IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND MEANS FOR UTILIZING PETROLEUM AND OTHER HYDROCARBON LIQUIDS IN LIEU OF COAL OR OTHER FUEL
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Owen Charles Dalliousic Ross, of Cravon Street,
Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND MEANS FOR UTILIZING
PETROLEUM AND OTHER HYDROCARBON LIQUIDS IN LIEU OF COAL OR OTHER
FUEL."
Sealed the 16th July 1875, and dated the 19th January-1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION loft by the said Owen Charles Dalhousie
Ross at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 19th January 1875.
I, OWEN CHARLES DALHOUSIE Ross, of Craven Street, Strand, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the naturo
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND MEANS FOR
UTILIZING PETROLEUM AND OTHER HYDROCARBON LIQUIDS IN LIEU OF COAL OR OTHER
FUEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object certain improvements in apparatus
and means by which to effect the combustion of hydrocarbon liquids by
charging atmospheric air with their vapor, and thus rendering it

page_text: inflammable under such conditions as shall permit the operator or
consumer to regulate the supply of vapor, according to the purpose for
which the carburetted air is required, and which shall also allow of
bydrocarbons of various qualities being used in one and the same
apparatus.
E
I am aware that the process of carburetting air by passing it through
a vessel containing hydrocarbon liquids is not new, but the novelty and
improvements which I introduce consist in making an apparatus by
means of which the degree of vapor saturation of the air can be so
regulated as to permit of the carburetted air or gas when required for 1
lighting purposes being obtained of a uniform quality by counteracting
the variations of temperature, which are occasioned by the evaporation
in the carburetter or by the change of seasons, and which have hitherto
greatly interfered with the general use of carburetted air in licu
of gas.
My apparatus also facilitates the utilization of the heavier and usually
cheaper oils when the air or gas is required for heating purposes by
affording the means of increasing the formation of vapor from such oils.
With these objects I supply a convenient quantity of petrolcum or other
hydrocarbon liquid to a shallow vessel, to which I give the name of
"carburettor." This I construct with several orifices, through one of
which atmospheric air should be drawn or driven, and through such one
of the others as may be selected by the operator it will emerge more
or less saturated by hydrocarbon vapor in a state in which it is
inflammable. This carburettor should be so partitioned interiorly as to
allow of the current of air passing over the surface of the liquid in a
long and continuous current, and the channel to which the air is confined
should be so connected with the orifices of inlet and outlet as to permit
of the distance traversed by the air being diminished or increased, so
that the air may be charged with more or less vapor according as one or
other of those orifices is used.
The carburettor should be filled with some spongy or fibrous material
which will split up the current of air into innumerable small throads,
which will thus be more quickly and thoroughly charged with the vapor,
and it should be so constructed as to allow of the liquid it contains being
conveniently warmed when that is necessary in order to increase the
evaporation and consequent intensity of carburation of the air, either
bofore or after the liquid enters the carburettor.

page_text: The air should be drawn or driven through the carburettor by means
of a fan working with great regularity, such as an ordinary gas meter,
and this may be set in motion by any such mechanical contrivance
worked by a falling weight, or a spring, or water, or steam power, as
may be deemed best adapted to the local circumstances and to the size
of the carburettor. On emerging as inflammable gas from the carburettor
the same fan will suffice to force it into mains or pipes, leading to the
burners or other place of combustion, or of intermediate and temporary
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Owen Oharles Dalhousie Ross in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 19th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OWEN
CHARLES DALHOUSIE Ross, of Craven Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Owen Charles Dalhousio Ross,
3 Her special licence that I, the said Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross, 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 I APPARATUS AND MEANS FOR
UTILIZING PETROLEUM AND OTHER HYDROCARBON LIQUIDS IN LIEU OF COAL
OR OTHER. FUEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said

