IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRAWING AND CHARGING RETORTS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING Gas."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Taylor, Gas Manager, Samuel Buckley,
Engineer, and Thomas Henry Chadwick, Gas Collector, all of
Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRAWING AND CHARGING RETORTS
USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING Gas."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Taylor, Samuel
Buckley, and Thomas Henry Chadwick, at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 5th February
1873.
WC, JAMES TAYLOR, Gas Manager, SAMUEL BUCKLEY, Engineer, and
THOMAS HENRY CHADWICK, Gas Collector, all of Oldham, in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRAWING AND CHARGING
RETORTS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING Gas," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to an arrangement of machinery or apparatus
whereby the retorts are drawn and a fresh supply of coal or other such

page_text: material is supplied. For these purposes we mount a carriage upon rails
extending along the line of retorts, and upon which therefore it can be
traversed, to facilitate which we propose to supply it with steam power
and with suitable gearing. The above-mentioned carriage is furnished
with a projecting "jib," within which is a sliding box, the bottom
thereof being constituted by another part capable of an independent
sliding motion, and provided with a rake which may be turned down-
ward on a centre.
When the apparatus is to be used the jib and parts which it carrics
are run opposite to the opened retort, and the box above-mentioned
having been supplied with coal is thrust, together with its false bottom,
into the retort; the rake is now turned downward, drawn forward so as
to take with it the coke, while at the same time the false bottom is also
drawn forward, and thus a fresh supply of coal is allowed to fall into
the retort and occupy the place of the withdrawn coke. The above. 1
mentioned operations are performed by suitable, gearing driven by the
motive power.
In order to bring the jib and operating parts to the level of the retorts
they are mounted so as to slide upward and downward in the carriage by
means of screws or other similar means. Instead of one rake there may 2
be two or more acting simultaneously.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Taylor, Samuel Buckley, and Thomas
Henry Chadwick in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th August
1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, JAMES
TAYLOR, Gas Manager, SAMUEL BUCKLEY, Engineer, and TножAS HENRY
CHADWICK, Gas Collector, all of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said James Taylor, Samuel Buckley, and

page_text: Thomas Henry Chadwick, Her special license that we, the said James
Taylor, Samuel Buckley, and Thomas Henry Chadwick, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Taylor,
Samuel Buckley, and Thomas Henry Chadwick, our exccutors, admini-
strators, 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 MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR DRAWING AND CHARGING RETORTS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE
or Illuminating Gas," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the
said James Taylor, Samuel Buckley, and Thomas Henry Chadwick, by
an instrument in writing under our hands and seals (or under the hand
and scal of one of us), 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 Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Taylor, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the samo is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists in an arrangement whereby the retorts aro
drawn and a fresh charge of material supplied by a simultaneous
operation.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 reprosents the apparatus in
side elevation, Fig. 2 in plan view, Fig. 3 in cross section, and Fig. 4
is a detached view in section; and I will in the first place describe by
themselves those parts which immediately effect the drawing and
charging, and which constitute the peculiar feature of our Invention,
subsequently referring to mechanical arrangements by which the
necessary motions may be effected.
At 1 is a framework, which carries a jib 2 formed by two side beams
leaving a space between them; the inward surfaces of these two beams
3 are formed with grooves 3, within which are situate rollers 4, the axes
of which are mounted in a trough 5 constituting a receptacle for the
coal or cannel to be fed to the retort; this trough is open both at top

