IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH RETORTS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Carnegie Kirk, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH RETORTS."
Scaled the 21st January 1870, and dated the 9th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Carnegic
Kirk at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th November 1869.
I, ALEXANDER CARNEGIE KIRK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH RETORTS," to be as follows,
that is to say:-
This Invention of improvements in or connected with retorts is
applicable to all retorts from which the residues are drawn or removed
through a water lute that prevents the escape of vapor, and consists,
according to one modification, in arranging one or more bars to re-
ciprocate slowly between the discharge mouth of the retort and the

page_text: bottom of the pan or trough containing the water, by which bar or
bars the residues from the retort are pushed over the edge of the trough
at each side alternately, and fall thence into wagons or other receptacles.
In another modification the bar or bars are arranged to remove the
residue at only one side of the trough.
The bar or bars may be attached to pendent levers at each side of the
retort, and be made to reciprocate by a connecting rod from a slowly
revolving crank; or the bar or bars may be carried by endless chains
suitably guided and actuated in any convenient way.
The herein-before described improvements whilst applicable to various
kinds of retorts, are more particularly designed for vertical retorts, and
in constructing these it is preferred to make the body in two lengths,
and to fix in at the joint a shell extending downwards therefrom, so as
to form a jacket space, into the top of which the steam or other gas or
vapor which is usually introduced into such retorts is admitted, and from
the bottom of which it issues into or among the shale or other substance
being distilled. With this arrangement any
With this arrangement any leakage that may take
place will consist of the steam or vapor so introduced, and not of the
vapor being distilled.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
CARNEGIE KIRK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the 'thirty--
third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk, Her special
licence, that I, the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Carnegic
Kirk, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-

page_text: after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Ohannel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH RETORTS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk, 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
Offico within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of thic said Letters Patent.
'
NOW KNOW YE, that I, tho said Alexander Carnegic Kirk, 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention of improvements in or connected with retorts is
applicable to all retorts from which the residues are drawn or removed
through a water lute that prevents the escape of vapor, and it consists;
according to one modification, in arranging one or more bars to re-
ciprocate slowly between the discharge mouth of the retort and tho
bottom of the pan or trough containing the water, by which bar or
bars the residues from the retort are pushed over the edge of the trough
at each side alternately, and fall thence into wagons or other receptacles.
These improvements whilst applicable to various kinds of retorts are
moro particularly designed for vertical retorts, and in constructing such
retorts I prefer to make the body in two lengths, and to fix in at the joint
a shell extending downwards therefrom, so as to form a jacket space,
into the top of which the steam or other gas or vapor which is usually
introduced into such retorts is admitted, and from the bottom of which
it issues into or among the shale or other substance being distilled.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a
Sheet of explanatory Drawings to be hercin-after referred to, and repre-
scuting examples of the practical application of my improvements,
Figures 1 and 2 are sectional elevations at right angles to each other,
showing a pair of vertical retorts as fitted with one modification of my
improved discharging apparatus.

page_text: The retorts 1 have mouth pieces 2 fixed to and projecting down from
their lower ends into a trough 3, and this trough is formed with a curved
bottom at the part under the mouth picces, and with sides rising up at
each side to ridges 4, from which inclined shoots 5 extend downwards on
the outsides. In the example delineated each retort is provided with a
separate discharging bar 6, which is attached to a pair of pendent levers
or links 7 hung on studs on the opposite sides of the mouth piece 2.
Each bar 6 is made to reciprocate by a pair of rods 8 connecting its
ends to a pair of cranks 9 on a slowly revolving shaft 10 carried in
bracket bearings fixed to the side of the building. The cranks of the
two shafts 10 are by preference placed at an angle to each other, and are
connected by a link 11 in the middle connecting the two inner crank
pins, whilst the shafts are driven slowly by means of a ratchet wheel 12
fixed on one of them. The ratchet wheel 12 is prevented from turning
back by a catch, indicated by dotted lines at 13, and jointed on a stud on
the bearing bracket, and is propelled forward by the intermittent action
of a heavy pawl 14 carried on an eccentric on a shaft 15, which is
actuated through worm wheel gearing 16 from a steam engine or other
convenient prime mover. When either bar 6 in the course of its rc-
ciprocating motion moves up either side of the trough 3 it pushes the
residue that has descended from the retort into its way up out of the
water with which the trough is filled or partially filled and over
the ridge 4, whence the residue falls down the inclined shoot 5 into
a truck or wagon 17 placed to receive it.
The apparatus may be modified in various ways; thus, for example, it
may be arranged to deliver the residue at one side only of the retort or
retorts. Also one or more bars (6) may be arranged on a pair of endless
chains suitably guided, and which may be made to reciprocate or to
move continuously in one direction in any convenient way, the chains
in the latter case returning beneath the trough (3).
Figure 3 is a vertical section showing my improved mode of con-
structing vertical retorts.
The body 1 is made in two lengths, 18, 19, and at the joint between
the two parts there is held the flange of an internal shell 20, projecting
downwards and forming a jacket space, into the top of which space
steam or other vapor or gas is to be led by a pipe 21. The shell has a
spiral rib on its outside to make the steam, vapor, or gas circulate round
it, instead of proceeding directly to the bottom, where it issues into the

page_text: interior of the retort. The joint between the flange of the internal shell 20
and the upper part 18 of the retort is made tight by means of a wrought-
iron ring cast in the upper part, and which projects down into a groove
in the flange of the shell, such groove being filled or packed with putty
or other suitable cement. The lower part 19 of the retort is formed with
a spigot 22, which projects above the joint just described, and which is
caulked above that joint, so that any leakage that may take place will
consist of the steam, vapor, or gas from the jacket space, and not of the
vapor from the interior of the retort. The internal shell 20 may be
jointed to the upper part 18 of the retort in various ways, or it may be
cast in one piece therewith.
It is one advantage of this improved construction of the retort that
the steam, vapor, or gas led into the jacket space becomes superheated
therein before it acts on the substances in the retort.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but
that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—
1. The applying of apparatus, substantially such as is herein-before
described, for removing residues from retorts.
And, 2. The constructing of vertical retorts with the body in two
lengths combined with an internal shell, substantially as hercin-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
0
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ALEXANDER C. KIRK. (L.S.)