the other. The upper chamber is a reservoir
of volatile liquid filled from above through an opening closed by a hydraulic
stopper or screw plug. This reservoir is intended to feed continuously and
regularly (through a tube with stop-cock, and floating valve), a thin layer or
sheet of liquid spread on the bottom of the lower compartment. This lower

page_text: chamber (which is the real vaporising basin), is provided with a number of
vertical wicks of wool or cotton passing through the meshes or rings of two
superposed metal discs, and steeped at bottom in the before-mentioned sheet
of liquid, which rises along them by capillary attraction, and is constantly used
as vapors form around the wicks. The feeding of the sheet of liquid above
mentioned is effected as I have stated through a tube descending (interiorly or
exteriorly) from the upper chamber or reservoir to the lower chamber or basin.
If this tube is of moderate diameter it will of itself maintain the sheet of
liquid in the basin at one constant level (an essential condition to the uniform
action of the apparatus); but if this tube be of so small a diameter that no air
or gas bubble can rise within it, by the side of the liquid passing downwards,
a second tube will be necessary to cause air or gas to rise from the lower
chamber and assist the flow of the liquid required to replace that which has
been used by evaporation. Whether one or two tubes be used (interiorly or
exteriorly) the object is the same, namely, to keep a constant level depending
on the physical laws of atmospheric pressure and capillary attraction. It is
essential that the upper chamber be hermetically closed; therefore, if one of the
tubes. passes interiorly through the centre partition. it must be carefully
soldered that there may be no escape or leakage around it. Two conduits are
added on the exterior of the apparatus for the introduction of the current of
gas into the basin in the middle of the vapors and its subsequent exit to the
establishment to be lit. They are so made that the gas or other pipes may
be easily fitted to them. The gas to be charged with carbon (presuming my
apparatus to be used for this purpose) to double or treble its illuminating
power is taken at will from the meter introduced from the right or left into
the vapor chamber, amidst the assemblage of capillary wicks, which it is
forced to traverse, and issues in front after having partially licked and dried
the wicks, thus entraining and dissolving the vapors formed by a hydro-carburet
or liquid and light carburet of hydrogen more or less volatile. But the
carburation or super carburation of illuminating gas is not the only application
of my generator, which may be usefully employed for chemical operations in.
which it is desired to react in a vaporous or gaseous state upon two or more
bodies unattackable the one by the other in a liquid state, also to produce.
new combinations of perfumes and aromas or new colors, and for many other.
purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Pierre Mongruel in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
PIERRE MONGRUEL, of 7, Rue Vivienne, Paris, in the Empire of France, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Louis Pierre Mongruel, Her special licence that I, the said Louis
Pierre Mongruel; my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Louis Pierre Mongruel, 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 Invention
for AN IMPROVED COLD VAPOR GENERATOR, WHICH MAY ALSO BE USED IN THE
CARBURATION OF ILLUMINATING GAS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Louis Pierre Mongruel, 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 1, the said Louis Pierre Mongruel, 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 Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, and forming part of this my Specification, and to the
figures and letters of reference placed therecon, Figure 1 being a vertical
section taken through the line A, B, Figure 4, Figure 2 vertical section at
C, D, E, Fig. 4, Figure 3 horizontal projections, part upper, part lower, and
Figure 4 horizontal sections following F, G, and H, I, Figure 1. Similar letters
of reference are placed upon and denote similar parts where such parts appear
or may be seen at each of the Figures respectively. The general aspect of my:
apparatus as shewn in the Drawings is cylindrical, but its shape is essentially
variable without modification of its functions. It may be constructed of metal,

