İMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING BITUMINOUS SHALE AND OTHER BITUMINOUS SUBSTANCES OF A LIKE NATURE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Frederick Brinjes, of Fieldgate Street; White-
chapel, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of
'İMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING BITUMINOUS
SHALE AND OTHER BITUMINOUS SUBSTANCES OF A LIKE NATURE."
Sealed the 11th September 1866, and dated the 18th March 1866.
* PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Frederick Brinjes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1866.
I, JOHN FREDERICK BRINJES, of Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, in the
5 County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING
BITUMINOUS SHALE AND OTHER BITUMINOUS SUBSTANCES OF A LIKE NATURE," to be
as follows:
This Invention relates to the application of certain apparatus to the distilla-
O tion of shale, boghead coal, and other like bituminous substances which
are not liable to cake whilst under the action of heat, and consists essentially
in the employment for that purpose of one or more horizontal retorts of cast
iron or fire-clay, which are caused either to revolve continuously in one direc

page_text: tion or to receive a reciprocating or alternating motion round their longitudinal
axes by means of a "mangle wheel" and pinion or other well-known
mechanical contrivance for converting a continuous rotatory motion into a
circular reciprocating movement. These retorts when made to revolve con-
tinuously in one direction are provided in the interior with spiral ribs or
.projections attached to or formed on the retort for the purpose of imparting a
steady and continuous travelling motion to the bituminous substance under
treatment, and thereby causing it to traverse from end to end of the retort.
When the retorts receive a circular reciprocating motion on their axes they
are provided in the interior with double inclined projections and a series of
annular flanges 'which divide the interior of the retort into a number of
annular chambers or compartments, each chamber or compartment communi-
cating with its neighbour by an opening left for that purpose in each ring or
flange. It is opposite each of these openings that the double inclined pro-
jections are situate. As the retort makes a revolution or a partial revolution
in opposite directions alternately the bituminous substance is carried partly
round with it, or elevated to a certain extent on the rising side, but falls
again by its own gravity, and in.descending is deflected by one or other, as
the case may be, of the two faces of the double inclined projections into the
adjoining annular chamber, from which it is again transferred to the next, and
so on throughout the series. The retort or retorts are set in brickwork over
a furnace or furnaces and a free space is left all round the exterior of the
retorts for the circulation of the 'flames and products of combustion, which
eventually escape by a flue to the chimney. In some cases the bituminous
substances are fed in continuously from a fixed hopper at one end of the
retort and, the residuum is discharged into a receptacle at the other end, or in
lieu of discharging the residuum into a receiver it may be discharged into a
second or third retort similar to the first, and be finally discharged from the
last retort of the series. One or more of the retorts should be provided with
⚫ a pipe at one or both ends for carrying off the volatile and gaseous products
of distillation, such products being thereby conveyed to any well-known
condeusing apparatus where the liquid or tarry products are obtained. The
employment of the apparatus above described renders the operation.con-
tinuous and self-acting, economizes labor, and renders more uniform the
process of distillation.
.
.

page_text: :
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Frederick Brinjes in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FREDERICK BRINGES, of Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth 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 John Frederick Bringes, Her special license that I, the said John
Frederick Bringes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Frederick Bringes, my executors, administrators, or
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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING BITUMINOUS SHALE
AND OTHER BITUMINOUS SUBSTANCES OF A LIKE NATURE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Frederick Bringes, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 1, the said John Frederick Bringes, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to the application of certain apparatus to the
distillation of shale, boghead, coal, and other like bituminous, substances
which are not liable to cake whilst under the action of heat, and consists
essentially in the employment for that purpose of one or more horizontal
retorts of cast iron or fire-clay, which are caused either to revolve continuously
in one direction or to receive a reciprocating or alternating motion round their
longitudinal axes by means of a "mangle wheel" and pinion or other well-

page_text: known mechanical contrivance for converting a continuous rotatory motion
into a circular reciprocating movement. These retorts when made to revolve
continuously in one direction are provided in the interior with spiral ribs or
projections attached to or formed on the retort for the purpose of imparting a
steady and continuous travelling motion to the bituminous substance under
trentment, and thereby causing it to traverse from end to end of the retort.
When the retorts receive a circular reciprocating motion on their axes they
are provided in the interior with double inclined projections and a series of
annular flanges which divide the interior of the retort into a number of
annular chambers or compartments, each chamber or compartment communi-
cating with its neighbour by an opening left for that purpose in each ring or
flange. It is opposite each of these openings that the double inclined pro-
jections are situate. As the retort makes a revolution or a partial revolution
"in opposite directions alternately the bituminous substance is carried partly
round with it or elevated to a certain extent on the rising side, but falls
again by its own gravity, and in descending is deflected by one or other, as the
case may be, of the two faces of the double inclined projections into the
'ndjoining annular chamber, from which it is again transferred to the next, and
so on throughout the series. The retort or retorts are set in brickwork over
a furnace or furnaces, and a free space is left all round the exterior of the
retorts for the circulation of the flames and products of combustion, which
eventually escape by a flue to the chimney. In some cases the bituminous
substances are fed in continuously from a fixed hopper at one end of the
retort and the residuum is discharged into a receptacle at the other end, or in
lieu of discharging the residuum into a receiver it may be discharged into a
second or third retort similar to the first, and be finally discharged from the
last retort of the series. One or more of the retorts should be provided with
à pipe at one or both ends for carrying off the volatile and gaseous products
of distillation, such products being thereby conveyed to any well-known
condensing apparatus where the liquid or tarry products are obtained. The
employment of the apparatus above described renders the operation.continuous
and self-acting, economizes labor, and renders more uniform the process of
distillation.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall
refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a back elevation of

