IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HYDRO-CARBON GAS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lloyd, of Dartmouth Street, in the City of
Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF HYDRO-CARBON GAS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
- A communication from abroad by William Henderson, residing at
Valparaiso, South America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lloyd at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
July 1864.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD, of Dartmouth Street, in the City of Westminster,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HYDRO-CARBON GAS, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
The production of illuminating gas by a combination of the bydrogen of
water with the volatile carbon of coals, cannels, and oleaginous substances
has been a desideratum aimed at by many with varying success.
Now this Invention consists in the introduction of dry steam to the retorts
containing the coal or other substance heated to their own intensity, and in
preventing any reduction of the temperature during the process of making the
gas, all as hereafter explained.
The retorts are of any of the ordinary descriptions, the only difference
being the addition of a false bottom to each about of an inch less in width
than the retorts; these bottom plates have side ribs resting on the bottom of
the retort, raising the plate itself about 1 inches from it. The spaces between
the plate and sides and back end of the retort are filled with cement, making
1½

page_text: it perfectly tight. Fire-clay retorts are preferred with false bottoms of the
same material, as being less liable to suffer from oxidation, and being generally
more durable.
No alteration is required in the mode of setting or in the number of retorts
used in a bench; all that is required is to substitute a steam boiler for the
uppermost retort or retorts, as the case may be, when the same heat used for
the retorts will generate all the steam required, or a large separate boiler may
be provided for supplying steam to the entire number of retorts used in the
works. A steam pipe proceeds from the steam space of the boiler, and
branches to each retort severally supplied with steam valves for governing the
admission of the steam. The retorts are charged alternately, and the steam
admitted between the bottoms of that retort in which the charge is most
incandescent proceeds down the one side of the space between the bottoms
and up the other by a communication at the back end, where it is super-
heated to the same degree of temperature as the retort, and emerges in that
state at the front into the incandescent charge therein contained, through
which it is compelled to travel, becoming thoroughly decomposed by the red-
hot coke, and enters by a back connection the other retort charged with coal
in a bituminous state where it takes up the proper equivalent of carbon to
convert it into a permanent illuminating gas, and escapes by the ascension
pipe to the hydraulic main.
In each ascension there is a valve fitted connected by a lever, and so
arranged that the closing of the one opens the other; these with the steam
valves are adjusted with each charge, so that the gases will be compelled to
circulate through both retorts. In the back connection there is also a valve
fitted to facilitate the charging.
No rule can be laid down for the amount of steam required or the periods
of charging, as these will depend entirely upon the quality of the material
operated upon; the mode, however, in which the gas burns on issuing from a
test burner attached to the pipe from the retort will be a sufficient guide for
'the workmen in attendance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Lloyd in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LLOYD, of Dartmouth Street, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Lloyd, Her special licence that I, the said William Lloyd, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Lloyd, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
HYDRO-CARBON GAS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," (communicated to
me from abroad by William Henderson, residing at Valparaiso, South
America,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Lloyd, 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 William Lloyd, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
The production of illuminating gas by a combination of the hydrogen of
water with the volatile carbon of coals, cannels, and oleaginous substances has
been a desideratum aimed at by many with varying success.
Now this Invention consists in the introduction of dry steam to the retorts
containing the coal or other substance heated to their own intensity, and in
preventing any reduction of the temperature during the process of making the
gas, all as hereafter explained.
The retorts are of any of the ordinary descriptions, the only difference
being the addition of a false bottom to each about three-quarters of an inch
less in width than the retorts; these bottom plates have side ribs resting on
the bottom of the retort, raising the plate itself about one inch and a balf
from it. The spaces between the plate and sides and back end of the retort
are filled with cement, making it perfectly tight. Fire-clay retorts are

page_text: preferred with false bottoms of the same material, as being less liable to suffer
from oxydation, and being generally more durable.
No alteration is required in the mode of setting or in the number of retorts
used in a bench; all that is required is to substitute a steam boiler for the
uppermost retort or retorts, as the case may be, when the same heat used for
the retorts will generate all the steam required, or a large separate boiler may
be provided for supplying steam to the entire number of retorts used in the
works. A steam pipe proceeds from the steam space of the boiler, and
branches to each retort, severally supplied with steam valves for governing:
the admission of the steam. The retorts are charged alternately, and the
steam admitted between the bottoms of that retort in which the charge is
most incandescent proceeds down the one side of the space between the
bottoms and up the other by a communication at the back end, where it is
superheated to the same degree of temperature as the retort, and emerges
in that state at the front into the incandescent charge therein contained,
through which it is compelled to travel, becoming thoroughly decomposed by
the red-hot coke, and enters by a back connection the other retort charged:
with coal in a bituminous state, where it takes up the proper equivalent of
carbon to convert it into a permanent illuminating gas, and esoapes by the
ascension pipe to the hydraulic main.
In each ascension there is a valve fitted connected by a lever, and so
arranged that the closing of the one opens the other; these with the steam
valves are adjusted with each charge, so that the gases will be compelled to
circulate through both retorts. In the back connection there is also a valve
fitted to facilitate the charging.
No rule can be laid down for the amount of steam required or the periods
of charging, as these will depend entirely upon the quality of the material
operated upon; the mode, however, in which the gas burns on issuing from
a test burner attached to the pipe from the retort will be a sufficient guide
for the workmen in attendance.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front elevation; Figure 2, a
transverse section, and Figure 3, a longitudinal section of a pair of gas retorts
constructed according to my Invention.
A, A, are the two retorts; B, B, are plates or false bottoms in each retort,
with side ribs C, C, and central ribs D, D, resting on the bottom of the
retorts, which raise the plates B, B, about one inch and a half from the
bottom. The central ribs D, D, also serve to divide the space contained
between each plate B and the bottom of the retort into two longitudinal

page_text: channels, as shewn in the Drawings. E is a steam pipe for conveying steam
from a boiler or other supply; this pipe has branches F, F, leading to each
retort, furnished with cocks G, G, for governing the admission of the steam.
The retorts A, A, are charged alternately, and the steam is admitted into the
retort in which the charge is most incandescent. The steam first enters one
of the channels between the plate B, and the bottom of the retort proceeds
along that channel, enters the other channel by a communication H at the
back end, where it is superheated to the same degree of temperature as the
retort. The superheated steam emerges from the front end of the second
channel into the incandescent charge in the retort through which it is com-
pelled to travel, becoming thoroughly decomposed by the red-hot toke; it
then enters the second retort by a back connection I; this retort is charged
with coal in a bituminous state, and the steam takes up the proper equi-
valent of carbon to convert it into illuminating gas; it then escapes by the
ascension pipe J to the main. K, K, are valves in the ascension pipes J, J;
these valves are connected by a lever L, so that the closing of the one
opens the other. M is a valve in the back connection I to facilitate the
charging.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, as the "Improve-
ments in the Manufacture of Hydro-carbon Gas, and in Apparatus employed
therein,"
First, introducing dry steam to the retorts containing the coal or other
substance heated to their own intensity, and preventing any reduction of the
temperature during the process of making the gas, all substantially as herein-
before described.
Second, constructing retorts for the manufacture of gas, substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lloyd, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Fifth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.
WILLIAM LLOYD. (L.s.)