page_text: and bottom from A to B, which is the length intended to pass into tho
retort, and the sides are connected together by cross pieces 6, which also
answer another purpose hereafter to be mentioned; the side surfaces of
the two beams are also provided with a second pair of grooves 7, within
which are rollers 8 mounted on axes which are carried by a frame 9, 9*,
the upper part 9* constituting a false bottom for the trough 5; within
the frame 9 are mounted axes 10, 10°, provided with arms 11, 11*, the
extremities of which are furnished with rakes 12, 12*, by means of
which the coke is drawn.
. The parts above described are used in the following manner; a method
of actuating them will be hereafter described:-The trough 5 having
been charged with coal or cannel, and the frame 1 and jib 2 having been
moved so that the latter is opposite a retort it is, together with the
frame 9, propelled forward until both of those parts have reached the
back end of the retort, the rollers 4, 8, running in the grooves 3, 7. 1
When this has been done the levers on the axes 10, 10*, are turned so
as to move downward the rakes 12, 12° to the bottom of the retort.
The frame 9, together with the rakes 12, 12, are now drawn back, and
the latter consequently draw the coke and discharge it at the mouth of
the retort; this motion of the rakes, and consequently of the frame 2, 2
gradually removes the false bottom 9*, and as the coke is drawn away a
fresh supply of coal or cannel falls into the retort from the trough 5. The
coke having been drawn and the retort charged the trough 5 is drawn
back, and the whole assumes the position shewn in Fig. 1.
.
Having thus shewn the general construction and operation of the a
essential character of our Invention, I will proceed to describe an
arrangement of mechanical parts we employ for effecting those
operations. Upon the frame 1 is amounted a boiler 13 and pair of
steam engines 14, whose connecting rods drive by means of cranks a
shaft 15 provided with a toothed wheel 10 in gear with another 17 upon
a line shaft 18, upon which are loose bevil pinions 19, 19*, in gear with
another 20 upon a shaft, which by means of spur wheels 21 drives a
shaft 22 mounted on the frame 1, and carrying at either end a flanged
wheel 22* for running on rails, there being also another shaft 22** on
the frame 1 furnished with a pair of flanged wheels, and by these means
therefore the whole machine may be moved from one place to another
or remain stationary; and in order that this may be done there is a clutch
box 23 between the two pinions 19, 19*, which is capable of locking

page_text: ciller of them with the shaft 18, or of being free from both (as shewn),
in which latter case no bodily motion will be imparted to the machinc.
In order to clevate or depress the working parts first described, so as
to bring them to the level of the retort to be drawn and charged, the
jib 2 is mounted so as to slide upward and downward in uprights 1* of
the frame 1, for which purpose it is provided with axes carrying rollers 24
situate in grooves 25 formed in the said frame 1*, and with a nut 26,
within which is a screwed shaft 27 carrying at its lower end a bevil
pinion 28 in gear with two pinions 29, 29*, loose upon the line shaft 18,
the one or the other of them however being capable of revolving there-
with by a sliding clutch box 29**. When therefore the pinion 28 is
caused to revolve in the one direction or the other the screw 27 by being
turned raises or lowers the jib 2. Upon the line shaft 18 are two loose
pinions 30, 30*, in gear with a wheel 31, and capable, the one or the
other, of being locked with their shaft by a clutch box 32 sliding
thercon. The wheel 31 is mounted upon a shaft 33 which has a
pinion 34 mounted with a feather, so as to be capable of sliding upward
or downward, and yet fast therewith, and it is carried by a bracket (not
shown in the Drawing) extending from the jib 2. This pinion 34 is in
gear with another 35 carried by the jib, and on the axis thereof is a
pitched wheel 36, over which there passes a chain 37 attached at one
end 38 to a lever 39, and after passing over a guide pulley 41, and the
said pitched wheel is attached at its other end to another part 40 of the
said lever, which is capable of turning upon a centre 42 formed on the
sliding frame 5.
To the lever 39 is connected a rod 43, which is jointed
to other levers 43*, 43**, extending from the axes 10, 10*, of the rakes 12,
12*, and the said rod 43 is supported by a rocking lever 44. Upon the
line shaft 18 is a loose pinion 45 capable of being locked so as to drive a
pinion and shaft 40 by a clutch box 47, and on this shaft 46 is a
pinion 18 mounted so as to slide on a feather, and in gear with a
pinion 49 on a shaft 50 carried by the jib 2, and provided with a
drum 51, over which there passes a chain 52, one end being attached
thereto and the other to the trough 5. When the machine is to be used
the trough 5 is charged with coal or cannel from any suitable hopper
or other feeding apparatus, and one or other of the pinions 19, 19*,
according to the direction in which the machine is to be moved, is
caused to revolve by the shifting of the clutch box 23 by any ordinary
lever arrangement, and the machine will then be moved bodily until

