IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING CERTAIN GASES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jacques Arbòs, of Barcelona, Town in the Spanish
Kingdom, Doctor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING
CERTAIN GASES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER AND IN THE APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 15th May 1868, and dated the 19th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacques Arbòs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
November 1862.
I, JACQUES ARBOS, of Barcelona, Town in the Spanish Kingdom, Doctor,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GENERATING CERTAIN GASES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER AND IN THE APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in a new gas engine, together with an apparatus for
generating the gas, constituting one complete apparatus as hereafter described,
whereby motive power is created and transmitted. Its characteristic feature
is the production of a gaseous mixture composed of oxide of carbon, of
hydrogen, of azote, and of a small proportion of carburet of hydrogen. This
compound combined with air in proportions varying with its richness in car-
buret of hydrogen and inflamed or exploded by an electric spark or by red-hot
platinum wires, exerts inside a cylinder a pressure which becomes a motive
power upon a piston therein, which power is transferred to the main shaft of

page_text: the engine or apparatus, to be transmitted or used as required. At the same
time as the gaseous compound is generated steam is produced, which may also
be employed as a motive power, .and may be used in a cylinder coupled with
the gas engine. I take a furnace, such as described in the Provisional
Specification of my Invention for "Improvements in Generating certain Gases
for Lighting and Heating, and in Apparatus employed therein," for which I
have applied for Provisional Protection the 18th day of November instant, and
surround it with a steam boiler protected by some non-conductor to prevent
loss of heat by radiation. The water in the boiler is heated by the furnace
inside whereby steam is generated. The pipe conveying the gas from the
furnace leads into a metal or fire-brick cylindrical or other shaped vessel con-
taining coal, heated to a red heat, for decomposing the carbonic acid and
vapors which may I have escaped decomposition in the furnace. The vessel is
heated by a separate fire surrounding it, or it may be heated by placing it
inside the first-named furnace. A pipe from the vessel conveys the gas to the
cylinder of the engine hereafter described, after the gas has been mixed with
the quantity of air necessary for its combustion, being effected by an electric
spark or by a red-hot platinum wire. The boiler. is provided with an emptying
tap at bottom, with a tube leading to a manometer, with a float for indicating
the water level, with a safety valve, and with a pipe for supplying it with water
which has been previously heated in the jacket of the cylinder of the gas
engine, by the combustion of gases inside the said cylinder, as will be here-
after described. There is a pipe for leading steam from the boiler to a steam
chest, engine, or other destination, and from this pipe another pipe branches
for conveying steam to the blast pipe, through which also air is forced into the
furnace under the grating. The engine in which the gases are used is
supported on a frame, the main driving shaft carries a fly wheel and revolves in
bearings carried by the frame. The connecting rod is united to the head of
a piston rod, which head slides in guides and carries a commutator for pro-
ducing an electric spark, and communicating it first at one and then at the
other end of the cylinder. An eccentric on the main shaft united to a rod
works the slide, valves of the cylinder, which latter is constructed in the
following manner :-The sides are made with a double casing or jacket, in
which water fed by a supply pump circulates, and while so doing becomes
heated and passes through a pipe to the boiler. The gas or gaseous compound
generated as before described is admitted to the cylinder by the slide valves
alternately at top and bottom of the piston. The opening in the slide valve is
commanded by a tap (worked by hand), so as to regulate the quantity of air
admitted with the gas. The gas being introduced into the cylinder, the piston

page_text: rod working the commutator, the latter completes at the required moment the
electric circuit, and the electric spark through platinum wires ignites the gas
in the cylinder, which in expanding drives the piston from one end of the
cylinder to the other, and reverses the position of the armature. A similar
action takes place on the other side of the piston, and so on. The water con-
tained around the 'cylinder passes away and returns to the boiler to be replaced
by cold water supplied by the pump. The products of combustion of the gas
in the cylinder escape by passages and slides, similar to the inlet passages on
the opposite side of the cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jacques Arbòs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACQUES
ARBOS, of Barcelona, Town in the Spanish Kingdom, Doctor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Jacques Arbòs, Her special licence that I, the said Jacques
Arbòs, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Jacques Arbòs, 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,
úse, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN GENERATING CERTAIN GASES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER AND IN THE
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Jacques Arbòs, 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 Jacques Arbòs, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
o be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement

page_text: thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:-
My Invention consists in a new gas engine, together with an apparatus for
generating the gas, constituting one complete apparatus, as hereafter described,
whereby motive power is created and transmitted; its characteristic feature is
the production of a gaseous mixture composed of oxide of carbon, of hydrogen,
of azote, and of a small proportion of carburet of hydrogen. This compound
combined with air in proportions varying with its richness in carburet of
hydrogen, and inflamed or exploded by an electric spark or by red-hot platinum
wires, exerts inside a cylinder a pressure which becomes a motive power upon
a piston therein, which power is transferred to the main shaft of the engine or
apparatus to be transmitted or used as required. At the same time as the
gaseous compound is generated steam is produced, which may also be em-
ployed as a motive power, and may be used in a cylinder coupled with the
gas engine.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an elevation of my apparatus for
generating gas and steam and of a gas engine constructed according to this
Invention. I will first describe the apparatus for generating gas and steam,
and then proceed to explain the construction and working of the engine in
which I employ the gas for obtaining motive power.
The apparatus for generating gas and steam is composed of two principal
parts, a furnace placed in the centre and a steam boiler surrounding the
furnace.
A is the furnace which is lined with fire-brick; B is a circular grating for
allowing air to pass into the furnace; C is the ash-pit; D is a pipe through
which air is forced into the furnace under the grating at the commencement of
the operation, and through which air at the ordinary pressure is allowed to
pass when the apparatus is at work. A door regulates the admission of air
into the furnace. According to the nature of the fuel employed it will be
found desirable in some cases to force in air by means of a fan or otherwise
during the whole time of the operation. F is a conical opening closed by a
stopper; this opening serves for the introduction of fuel into the furnace and
for the exit of the gases evolved at the commencement of the operation. The
stopper may be furnished with a trap. L is a pipe for leading steam into the
pipe D, to be mixed with the air admitted into the furnace; E is a syphon
tube for introducing liquid combustible materials into the furnace, to increase
the intensity of the gaseous mixture; G is a pipe for conveying the gaseous
mixture from the furnace; H is a metal or fire-brick vessel, which may be.
cylindrical or of other suitable shape; this vessel contains coal heated to red]

