IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS WHEN OILS OR FATTY MATTERS ARE USED
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abram Longbottom, of 41, Moorgate Street, in the
City of London, and Soho Foundry, Leeds, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS WHEN OILS OR FATTY
MATTERS ARE USED."
"
Sealed the 11th March 1856, and dated the 13th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Abram Longbottom at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
September 1855.
I, ABRAM LONGBOTTOM, of 41, Moorgate Street, in the City of London, and
Soho Foundry, Leeds, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS WHEN OILS OR FATTY MATTERS
ARE USED to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in constructing each of the retorts used with a
projection at the bottom, convex inwards and concave on the outside. The
retort is of the form of a truncated cone, and the bottom is at the smaller end;
it is heated at the bottom by a fire.
The oil or fatty matter is supplied through a tube, which descends through
the inner perforated false bottom of the retort, and the oil or fat falls on the
inner surface of the convex projection, above mentioned, and is vaporized. and
the vapours pass through the perforated false bottom and amongst the heated

page_text: mass of charcoal and lime mixed together, and then out of the retort for use.
The retort, in place of being cast of ordinary cast iron, is cast of malleable cast
iron, and then annealed, by which it will be found that a retort will last longer
and be more effective when in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Abram Longbottom in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ABRAM
LONGBOTTOM, of 41, Moorgate Street, in the City of London, and Soho
Foundry, Leeds, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Abram Longbottom, Her special licence that I, the said Abram
Longbottom, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Abram Longbottom, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS WHEN OILS OR FATTY MATTERS ARE USED,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Abram Longbottom, 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 per-
formed, 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 Abram Longbottom, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say:-
These improvements consist in constructing each of the retorts used with a
projection at the bottom, convex inwards and concave on the outside. This
retort is of the form of a truncated conc, and the bottom is at the smaller end;

page_text: It is heated at the bottom by a re. The oil or fatty matter is supplied
through a tube, which descends through the inner perforated false bottom of
the retort, and the oil or fat falls on the inner surface of the convex projection,
above mentioned, and is vaporized, and the vapours pass through the perfo-
rated false bottom, and amongst the heated mass of charcoal and lime mixed
together, and then out of the retort for use. The retorts, in place of being
cast of ordinary cast iron, is cast of malleable cast iron and then annealed, by
which it will be found that a retort will last longer and be more effective
when in use.
FIGURES, AND TO WHAT THEY REFER.
1, oil cistern; 2, cock or tap for regulating supply of oil; 3, syphon pipe
for feeding oil to retort; 4, retort; 5, convex projection in bottom of retort;
6, grate to separate vaporizing from the generating and purifying portion of
retort; 7, lime and charcoal; 8, man or hand hole, to allow the lime and
charcoal to be changed and the retort cleaned out; 9, cast-iron pipe for con-
ducting gas from retort to condensing box; 10, condensing box, cast iron;
11, pipe conducting gas to the gas holder; 12, syphon pipe to keep the level
of water in condensing box; 13, tap to let off any condensation that may
occur in pipe 11; 19, smoke pipe for furnace; 20, fire brick, forming fire
box; 21, ash-pit; 22, fire box grate bars; 23, flue; 24, sheet iron outside
case of furnace; 25, lid of retort and furnace; 26, bolts to screw retort to lid;
27, tap to stop the gas between the machine and gas holder; 28, pipe to
supply condensing box with water.
1 is the feeding cistern or hollow cylinder which contains the oil or car-
bonized liquid, from which the gas is generated in the retort, and into which it
is conducted by the syphon pipe 3. The pipe from the cistern is furnished
with a stop-cock 2, by which the quantity of fluid conveyed can be regulated
or entirely suspended at pleasure. 4 is the retort or malleable cast-iron hollow
cylinder, of the form of a truncated cone; the bottom is at the smaller end. At
the bottom I make a projection 5, convex inwards and concave outwards. The
retort contains, suspended in its centre from its cover 25, a tube 3, which feeds
or deposits the oil on the heated convex projection of the retort 5, where it is
instantly vapourized. Above this small convex projection, and separated from
it by an horizontal iron grating 6, is the general area of the retort 4, which is
filled around the central tube with small pieces of carbonate of lime, which
become calcined into the protoxide by the heat of the furnace, and with animal
or vegetable charcoal 7, coarsely pulverized. This greater portion of the retort
thus becomes a filter, and the vapour in passing through it becomes generated

page_text: into gas, and is at the same time purified of any aqueous vapor or carbonic
acid which may ascend with it; the filtering and purifying substance employed
is relieved of these absorbed impurities by the necessary heating of the retort
before the oil is turned on. At the top of the retort is left a vacant space or
chamber above the filtering material to receive the gas thus purified, and
supply the tube 9, which conducts it into the condensing box 10.
of cast iron, and has fitted into one side a syphon pipe 12, to keep up an
uniform level of water inside. The tube 9 discharges the gas into the water
in this box from whence it arises, and passing through the tube 11 enters the
gas holder 15; from the gas holder it is conveyed by the tube 16 to the
burners for consumption.
This box is
I claim as my Invention, first, constructing retorts to be used in the manu-
facture of gas from oils or fatty matters, with a projection at the bottom,
convex inwards and concave at the outside, by which means I obtain a more
reliable heat for vaporizing oil, without the risk of cokeing or carbonizing it,
and thus obtain a much larger quantity of gas from a given quantity of oil
than can be obtained by any other process.
Second, causing the vapour to filter through a body of lime and charcoal
under heat, for the purpose of converting it into gas, and at the same time
purifying it.
And, third, making the retorts of malleable cast iron, and then annealing
them, by which I obtain them much more durable and effective.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abram Longbottom, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
ABRAM LONGBOTTOM. (L.S.)