IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING GAS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Beck, of 139, Cannon Street,
in the City of London, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING GAS, AND IN
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
"
Sealed the 19th May 1874, and dated the 2nd March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Beck
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his. Petition,
on the 2nd March 1874.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of
London, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING GAS,
AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
.
My Invention has for its object the conversion into gas of the tarry,
oily, and in some cases other liquid products resulting from the
distillation of coal and other carbonaceous materials employed in the
production of illuminating gas, and relates partly to improvements in
processes and apparatus wherein such products are treated for conversion
.

page_text: into gas, whilst associated with the permanent gas along with which
they have been generated from the carbonaceous materials employed,
and partly to improvements in processes and apparatus wherein they are
converted into gas after having been condensed and separated from the
said permanent gas.
The first-mentioned improvements consist in the introduction into
the ordinary carbonizing retorts or ovens, heated to the ordinary gas-
making temperature of superheated or other steam, by preference above
the charge and amongst the gases, tarry, oily, and other vapours, as they
are generated therefrom, the mixture of gases, vapours, and steam is
then conveyed into a decomposing retort charged with porous materials,
such as coke, broken brick, or the like, and heated to a degree sufficient
to effect decomposition of the steam, and the chemical combination of
its elements with the tarry and other vapours, so as to form a further
volume of permanent gas additional to that derived direct from the
carbonaceous material in the first retorts. I prefer to arrange the
decomposing retort with a false bottom, the coke or other porous
material being placed thereon, and the gases, vapours, and steam,
admitted below so that they shall pass up through and amongst the
beated matter before escaping from the decomposing retort. The steam
may be generated in an ordinary steam boiler, but I prefer to generate
it by causing water to drop by means of a syphon into a heated coil of
pipe wherein it is first converted into steam and then superheated, by
this means the quantity of steam entering the retort can be regulated
more accurately than when supplied from a steam boiler. If preferred,
the steam may be decomposed by being passed over or through red hot
carbon or iron before its introduction into the carbonizing retort.
The second mentioned improvements consist.—
1

page_text: Secondly. In causing the tarry or other liquid matter to be decomposed
to fall, drop by drop, or in a fine stream through a long vertical heated
pipe or pipes, steam, superheated or not, or previously decomposed by
the agency of heated carbon or iron, being introduced therewith. The
tarry or other liquid matter is vapourized during its descent in such pipo
or pipes, the vapours so produced mix with the steam or the products of
its decomposition, and with it or them pass through a decomposer
similar to that before-mentioned and for a similar purpose. The vertical
heated pipes are preferably of a conical form, and connected at their
lower and wider ends with a retort or chamber in which any carbonaccous
matter not vapourized or combined with the steam may be deposited and
readily withdrawn therefrom when required.
Thirdly. In connection with apparatus wherein tarry or other liquid
matters are vapourized for subsequent conversion into gas, a residuc of
pitch remaining as in the process for which Letters Patent were granted
to George Eveleigh, A.D. 1871, No. 443. I employ a vapourizing
retort or pan preferably set in an inclined position, the tarry or other
liquid matter being allowed to enter at the upper end thereof flows
down the heated inclined surface to the lower end, the volatile portions
being vapourized during its passage. The pitch remaining overflows
from the retort or pan by means of a syphon adapted to it (which
syphon should be maintained at a heat sufficient to keep the pitch
melted) into a receptacle arranged to receive it. Heretofore it has been
the practice to draw off this pitch periodically, the process of so doing
occupying much time besides being inconvenient and offensive. By the
means above referred to it is withdrawn as made, and without stopping
the action of the apparatus. Steam, or the gases resulting from its
decomposion is or are by preference introduced into this vapourizing
retort or pan, mixing with the tarry and other vapours, such mixture
being subsequently passed through a decomposer similar to that before
mentioned, in order to be converted into permanent gas.
Fourthly. In converting tarry or oily products into gas by injecting
them in the form of spray or thin streams into a heated retort charged
or not with heated porous material, by means of a jet or jets of the gases
resulting from the previous decomposition of water by the action of
heated carbon or iron, the hydrogen of the water combining in the
heated retort with the carbon of the tarry or oily matters to form a
permanent gas.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Beck in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Henry Beck, Her special
licence that I, the said William Henry Beck, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry
Beck, 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 ILLUMINATING GAS, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Henry Beck, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Henry Beck, 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
Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say
My Invention has for its object the conversion into gas of the tarry,
oily, and in some cases other liquid products resulting from the distilla-
tion of coal and other carbonaceous materials employed in the production
of illuminating gas, and relates partly to improvements in processes and

