A NEW MEANS FOR PROCURING THE MORE PERFECT COMBUSTION IN THE BURNING OF FUEL." PROCURING THE MORE PERFECT COMBUSTION IN THE BURNING OF FUEL
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Tony Petitjean, of No. 4, Brydges Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Chemist, for the Invention of "A NEW MEANS FOR
PROCURING THE MORE PERFECT COMBUSTION IN THE BURNING OF FUEL."
PROCURING THE MORE PERFECT COMBUSTION IN THE BURNING OF FUEL."
Sealed the 29th November 1867, and dated the 30th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Tony Petitjean at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
May 1867.
I, TONY PETITJEAN, of No. 4, Brydges Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW
MEANS FOR PROCURING THE MORE PERFECT COMBUSTION IN THE BURNING OF FUEL,"
to be as follows:-
My process of burning fuel consists in having at the entrance of the.
chimney of a furnace a chamber of peculiar arrangement and dimension's,
which I call "a producer," kept constantly filled with fuel. The products
of combustion are caused to pass through the mass of combustible material,
and by the heat they evolve they ignite it, so that it is by what is called
"waste beat" that I get the fuel red hot. This arrangement works as
follows:-When the combustible material has developed all its heating power
its carbon is, as well known, transformed into carbonic acid, and its hydrogen.
into aqueous vapour. When they leave the combustion room of the furnace
to enter into the reproducer these gases are caused to pass through the ignited:
carbon so as to absorb a part of it, and then the bulk of carbonic acid evolved
is converted into two bulks of carbonic oxide; the aqueous vapour is in the

page_text: same manner decomposed by the ignited fuel, and rearranged into two equal
bulks, one of hydrogen and the other of carbonic oxide. It must be observed
here that the heating power of a bulk of hydrogen is very nearly the same as
a bulk of carbonic oxide. It is also well known that a bulk of carbonic oxide
is converted by its own combustion into an equal bulk of carbonic acid.
Consequently the amount of heat given out by any fuel is always doubled in
my process, however perfect may be the mode of combustion used hitherto.
In
My method may be applied in two manners:-1st. By having as in the
ordinary way a separate fire-place kept to produce the necessary heat in the
combustion room, thereby adding to it my reproducer either above the com-
bustion room, or at the side, or underneath, then the gases evolving from the
reproducer are able to heat two other different furnaces of the same size as
the first, or a double sized one. 2nd. In the other manner the fuel in the
réproducer is first lighted, and then the gases evolving are used one half to
heat the combustion room and the other half to heat another furnace.
that manner the same fuel is in a continual and constant circulation, becoming
alternately carbonic acid and aqueous vapour when the combustion is going
on, then reconverted into carbonic oxide and hydrogen at the exit of the
"reproducer" to re-enter as gaseous fuel into the fire-place, and so on
indefinitely. Only it must be borne in mind that the double amount of the
fuel burnt in the combustion room is always obtained. Consequently it is
necessary in applying my process to have two fire-places completely isolated
one from the other. The first is provided with a reproducer, and by it the
products of combustion are reconverted into a double quantity of gaseous fuel,
and thus serve to keep in both fires. In the second the products of com-
bustion are thrown away by the chimney to determine the draught if a
mechanical draught is not preferred. It results from the above explanation
that in my method of combustion gaseous fuel is most especially used.
Two conditions are indispensable to obtain the entire useful effect of my
new method; firstly, the air necessary to the combustion must be reduced to
the quantity strictly indispensable; secondly, the action must be regular and
continual. To secure those ends the burning is effected by a great number
of points on ranges of blow pipes supplied with air and gaseous fuel by a
peculiar arrangement which insure an infitesimal division of the combustible
material.
It results by the above explained method of combustion that gaseous fuel
is most especially used. Two conditions are essential to obtain the entire
useful effect of its action; the air necessary for the combustion must be
reduced to the quantity strictly indispensable, and the action regular and

