IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING ILLUMINATING GAS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING
ILLUMINATING GAS."-A communication from abroad by Levi Stevens
and Norman Carmi Munson, both of Shirley, Massachusetts, in the
United States of America.
Sealed the 14th September 1866, and dated the 10th May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th May 1866.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
MANUFACTURING ILLUMINATING GAS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of illuminating gas by forcing
atmospheric air through gasoline or other hydrocarbon fluid. The apparatus
used for this purpose consists of a rotary fan or blower which throws a
regulated supply of air into a chamber or chambers, wherein it is caused to.
circulate in the presence of hydrocarbon fluid until it has taken up or com-

page_text: gas;
bined with a sufficient supply of the volatile bydrocarbon to form illuminating
the gas
thus produced is conducted away from the apparatus and may
be burned like ordinary coal gas. The driving shaft which gives rotary
motion through a train of gearing to the fan or blower serves also to put in
motion a chain of buckets or elevator by which the gasoline or bydrocarbon
oil is raised from a receiver and discharged into an elevated carburetting
chamber; this chamber is situate in a larger carburetting or mixing chamber
set above the reservoir, and both chambers are fitted with pierced dish-shaped
spreaders through which the gasoline percolates. The air entering the
upper chamber passes upwards through the descending droppings of the
gasoline, and escaping from that chamber enters the larger chamber down
which it passes with the gasoline through a larger series of spreaders. The
gasoline escapes from the bottom of the first carburetting chamber through a
kind of trap into the second and surrounding chamber, which trap will not
allow of the air passing through it. The carburetted air finds its way from
the bottom of the second chamber to a delivery pipe, and the hydrocarbon not
taken up by the air flows back into the elevator case,
As a modification of the above described apparatus the elevator may be
mounted in the centre of the reservoir and carburetter, and the gasoline may
be discharged on to a spreader formed of a helical plate, the space between
the coils of the helix being filled with shavings of ratan cane or other porous
material. This air is admitted from the fan or blower to the lower part of
the carburetter and forced through the tortuous passage formed by the helix ;
or it may pass first through one or more disseminators or helical passages formed
between horizontal plates and partially filled with hydrocarbon, and having
arrived at the centre it will find its way to the porous material which is
saturated with the descending hydrocarbon, and will in its traverse upwards
take up the required amount of hydrocarbon to form an illuminating gas.
In order to regulate the supply of air to the carburetter automatically the
top of the carburetter is made free to rise and fall with the variations of the
internal pressure of air. To a stud on this cover is connected one end of a
rock lever which has its fulcrum on the side of the carburetter; the other
end of the lever is connected with a valve which commands the air pipe
leading from the fan or blower case; the rise therefore of the cover indicating
undue pressure of air in the carburetter will cause the lever to partially close
the valve and diminish the supply, of air.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, 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
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, 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
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING ILLUMINATING GAS," being a com-
munication from abroad upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton; 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, reference being had to the Diawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of illuminating gas by forcing
atmospheric air through gasoline or other hydrocarbon fluid. The apparatus
used for this purpose consists of a rotary fan or blower which throws a
regulated supply of air into a chamber or chambers wherein it is caused to
circulate in the presence of hydrocarbon fluid until it has taken up or com
bined with a sufficient supply of the volatile hydrocarbon to form illuminating

page_text: gas; the gas thus produced is conducted away from the apparatus and may
be burned like ordinary coal gas.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a gas machine in elevation;
Fig. 2 is an end view; & Fig. 3 a vertical longitudinal section of the same
machine; Fig. 4 is an elevation of a modified construction of gas machine;
& Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the same; Fig. 6 is a detached view of
the elevator.
In these Figures D is the air pump or meter wheel; C is a reservoir or
tank for holding a supply of gasoline or other bydrocarbon; E is the elevator
case; H is the elevator; A is a chamber in which the process of carburetting
the air commences, and which with its adjuncts is termed the primary
carburetting chamber; B is a chamber in which the process of carburetting
the air is continued after it passes from chamber A, and which is termed the
secondary carburetting chamber; F is a chamber into and through which
the gas passes to the delivery pipe i; G is the main shaft driven by weights
or other power and actuating by gearing and belts the meter wheel or pump
and elevator. The gas meter wheel or air pump D is the common gas
meter wheel heretofore used for supplying air to gas machines, a description
therefore of its construction and application will not here be needed.
Gasoline or other hydrocarbon is introduced into the reservoir C through
the pipe n, which connects with the reservoir at one end, while the other is
accessible upon the outside of the case of the evaporator, where it is fitted to
receive the hydrocarbon. There is a small opening in the top of the
reservoir C through which the air may pass into the carburetting chamber B
when the reservoir is filling with gasoline or other hydrocarbon. The gasoline
passes from the reservoir C through a small orifice or pipe, not shewn in
the Drawing, into the well m of the elevator case E, the gasoline standing at
the same level in the elevator case as in the reservoir. The elevator or
endless chain of buckets H passing over pulleys p and h elevates the liquid
and delivers it into a pan, not shown in the Drawings, from which it passes
into the trough or pipe a, through which it runs to the cup b, whence it
discharges on to the disseminators d, d, within the air chamber A. The
buckets of the elevator H are made of metal and so constructed as to empty
the liquid on the sides of the pulley h into the pan before mentioned; this is
accomplished by turning a lip inward upon the side of the bucket attached
to the chain equal in extent to the thickness of the pulley h, while at each
end of this lip a nose is formed through which the liquid will run freely into
the pan below. The disseminators d, d, are made of sheet tin or other thin