page_text: apparatus wherein such products are treated for conversion into gas
whilst associated with the permanent gas along with which they have
been generated from the carbonaceous materials employed, and partly to
improvements in processes and apparatus wherein they are converted
into gas after having been condensed and separated from the said perma
nent gas.
As regards the first-mentioned improvements various efforts have been
made from time to time to convert into gas the tarry.and oily products
generated during the destructive distillation of coal whilst they are
associated with the permanent gas along with which they have been
generated by introducing into the retorts water or steam or the products
of its decomposition with the view of effecting the combination of the
carbonaceous particles of the said tarry or oily products with the
hydrogen of the water or steam, thereby producing an increased quantity
of carburetted hydrogen gas. The means hitherto employed for this
purpose have for various reasons been more or less unsuccessful in pro-
ducing the intended result with sufficient commercial advantage. The
object of my improvements under this head is to render the process
applicable to gas works of the ordinary construction with as little
alteration of or addition to the existing plant as possible, and to effect
the desired result without any material increase of manual labour.
In the Drawing Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent respectively a front
elevation partly in section, longitudinal sections at a, b, and c, d, and a
back elevation of an ordinary bench of seven clay retorts with my improve-
ments applied. I have shown them as retorts with mouth-pieces at one
end only, but retorts with mouth-pieces at both ends may readily be
adapted in accordance with my plan. Each retort is furnished with the
usual ascension pipe, but instead of the latter terminating in a hydraulic
main in the usual manner it communicates by preference with a con-
necting pipe A, being furnished with a valve B, by means of which it
and its corresponding retort can be shut off when required (as when
drawing the retort) from the said connecting pipo A. The centre retort
C has also an ascension pipe C¹ from its back end communicating by
means of the usual dip pipe with the hydraulic main D, common if need
bo to a whole series of benches of retorts. The retort C may be charged
with coke, retort carbon, broken fire-brick, or any suitable refractory
material. Each of the other retorts is furnished with a steam generating
pipe E, connected with a syphon F, which receives a supply of water

page_text: case by the cock H.
pass backwards and
from the main water pipe G, the supply of water being regulated in each
The steam generating pipe E may be arranged to
forwards in the retort as many times as may be
necessary to secure the requisite degree of superheating, as shown at E¹
in Fig. 1, or it may be enveloped by a larger pipe I closed at the end
nearest the ascension pipe and open at the other end, as shown at Figs. 1
and 3. The water flowing along the internal pipe E is converted into
steam, which escaping from the open end of the pipe E into the pipe I
at its closed end is forced to pass along it to the back of the retort, being
superheated in its passage, and finally escapes to mingle with the gas
and vapours of the charge. Whichever arrangement be adopted the
opening for the escape of the steam generated in the pipes should be at
that part of the retort farthest from the gas ascension pipe in order that
the steam may be forced after its escape from the generating pipes to
traverse the whole length of the retort with the gases and vapours given
off from the charge, whereby the mixture of such vapours and the steam
at intimatala affected

