IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING MINES AND SUBTERRANEAN PLACES WITH GAS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Wright, of Millbank Street, Westminster,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING MINES AND
SUBTERRANEAN PLACES WITH GAS."
Sealed the 30th January 1857, and dated the 4th August 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Wright at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents with his Petition on the 4th August
1856.
I, ALEXANDER WRIGHT, of Millbank Street, Westminster, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING MINES AND
SUBTERRANEAN PLACES WITH GAS," to be as follows:-
The gas
which is usually supplied to streets and houses has not sufficient
pressure to force it into the working parts of mines and other deep sub-
terranean places. Now, my Invention consists in means of giving gas a
suitable pressure to cause it to descend into and supply burners situated in such
places where gas is manufactured and stored in gas-holders of the usual kind.
A pump or exhauster is applied to the outlet of such gas-holder, and by such
means the gas is forced into a receiver, from which it is conveyed by pipes into
the mine or other subterranean place. This receiver is to be of such weight,
that the pressure given by it is greater than the difference of weight of a
column of air and a column of gas the whole depth of the mine or place, with
the additional pressure necessary for the friction of pipes, and for the projection

page_text: of the gas to supply the flame. This receiver I prefer to make of cast iron.
The weight of the receiver will vary with the depth and other peculiarities of
the mine or place. A governor suitable for the regulation of the pressure is
placed between the receiver and the lights of the mine. In certain cases the
pump or exhauster may be dispensed with, and the gas forced into the receiver
by the expansive force of the gas during its manufacture. The governor also
may be dispensed with in certain cases. In order to convey the gas into the
mines or other subterranean places, I prefer to employ iron pipes, having
junctions at intervals at which a flexible pipe may be attached; and I provide
at suitable distances cases of stone, or other solid material, in which the
flexible pipe may be enclosed to protect it from damage when blasting.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Wright in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER-
WRIGHT, of Millbank Street, Westminster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alex-
ander Wright, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Wright, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander-
Wright, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHTING MINES
AND SUBTERRANEAN PLACES WITH GAS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alexander Wright, my exccutors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Alexander Wright, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in: and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say.
This Invention: consists in peculiar means of combining. apparatus for
lighting mines with gas. And I would, state, at the outset, that it is not new
to light mines with gas, it having before been proposed to employ gas for such
purpose. I therefore wish it to be understood that the peculiar character of
my Invention, and; that which .contra-distinguishes it from what has before.been
proposed, consists in so combining apparatus at the summit of a mine, or other
similar deep place, that the gas, having been produced in the ordinary manner,
may by pumping or forcing apparatus be forced into a gas receiver or holder
weighted to a higher: degree than ordinarily, and by means of a governor.be
regulated to the degree of pressure required in the mine, or::such, like deep
place. The weighting of the gas receiver or holder will, to some extent depend
on the depth of the mine; and the weight required in each case must be such,
that the pressure given by it shall be greater than the difference of weight of
a column of air and a column of gas the whole depth of the mine or sub-
tirranean place intended to be lighted, together with the additional pressure
necessary for the friction in the pipes, and for projecting the gas to supply the
flames. I, however, prefer in all cases to have the pressure of the gas in the
receiver into which it is forced in excess of the actual pressure necessary, and
to regulate the pressure between the gas receiver and the mine, or such like
place, by a governor, to the degree of pressure required to force the. gas down
into and to distribute it in the mine. In mines a thousand feet deep, or less, I
use a pressure of about fiftéen inches of water, and a greater pressure if the
mine be materially deeper. The arrangement or combination of apparatus
which I prefer to employ is represented in the Drawing annexed, though the
details may be varied.
Figure 1 shows an elevation, partly in section, of the apparatus at the
summit of a mine; and Figure 2 is a plan thereof. In each of these Figures
the same letters of reference are used to indicate the same parts. A is a pipe
leading from a gas-holder or gasometer of the ordinary construction; or the gas
might be conveyed direct by the pipe A, the pumping apparatus, without being
first stored in a gasometer, and be by the pumping apparatus B forced into
the gas receiver C, which in form and arrangement is such as is ordinarily
used. But I prefer that it should be constructed of a series of curved plates
of cast iron with outer flanges, by which I obtain a greater weight at a cheaper
cost, which is also advantageous, as greater weight is required for this gas
receiver than those ordinarily used, by reason of the far greater pressure
necessary practically to accomplish the lighting of mines and deep places by

page_text: gas, according to my Invention, than is required when lighting mines. as well
as other places by gas under other circumstances. D is a pipe from the pump
or forcing apparatus B to the tank E of the gas receiver C, which receiver C
is, as before explained, weighted, so as to obtain the extent of pressure requisite
to force the gas down into the mine; F, F¹, are the supply pipes or mains
from the gas receiver C to the bottom of the mine, there being a governor G
of an ordinary construction connected between the supply pipes or mains F, F.
At the bottom of the mine the gas brought down by the main F is distributed
by branch pipes in the ordinary manner of gas-lighting, and according to the
requirement of the particular mine, or such like deep place, and suitable gas
fittings at proper intervals are applied to the pipes in order to burn the gas
by suitable burners, and when preferred such burners are to be within suitable
lamps, as is well understood, and, separately, forming no part of my Invention.
What I claim, is the combined means herein described.
In-witness-whereof,-I,-the-said-Alexander Wright, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
A. WRIGHT. (L.S.)