AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING GAS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Tillam, of Church Street, Deptford Green,
in the County of Kent, Crematine Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING GAS."
Sealed the 29th August 1862, and dated the 3rd March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Tillam at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
3rd March 1862.
I, THOMAS TILLAM, of Church Street, Deptford Green, in the County of
Kent, Crematine Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING GAS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is the purification of gas, and my Invention
consists in the employment for that purpose of oxyde of manganese. I generally
use the oxyde of manganese in combination with lime, preferring chalk lime,
or stone lime, and also with sawdust, ground cork refuse, cocoa-nut refuse, or
ground bark, as an auxiliary filtering agent, or instead of sawdust, other

page_text: ordinary filtering agents may be used. About equal parts by weight of the
oxyde and the lime may be used in many cases, but this proportion may be
varied; the oxyde of manganese may also occasionally be used with the cocoa-
nut or other filtering agent without the lime.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Tillam in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
TILLAM, of Church Street, Deptford Green, in the County of Kent, Crematine
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third 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 beirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Tillam, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Tillam, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Tillam, 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 IM-
PROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING GAS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Tillam, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Thomas Tillam, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is the purification of gas and my Invention
consists in the employment for that purpose of oxyde of manganese in combi-
nation with lime, preferring chalk lime, or stone lime, and with sawdust or S

page_text: cocoa-nut refuse, or ground bark as an auxiliary filtering agent, or instead of
sawdust other ordinary auxiliary filtering agents may be used in combination
with the oxyde of manganese and the lime.
Haying thus set forth the nature of my Invention, I proceed to describe
the best means known to me for carrying the same into effect. The proportions
in which the ingredients are to be combined, may be varied, but about equal
parts by weight of the oxyde and the lime may be used; in some cases I find,
however, in practice the following proportions generally suitable, that is to say,
1 cwt. lime; 1 cwt. sawdust; cwt. oxyde of manganese, and I prefer to
proceed thus: I first slack the lime with as little water as possible, so as to
get it as dry as may be, and I then mix it with sawdust, which is the filtering
agent that I recommend though the others before mentioned may be used.
I next add the oxyde of manganese in a state of powder, and I thoroughly mix
the whole together and sift the mixture. The mixture should be kept dry
until required for use, and should be damped just before introducing it into
the purifier. The gas to be purified by this mixture is passed through it in
the ordinary mode of subjecting gas to purifying media, and the purifying
apparatus in present use may be employed for the purpose. From the
residuum of my mixture after being used in purifying gas an advantageous
manure may be obtained. What I understand by cocoa-nut refuse, is the
refuse of the operation of stripping or "breaking" cocoa-nut to prepare its
fibres for textile and other manufacturing uses; I use the granular portion of
this refuse, which I separate for the purpose of my Invention from the dust
with which it is found combined. The oxyde of manganese may occasionally be
used with the cocoa-nut or other filtering agent, without the lime, that is to
say, when instead of lime sugar of lead is used, the oxyde of manganese and
the filtering agent may be combined with the sugar of lead, but I do not
recommend this combination, neither do I claim it as part of my Invention, I
wish it to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the precise proportions
of ingredients above mentioned, as these proportions may be varied without
departing from the nature of my Invention.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I would remark that lime and sawdust are well
known agents for purifying gas, and though I believe ground bark and cocoa-
nut refuse have not hitherto been adopted for that purpose, nevertheless I do
not claim either of the same considered apart from the employment thereof in
combination with oxyde of manganese and lime for the purpose of my Invention,
and I declare that what I do claim as new in my improved method of purifying

page_text: gas is, the combination for that purpose of oxyde of manganese, with lime and
with cocoa-nut refuse or ground bark or sawdust, or any known filtering agent
used in the purification of gas.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Tillam, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand'eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
M. HENRY,
Patent Agent,
84 Fleet Street,
London.
THO. TILLAM. (L.S.)