page_text: beneath such false bottom and passed up through the incandescent
material.
Instead of dropping water into the generators E and E³, steam from a
steam boiler may be introduced therein, but it is difficult to regulate
accurately the quantity of live steam admitted under such circumstances,
and I therefore prefer to employ water introduced in the manner shown,
as by such means the quantity can be regulated at will with the utmost
facility; such power of regulation is of the greatest importance, as the
success of the process largely depends upon the exact proportionment of
the quantity of steam to the particular kind of coal carbonized, the tem-
perature of the retorts, et cetera.
By enclosing the steam generators in the retorts the said generators
last much longer than when exposed to the action of the furnace gases
by being placed in the flues or furnaces.
The proper times during the carbonization of a charge for admitting
water or steam and for stopping its admission must be regulated
according to the kind of material employed and the quality of the gas it
may be desired to produce.
Instead of admitting water or steam into the generators or super-
heaters the said water or steam may be first decomposed by being passed
over red hot carbon or iron in a separate retort arranged for that
purpose.
Instead of employing valves on the ascension pipes to close the com-
munication between them and the connecting pipe A, the seal valve
shown at Fig. 4 may be employed. In the Figure A represents the
connecting pipe; B, the end of an ascension pipe projecting into the
pipe or hydraulic A; C, liquid tar; D, a cap capable of being raised out
of or lowered into the liquid by means of the rod E sliding in the
stuffing box F to close or open communication between the ascension
pipe and the pipe or hydraulic A as may be required, or any form of
hydraulic may be used in which the dip can be withdrawn when tho
retort is at work, but the use of the ordinary dip pipe and tar scal tends
to reduce the quantity of tar vapour and undecomposed steam carried
forward to the decomposing retort, therefore I do not recommend its
employment. I prefer to arrange the apparatus with a supplementary
pipe M and valve N for the connecting pipe A to the hydraulic main D,
whereby when it is necessary to clear out the decomposing retort or for

page_text: other reasons to revert to the ordinary process of gas-making the closing
of the valve K on the pipe K', and the opening of the valve N throws
out of action the decomposing retort and the remaining six may then
work as ordinary retorts, with or without the steam generators E, and if
required the decomposing retort itself may also be used as an ordinary
carbonizing retort in the same way by leaving the valve K open.
As regards the second mentioned improvements many attempts have
been made to convert the before-mentioned tarry and oily products into
gas after they have been condensed and separated from the permanent
gas along with which they were originally generated, and in many cases
steam, sometimes merely superheated, at others previously decomposed
by the action of red hot carbon or iron, has been proposed or used in
various ways to effect the production of carburetted hydrogen gas from
those products, but as far as I am aware all attempts hitherto made
have been more or less unsuccessful. The object of my improve-
ments under this head is to render the process of dealing with these
products by the agency of steam more practical and economical than
heretofore.
-
The first improvement under this head consists in charging into
any suitable gas-making retort the tarry or oily product to be decom.
posed mixed with breeze or other porous material or with small coal.
Steam, by preference superheated or previously decomposed by means of
heated carbon or iron is introduced into such retorts, the gases and
vapours generated from the tarry or oily products and from the small
coal (when such is used) together with the steam then pass through a
decomposer similar to that described in reference to the first-mentioned
improvements in which the chemical combination of the elements of the
steam with the carbon of the tarry or oily vapours is effected and
permanent gas produced.
The arrangement of apparatus shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, is well
adapted for the use of this mixture. I am aware that mixtures of tar or
oil and breeze or other porous material or small coal have been employed
for gasmaking, but I believe that such mixture has not licretofore been
employed in combination with steam and the resulting vapours passed
through a decomposing retort in the manner above indicated.
The second improvement under this head consists in causing the
tarry or other liquid matter to be decomposed to fall drop by drop or in

