CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF CARBURETS OF
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS DATENT to David Clovis Knab, of Rue Rosini, Paris, France,
and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Operative Chemist, for the
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF CARBURETS OF
and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Operative Chemist, for the
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF CARBURETS OF
Scaled the 21st November 1854, and dated the 23rd June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Clovis Knab at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd June 1854.
I, DAVID CLOVIS KNAB, of Rue Rosini, Paris, France, and 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Operativo Chymist, do hereby declare the nature of my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF CARBURETS OF
HYDROGEN" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in obtaining from coal, turpentine, cannels, lignites,
and bituminous bodies, carburets of hydrogen between 50° and 75° centigrade
of strength, and of a density of about 0.670, by the following processes:―
I treat the above and other analogous matters in a still, similar to that
described in former Letters Patent granted to me, & heat them to a tem-
perature of about 400°, which is constantly or nearly constantly kept up by
means of a metallic bath, also described in previous Letters Patent. I obtain
light oils and essences, the density of which is generally lower than that of
water, viz., between 0.990 & 0.930, and the strength equal to about 12° to 20°

page_text: Beaume's arcometer, according to the nature of the matters employed, and
the regularity with which the fire has been conducted.
I then rectify the oils in ordinary apparatus's, and I first obtain a product, of
the strength of about 55 degrees, which being treated first with sulphuric acid
and afterwards with alkali, give rise to carburetted hydrogen much lighter
than ether, and the strength of which varies between 50° & 75°.
The carburetted hydrogen vapours, products of distillation, are received in a
surpentine tube, surrounded with cold water, the lower part of which plunges
in a vessel hermetically closed, in which the condensed liquid accumulates.
This vessel communicates by means of a bent tube with another vessel, con-
taining at the bottom a layer of oil or essence at a temperature of about 18° to
20°, the result of a previous operation. The tube plunges an inch or two into
the liquid, which retains and dissolves the vapors.
The two vessels are provided with taps and safety tubes, and may be made
of metal, refractory earth, or other suitable materials. The heating may be
effected by an known process, but I use, by preference, the metallic bath
or over-beated steam (produced by the metallic bath), a balneum mariæ, or
ordinary apparatus; it should be conducted and regulated with care.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Clovis Knab in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
CLOVIS KNAB, of Rue Rossini, Paris, France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, Operative Chymist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said David Clovis Knab, Her special license that I, the said David
Clovis Knab, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said David Clovis Knab, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF CARBURETS OF HYDROGEN," upon the condition

page_text: (amongst others) that I, the said David Clovis Knab, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 David Clovis Knab, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in an improved process and arrangement of apparatus
for producing and collecting carburets of hydrogen.
I operate upon coal, turpentine, cannels, lignites, and bituminous matters in
a still, similar to that described in former Letters Patent granted to me, and
heat them to a temperature of about four hundred degrees to five hundred
degrees centigrade, which temperature should be constantly or nearly con-
stantly kept up by means of a metallic bath (also described in former Letters
Patent granted to me. The product of this operation upon coal is light oils
and essences, of a density varying between 0-990 and 0-930, and a strength
of twelve degrees to twenty degrees Cartier's.
From certain kinds of cannels--for instance, bog head cannels and schistus-
I obtain oils and essences at about forty degrees Cartier's, and a density of
about 0.850°, according to the regularity with which the heating has been
conducted.
The oils thus obtained are rectified in ordinary apparatus, and the result is, a
product of the strength of about fifty-five degrees Cartier's areometer, which
being treated with sulphuric acid and alkali, and afterwards collected in the
apparatus herein-after described, gives as product light carburets of hydrogen,
of a strength from fifty degrees to seventy-five degrees Cartier's, and a density
of about 0-670°.
The rectified carburetted hydrogen vapors are received in a serpentine
tube, surrounded with cold water, the lower part being immersed in a herme-
tically closed vessel, also surrounded with cold water, ice, or other powerful
refrigerant, in which the condensed liquid is received. This vessel commu-
nicates by means of a bent tube with another similar vessel, also surrounded
with refrigerant mixtures, and having at the bottom a layer of oil or essence, of
a strength of about thirty degrees to forty degrees Cartier's, produced as
herein-before described. The bent tube plunges an inch or two into this liquid,
which serves to retain and dissolve the vapors.

page_text: The two vessels are provided with taps and safety valves, and may be made
of metal, earth, or other suitable materials. The heating may be effected by
a sand bath or other ordiuary apparatus, in which case the operation must
be regulated with care; I give preference, however, to a metallic bath, or
to over-heated steam produced by a metallic bath.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise details herein laid down; but what I claim is,-
First, the mode of manufacturing carburets of hydrogen over fifty degrees
Cartier's, from coal, turpentine, cannels, lignites, bituminous matters, and other
analogous substances, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the arrangement of apparatus and process for collecting carbu-
retted hydrogen vapors, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Clovis Knab, have hereunto 'set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four..
D. C. KNAB. (L.S.)