IMPROVE MENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING AND BURNING LIQUID HYDROCARBONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEAT IN FURNACES AND FOR GENERATING STEAK
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bennington Blythe, of 12, London Street,
in the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING AND BURNING LIQUID
HYDROCARBONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEAT IN FURNACES AND FOR
GENERATING STEAK."
Sealed the 8th April 1870, and dated the 12th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bennington Blythe
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th October 1869.
I, JOHN BENNINGTON BLYTHE, of 12, London Street, in the City of
London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING AND
BURNING LIQUID HYDROCARBONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEAT IN FURNACES, AND
FOR GENERATING STEAM," to be as follows :—
This Invention consists in a new and improved method of and apparatus
for vaporizing and burning liquid hydrocarbons in the vaporized state.
In carrying out my Invention induced compound currents of hydro-
carbon vapour and atmospheric air are formed in pipes leading from
retorts or vaporizers to tuyères or burners by the action of smaller
[Price Rd 1

page_text: currents or jets of compressed air, which exhaust from the vaporizers
or retorts the free vaporized hydrocarbon, and lead it through pipes to
the furnace tuyères or burners mixed with the quantity of air necessary
to effect its perfect combustion. By this means a more intimate
admixture of the hydrocarbon vapour and air is obtained, and con-
sequently an increased heat with a diminished consumption. Pressure
is not required in the retorts or vaporizers employed, as the jets of
compressed air induce and command the pressure, volume, and heating
power of the compound jets and are easily regulated by stop-cocks. The
jets of compressed air may be admitted as required, and the ends of
the pipes or tuyères by which the air and vapour pass into the furnace
may be made of any shape so as to admit the air freely and mix it with
the hydrocarbon vapour before it is discharged into the furnace. The
compressed air may be furnished by a blowing fan, blast cylinder, or
other convenient means, and may be heated by the furnace gases or
otherwise if required. The vaporizers or retorts may be of any form or
dimensions according to the vaporizing surface necessary. I prefer a
flat D shaped retort constructed to hold on its bottom a surface of molten
lead or other easily fusible metal or metals. The hydrocarbon to be
vaporized is allowed to drop on to the molten lead in such quantity as to
be converted into vapour as it is required to be burned. This retort or
vaporizer is heated by a small fire-grate by the furnace gases, or by any
other convenient means.
For steam boiler furnaces, and in all cases where the interior of the
furnace does not attain a sufficiently intense heat for the perfect com-
bustion of the hydrocarbon vapour, I employ small combustion chambers
or openings of refractory material, through which I pass the jets of
vapour and air at a short distance from the discharging nozzles or
burners; this unconsumed vapour is not allowed to escape into a com-
paratively cold furnace, and combustion takes place at a high temperature
in passing through the combustion chambers or openings. I apply the
compound jets of air and hydrocarbon vapour discharged into furnaces
by the system I have described to heating, puddling, and fusing iron
and all other metals, to heating melting pot furnaces used by glass
makers, steel workers, founders, and others, to heating pottery kilns
and annealing chambers, to generating steam in marine and other
boilers, and to heating purposes generally.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Bennington Blythe in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BENNINGTON BLYTHE, of 12, London Street, in the City of London,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Bennington Blythe, Her special licence
that I, the said John Bennington Blythe, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Bennington Blythe,
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 MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING AND BURYING
LIQUID HYDROCARBONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEAT IN FURNACES AND FOR
GENERATING STEAM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Bennington Blythe, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
iment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 John Bennington Blythe, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in a new and improved method of and
apparatus for vaporizing and burning liquid hydrocarbons in the
vaporized state.
In carrying out my Invention induced compound currents of hydro-
carbon vapour and atmospheric air are formed in pipes leading from
retorts or vaporizers to tuyeres or burners by the action of smaller

page_text: currents or jets of compressed air, which exhaust from the vaporizers or
retorts the free vaporized hydrocarbon and lead it through pipes to the
furnace tuyeres or burners mixed with the quantity of air necessary to
effect its perfect combustion. By this means a more intimate admixture
of the hydrocarbon vapour and air is obtained, and consequently an
increased heat with a diminished consumption. Pressure is not required
in the retorts or vaporizers employed as the jets of compressed air induce
and command the pressure, volume, and heating power of the compound
jets and are easily regulated by stop-cocks. The jets of compressed air
may be admitted as required, and the ends of the pipes or tuyeres by
which the air and vapour pass into the furnace may be made of any shape
so as to admit the air freely and mix it with the hydrocarbon vapour
before it is discharged into the furnace. The compressed air may be
furnished by a blowing fan, blast cylinder, or other convenient means,
and may be heated by the furnace gases or otherwise if required. The
vaporizers or retorts may be of any form or dimensions according to the
vaporizing surface necessary. I prefer a flat D shaped retort constructed
to hold on its bottom a surface of molten lead or other easily fusible
metal or metals. The hydrocarbon to be vaporized is allowed to drop
on to the molten lead in such quantity as to be converted into vapour
as it is required to be burned. This retort or vaporizer is heated by a
small fire-grate by the furnace gases or by any other convenient means.
For steam boiler furnaces, and in all cases where the interior of the
furnace does not attain a sufficiently intense heat for the perfect com-
bustion of the hydrocarbon vapour, I employ small combustion chambers
or openings of refractory material, through which I pass the jets of
vapour and air at a short distance from the discharging nozzles or burners,
thus unconsumed vapour is not allowed to escape into a comparatively
cold furnace, and combustion takes place at a high temperature in
passing through the combustion chambers or openings.
compound jets of air and hydrocarbon vapour discharged into furnaces by
I apply the
the system I have described to heating, puddling, and fusing iron and
all other metals, to heating melting pot furnaces used by glass makers,
steel workers, founders, and others, to heating pottery kilns and annealing
chambers, to generating steam in marine and other boilers, and to heating
purposes generally.
I may here remark that I use the term compound induced
QUSHAnd