page_text: continual. To secure those ends the burning is established on a great number"
of points by ranges of large blow pipes supplied with air and gaseous fuel by
a peculiar arrangement which assures an infinitesimal division of the com-
bustible material. This fractional division of the combustible material gives
an easy control over the quantity of air to be admitted on the perfect mingling
of air and gaseous fuel, and also over the regularity of the burning. The
waste heat of the second furnace may be used for different purposes as to heat.
the quantity of air necessary, but not in the same manner as in the first as no-
gain could possibly result through it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Tony Petitjean in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, TONY
PETITJEAN, of No. 4, Brydgės Street, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Tony Petitjean, Her special licence that I, the said Tony Petitjean,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Tony
Petitjean, 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 "A NEW MEANS FOR
PROCURING THE MORE PERFECT COMBUSTION IN THE BURNING OF FUEL," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Tony Petitjean, 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 Tony Petitjean, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My process of burning fuel consists in having at the entrance of the chimney
of a furnace a chamber of peculiar arrangement and dimensions, which I call
a reproducer, kept constantly filled with fuel. The products of combustion
are caused to pass through the mass of combustible material, and by the heat.
they evolve they ignite it, so that it is by what is called a waste heat that
I get the fuel red hot. This arrangement works as follows:-When the com-
bustible material has developed all its beating power its carbon is, as well
known, transformed into carbonic acid, and its hydrogen into aqueous vapour.
When they leave the combustion room of the furnace to enter into the repro-
ducer these gases are caused to pass through the ignited carbon so as to absorb a
part of it, and then the bulk of carbonic acid evolved is converted into two bulks
of carbonic oxide, the aqueous vapour is in the same manner decomposed by
the ignited fuel, and re-arranged into two equal bulks one of hydrogen and
the other one of carbonic oxide. It must be observed here that the heating
power of a bulk of hydrogen is very nearly the same as a bulk of carbonic
oxide. It is also known that a bulk of carbonic oxide is converted by its
own combustion into equal bulk of carbonic acid. Consequently the amount
of heat given out by any fuel is always doubled in my process however perfect
may be the mode of combustion used hitherto.
My method may be applied in two manners:-1st, by having as in the
ordinary way a separate fire-place kept to produce the necessary heat in the
combustion room, then adding to it my reproducer either above the conibus-
tion room, or at the side, or underneath; then the gases evolving from the
reproducer are able to heat two other different furnaces of the same size as
the first or a double sized one, in the other manner the fuel in the reproducer
is first lighted, and then the gases evolving are used one-half to heat the com-
bustion room, and the other half to heat another furnace. In that manner
the same fuel is in a continual and constant circulation, becoming alternately
carbonic acid and aqueous vapour when the combustion is going on, then
reconverted into carbonic oxide and bydrogen at the exit of the reproducer to
re-enter as gaseous fuel into the fire-place, and so on indefinitely, only it must
be borne in mind that the double amount of the fuel burnt in the combus-
tion room is always obtained. Consequently it is necessary in applying my
process to have two fire-places completely isolated one from the other. The
first is provided with a reproducer, and by it the products of combustion are
reconverted into a double quantity of gaseous fuel, and thus serve to keep in
both fire. In the second the products of combustion are thrown away by the

page_text: chimney to determine the draught if a mechanical draught is not preferred.
It results from the above explanation that in my method of combustion gaseous
fuel is most especially used.
Two conditions are indispensible to obtain the entire useful effect of my
new method:-Firstly, the air necessary for the combustion must be reduced
to the quantity strictly indispensible; secondly, the action must be regular and
continual. To secure those ends the burning is effected by a great number
of points or ranges of blow pipes supplied with air and gaseous fuel by a
peculiar arrangement which insures an infinitisimal division of the combus-
tible. The fractional division of the combustible material gives an easy control
over the quantity of air to be admitted on the perfect mingling of air and
gaseous fuel, and also over the regularity of the burning.
The waste heat of the second furnace may be used for different purposes, as
to heat the quantity of air necessary, but not in the same manner as in the
first, as no gain would possibly result through it.
.
To apply the above method it is necessary to divide into two classes the
operation to be performed by heat. One to heat closed apparatus at a high
temperature, as for instance, for the preparation of gaslight, the other is the
operations which are performed into open vessels as in smelting of glass. To
the former the ashes not being able to injure the operation the reproduced
is put direct above the combustion chamber, the top of which forms the
bottom of it by leaving a great many apertures to serve for the admission of
the products of combustion and the discharge of ashes. In the other class. as
the ashes would injure the operation, the reproducer is put on the side or
underneath. The rules for the putting up of the reproducer are deducted
from the following considerations which illustrate the chemical force neces-
sary for the decomposition both of carbonic acid and water. When carbonic
acid and water are acted upon by ignited carbonic acid they are converted
into carbonic oxide and hydrogen; those gaseous combustibles are susceptible
when burnt to develop more heat than the quantity of carbon absorbed would
give out if burnt by itself. This surplus which amounts to 3132 units of
heat per pound of carbon absorbed is due to the heat of condensation of
3 volumes into 2 volumes after the combustion of the above-named gases in
which it was stowed as latent heat. The force necessary for the decomposition
of carbonic acid and water or rather the disunion of one atom of oxygen in
both must be equal to the chemical energy of the combination of carbon
with oxygen in forming carbonic oxide; 4948 units of heat are to the
measure of the force necessary to the decomposition of 3666 pounds of carbonic
acid or 1-8 pounds of water. Of those 4948 units of heat 3132 are stored

