IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN PRODUCING ILLUMINATING GAS FROM INFLAMMABLE AND VOLATILE LIQUIDS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Clayton, of Manchester, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN PRODUCING ILLUMINATING GAS
FROM INFLAMMABLE AND VOLATILE LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 31st August 1866, and dated the 5th March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Clayton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th March 1866.
I, THOMAS CLAYTON, of Manchester, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN PRODUCING
ILLUMINATING GAS FROM INFLAMMABLE AND VOLATILE LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus employed
in producing illuminating gas from inflammable and volatile liquids. In the
Specifications of former Patents granted to me, and dated respectively the
15th March 1861, No. 652, and the 12th December 1863, No. 3136,
methods are described for producing an illuminating gas by passing air or
aeriform fluid in contact with the volatile hydrocarbons of petroleum or other
similar volatile and inflammable liquids. These methods succeed well in
practice, but some difficulty is experienced in obtaining a regular evaporation
of the liquid continuously for many hours in consequence of the great cold.

page_text: produced tending greatly to check the evaporation. According to my present
Invention, in place of employing one evaporating or generating vessel kept
constantly in action, I employ two or more such apparatuses working
alternately, so that when one becomes unduly chilled it goes out of action,
the other being set to work, and by the time this latter becomes chilled in
turn the first vessel will have regained the temperature of the surrounding
air. The arrangement is as follows:-The air is forced into the evaporating
or generating vessel by a forcing apparatus resembling a gas meter, kept in
action by a wound-up spring or other means for obtaining motive power. In
connection with these parts is a governor, and by this the air forcing
apparatus is governed so as to maintain a uniform pressure in the evaporating
or generating vessel. The same forcing mechanism also, gives motion to a
train of wheels or other gearing, which after a given number of revolutions
shuts off the first evaporating or generating vessel, and brings the second into
operation, and so on according to the number used, and this continues at
work for a time, and then the connections are again reversed.
This Invention is particularly applicable to railway carriages and in other
places where ordinary coal gas cannot readily be applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Clayton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
CLAYTON, of Manchester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Clayton, Her special license that I, the said Thomas
Clayton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Clayton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
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 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN PRODUCING ILLUMINATING GAS FROM INFLAMMABLE AND
VOLATILE LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Clayton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: 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 Thomas Clayton, do hereby declare:
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Figures on the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon (that is to
say):
:-
:
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus employed in:
producing illuminating gas from inflammable and volatile liquids. In the
Specification of former Patents, one granted to myself and Frederick Trachsel,
dated the Fifteenth March, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one,
No. 652; and another to myself, dated the Twelfth December, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three, No. 3136, methods are described for producing
an illuminating gas by passing air or aeriform fluid in contact with the volatiler
hydrocarbons of petroleum or other similar volatile and inflammable liquids.
The second Invention, consists in certain improvements of the first, which:
improvements I now describe, reference being had to the letters of reference in
Figures 1 and 2 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings. In the Specification.
of the said second Invention I stated that I employ a generator a having any:
convenient number of divisions 6, according to the number of lights required,
the said divisions to be packed with sponges, cotton, or any other fibrous,
material c, these divisions being fed or supplied with liquid through a tube in
each division, or with the slot or spout d, which is connected with the feeding,
cisterne and which extends from one end of the generator to the other, thus
supplying each division equally with fine rectified spirits distilled from:
American or other petroleum, oils, coal, naptha, or any other suitable volatile
fluid. The feeding cistern e is supplied with the fluid from the holder f,
which is above the cistern, and is provided with an improved supply valve g:
connected to a lever h having a tail or arm on the other side of its fulcrum,
so placed that when the plug k at the top of the holder is screwed in its
place a wire being connected to the plug shall come in contact with the tail:
or arm of the lever, and open the valve and allow the fluid to pass to the
feeding cistern e, and supply the divisions on the principle of a bird fountain,,
but when the plug is drawn to allow the holder to be refilled the valve drops
upon its seating by its own weight, and prevents the fluid from overflowing

