IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS FOR ILLUMINATING AND Heating FROM COAL OILS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wilson, of the City of Manchester,
Ironmonger, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS
FOR MANUFACTURING GAS FOR ILLUMINATING AND Heating FROM COAL OILS.”
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th June 1870.
I, WILLIAM WILSON, of the City of Manchester, Ironmonger, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS FOR ILLUMINATING AND HEATING FROM
COAL OILS," to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of gas from coal oils it is often found necessary to
clean out the retort and pipe leading therefrom to the hydraulic or tar
condenser, owing to the deposit of carbon (lampblack or coke). It is
also essential to keep the coal oil or material from which the gas is made

page_text: at or above a certain temperature, say 60 degrees Fahrenheit, in order
to make it liquid enough to pass from the cistern in which it is stored
to the retort. The retort itself should not be subjected to too high a
temperature, as if it is the illuminating power of the gas is thereby
decreased.
Now this Invention consists in the use and application to retorts used
for the manufacture of gas from coal oils of a passage or connection
leading direct from the retort to the hydraulic or tar condenser. The
top of such passage or connection being provided with a water joint or
lute to allow of its being cleaned out without breaking any joint as
hitherto practised. The cistern to contain the coal oil and the pipe
leading therefrom to the retort are surrounded by an outer casing
through which warm water is caused to circulate supplied by a cistern
which also supplies the water joint.
The proper temperature of the retort is ensured by the use and appli-
cation of a pyrometer arrangement of mechanism which indicates upon
a dial plate the degree of expansion of such retort, and consequently its
heat, and the damper of the flue may be connected to such pyrometer
and be partially rendered self-acting thereby.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILSON, of the City of Manchester, Ironmonger, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her :
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Wilson, Her special license that I,
the said William Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, a
or such others as I, the said William Wilson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with and no others,

page_text: 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 AND
APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING OF GAS FOR ILLUMINATING AND HEATING FROM
COAL OILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Wilson, 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 William Wilson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:―
In the manufacture of gas from coal oils it is often found necessary to
clean out the retort and pipe leading therefrom to the hydraulic or tar
condenser owing to the deposit of carbon (lampblack or coke). It is
also essential to keep the coal oil or material from which the gas is made
at or above a certain temperature, say to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, in order
to make it liquid enough to pass from the cistern in which it is stored to
the retort.
Now this Invention consists in the use and application to retorts used
for the manufacture of gas from coal oils of a pipe leading direct from
the retort to the hydraulic or tar condenser. The top of such pipe being
provided with a water joint or lute to allow of such pipe being cleaned
out without breaking any joint as hitherto practised. The cistern to
contain the coal oils and the pipe leading therefrom to the retort are
surrounded by an outer casing through which warm water is caused to
circulate supplied by a cistern which also supplies the water joint..
In order that this my said Invention may be the more readily seen
and understood I have hereunto annexed a Drawing of an apparatus
for manufacturing gas from coal oil shewing the application of my
improvements. Similar letters are used to denote similar parts in all
the views.

page_text: Fig. 1 is a front view partly in section, and Fig. 2 is a side view partly
in section of an apparatus for manufacturing gas from coal oils having
my improvements applied thereto, and drawn to a scale of about one
inch to the foot. Fig. 3 is a front sectional view, and Fig. 4 is a side
sectional view (on an enlarged scale) of a retort constructed in
accordance with this Invention. a, a, are my improved retorts con-
structed with a vertical mid feather or division 6 (seen in Figs. 3 and 4)
which divides the interior into two compartments both communicating
together at the end C. Into one of these compartments the syphon feed
pipe d enters for the purpose of introducing the coal oil or other material
from which the gas is manufactured. The other compartment com-
municates with a branch pipe e, the lower end of which opens direct
into the hydraulic or tar condenser f (see Figs. 1 and 2) whilst the
upper end of such branch pipe (which is shewn broken off in Figs. 3
and 4) is closed by a cover g which forms a water joint or lute being
constructed on the principle of the gasometer as illustrated. This cover
may be lifted off as seen in Fig. 4, and thus afford facility for cleaning
the interior of such branch pipe without breaking any joint. On the
top of the cover g two cocks are situated, one, marked h, which is opened
to allow the air to escape whilst the cover g is being placed in position,
and the other, marked i, leading to a burner j which may be lighted to
ascertain the quality of the gas during the course of its manufacture.
These retorts are fixed in brickwork in the ordinary manner as seen in
Figs. 1 and 2. k is the feed cistern containing the coal oil or other
material from which the gas is to be produced and provided with two
cocks, 1, through which the oil flows into the funnel-shaped mouths of
the syphon feed pipes d leading to the interior of the retorts. This
cistern is surrounded by an outer casing m containing water supplied
through the pipen from the intermediate cistern o, which latter cistern
also feeds the water joints on the top of the branch pipes e through the
pipes p, and is itself fed in turn from the supply cistern q through the
pipe q¹ and ball tap r. The water surrounding the feed cistern k may
be heated in cold weather (and thus keep the coal oils or other material
in a liquid state) by allowing it to circulate through the pipe 8, which
descending from the bottom of the outer casing m passes through one of
the flues of the retort furnace and then rises up in the form of a coil 8¹
in an adjoining chamber t, and is at its highest point u connected to the
outer casing again as illustrated. The chamber t is arranged to be used

page_text: coal oil or other material from which the gas is manufactured in a liquid
state as and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilson, have hereunto set
my hand and affixed my seal, this Sixth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.
Witness,
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Agent,
71, Market Street,
Manchester.
WILLIAM (L.S.) WILSON.