page_text: pressure induced through a pipe by the liberation at or near one end of such
pipe of a compressed current of air from an air engine or other suitable
means of obtaining a blast, and which current of air engine be regulated
by means of valves, stop-cocks, or other suitable appliances so as to
furnish the air necessary to the combustion of the amount of hydro-
carbon vapour to be burned, and which vapour being contained in a pipe
inside the blast pipe at its orifice of discharge escapes into, mixes with,
and is forced along by the current of air induced by the escape of the
blast, as described above.
In order that my Invention may be clearly understood I will proceed
to describe the same with reference to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, in which Figure 1 shews the apparatus with which the com-
pound induced current is formed, and Figure 2 the application thereof to
a melting pot furnace.
As the general application of the system must in all cases be adapted
to suit the furnace, chamber, kiln, or steam boiler required to be heated,
and as the number of the jets required to obtain a sufficient amount of
heat will vary according to the quantity and intensity of the heat
required in each particular application, the description of one compound
jet will sufficiently illustrate the system.
A is a pipe leading from a retort or hydrocarbon vapour generator;
this pipe has a valve or stop-cock a to regulate the quantity of hydro-
carbon vapour admitted to the compound jet. B is a pipe leading from a
reservoir of compressed air, which is also fitted with a valve b to
regulate the supply of compressed air passing through the pipe. C is
a conical or funnel-shaped opening formed in any convenient manner.
In the Drawing the top is shewn open to the external air, but it may
be made to communicate with a series of pipes or other means of heating
the air. The bottom part terminates in a pipe D, through which the
mixed vapour and air passes in a compound induced current to the
furnace; this pipe should be of refractory material to resist the effects
of an intense heat. The end of the vapour pipe A is placed a little
in advance of the air pipe B, and the hydrocarbon vapour (so to
speak) is drawn out of the vapour pipe and from the generator by
the pressure in the air pipe B. The compound jet of hydrocarbon
vapour and compressed air discharging itself into the funnel C draws in
and forces through the pipe D the quantity of air necessary to effect its

page_text: perfect combustion. The nature of induced currents is well understood,
and it is evident that the quantity of air passing through this pipe is
regulated by the quantity and pressure of the compressed air discharged
by the pipe B. Jets of flame of any required intensity and power are
thus formed and discharged into furnaces, chambers, or kilns in any
number that may be required.
In the Drawing Fig. 2 one jet is shewn as. applied to a melting
pot furnace. D is the pipe by which the compound jet enters the
furnace; E, the furnace chamber; and F, the flue by which the products
of combustion escape.
The size of the pipe B will depend upon the
pressure employed; thus if a pressure of fifteen pounds on the square
inch is used a much smaller pipe would be required than if a pressure
of only one pound on the square inch were used. The diameter of the
pipe D will vary with the quantity of liquid hydrocarbon discharged by
each jet. I have found a pipe of two inches diameter answer very well..
In some cases I do not employ a retort or vapourizer, as the heat of the
pipe D is sufficient to vaporize the liquid hydrocarbon when it has been
converted into spray. To effect this I allow the liquid hydrocarbon to
drop into a funnel G attached to a pipe that is inserted in the axis of
the pipe B. The drops of liquid hydrocarbon are carried through the
pipe by the current of compressed air, and in their passage are broken
and divided by gratings c or cross pieces in the interior of the pipe. The
hydrocarbon matter thus divided is instantly vapourized by the heat in
its passage through the pipe D before it is discharged into the furnace.
In all cases the compound air current is the same, and supplies the
means of dividing the hydrocarbon to be consumed, whether in the state
of vapour or of fine spray, and mixing it with the air necessary to burn
it before it arrives at the point at which combustion takes place. For
the combustion chambers or openings in which the jets are burned, as
applied to steam boiler furnaces, I prefer conical openings in fire-brick
or other refractory material placed so as to receive each separate jet,
but a wall, arch, or diaphragm of refractory material may be used, the
object being to effect perfect combustion at the point at which the jets
are made to strike before the flame is carried into contact with the
cooler surfaces of the furnace.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of my Invention
I claim, the employment of induced compound currents of compressed
air and hydrocarbon vapour or finely divided liquid hydrocarbon, and

page_text: the general arrangement of apparatus above described to effect the
combustion of liquid hydrocarbons in furnaces, chambers, or kilns.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bennington Blythe, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of April 1870.
JOHN B. BLYTHE. (L.S.)