AN IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING GAS FOR ILLUMINATION
Year: 1830

page_text: TIRRUS AND COLLIERS SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I; HENRY
PINKUS; of Thayer Street, Manchester Square, in the County of Middlesex;
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late Majesty King George the Fourth, by His Royal
Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of April, in the
eleventh year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Pinkus, and James Collier, of Newman
Street, Oxford Street; in the Parish of Saint Marylebone, in the same
County; Civil Engineer,' His special licence, that we, the said Henry Pinkus
and James Collier, our executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others only as we should nominate and appoint, during the terms of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use; exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our
Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING GAS
FOR ILLUMINATION;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso; obligating us; the said Henry Pinkus and James Collier, or one
of us, by our instrument in writing under our hands and seals; or the
hand-and seal of one of us, to particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of our said Invention; and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calender months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by reference thereto, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Pinkus, do hereby declare that the nature of our said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, will be fully understood by
the following description thereof (that is to say):
:-
The several parts of our "Improved Method and Apparatus for Generating
Gas for Illumination," consist,-
First, in an improved compound material, the object of which is the more
convenient use of certain resinous bitumen, such as common rosin, pitch, or
Archangel or Stockholm tar, or a solution of any of these with coal tar; to
these are added sugar or molasses, in quality and manner herein-after described,
or other, combustable matter having similar properties; these, in decomposing
by a red heat with the bituman, prevent the formation or developement of
certain acid by the action of its oxygen, which acid act on the metal of the
retorts, and are exceedingly detrimental to them.
Second, in effecting such neutrilization by means of admitting into the retort
when in action an excess of ammoniacal or hydrogen gas.
Third, in passing the fluid material to be decomposed first through strong
metal tubes, called generators, in which it is kept under strong pressure, either
by means of a force pump or a high column of the fluid, which becomes
heated to a high degree of temperture, and is rendered thinner before it is
admitted into the retort, into which it is injected in small streams or sprays by
the action of a force pump, or its expansibility by the absorbed heat.
Fourth, in combining with these improvements the principle of a revolving
retort divided into compartments, for which a Patent was granted to me, the
said Henry Pinkus, dated Fifteenth August, One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-seven.
Fifth, in the adoption and combination of a feed valve and compensation
valve or governor, exhibited in the Drawings at Fig. 8.
Sixth, in completing the manufacture of the gas by further abstracting its
impurities, and rendering it more fit for use by means of a dry chloride of
lime purifyer, placed at what is called the outlet valve, which so purifyer the
gas after it has left the gasometer on its passage to the street mains or burners.
The mode of preparing the compound material from which the gas is to be
generated is as follows:-We take of common rosin or pitch or any of the
bitumen dissolved by the ordinary means one hundredweight, or a similar
quantity of Stockholm or Archangel tar; this being heated to a temperature of
from 150° to 200° Fah', we then add to it from about five to seven per cent..
by weight of sugar or molasses, or other similar combustible affording an
excess of carbon, taking care to agitate the mixture continually until all

