CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING GAS FROM COAL
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
BURCH, of Heywood, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Second day of November, in the first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard
Burch, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege, and authority that I, the
said Richard Burch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said Richard Burch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING GAS FROM COAL ;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Richard
Burch, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Burch, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following explanation thereof (that is so say) :-
My improvements in manufacturing gas from coal consist in the application

page_text: or introduction of an inner door plate or partition into the body of the retort
commonly used for the distillation of coal in generating gas, which inner door
plate or partition is to be placed within the retort, just beyond the upright or
ascending pipe which conveys the gas from the retort as it is evolved from the
coal, thus acting as a valve or damper, and is designed, in the first place, to
keep the mouth of the retort and the ascending pipe cool; and, secondly, to
confine the heat within the retort as much as is practicable without causing
any improper pressure of gas therein. These operations will be found to cause
the effectual prevention of the choaking or " baking-up" of the ascending
pipes, usually produced by the carbonaceous incrustation formed thereon from
the great heat of the gas and tar which arises from the mouth of the retort,
and also to cause a large portion of the tar which has hitherto passed away to
be rendered into gas. This increase of the quantity of gas will vary, according
to the temperature of the retorts, &c., from five hundred to nine hundred
cubic feet to the ton of good coal more than can be generated by the common
method of manufacturing gas, as it is well known to persons conversant with
such manufacture or process that the more rapidly the coal is decomposed the
greater is the quantity of gas produced, and in consequence of which it has
become the prevalent practice to work the retorts at such a temperature as
will cause a full discharge of gas in (at most) four hours. But the effect of
such temperature is attended with considerable inconvenience, as the choaking
or "baking-up" of the ascending pipes (and sometimes the hydraulic main) is
the certain result; hence, the matter which has hitherto been charred into an
inconvenient incrustation, or drawn off into the form of tar, is hereby rendered
into inflamable vapour, and only one half of the number of retorts will be
necessary to be worked with this improvement that would be required upon
the old system of working from six to eight hours' charges. I propose that
this inner door plate or partition shall bo of the same shape or form as the
interior of the body of the retort, and shall fit the mouth of the retort as well
as circumstances will admit, but not so tightly as to prevent easy removal
of the same at the time of charging, and it should have a projecting ncb or
pin rising a little above the top edge, in order that it may be supported at any
angle it may be placed in the retort by the neb or stud resting against the
back of the ascending pipe, or it may have a small tube or pipe cast on to its
inner side for the same purpose. In most cases the gas will have sufficient
egress from the retort to the upright or ascending pipes by escaping around
the edges of the inner door plate or partition; but where this passage is not
found sufficient to allow the required escape of gas, a small hole or holes may
be perforated through the plate or partition, or, if it is found desirable, it may
the

page_text: be formed as a very close grating; but this I should not recommend, as
the simplest plain plate acting as an inner door or damper has been found
most successful. The inner door plate or partition should have a small staple
or eye cast upon its outer side, in order that it may be removed with a hooked
rod at the time of charging the retort when the plate or partition is used
detached from the door of the mouth-piece, which I recommend; but this inner
door plate or partition may be attached to the inside of the ordinary door of
the mouth-piece, and thus be removed or replaced with it.
Having now described my improvements in manufacturing gas from coal, I
wish it to be understood that although I have only spoken of cast iron for the
above description of inner door plate or partition to be used in the retort, it
may, nevertheless, be made from any other suitable material, nor is it neces-
sary to confine the form or shape precisely to that of the interior of the retort;
but that I do recommend as most effectual. But I do claim as my Invention
the introduction or application to the retort of the inner door plate or par
tition, whether perfect or perforated, and at whatever angle or in whatever
manner it may be placed (or any modification of the same, such as a straight
or elbow pipe, or tube), for the purposes above particularly described.
In witness I, the said Richard Burch, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight,
RICHARD (L.B.) BURCH.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirtieth day of April, in the
first year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Richard Burch
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Second day of May, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-