IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING SMOKE, TO BE APPLIED TO LAMPS AND GAS BURNERS
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th October
1855. A communication.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONSUMING
SMOKE, TO BE APPLIED TO LAMPS AND GAS BURNERS," a communication from Jean
Baptiste Theodore Andry, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Silk Merchant,
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of an apparatus to be applied to lamps and gas
burners, for the purpose of consuming more effectually than hitherto the
smoke and gases produced by combustion.
The ordinary smoke consumers, which consist of a bell suspended over the
flame, merely act as distributors or dispersors of the smoke without consuming
it. The object and intention of this Invention is to collect and burn all the
combustible gases and smoke, and to allow nothing but a colorless and incom-
bustible gas to escape. The apparatus is composed of two parts, which are
connected together by bayonet joints or other convenient and suitable means,
and is suspended above the chimney of the lamp or gas burner. The prin-
cipal portion of the lower part of the apparatus is composed of an inverted

page_text: funnel, intended to receive the products of combustion as they issue from the
chimney of the lamp or gas burner. The superior or cylindrical part of this
funnel extends upwards into a bell belonging to the upper part of the appa-
ratus. In the centre of this bell a projecting boss is formed, for the purpose
of dividing the ascending smoke, and causing it to be distributed over the
whole of the interior surface of the bell. The lower edge of this bell descends
into another bell, placed in an inverted position, and attached to the cylindrical
portion of the funnel above named. The upper edge of this inverted bell
projects upwards into an outer bell, which forms the exterior of the upper part
of the apparatus, and to which the inner bell first mentioned is attached, by
These parts are all so arranged
suspension at the upper portion of its dome.
as to leave an annular space between each for the passage of the gas. The
effect of this apparatus is as follows:-The hot smoke and gas evolved from
the flame pass up the inverted funnel, carrying with them a portion of atmo-
spheric air; the projecting boss of the inner bell becomes so heated thereby, as
to consume a great portion of the smoke and combustible gas. This effect can
be increased by the application of wire gauze to the boss. The unconsumed
portion of the smoke in traversing or circulating through the several bells
becomes deposited in the form of soot, and can be easily removed whenever
deemed desirable.
It will be evident that the number and form of the bells may be varied, and
that cylindrical or rectangular boxes may be employed if similarly arranged,
without departing from the principle of this Invention, which consists in
causing the smoke and gas, in combination with atmospheric air, to traverse
or circulate over over surfaces of metal or other suitable material, made
hot by the heat thrown off by the flame in the lamp or gas burner, or by the
smoke and gas thereby evolved, and in causing such smoke and gas to escape
at a different outlet, instead of allowing them to return and escape at the same
orifice by which they entered, as is the case with ordinary smoke consumers.