IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND THE BURNING OP GAS, IN THE TREATMENT OF RESIDUAL PRODUCTS OF SUCH MANUFACTURE, AND OF THE DISTILLATION OF COAL OR SIMILAR SUBSTANCES, AND OF THE COKING OF COAL
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
LAMING, of Millwall, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of August, in the sixteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and and grant unto me,
the said Richard Laming, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Richard Laming, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Richard Laming, my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND THE
BURNING OP GAS, IN THE TREATMENT OF RESIDUAL PRODUCTS OF SUCH MANUFACTURE,
AND OF THE DISTILLATION OF COAL OR SIMILAR SUBSTANCES, AND OF THE COKING OF
COAL;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Richard Laming, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, parti-
cularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,

page_text: as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad, will more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Laming, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is
to say)-
Brick ovens are sometimes used for the purpose of lessening the cost of
manufacturing coal gas by producing at the same time a coke sufficiently
dense for locomotive and foundry furnaces. Part of this Invention consists in
building such ovens in close cases of sheet iron, furnished with such openings
as are necessary, and which are either fitted with doors or put into communi-
cation with the passages for the gas, as is the case with ovens constructed
without the iron cases. The cases are made of any form and dimensions that
may be desirable, and more than one oven may be built within a case if
required. By this improvement the gas is not so liable to become contami-
nated with atmospheric air as when the ordinary construction of ovens is
employed in the manufacture. I claim under this part of my Invention
enclosing ovens wherein coal gas and heavy coke are simultaneously produced
in cases of sheet iron.
Inflammable gases are sometimes made by decomposing steam, by bringing
it into contact with highly heated iron or other substances known to be
suitable for that purpose, and in certain processes used in that manufacture
the steam is made to pass at a red heat through pipes made of iron, and
which in consequence become rapidly destroyed. Part of this Invention
consists in conveying the red hot steam intended to be decomposed into gases
through pipes made of or lined with platinum, which is almost indestructible
under such circumstances.
I claim the use of platinum channels or pipes for conveying superheated steam to
materials destined to decompose it into gases, for giving heat or light by their com-
bustion, either alone or when combined with gases derived from other sources.
There is a certain residual product of the purification of coal gas which
contains sulphur mixed with certain compounds of iron, and generally also of
calcium, and with ammonia and vegetable or carbonaceous matter. Part of
this Invention consists in converting such residue into a substance proper for
purifying gas, and in obtaining from it at the same time vapours of sulphur,
which I apply to useful purposes. I proceed as follows:-I expose the
residue to the atmosphere on an iron plate or a hearth heated by a fire or a
flue constructed beneath it,. until the sulphur contained in the residue burns

page_text: with its characteristic blue flame. I then, by means of a damper, protect the
residue from any further elevation of temperature, and I stir it until the
sulphur has almost entirely, burned away. When this has taken place, I
either quench the hot residue by the application thereto of steam or water, or
I enable any carbon which it may still contain to burn slowly away by
exposing the residue in a heap to the air. The resulting mass, which consists
chiefly of oxide of iron, when somewhat, damp, is fitted for the purification of
coal
gas from its sulphuretted hydrogen, for which purpose I again use it in
what are called dry lime purifiers, in the manner publicly practised with oxido
of iron, as herein-after described with respect to the said oxide. I prefer to
stir the mass while the sulphur is burning off by machinery driven by steam
power, and I enclose the machinery under a cover fixed over the plate or
hearth, and made with two apertures, one for admitting air to the burning
sulphur and charging and discharging the apparatus, and another by which
the sulphurous acid which is formed may be conveyed out from the apparatus.
By means of a chimney draught or a pumping or forcing machine I cause a
current of atmospheric air to sweep over the heated residue on the plate or
hearth, and finally to pass, together with the sulphurous acid which is formed,
into covered vessels partly filled with raw or distilled gas liquor, or containing
ammonia, its carbonate or its hydrosulphate dissolved in water or otherwise,
or else one or more of the corresponding compounds of the oxides of sodium
or potassium. The sulphurous acid becoming absorbed, there results in the
said vessels a sulphite or hypo-sulphite, or both, or a solution of sulphur in a
sulphite of the particular alkaline base employed, the uncondensible gases being
allowed a means of escape.
I claim under this part of my Invention the regeneration of the aforesaid
spent purifying materials by burning off sulphur in the way described (that
is to say), with no more 'heat than is requisite to cause it to burn and with
stirring to keep down the temperature; and also the use of the aforesaid
chemical re-agents, or either of them, for absorbing the sulphurous acid which
results from burning the sulphur in the aforesaid spent materials, either in
the way described or by otherwise exposing them to the heat with access
of air.
Part of this Invention consists in obtaining from the residual products of the
purification of gas above referred to crude sulphur and oxide of iron, either
mixed together or separate. My process is as follows:-I put the said
residue into a pug mill or other suitable apparatus and agitate it with water
until its finer parts become suspended, when I run the whole out upon a
metallic cloth or seive, just fine enough to arrest everything larger than