page_text: à very fine stream through a long vertical heated pipe or pipes, steam,
by preference superheated or previously decomposed by the agency of
heated carbon or iron, being introduced therewith, and if desired mado
to inject by means of injecting nozzles, as shown in the Figure, the
tarry or other liquid matters in the form of spray. The said tarry or
other liquid matter is vapourized during its descent in such pipe or
pipes, the vapours produced mix with the steam or the above-mentioned
products of its decomposition, and with it or them pass through a decom-
posing retort similar to that described in reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4.
In Fig. 5 the vertical heated pipes are shown of a conical form in order
to prevent the tarry or other matter from coming into contact with their
heated sides and forming an incrustation thereon which would stop the
working. They are connected at their lower and wider ends with a
retort or chamber in which any carbonaceous matter not vapourized or
combined with the steam may be deposited and readily withdrawn
therefrom when required, and to facilitate this withdrawal such chamber
may be charged, as shown in the Figure, with coke or other loose
porous material which may be casily broken up. The vertical pipes
should be made of such a height as that the tarry or other matter shall
be completely vapourized during its descent therein and before arriving
at the retort or chamber. The vapours so produced together with the
steam may then be passed through the decomposing retort as described
in reference to the last-mentioned improvement.
The third improvement under this head is in connection with apparatus
wherein tarry or other liquid matters are vapourized for subsequent
conversion into gas in chambers at a low heat, a residue of pitch being
left in such chambers, as in the process for, which Letters Patent were
granted to George Eveleigh, A.D. 1871, No. 443. Heretofore when
employing the Eveleigh process it has been the practice to draw off the
pitch periodically, the process of so doing occupying some considerable
time during which the action of the apparatus is stopped. In order to
remedy this defect I employ a vapourizing retort or pan the bottom of
which is set in an inclined position and furnished with a syphon, as
shown at Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9,.the tarry or other liquid matter is allowed
to enter at the upper end of the pan or retort, the volatile portions are
vapourized from the surface, and the pitchy matters settle to the bottom
gradually flowing down the inclined surface to the lower end whence it
overflows by the syphon into a receptacle or mould arranged to receive

page_text: it, thus the pitch is withdrawn continuously as made without stopping
the action of the apparatus. The overflow syphon should be maintained
by suitable hot air flues at a temperature sufficient to keep the pitch
melted, and the receiving mould when of metal should also be kept at a
similar temperature in order to preserve the homogenity of the blocks of
pitch.
Figs. 6 and 7 represent one arrangement of the vapourizing pan and
syphon as applied to the Eveleigh vapourizing apparatus; and Figs. 8
and 9 represent a somewhat different arrangement. In both cases a
represents the inlet pipe for the tarry or oily matter; b, the outlet for
vapour from the vapourizing retort; c, the overflow pipe from inter-
mediate chamber in the "Eveleigh" apparatus; d, the vapourizing pan
or retort with the inclined bottom; e, the pitch overflow syphon; f, lip
over which the pitch drips; g, clearing door; h, pitch mould; i, a cover
over the syphon and pitch mould communicating with the chimney
stack of the furnace to remove the sulphurous vapours given off from
the pitch as it flows from the syphon.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to or may be performed, I would have it
understood that what I claim as my Invention is,-
First. The arrangement and adaptation of apparatus for converting
the tarry and oily products into permanent gas whilst they are associated
with the gas along with which they have been generated, consisting of a
series of carbonizing retorts connected to a decomposing retort, such
retorts having steam generators or superheaters contained within them
delivering steam or the products of its decomposition above the charge,
as described and illustrated.
Second. The steam generator or superheater consisting of an inner
and an outer tube arranged and applied substantially as described and
illustrated and for the purposes herein-before set forth.
Third. Obtaining permanent gas from tarry or oily products after they
have been separated from the gas along with which they were generated
by charging the said products mixed with breeze or other suitable
porous material or small coal into a heated retort, introducing steam or
the products of its decomposition into the said retort, and passing
the resulting vapours and steam through a decomposing retort as
described.

page_text: Fourth. Vapourizing tarry or oily products by causing them to fall
or to be injected by or along with steam through vertical heated pipes
of such length that the said products become vapourized during their
descent in such pipes, as described.
Fifth. The application and use of a vapourizing pan with an inclined
bottom and pitch delivery syphon arranged and adapted substantially
as described and illustrated, and for the purpose herein-before set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Beck, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.