page_text: metal disc shaped convex on their external surfaces, both of which are
perforated with small holes through which the gasoline and air may freely
pass; these disseminators touch at their apices, and the lower one rests upon
the air chamber e. The air which is received into the meter wheel D is forced
through the pipe f into the air chamber e. The gasoline which passes through
the disseminators d, d, is received into the air chamber A, and from thence
runs through perforations near its bottom into the small air chamber e, as
indicated by arrows in Fig. 8. The gasoline in the chamber A and in the
smaller chamber e will rise to the top of the open tube or pipe j which con-
nects the air chamber e with the cups and k. The cup is soldered to the
bottom of the cup k, and dipping into this cup is the tube j. By this
arrangement the gasoline falling from the air chamber A through the tube i
is retained in the cup until it rises to the top of the cup l, when it will flow
over into the cup k which is soldered to the under side of the air chamber A:
The bottom of the cup k outside of the cup is perforated, so that the
gasoline will drip through upon disseminators c, c, which differ from the
disseminators d, d, only in being of greater size. The air forced by the air
pump or meter wheel through the pipe finto the inner air chamber e is also
forced downward into and through the gasoline, and outward through the
perforations in the air chamber e, and upward through the gasoline and into the
air chamber A, over the top of which it passes into the air chamber B; at
this point the air is in a good degree if not sufficiently carburetted for use.
The air after entering the air chamber B is forced through the disseminators c, c,
in contact with the gasoline, and thus is more completely carburetted. From
the air chamber B the air passes through an orifice near the bottom of the
chamber into the air chamber F, & thence into the delivery pipe i for use:
The surplus gasoline remaining after carburetting the air as before stated
is returned to the elevator case E through a suitable opening near the
bottom of the chamber B.
The machine may be constructed with the elevator in the centre of the
cylinder B, C, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, the elevator case being formed
by a hollow cylinder E passing through the centre of the carburetting
chamber A into the tank C. The elevator chain passes over a pulley h in
the frame L, and down under the pulley p into the well m at the bottom of
the tank C. The shaft K carrying the pulley h moves the elevator by means
of a band or chain outside the cylinder B, running over the drum or wheel o
on shaft K, and over the wheel or drum 9 on the main shaft G. The buckets
empty into a cup or pan under the pulley h, from which a tubes conducts

page_text: the gasoline or hydrocarbon into the upper part of the carburetting chamber A.
To the outer side of the inner cylinder E a plate of tin or other thin metal is
soldered by one edge running from tubes in the form of a helix around the
cylinder E to the bottom of the carburetting chamber A. The plate is wide
enough for the outer edge to touch the inside of the cylinder B, to which it
is soldered. The helical passage between the plates of the helix is filled with
shavings of ratan cane or other suitable porous substance. The air is intro-
duced from the meter wheel D through the tube f into the lower part of the
carburetting chamber A, and is forced through the passage filled with shavings
meeting and passing through the downward flowing gasoline or hydrocarbon to
the delivery pipe i. The gasoline or hydrocarbon is introduced into the
tank C through an opening n as before. The flow of the air from the meter
wheel is regulated by a stop t operating automatically by means of the lever a
attached one end to the cover Y of the carburetting chamber A, and the
other end to the rod or stop t which plays upon a valve in the tube f. The
lever has for its fulcrum a rivet attached to the cylinder or frame of the
machine. When the gas is generated faster than it is consumed it raises the
cover Y and forces the rod t down, thereby closing the valve in the tube f.
The outer end of the lever a may be attached to a brake & operating upon
a hub u to stop or retard the motion of the meter wheel instead of acting
upon the stop t and closing the tube f.
The machine may be constructed with one or more disseminators J placed
the lower part of the carburetting chamber below the helix. These dis-
şeminators will have a tortuous passage on the inner or lower side of each
formed by soldering a strip of tin, brass, or other metal upon the edge, and in
the form of an involute to the under side of the bottom of each cup. In each
case the edge of the tin wall or partition rests upon the top of the
cup next
below or upon the bottom of the carburetting chamber. When the disseminators
are used the air is introduced by the tube f into the outer tortuous passage
in the under side of the lower disseminator J, and is forced through this
tortuous passage containing bydrocarbon to the inner cylinder, where an
opening admits it to the next cup above, or if only one disseminator is used (as
shown in Fig. 5) to the chamber and tortuous passage before described through
which it passes to the delivery pipe i.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Apparatus
for Manufacturing Illuminating Gas," as communicated to me from abroad,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the

page_text: improved arrangements of apparatus above described for carburetting air
supplied thereto by suitable air pumps or blowers for the purpose above
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my band and seal, the Tenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane,
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)