page_text: the trough and divisions in the generator. When the said divisions are
supplied with fluid I force through them a current of air, bydrogen gas,
carbonic oxide, or any other inflammable gases, and the combination thus
formed with vapour or gas of the volatile fluid passes through one or more
tubes to the burner or burners; and in order to prevent the fluid from
being too much chilled I cause the air or gas to pass through one or more
pipes to an air or gas chamber m, communicating with each division b by
means of a small hole at the top of the division, by which means the air or
gas is equally distributed through each division in small quantities, thereby
preventing the liquid from becoming too cold by evaporation. The air or
gases are impregnated with the volatile spirits by means of their passing
through sponges or other fibrous material, thereby forming a rich compound
of burning gases, which passes through a small hole at the top of each
division into the receiving chamber n, from which it passes through the gas
pipe o to the burners. When the generator is newly charged with rich spirits
there is sometimes a tendency to smoke; and in order to prevent this defect
I connect the two pipes and o together by a small pipe and tap p, so that
when the tap is opened to allow a small quantity of air or other gases to pass,
it modifies the compound gases passing through the pipe o, and prevents any
smoking during combustion. I also place between the feeding cistern and
divisions layers 9 of sawdust, hair, or other non-conductor, which, in com-
bination with the improved arrangement of feeding the divisions by the slot d,
maintains the fluid at such a temperature that the evaporation continues as
long as there is a supply, and thereby a constant and permanent light can be
obtained for any required number of hours. To prevent accidents from
carelessness I enclose the generating box in a metal case r, and fill the spaces
with sand, or water and sand combined, or other matters of a similar nature,
for the purpose of maintaining the liquid at an even temperature. And at
the top of the metal case I place one or more sheets s of wire gauze, so that
if in filling the vessel f any liquid should be spilled it will pass through the
wire gauze and be prevented from taking fire, and thereby prevent any
possibility of danger. I have ascertained by practice that in the apparatus
before described some difficulty is experienced in obtaining a regular evaporation
of the hydrocarbon liquid for many hours in consequence of the evaporation
being checked by the great cold which is produced, and the object of my
present Invention is to obviate this inconvenience or defect by means of
certain improvements and additions, which I will now describe.
.
Instead of employing one evaporating or generating vessel kept constantly
.in action, I employ two or more vessels, or divide one vessel into two com-

page_text: partments, and herein-after when I use the word vessel I intend it to apply to
a separate vessel or to one of the compartments. I work the said vessels
alternately or successively, so that when the first vessel becomes unduly
chilled it goes out of action and another vessel is set to work, and by the
time the last vessel becomes too much chilled the first vessel will have
regained the temperature of the surrounding air, and then be put in action,
and the chilled vessel be put out of action.
In Figure 1 I represent the employment of two evaporating or generating
vessels, or one generating vessel divided into two compartments, with their
air and gas pipes, that is, the one vessel before described on the right hand of
the fluid holder f, and the other vessel marked C, with its air and gas
pipes, o, and feeding slot or spout d on the left hand side of the holder, both
being enclosed in the metal case r. The air is forced through the air pipes /
and into the evaporating or generating vessels by a forcing apparatus resembling
a gas meter, kept in action by a wound-up spring, or weight, or other means
for obtaining motive power, there being a governor for enabling the air forcing
apparatus to maintain a uniform pressure of air in the evaporating or
generating vessels. A shaft or spindle from the forcing mechanism also gives
motion to a train of wheels or other gearing, which after a given number of
revolutions shuts off the first evaporating or generating vessel, and brings the
second into operation, and so on, according to the number used, and this
continues at work for a time, and then the connections are again reversed.
For alternately shutting off and admitting the air to the two evaporating
vessels shewn in Figure 1 I employ an improved tap, having a plug which
revolves at a slow speed by means of a worm wheel and worm communicating
by shafting with the air forcing apparatus. Top and front views of this
tap are shewn in Figures 3 and 4, and a side view and cross section of the
plug only in Figures 5 and 6. The shell of the tap has three appertures with
unions, the one t communicating by a pipe with the governor of the air
forcing apparatus, and the other two u connected by pipes to the two air
pipes of the evaporating vessels. On the shaft or spindle of the plug is
fixed the worm wheel gearing into the worm w, which is caused to revolve
at the required speed. The part x of the plug in line with the apertures in
the shell is made of a partly oval shape, as shewn at x, Figure 6, so that as
the plug turns the apertures leading to the vessel from which the air is to be
shut off shall be gradually closed, and the aperture leading to the other vessel
gradually opened, or instead of making the part x of an oval shape two holes
can be made through the plug, which answers the same purpose. The first
vessel remains out of action until it has regained the temperature of the

page_text: surrounding air, and then the plug in its advance gradually closes the
aperture leading to the second vessel and opens that of the first, and so
one after the other continuously, and as the vessels are prevented from being
unduly chilled a constant and permanent light can be obtained for any
required number of hours. When more than two evaporating or generating
vessels are used I employ similar means for shutting off and admitting air to
the vessels one after the other successively. This Invention is particularly
applicable to railway carriages and to other places where ordinary coal gas
cannot readily be applied.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim,-
First, the system of employing and connecting two or more evaporating
or generating vessels, or one vessel divided into two compartments, working.
alternately or successively for enabling the vessels or compartments one
after the other to be put out of action when they have become unduly
chilled and put in action when they have regained the temperature of the:
surrounding air.
And, secondly, the improved tap or its equivalent turned at a slow speed
for shutting off and admitting the air to vessels or compartments, as all
such improvements are herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Clayton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Thomas Clayton, in
the presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
THOMAS CLAYTON. (L.S.)