page_text: 0
pressure
glass, earthenware, or other material, and all the parts must be hermetically
joined by soldering or luting. The Drawings represent an apparatus con-
structed of metal; it is divided into two chief parts, the upper part forms a
reservoir for liquid, of which the capacity is variable and in proportion to the
diameter of the apparatus, and the lower part forms a vapor chamber on the
bottom of which spreads a sheet of volatile liquid; a, a, a, a, general envelope
or casing of the apparatus, a¹ upper bottom of the apparatus; 6 intermediate
bottom separating the two compartments c¹ and h; b¹ lower bottom of concave
form and pierced in the centre by a hole 6", of somewhat less than half an
inch in diameter and funnel shaped; c, plug by which the liquid is introduced
into the apparatus. In metal apparatus this plug is surmounted by a hexagonal
head, which permits it to be closed by a key, and is provided at the
point with a leather washer. This might be replaced by an emeried stopper,
if the apparatus is of glass or similar substance. In all cases it is surrounded
by a basin forming a hydraulic closing. c¹, c², c¹, c', upper compartment or
chamber serving as reservoir for the liquid; d, float of leaded copper or other
material, intended to mark the height of the liquid in the reservoir; it is
pierced in the centre and surmounted by a tube d¹, the length of which added
to the thickness of the float equals the height of the reservoir c', plus the
difference resulting from the thickness of the neck of the plug; d", rod fixed
perpendicularly to the bottom b, in the axis of the plug c, serving to guide the
float, through which it passes and enters the tube d¹; e tube covered at its
upper part by the plug or stopper 9, passing through the bottom or partition
b, to which it is hermetically fastened, and plunging into the chamber h, to
a depth of about an inch; f, float of leaded copper or other material, which
indicates the height of the liquid which rests on the bottom of the vapor
chamber h; g, rod fixed to the float f, entering the tube e, and rising above
the upper orifice of this tube e, the height of the liquid forming the sheet 1;
g', plug or stopper, by which the upper orifice of the tube e is closed to prevent
disengagement of the vapors and gasses. This plug may, if desired, be
replaced by a glass tube closed at its upper part, and with its lower part in a
circular groove surrounding the tube e, and forming a hydraulic closing.
This latter method permits the elevation of the rod 9 to be constantly seen
without unstopping the tube e; h, h, h, h, lower chamber for disengagement of
the vapors.. This vapor chamber is divided into three compartments. i, i,
compartments reserved for the introduction and exit of the gaseous or
atmospheric current, and the working of the floats; j.j.j.j, compartments
reserved for the arrangement of wicks k, k¹; j¹ partitions forming the division
of the chamber h. These partitions are fixed by their extremities to the

page_text: apparatus, and their upper parts are pierced with holes, the number of which
increases progressively from top to bottom; k, arrangement of capillary textile
wicks, interlaced in the meshes of two wire gauzes, superposed and held apart
by the uprights. It completely fills the compartment j, j, j, j; k', wicks of
this arrangement plunging into the liquid 1, raising it by capillary attraction,
and multiplying the vaporizing surfaces; 1, sheet of liquid intended to produce
the vapors, and constantly feeding the gaseous or atmospheric current without
change of level; m, wire gauze grating, with meshes of about 03937 parts of
an inch, the object of which is to oppose the introduction into the tube n of
any foreign bodies which might be contained in the liquid; n, tube by which
the liquid descends from the reservoir c¹ into the chamber h, ground at its
lower orifice, and forming funnel at its upper part; o, float of copper (leaded)
or other material surmounted by a rod with conical base and forming valve.
Its object is to close hermetically the lower orifice of the tube n, and arrest
the flowing out of the liquid as soon as it has attained its normal level;
o', hollow beneath the bottom 6 to receive the thickness of the float o; p.
gutter or conduit of communication between the basin o¹ and the condenser p¹;
p', basin of the condenser placed beneath the bottom 6', intended to receive
the impurities, and the aqueous particles contained in the liquid, or in the
gasses which pass through the chamber h. It is put in communication with
this chamber by the opening 6" made in the centre of the bottom 6'; q, tap
for running off the liquids condensed in the basin p'. This tap, which forms
part of my Invention, is composed of four parts; firstly, the chamber or barrel
with its horizontal socket or tube united to the basin p¹; secondly, the cone
surmounted by a head or nut with several sides, which permit its being turned
with a key; thirdly, a basin or well, closing with screw the lower part
of the barrel or chamber to prevent any leakage of the liquid; fourthly, and
lastly, a cap, also screw-fastened, and closing the upper part of the barrel-or
chamber to render any exterior volatilization of the liquid impossible. These
two last parts have like the cone a head or nut, which permits their being
tightened by a key; they are also furnished with leather washers at the point
of pressure.
r, air tube, intended to equilibrize the gaseous or atmospheric
pressure between the two chambers c¹ and h. This tube, the upper orifico
of which is placed about the sixth of an inch from the bottom a', traverses
the intermediate bottom b, to which it is hermetically fixed, and descends into
the chamber h to the level of the orifice of the tube n; r¹, valve applied to
the tube r, intended to permit any excess of vapors which might be dis-
engaged from the liquid contained in the reservoir c¹ to descend into the
chamber h, so as to maintain the equilibrium between the two chambers.