page_text: ordinary sawdust, having first placed below the first seive a second one made
of wire gauze, and of a fineness similar to that in common use for blinds, and
which serves to retain everything but the liquid itself, and such impalpable
powders as it holds in suspension. The liquid being left at rest oxide of iron
and sulphur, mixed perhaps with other matters, become deposited. When
this has taken place the liquid is drawn off and the sediment first placed on a
filter to drain, and afterwards dried, either in the air or by artificial heat.
Sometimes I separate the sulphur from the above deposit, and also from the
residual product of the purification of gas above referred to, by exposing the
substances respectively in any suitable vessel to a current of superheated
steam (a temperature of about three hundred degrees answers the purpose),
by which the sulphur is carried off to be received with it into water, from
which it may afterwards be recovered by subsidence. The steam leaves the
iron behind in a condition conducive to its subsequent usefulness for purifying
gas either immediately or after a short exposure in a moistened state to the
atmosphere.
I claim under this part of my Invention the process I have described for
recovering oxide of iron which has been used for the purification of gas,
together with the sulphur which it has extracted from the gas, and also the use
of superheated steam for separating the said sulphur from the said oxide.
Part of this Inventon consists in purifying gas from its sulphuretted
hydrogen by means of mixtures containing oxide of iron, without the necessary
formation of sulphuret of iron which is consequent on the ordinary mode of
working. Oxide of iron is in a very good condition for the above purpose
after it has been exposed for a few minutes in a hydrated state to a low red
heat, but it may be used in the hydrated state itself, as well as in certain other
conditions of minute disintegration not well understood by chemists. It may
be mixed with a diversity of materials which do not seem to impair its action,
and the oxide of iron recovered by the means above recited may be used.
The oxide may generally be known to be in a proper condition for carrying out
this part of my Invention when, on exposing a grain or two of it while in the
presence of atmospheric air to a small current of sulphuretted hydrogen, the
oxide is observed to become red hot, the sulphur at the same time separating
from the hydrogen and ascending in a visible state. Having in possession a
sufficient quantity of the oxide in a proper state of efficiency, I take care that
it is mixed with an adequate proportion of sawdust or other unobjectionable
matter to ensure the gas a free passage through it when in a damp state. I
then place it in layers a few inches thick on one or more shelves of what are
caled dry lime purifiers, and cause the gas to pass into the purifiers, having