page_text: heat for decomposing the carbonic acid and vapours which may have escaped
decomposition in the furnace A. I is a furnace or fire-place for heating the
vessel H; this furnace I may be dispensed with, the vessel H in such case being
placed in the furnace A. J is a pipe for leading the gaseous compound into
the cylinder of the engine after it has been mixed with a sufficient quantity of
air to allow of its being inflamed or exploded, as hereafter described. M is
a steam boiler protected by some non-conductor to prevent loss of heat by
radiation. The water in the boiler is heated by the furnace A, whereby steam
is generated; T is a cock for emptying the boiler when necessary; N is a tube
leading to a guage for indicating the pressure; O is a float for indicating the
water level; P is a safety valve; R is a pipe for supplying the boiler with
water which has been previously heated in the jacket of the cylinder of the
gas engine by the combustion of the gases inside the said cylinder, as hereafter
described; S is a pipe for leading steam from the boiler to a steam chest,
engine, or other destination.
To set the apparatus for generating gas and steam to work, I light up the
furnaces A and I, and fill the furnace A with coal, air being admitted there-
into by the pipe D. When the gases which pass off by the opening F become
inflammable, I close the opening, and the gaseous mixture then passes off by
the pipe G into the vessel H, which is full of incandescent fuel; it then passes
through the pipe J into the cylinder V of the gas engine, where it is exploded
or inflamed by an electric spark or by red-hot platinum wires, and thus pro-
duces sufficient force to cause the piston of the engine to make a half course,
the to-and-fro motion of which piston produces the rotation of the principal
shaft in the ordinary manner. If it be desired to obtain a gaseous mixture
richer in inflammable materials, I introduce into the furnace A by means of
the siphon tube E, tar, oils of resin, of petroleum, and of schist, or the like or
other fatty matters, according to the richness in carburets of hydrogen that it,
is desired to impart to the gaseous mixture. In some cases instead of or in
addition to employing the fatty matters just named, I introduce steam into the
furnace by the pipe L. During the formation of the gaseous mixture great
heat is produced in the furnace A, which is transmitted to the water in the
boiler M; the boiler is supplied with water heated in the jacket of the
cylinder V of the gas engine, by the combustion of the gaseous mixture in
the said cylinder; by the aid of a force pump worked by the engine cold water
is made to enter the lower part of the cylinder V, and becoming heated as
before mentioned to a high temperature, passes off at the upper part of the
said cylinder to the boiler M. I therefore obtain by means of my Invention
two motive agents, videlicit, that produced by the combustion of the gaseous;

page_text: mixture, and that of steam produced by the heating of water in the jacket of
the cylinder V and in the boiler M which encloses the furnace A.
My new gas engine is shewn in sectional elevation in Figure 1; Figure 2
is a horizontal section of the cylinder, illustrating the distribution and working
of the gaseous mixture. The engine is supported on a frame a, the main
driving shaft c carries a fly wheel d, and revolves in bearings 6 carried by the
frame. The connecting rod 9 is united to the head h of a piston rod i, which
head slides in guides j, and carries a commutator for producing an electric
spark and communicating it first at one and then at the other end of the
cylinder V. An eccentric united to a rod m works the slide valves of the
cylinder V, which latter is constructed in the following manner:-The sides
are made with a double casing or jacket n, o, in which water fed by a supply
pump through the pipe p circulates, and while so doing becomes heated and
passes through the pipe R to the boiler M. The gaseous mixture generated
in the furnace A, as before described, and conducted by the pipe J is admitted
to the cylinder V by the valve q. This valve has two openings, to allow
passage of the gas into the passages r, r, of the cylinder; the openings are
arranged in such manner that one or other is closed according as the valve 9
is turned in one or the other direction. Each of the openings comes succes-
sively in connection with the pipe J, and at the same time a small lateral
channel on the plug of the valve comes opposite a lateral opening s formed on
the valve box. This opening is commanded by a tap worked by hand, by
means of which I am enabled to regulate the quantity of air admitted with the
gaseous mixture. The gaseous mixture being introduced into the cylinder V,
and the piston rod i working the commutator, the latter completes the electric
circuit at the required moment, and the electric spark produced in the part v
in which the platinum wires a are lodged, ignites the gaseous mixture in the
cylinder, which in expanding drives the piston from one end of the cylinder to
the other and reverses the position of the armature. A similar action takes
place on the other side of the piston, and so on. In consequence of the
successive explosions of the gaseous mixture, the water contained in the jacket
of the cylinder becomes heated, and returns to the boiler M, to be replaced by
cold water supplied by the pump. The products of combustion of the gaseous
mixture in the cylinder V escape by passages and slides, similar to the inlet
passages on the opposite side of the cylinder.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the new gas engine, constructed and working substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Second, the apparátus for generating the gaseous mixture to be used in the
said gas engine, constructed and working substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Third, the generation of steam by the heating of water in the jacket of the
cylinder of the said gas engine and in a boiler surrounding the furnace of the
said gas generating apparatus, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jacques Arbòs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-three.
J. ARBOS. (L.S.)