page_text: This valve only acts in case the liquid rises to the lower orifice of the tube r.
s, tubes or conduits, serving indifferently for entrance or exit of the gas.
These conduits are of the same material as the apparatus, and are placed
exteriorly as shewn, or interiorly at pleasure; they are put in .communication
with each of the two compartments i; s, openings by which the conduits s
are put in communication with the compartments i of the chamber h..
The opening is proportioned to the quantity of gas which is to pass into
the apparatus u, foot or stand of the apparatus of tinned iron if the
apparatus is made of metal, or of other material agreeing with the general
construction. Independently of the usefulness of this stand as giving solidity
and completeness to the apparatus, it also permits it to be raised so that the
tap q does not touch the floor when put aside. Everything being in this state
I will proceed to describe what passes in the interior of the apparatus when
charged with volatile liquid through the plug c. The liquid descends from
the reservoir c¹ by the tube n, and spreads over the surface of the bottom b
up to the level indicated by . The air or gaseous body contained in the.
chamber has this descent takes place rises by the tube above the liquid
contained in the reservoir, the vapors which may form in this reservoir also
descending into the chamber h so as to produce a constant equilibrium, but
as soon as the sheet has attained its level, the conical base of the rod of the
float o hermetically closes the tube n by reason of the pressure of the liquid
which has descended, and thenceforth all circulation is arrested in the two
tubes n and r, but as the gaseous or atmospheric current entering by one of
the tubes s, and issuing by the other, carries off vapors, new vapors are formed
at the expense of the sheet 1, the level of which lowering frees the conical
stem of the float o and permits the liquid to descend by the tube n, so that
the level of the sheet of liquid is constantly and by a natural law maintained
at the same height. To ascertain from the exterior the height of the liquid
contained in the chambers c¹, and h when the apparatus is constructed of an
opaque material, I have placed the floats d and f, the stems of which pro-
jecting from the upper part of the apparatus indicate the exact level of the
liquid. The apparatus shewn in the Drawings is of working size, to augment
its vaporizing power it is only requisite that its diameter be proportionately
increased, and if deemed necessary, the height of the chamber c' may be
increased. The tubes s must also in such case be proportionately larger.
I will now describe some of the applications of my generating apparatus,
and its principles. It cannot fail to be very variously applied in chemistry, arts,
and manufactures, to saturate either atmospheric air, or a gaseous current
with certain active vapors, the mixing of which is difficult; it may fayor certain.

page_text: chemical reactions, which will advance the manufacture of colors, their appli-
cation in dyeing, or other application; and while reserving the exclusive use.
of my apparatus for every purpose to which it may be found applicable, I deem
it more particularly valuable in its application to the carburation of illumi-
nating gas. It is generally admitted that by dissolving carburetted hydrogen
vapors in hydrogen gas, this latter acquires a treble or quadruple illuminating
power, but an apparatus is required which will produce a constant vapor,
always equally rich in carbon, so that the light is at all times the same, and
all the apparatus hitherto used for this purpose effecting the generation of
their vapors on the mass of liquid; this permits the escape, firstly, of, all its
lightest and most-volatile parts, and impoverishing each day, gives less and less
vapor and that of inferior quality, until at the end of a few days the light
which has been sensibly diminishing disappears altogether, while the apparatus
still contains a considerable supply of liquid. My apparatus is free from this
great defect, which has caused the artificial carburation of gas to be generally:
abandoned. Without springs or mechanism which may break or get out of
order, it gives a level physically and mathematically constant, and produces the
vapors regularly according to requirement. Further, the mass of liquid held
in reserve to feed the sheet which is vaporizing cannot become impoverished,
as it is sheltered from all contact with the gaseous currents. From
these two conditions it necessarily results that the vapors drawn off by the
gaseous currents remain chemically and physically the same in the chamber
where they are formed as long as there remains one drop of liquid to fall from
the reservoir into the lower chamber. The arrangements of the lower
chamber, as described above, give so much force to the vaporizing action that
the atmospheric air charges itself with gaseous vapors, so to say, incondensable
under the action of the current which gives them inflammable and illumi-
nating properties superior to those of bicarbonated hydrogen. In the organi-
zation of my apparatus I have made novel applications of known atmospheric
laws, upon which are based the apparatuses known as "Hérons' " fountain,
intermittant fountain, "Marriotte's" vase, and others. This new application
forms one of the principles of my Invention, as do the floats f and o, and their
accessaries, the system of wicks k and k¹, the partitions j, the basin p¹, and
the running-off tap q. In one word I claim the apparatus above described as
a whole, together with the arrangement of the several parts essentially as
herein set forth.
Although the Drawings represent one main vase of one piece, and cylin-
drical, I have foreseen an application of the generator with two cylinders,
superposed with corrugation or ledge at their junction, where they would be

page_text: fastened by screw bolts, and a leather or leaden washer between the two edges,
and in this case the middle bottom would be soldered to the bottom of the
upper cylinder. This arrangement would permit the taking to pieces of the
apparatus, and its interior reparation should any derangement occur; but as
the hydrocarburetted vapors to be used for lighting are exceedingly thin and
penetrating, I have dreaded their escape at the bolted joint, and experience
alone will justify this modification, nevertheless I claim it as a possible modi-
fication of my Invention, giving it the additional security of a hydraulic joint
if found expedient.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Pierre Mongruel, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
MONGRUEL. (L.S.)