page_text: éfferversence ceases; this compound is then in a fit state to be used for pro-
ducing gas in the way herein described. A, Fig. 1, is a front or end view of a
cylindrical retort, divided longitudinally into three compartments, as seen at
a, a, a, in the cross section, Fig. 4, and in the longitudinal section, Fig. 2,
placed in a common coke oven or furnace b, b, b, Fig. 1 and 2, its periphery
resting on friction rollers placed at c, c, Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal
.section of the whole apparatus; d is an end piece, having an elbow and
stuffing box, the elbow dipping into a hydraulic joint e, e, and communicating
with the condenser f; 9, 9, 9, Figs. 1 and 2 and 5, are the generators, com-
municating with the retort by a pipe h, having a feed cock; i is a pipe to
supply the generators by a column or force pump k. Fig. 2 is a pipe leading
from the condensor to the feed valve 1, Fig. 3; and m is a pipe forming
a communication between the feed valve and governor. n is a lever, one
end of which is attached to the feed valve, and the other to the supply
cock o, Fig. 2, by a rod p. The surfaces of the compartments on to which
the heated material is to be injected should be covered with fragments of
bricks or coke. The retort being heated to a bright cherry red, the material
may be passed into the generators by means of a force pump or column of the
fluid of convenient length, according to the required pressure necessary to
keep the generators full; when the fluid has become sufficiently heated, vent
must be given at the feed cock, when it will, by its expansive force, flash off
into the retort in small streams or sprays, and will fall nearly equally on the
red-hot fragments, and will, consequently, be more effectually and quickly
decomposed than by the common manner of letting the fluid full on one
place of the retort, which becomes cooled down to.a black heat in such place,
and ceases to decompose whilst the remaining part of the retort frequently
acquires so intense a heat as to deposit much carbon; the material having
absorbed caloric in its passage through the generators will require proportionably
less heat to decompose it in the retort. By the common method of using the
resinous bitumen, much inconvenience has arisen owing to the detrimental
effects produced on the metal of the retorts by the development of its oxygen
and the consequent formation of acids in the retort; to obviate these injurious
effects, sugar or molasses, or other similar combustible affording an excess of
carbon, is combined with the bitumen, as before described. When this com-
pound material is subjected to a red heat, and oxygen is developed, part of the
latter will unite with the excess of carbon to form carbonic acid gas (which
may be removed by purification), and a part will unite with hydogen to form
water, which will be deposited in the condensor, and may be separated from
the resinous matter) by dicantation.

page_text: Another part of our method of neutrilizing the aforesaid deleterious effects
consists in admitting into the retort, when in action, ammonical gas or
lydogen gas in excess; part of the oxygen will unite with the bydogen gas
or hydrogen of the ammonia, and water will be deposited as before; some
nitrogen from the ammonia will appear; the metal of the retort will thus be
preserved and their power to decompose be less impaired. The advantages
'contemplated in the adoption of the revolving retort for this purpose are, first,
that in a given capacity for generating there is considerably less metal to be
.heated; secondly, much smaller ovens or furnaces will be required, and there'
will be, consequently, less rediating surface, a saving in fuel, and fewer con-
.densing vessels required; but we do not confine ourselves to any particular
form of retort. The effects produced in fixed retorts by.oligenous or carbona-
cious matter falling on and adhering to one surface is of such a nature as to
.diminish the power to decompose and obstruct the absobtion of heat'; 'by turning
.the revolving retort on the friction rollers fresh surfaces are presented to action,
when the previous ones will have time, in some measure, to recover their
former. condition. The advantage contemplated by the combination of a feed
.valve with a compensating valve or common govenor q, q, Fig. 3, is the
.regulating by the latter the supply of gas to the burners with more uniform
pressure, and preventing the agitation or jumping of the lights caused by the
sudden or unequal velocity of the gas issuing from the retort; as the gas
issues from the retort it enters the feed valve, lifts one end of the lever,
.depresses the other, and shuts off the supply, to the retort. As the gas becomes
exhausted the feed valve becomes depressed, and the other end of the lever
at p rises, opening the supply cock, when more heated material flashes into
the retort.
'
We claim, as our improvement, the above-described method of neutreljazing
the effects and inconveniences arising from the common manner of using the
resinous bitumen, by adding to the bitumen molasses, sugar, or other similar
material which shall unite with the oxygen developed in the retort, and form
compounds less detrimental.
We also claim the means of effecting the same object by admitting into the
retort, when in action, ammoniacal or hydogen gases; and we claim enjecting
into the retort any material to be decomposed, whether by the action of a
force pump or by the expansibility of heated material:
We also claim the method of heating in generators under pressure a material
to be decomposed; and we claim the combination of a compensating valve or
govenor in conjunction with a feed valve; but we disclaim them when uncom-
bined or separate.

page_text: And we also claim the application of a finishing purifyer when placed at the
outlet valve, as before described; and we disclaim all other things which it
has been necessary for us to mention in our above description, and which are
not included in this claim made by us as "our Improved Method and Appa-
ratus for Generating Gas for Illumination."
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Pinkus, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty