A NEW METHOD OF USING AND APPLYING ARTIFICIAL GAS MADE FROM COAL, OIL, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES FOR LIGHTING AND VENTILATING CAVERNS, PITS, OR MINES, OR OTHER PITS WHERE MINERALS OR METALS ARE WORKED OR EXTRACTED
Year: 1844

page_text: MURRAY'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MURRAY, of the Garnkirk Coal Company, in the Parish of Cadder and
County of Lanark, Scotland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
5 Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Tenth day of April, in the seventh year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Murray, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said James Murray, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James Murray, my exors, admors, 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, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF USING AND APPLYING ARTIFICIAL GAS MADE
FROM COAL, OIL, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES FOR LIGHTING AND VENTILATING CAVERNS,
PITS, OR MINES, OR OTHER PITS WHERE MINERALS OR METALS ARE WORKED OR
EXTRACTED;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
James Murray, should cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancellary within four 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
James Murray, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be used and performed, are particu-
larly described and ascertained by the following statement thereof (that is
to say):-
My Invention is, first, for lighting, and secondly, for ventilating caverns,
pits, or mines, or other pits where minerals or metals are worked or extracted;
and this I do by means of artificial gas, and my method of using and applying
the gas is as follows:-The gas may be made above ground from coal, oil, or
other substances from which gas can be produced, and conveyed by any suf-
ficient means through pipes or tubes of suitable materials and dimensions into
the mines, and into the different workings or galleries; or, the gas may be
made as above stated below ground, and conveyed through pipes or tubes as
aforesaid into the workings or galleries, along which workings or galleries, at
convenient distances and elevations, jets or burners of suitable sizes may be
used, and the gas consumed by burning the said jets or burners, and the flame
at these jets or burners may be uncovered, should the state of the mines or
workings admit of this being done with safety, otherways the flame may be
covered in the manner in which lamps or lights in mines have heretofore been
covered, or in any other suitable manner; or the flame may be used at times
covered, and at other times uncovered, according as the state of the mines may
from time to time admit of this being done with safety. The pipes or tubes
may be either flexible or moveable or stationary, as may be deemed expedient.
The gas burning in the various workings or galleries will have the effect of
giving a safer, greater, more effective, and at the same time a cheaper light in
mines than any other mode of lighting hitherto used in mines, and will enable
the miners more safely, comfortably, and effectively to execute the workings
in the mines. And this method of lighting mines I claim as my Invention
under the first head, hereof.
The gas burning, as above stated, will also have the effect in whole or in
part of ventilating the mines, by gradually consuming fire damp, foul air, or
other noxious vapours. A current of air will also be created, by which the fire
damp, foul air, or other noxious vapours will be carried off, either in whole or
in part, and replaced by a supply of pure air from the mouth of the mine, or
from any other communication of the mine with the pure atmosphere. By

page_text: this mode of ventilating, the accumulation, in large quantities, of fire damp or
other noxious vapours will be either in whole or in part prevented, and the
workers will be secure, or at least more so than at present, from the fatal or
injurious effects of these noxious vapours, by instanteous explosion or suffocation,
or the fatal or injurious effects produced from inhaling such vapours. And this
method of ventilating mines I claim as my Invention under the second head
hereof.
And while I claim as my Invention the application of gas for lighting and
ventilating mines, as above described, I do not claim as part of my Invention
the making of the gas, or of any of the parts of the apparatus or machinery
connected with the working or conveying thereof, or with the covering of the
flame of the same while burning; and I would have it here understood that I
have used the word mine or mines in the foregoing description of my Invention
as comprehending caverns, pits, mines, or other pits where minerals or metals
are worked or extracted.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Murray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of our Lord One