page_text: first mixed with the gas a volume of oxygen gas equal to the volume of
sulphuretted hydrogen, by which it is contaminated. The proper proportions
may be measured by means of two vessels similar to the ordinary gas meters,
both turning on the same axis, the capacity of one of them being to that of
the other as the volume of oxygen gas to be introduced is to the volume of
gas to be purified. The action of the oxide of iron under these circumstances
is very remarkable, the oxide for the most part seeming never to be changed
into sulphuret by the gas which it purifies, but, without ceasing to be oxide,
causing the sulphuretted hydrogen and the oxygen in the gas to react upon
each other as they rise to its surface, setting free the sulphur to become
mechanically deposited. This peculiar action permits the process of
a
purification by given quantity of oxide of iron to be continued until
the material has become so impervious to the gas, in consequence of the
large quantity of sulphur deposited in it, as to make its longer employment
objectionable.
I claim under this part of my Invention the purification of gas from its
sulphuretted hydrogen by the united agencies of oxide of iron and oxygen gas.
In connection with the foregoing part of my Invention I claim also the
application of the following process for obtaining oxygen gas to be mixed with
the gas to be purified. I have found that when artificial peroxide of manganese
is reduced by heat to a lower state of oxidation it recovers more or less of its
oxygen on being exposed at about a low red heat to the atmosphere, which is
a property not possessed by native peroxide of manganese. My process
for obtaining oxygen gas to be used in the gas purifiers consists in first
exposing artificial peroxide of manganese in a retort to a temperature great
enough to drive off a portion of its oxygen, and then to expose it at a lower
heat to the air until oxygen has become again reabsorbed, when it may
be again usefully heated in the retort, and thus used many times in
succession.
Another part of this Invention is to render it less frequently necessary to
open the vessels wherein gas is purified from its sulphuretted hydrogen by
the agency of oxide of iron and oxygen gas, or of oxide of iron and
atmospheric air. It is as follows:-I spread the purifying material
which contains the oxide of iron in two or more horizontal layers,
cach a few inches thick, and occupying the whole area of the purifying
vessel, and I cause the gas to enter the vessel below the undernost layer,
passing through each layer in succession to escape from the vessel at
sone point above the uppermost layer. It follows from this arrange-
ment that all or nearly all of the sulphur separated from the gas becomes

page_text: deposited in the lowest layer, eventually impeding the free passage of the gas
through it before the other and higher layers have done much service. When
the resistance to the passage of the gas has, become inconveniently great, I
cause a hole, at least equal in area to the orifice of the inlet pipe, to be opened
through the lowermost layer of material, which I do either by sliding away.
or turning into a vertical position a portion of the sieves upon which the
purifying material rests, and which I effect by means, of a rod passing air-tight
through the side of the vessel. The second layer in succession being thus
made, the first through which the impure gas has to pass becomes in its turn
gradually choked with sulphur, and eventually requires to have a similar hole
opened through it, and thus onward with all the several layers in succession
except, the last, when,, instead of opening a hole, the vessel will need to be
recharged with fresh material.
I claim under this part of my Invention the means I have described for
throwing out of action successive layers of purifying material, as they are
made inconveniently impervious to the gas by the deposition of its sulphur,
caused by the reaction of its sulphuretted hydrogen on oxide of iron in con-
junction, with oxygen gas or atmospheric air.
Another part of this Invention refers to a means of supplying heated air
for the combustion of gas for illumination. My apparatus consists of a
vertical Argand burner with two glass holders adjusted concentrically to it, and
sliding up and down upon it, as in the case of the single glass holder of the
Carcel lamps. The two glass holders are of unequal diameters, and the smaller
one is placed about half an inch above the larger, and the two being so con-
nected together by a tube surrounding the burner as that both may be made to
slide up and down together.. Each of the holders carries a glass, which is
either of a cylindrical shape or of some other ordinary form, the inner glass
being the taller of the two. The floor of the lower glass holder is a solid flat
ring, and the floor of the upper glass holder is made as pervious to air as
possible. The two concentric glasses are in no part distant from each other
less than about half an inch; and the whole apparatus is so contrived as to
cause all the air which supports combustion to arrive at the flame by first
descending the channel formed between the two concentric glasses. There is
no opening by which the air may enter the burner from below, as in ordinary
Part of the air, when it has arrived at the bottom of the channel above-
named, turns under the edge of the inner glass, and then ascending within it,
that part acts on the external surface of the flame, while another portion of
the air passes to the inner surface of the flame through lateral circular openings
in the tube which connects the two glass holders together, and which slides
cases.