page_text: the jib 2 is on the same vertical line with the retort to be drawn, after
which if necessary the shaft 27 is caused to revolve by shifting the
clutch box 20 into gear with one or other of the pinions 29, 29*, and the
screw thercon will then lower or raise the jib to the horizontal line of
the retort, after which the clutch box 29** is disconnected.
The apparatus first described is now ready to perform the operations
required. For this purpose one or other of the pinions 30, 30*,
(depending on which way the line shaft turns) is locked by the clutch
box 32 with the said shaft, and through the medium of the pinions
31, 34, 35, the pitched wheel 36 will be caused to revolve and draw
the chain 37 in the direction of the full lined arrow. The effect
of this will be to pull the lever 39 forward, but its motion is arrested
by the end of the frame 9, and the said frame is therefore itself
together with the rakes 12, 12*, (which are mounted therein) drawn
forward and projected into the retort, the elevation being so adjusted
that the said rakes shall pass over the top of the mass of coke, at the
same time a projecting part 55 of the frame 9, and which is in contact
with the trough 5 carries that part of the machine forward so that
the fresh charge of coal or cannel as well as the rakes are conveyed
into the retort. When this has been accomplished the clutch box 32
is disconnected from the pinion 30 or 30* with which it has been
in gear, and is connected to the other pinion 30 or 30*, whereby
thic motion of the pitched wheel 36 becomes reversed, and the chain 37
will be drawn in the direction of the dotted arrow. By these means
the rod 43 will also be drawn in the direction of the dotted arrow,
and by acting on the levers 13*, 43**, will cause the rakes 12, 12ª,
to turn downward upon their centres to the bottom of the retort.
This operation will of course have turned the lever 39 in the direction
of the dotted arrow, but when the rakes have been lowered as described,
the said lever 39 arrives against a slop, and and not being able to turn
any further it locks the chain 37 to the frame 9, which is then gradually
pulled out of the retort, the rakes 12, 12*, conveying away the coke,
but this operation, as before mentioned, opens the bottom of tho
trough 5 and allows the fresh charge to occupy the place of the
withdrawn coke. The rakes being free of the retort the clutch 32 is
placed clear of both pinions 30, 30*, and the clutch 47 is placed in
gear with the pinion 45, by which means the drum 51 is caused to
revolve, and by winding up the chain 52 (which had been drawn off)

page_text: withdraws the trough 5 into the position shewn; when the rakes are
withdrawn they are of course turned downward, but before they can
enter the retort above the surface of the coke they must be turned
upward. This takes place at the commencement of the operations,
for when the chain 37 is drawn, as above described, in the direction
of the full lined arrow, its first action is to turn the lever 39 a short
distance upon its centre, thereby thrusting forward the rod 43, which
by acting upon the axes of the rakes brings them to the position
shewn. The cross pieces 6 in the trough 5 are for the purpose of
preventing the coal or cannel being drawn into a heap when the falso
bottom is removed, and in order to facilitate the passage of the rakes
to the bottom of the retort, the charge is not deposited quite to the
end thereof, and a rib 56 is placed across the trough to cause a
vacancy for the second rake. Tho shape of the rakes will of course
bo adapted to that of the retort, and more than two or one only may be
employed.
In describing the changes in motion of the several parts I simply
stated that the respective clutch boxes are placed in and out of gear;
and in the cases of those shown at 23, 29, this will be donc by
any ordinary hand gear; but with respect to those shewn at 32, 47,
their motions may be determined by the arrival of stops carried by the
parts 5, 9, against a lever or similar apparatus as is now practised in
many other machines when changes of motion are to be effected.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire
it to be understood that we claim as secured to us under the above in
part recited Letters Patent, and for the purposes above set forth, the
combined use of the trough 5, frame 9, 9*, and rake or rakes 12, 12*,
constructed and operating substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Taylor, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
JAMES TAYLOR. (L.S.)