page_text: one arrangement of machinery or apparatus for effecting the continuous
distillation of shale, bog head, coal, and other like bituminous substances not
liable to cake whilst under the action of heat; Figure 2 is a longitudinal
vertical section of the same taken through the centre thereof; Figure 3 is a
corresponding sectional plan of the same; and Figure 4 is a front elevation of
the apparatus, shewing the driving gear.
ז'
The bituminous substances to be. operated upon are fed into the hopper a;
and are reduced to the proper degrees of fineness by passing in their descent
between the pair of fluted crushing rolls 6 in a lower hopper c. These rolls
may be geared together and driven by the shaft d from the prime mover
which actuates the retorts. From the lower hopper c the crushed bituminious
substance descends into the "shoot "d", which is provided with a sliding door
for stopping or regulating the feed, and which communicates with one end of
the horizontal cast-iron retort f, which as well as the retort f¹ beneath it
is supported at the extremities on antifriction rollers g, g, carried by a platė
outside the brick setting h enclosing both retorts. i is the furnace for heating
the retorts to the proper temperature for effecting the distillation of the
bituminous substances, the flame and heated products of combustion circulating
freely round that portion of the retorts which is enclosed in the brickwork:
The chamber in which the upper retort f revolves is separated from the actual
chamber of the furnace by the perforated brickwork k, so that it may be
subjected to a lower temperature than the lower retort, the products of com-
bustion after they have circulated. round the retort f¹ passing through the
apertures in the open brickwork and heating up the retort f¹ before entering
the flues which lead to the chimney. Each retort is made or provided with
a series of internal annular flanges m, m, having an opening or gap n made
therein, as shown by the detail transverse section of a retort at Figure 5.
These several gaps should be in a line with each other, and opposite each gap
there is situate a double inclined projection o, shewn more clearly in Figure 3,
which may, like the internal flanges m, be either cast in one with the retort
or fitted thereon in any convenient manner: p, p, are longitudinal ribs or
internal ledges which by the. rotation of the retorts serve to elevate and turn
over the substances being distilled. A.hood q closes the delivery end of the
retort to the atmosphere, and from the upper part of this hood leads a pipe r
which conveys the vapours or volatile products of distillation to the condensing
tank s, where they are condensed and run off into a receptacle t. Cold water
is supplied to the condenser by the pipe and cock u, and as the water increases
in temperature it flows off by the overflow pipe and cock v, thus maintaining. á

page_text: constant circulation through the condenser. w is a pipe which connects the
bottom of the hood g with the feeding end of the lower retort f¹, so that
the bituminious substances may on being delivered into the hood 9 descend into
the lower retort f¹. A hood a¹ is fitted to the delivery end of the lower retort,
and a pipe y connects this hood with an air-tight cooler z for the reception of
the residium as fast as it is delivered from the lower retort; the cooler z has
a shoot a¹ attached to its lower extremity which is provid with two sliding
doors b¹,.6", for the purpose of enabling the residium to be discharged into a
truck or other convenient receiver c¹ without allowing air to enter the cooler,
which would cause combustion of the heated residium to take place therein.
The upper retort f receives a circular reciprocating motion round its. longi-
tudinal axis by means of the shaft A which is keyed centrally therein at the
delivery end, and passes through the centre of the hood g: This shaft carries
the mangle wheel B driven by the pinion C fast on the shaft D, which shaft
is connected by a universal joint E with the driving shaft F provided with a
pulley G. The circular reciprocating motion of the upper retort f is trans-
mitted to the lower one f¹ by means of an endless chain H passing over a
chain pulley or rim on the end of each retort. The material is fed into the
retort fas fast as: it is discharged from the retort f¹, and is caused to traverse
each retort slowly from end to end by the action of the double inclined pro-
jections and internal flanges when the retorts are set in motion. By causing
the bituminous substances to traverse an upper retort heated to a lower
temperature than the lower retort the aqueous vapour is drawn off and
substances thoroughly dried before entering the retort f¹ wherein the process
of distillation is completed, the volatile products escaping by the pipe w into
the hood q, and thence by the piper to the condenser. I is a spy hole for
watching the progress of the operation, and K is a sliding door for giving
entrance when requisite to the retort f¹.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-.
First, the general construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus
for distilling bituminous shale and other bituminous substances of & like
nature, substantially as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use to and in the continuous distillation of
bituminous shale and other. bituminous substances of a like nature of one or

page_text: more horizontal retorts, through which the said substances are caused to
travel from end to end, and from which the volatile products of distillation
pass off to a condenser, substantially in the manner hereiu-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Frederick Brinjes, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six.
JOHN FREDERICK BRINJES. (L.B.)