page_text: upon the burner, and also through long vertical openings made through the
sides of the burner itself. These longitudinal openings allow the glass holders
to slide up and down without closing any part of the smaller circular openings,
and being made to correspond in width, number, and position with the circular
openings, these may become partially closed whenever the glass holders are
turned round upon the burner. The elevated temperature acquired by the air
as it is thus made to approach the flame greatly improves the intensity of its
light, but it is apt to cause the inner glass to become fused. I avoid such an
accident by excluding lead from the materials of which the inner glass is made.
In applying this apparatus to obtain the most perfect combustion of a given
quantity of gas, I simply raise or lower the adjustable glass holders, turning
them round a little when necessary until they have obtained their most
favorable position for effecting the desired object, which is indicated by the
increased brilliancy of the light.
I claim under this part of my Invention the combination of the two con-
centric glasses (one of them without lead in its composition, by which the air
may be heated as it arrives to support combustion, and also the arrangement
of adjustible glass holders, and the holders by means of which the supply of
the heated air may be augmented or diminished at pleasure.
Another part of this Invention has reference to a new combination of pro-
·cesses for converting into sulphate of ammonia the ammoniacal products
resulting from the operations of gasworks, from the distillation of coal or
other similar substances, and from the coking of coal.
For this purpose I
first convert the said ammoniacal products by any known means into ammonia
or the carbonate of that base; and I next submit either or both of these
re-agents to the action of sulphurous acid obtained in a gaseous or fluid form
by any known means; and lastly, I expose the sulphite of ammonia which
thence results to the simultaneous influences of air and water, by which it is
rapidly converted into a solution of sulphate of ammonia, which may be
evaporated and crystallized in the usual way. The means which I prefer for
converting the ammonia or carbonate of ammonia into the sulphite of that
base is to pass sulphurous acid in a gaseous form over the ammonia or its
carbonate in solution contained on the floors of long and shallow leaden cham-
bers; and I take care that no notable quantity of hydrosulphate of ammonia
be present, as the presence of that re-agent would be injurious to the sulphate
of ammonia in the subsequent processes of evaporation and crystallization.
I claim under this part of my Invention the manufacture of sulphate of
ammonia from the ammoniacal products above referred to, by the combination
of processes above recited.

page_text: The last part of this Invention refers to the manufacture of sulphate of
alumina and alum. I burn the coke of boghead or other coal of like nature
in the open air to reduce it to a white ash, taking care that the ignited coke
never lies in heaps of more than a few inches thick, and that its temperature
never rises from any cause high enough to fuse together the alumina and the
silica with which this kind of coke abounds. I then lixiviate the white ash
thus made (or obtained in any other manner) in leaden vessels with repeated
doses of hot sulphuric acid (the strength may be about seventy or eighty per
cent.) until the ash is nearly exhausted of alumina; the solutions thus obtained
I again heat, and with them lixiviate one or more other portions of fresh ash,
withdrawing each dose of the acid as it acquires its maximum quantity of
alumina. The iron with which the solution of alumina is contaminated may
be removed by any ordinary means. The solution is then to be concentrated
by evaporation, or the sulphite of alumina may be made into alum in the
usual way. Sometimes instead of first reducing the coke to a white ash, I
lixiviate the coke itself in the manner I have described.
I claim the extraction of the alumina from the coke or the ash of boghead
or similar coals by hot sulphuric acid, and also the treatment of the coke of
boghead or similar coals, as above described, for reducing it to a friable ash.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Laming, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
(L.S.) RICHARD LAMING.
Enrolled the Twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord One 3
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.