IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ADMINISTERING AND SUPPLYING AND PURIFYING GASES OR VAPOURS FOR MEDICINAL AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Harman Barth, Chymist, of The Lodge,
No. 111, Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ADMINISTERING
AND SUPPLYING AND PURIFYING GASES OR VAPOURS FOR MEDICINAL AND OTHER
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 12th March 1869, and dated the 17th September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Harman
Barth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 17th September 1868.
I, GEORGE HARMAN BARTH, Chymist, of The Lodge, No. 111, West-
bourne Grove, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
ADMINISTERING AND SUPPLYING AND PURIFYING GASES OR VAPOURS FOR MEDICINAL
AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-

page_text: This Invention is also applicable to other apparatus, especially those in
which metal gas holders are used.
This my present Invention is for apparatus to economise the use of
gas, gases, or vapours by purifying them after being inhaled, and thus
enabling them to be re-breathed. I accomplish this result by using a
gasholder, which is fitted with weights to counterpoise its weight, and
is fitted with an appliance to measure the gas contained therein. The
gasholder may be supplied with gas or vapour at the ordinary tension
and density, or with gas compressed into a strong receptacle, or in a
liquid form, or in a solid form. The purification is effected by placing
nets or partitions of cotton, wool, hemp, or other suitable material inside
the gasholder, which are saturated with some proper chymical solution,
such as solution of caustic potash, and other solutions may be used, so
that when the gas or vapour after being inhaled is exhaled into the gas-
holder it has to pass through the interstices of the nets or partitions,
which thus absorb its impurities before it is again inhaled. The chymical
solution is contained in a vessel secured on or in a core enclosed by
the gasholder. When the gasholder is empty the nets or partitions are
charged with solution; when gas or vapour is admitted they are in a
condition to absorb and take from the gas or vapour all or some of its
impurities, and thus render it again fit to be used.
By gas or gases I mean any kind of gas, and by vapour any kind of
vapour which can be used alone or combined with other gas or vapour,
or mixed with air for medicinal purposes; and by medicinal purposes
I mean for the relief of disease, or for causing insensibility to pain,
or producing sleep. My Invention may also be employed to purify
gas for various other purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Harman Barth in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HARMAN BARTH, Chymist, formerly residing at The Lodge, No. 111,
Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, but now
residing at No. 8, Cambridge Villas, Hammersmith, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Harman
Barth, Her special licence that I, the said George Harman Barth,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Harman Barth, or 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ADMINISTERING
AND SUPPLYING AND PURIFYING GASES OR VAPOURS FOR MEDICINAL AND OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Harman Barth, 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 I, the said George Harman Barth, 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:-
This my present Invention has rolation to, but consists of entirely
distinct and novel improvements upon, my Invention for "Improve-.
ments in the Mode of Supplying and Administering Gases for the.
Alleviation and Cure of Certain Diseases," for which Her most
Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria granted me Letters Patent, dated
the 17th day of March 1854, No. 641.
This my present Invention is for a gasholder by means of which gas
or vapour, or a mixture of gas and vapour, or gas, vapour, and air, can
be conveniently administered when required for medicinal or surgical
purposes, and which will purify and economise the gas administered if it
be desired to effect this object.
The gasholder I prefer to make of zinc or other metal; it is of the
ordinary construction, is inverted over water in a suitable vessel, which

page_text: may be fitted with an interior core if desired in the customary way.
The gasholder is fitted with a rod scaled to measure the quantity of gas
used; it is also provided with counterpoise weights to regulate its
weight. The gas or vapour can be supplied to the gasholder from any
receptacle containing it through a proper entrance cock at the ordinary
tension and density; or it may be compressed into a strong metal
receptacle and admitted to the gasholder therefrom, or it can be
supplied in a liquid form or even in a solidified form, if the gas
will assume these or ono of these forms. The purification is
effected by causing the gas or vapour to pass through nets,
diaphragms, or partitions of cotton, wool, hemp, or any other suitable
material, which are placed in the interior of the gasholder in such
way that when gas is admitted it must pass through the nets or
partitions before it can be withdrawn from the gasholder. In order to
remove impurities from the gas or vapour the nets, diaphgrams, or
partitions are saturated with such proper chymical solution as will
absorb, remove, or neutralize the impurity. As an instance, I charge
the nets to remove carbonic acid gas with a solution of caustic potash or
with caustic lime water. The solution may be contained in a vessel
placed on the top of the core when the instrument is made with a core,
or in such situation that whensoever the gasholder is empty and descends
the nets or partitions are moistened by the solution, and when it ascends
they ascend, and being charged with the solution purify the which
must pass through the interstitial spaces of the nets, diaphragms, or
partitions before it can be withdrawn from the gasholder.
gas,
A principal feature in this my Invention is that the gasholder washes
or cleans itself by descending into and remaining in water when not
in use, thus preventing the danger of diseased emanations being trans-
mitted to one person who may inhale after another person from air-tight
bags which cannot be cleansed. It also enables the operator to measure
the quantity of gas used by merely inspecting the scale rods, and when
it is desired to have the gas purified or made otherwise capable of
being re-breathed and thus economised, it perfectly and conveniently
accomplishes the desired purpose.
Any form of tube and mouth piece, face piece, or inhaling apparatus
can be applied to this my gasholder. I do not select any especial kind,
but leave it to the discretion of those who use the apparatus.
By gas or gases I mean any kind of gas, and by vapour any kind of
By gas or gases I mean any kind of gas, and by vapour any kind of

page_text: vapour which may be employed alone or mixed together, or mixed with
air; and by medicinal and surgical purposes I mean for the relief of
disease, or causing insensibility to pain, or producing sleep.
This my Invention may be used for the purification of gas, gases, or
vapours for various other purposes. I do not confine myself to the exact
form of the apparatus or substance of which it is made, or of the exact
substance of which the nets, diaphgrams, or partitions are made, provided
always that they become moistened by the chymical solution when used,
and that they allow the gasholder to ascend or descend and filter
through the interstitial spaces, gas, gases, or vapours which pass into and
out of the gasholder.
GEORGE HARMAN BARTH. (L.S.)