page_text: as latent heat, and the difference 1816 fix the temperature at which the
gaseous fuel obtained leave the reproducer. The amount of beat called
waste heat is expressed by 2-97 T when composed of nothing but carbonic
acid and nitrogen, T expresses the temperature of the products of combustion.
The heat carried away by the gaseous fuel when leaving the reproducer is
expressed by 3.338 t° for carbonic acid and nitrogen. Thus 2.97 T is equal to
4948, and gives for the value of T 1666° centigrade, and for t° 546°, or 1816
divided by 3-333 t°. Thus the under layer of carbon ignited is heated to 1666°,
and the above layer only at 546° in a perfect decomposition. This is the case
for every combustion of fuel either in employing the quantity of air strictly
necessary, or the double or the half only, but the consumption in the repro-
ducer for those three cases is for the first the same quantity of carbon as
burnt by forming carbonic acid, for the second three times more, and for the
latter only the half the, carbon contained in the reproducer, having its bottom
heat to 1666, and its top to 546°, the medium temperature would be 1103°.
To heat a pound of carbon to that degree would require 220 units of heat,
and as to the waste heat is equal to 4948 units of heat, of which a part must
be deducted for the loss of heat by the sides of the reproducer, the remainder
will be able to heat about 20 pounds of carbon to 1103°. Thus the repro-
ducer must contain about 20 times more carbon as the fire-grate in the
ordinary fire-place, so if the thicknesses of the layer of carbon on the fire-grate
(on the supposition that the section of the reproducer is equal to that of the
firegrate) is 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 inches thick which forms carbonic acid, the
thickness the mass of carbon in the reproducer would be respectively 3 feet
4 inches, 5 feet, 6 feet 8, 8 feet 4, and 10 feet. In that manner nothing is
easier than to If the dimensions of the reproducer, those thicknesses vary
with different qualities of fuel to be formed, and also according to the velocity
of the draught.
To illustrate the above explained method I will give as an example,
an ordinary window glass furnace, the reproducer is put underneath the
combustion chamber. The products of combustion are directed downwards
through the reproducer by a strong chimney draught, or by means of an
exhausting fan, which distributes the gaseous fuel to the gas furnace. The
quantity of glass susceptible of being melted by the gas fuel formed is
double of that melted by the furnace where solid fuel is burnt as above
explained.
The Figure 1 is a lateral section of an ordinary glass furnace, and Figure 2
a longitudinal section, showing the length of the reproducer; the same letters
represent similar things in those Figures.

page_text: ff, flues, discharging the products of combustion into r, r, two reproducers,
containing each from 9 to 10 times more coal than the usual fire-grate g;
b, b, iron bars to support the coal; c, channel by which the gas is driven off';
this furnace contains only 4 crucibles; h, feeder. The supply of coal in the
reproducer is to be made at short intervals.
Figure 3 represents a lateral section of the gas furnace, and Figure 4 a
longitudinal section, showing the disposition adopted for the burning of gas fuel ;
this furnace contains 8 crucibles, 4 in the gallery a, 4 in the gallery b. The
gas fuel is brought by the channel c, which receives in d a damper to regulate
the admittance of gas m in two open passages for the supply of air in two
series of openings p, p, p, which meet two similar series of apertures dis-
charging the gaseous fuel s, mingling chambers o, mixture of gas fuel and air,
which being burnt are discharged by the flues t, t¹.
I claim as my Invention,―
Firstly, the method of converting solid fuel into inflammable gases after
having made use of it, that is by the waste heat of the products of combustion
only when they carry out 60 per cent. of the heat developed in the burning
of fuel.
Secondly, the division of the total heat produced by fuel into heat of com-
bination and heat of condensation, the latter forming the latent heat of the
gases left after carbonic acid and water have been decomposed.
Thirdly, this division in heat of combination and heat of condensation giving
a clear insight of the phenomens accompanying the conversion of carbonic
acid and water into inflammable gases permits the laying down of rules to
regulate the good working of the reproducer by fixing the temperature of its
top and bottom, also the quantity of fuel it must contain, and consequently
its exact dimensions.
Fourthly, the principle of a great fractional division for the use of the gas
fuel, which gives an easy control over the proper proportions of air and inflam-
mable material, and secure their perfect mingling.
In witness whereof, I, the said Tony Petitjean, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
TONY PETITJEAN. (L.s.)