page_text: Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross, my exccutors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under, 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 6
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
· NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained 1
in and by the following statement :-
-
The object of my Invention is to effect certain improvements in
apparatus and means by which to facilitate the combustion of hydro-
carbon liquids by charging atmospheric air with their vapour, and thus
to render them inflammable under such conditions as shall permit the 1
operator or consumer to regulate the supply of vapour according to the
purposes for which the carburetted air is required, and which shall also
allow of hydrocarbons of various qualitics being used in one and the
same apparatus.
I am aware that the process of carburetting air by passing it through 2
a vessel containing hydrocarbon liquids is not new, but the novelty and
improvements which I introduce consist in making an apparatus, by
means of which the degree of vapour saturation of the air can be so
regulated as to permit of the carburetted air or gas when required for
lighting purposes being obtained of a uniform quality by counteracting 2
the variations of temperature, which are occasioned by the evaporation
in the carburettor or by the change of seasons, and which have hitherto
greatly interfered with the general use of carburetted air in lieu of
coal gas.
My apparatus also facilitates the utilization of the heavier and usually 3
cheaper oils when the air or gas is required for heating purposes by
affording the means of increasing the formation of vapour from such
oils. With these objects I supply a convenient quantity of petroleum
or other hydrocarbon liquid to a shallow vessel, to which I give the
name of “carburettor." This I construct with several orifices, through 8
one of which atmospheric air should be drawn or driven, and through
such one of the others as may be selected by the operator; it will emerge

page_text: more or less saturated by hydrocarbon vapour in a state in which it is
inflammable. This carburettor should be so partitioned interiorly as to
allow of the current of air passing over the surface of the liquid in a
long and continuous current, and the channel to which the air is
confined should be so connected with the orifices of inlet and outlet as
to permit of the distance traversed by the air being diminished or
increased, so that the air may be charged with more or less vapour
according as one or other of those orifices is used.
The carburettor should be filled with some spongy or fibrous material,
which will split up the current of air into innumerable small threads,
which will thus be more quickly and thoroughly charged with the
vapour, and it should be so constructed as to allow of the liquid it
contains being conveniently warmed when that is necessary in order to
increase the evaporation and consequent intensity of carburation of the
air, either before or after the liquid enters the carburettor.
The air should be drawn or driven through the carburettor by means
of a fan working with great regularity, such as an ordinary gas meter,
and this may be set in motion by any such mechanical contrivance
working by a falling weight, or a spring, or water, or steam power, as
may be deemed best-adapted to the local circumstances, and to the size
of the carburettor. On emerging as inflammable gas from the carburettor
the same fan will suffice to force it into mains or pipes leading to the
burners or other place of combustion, or of intermediate and temporary
stampe

page_text: at the lino a, b, in Fig. 2, shewing a very simple arrangement of my
carburettor.
A, A, A, A, is a continuous channel, which when partially filled with
hydrocarbon liquid together with some fibrous material allows of a
current of air being drawn or driven over its surface. The air enters at i
the orifice C and emerges in a combustible form at B, B', B³, B³, or B';
or it may enter at one of the latter orifices and emerge at C, from
whence it is conducted to the place of storage or combustion.
The length of channel traversed by the air is determined at will by
the selection of the orifice B, B¹, B³, B³, or B', and thus increasing or 1
diminishing as may be most expedient the distance between the inlet
and outlet of the air, and the duration of its contact with the hydro-
carbon vapour. By this means the air can at the option of the
manipulator be more or less charged with vapour, according as one or
other of these orifices is used.
1
The said orifices may be simply closed by a screw cover or valve, or
tap, or they may be connected to an air or gas pipe passing above them
so arranged as to shut or open any one of them, and in case the air or
gases should emerge from the carburettor more highly saturated with
vapour than is necessary it may be subsequently further diluted by the 2
addition of non-carburetted air or gas drawn or driven through an
independent pipe outside the carburettor.
When necessary the temperature of the hydrocarbon liquid may be
raised by submerging the carburettor partially or entirely in hot or
warm water, or by means of steam pipes or chambers traversing or 2
abutting against the carburettor; or again, the liquid may be heated in
a separate vessel before entering the carburettor. These arrangements
apply particularly to the heavier hydrocarbons, and to their application
to heating purposes when it is immaterial that the resulting gas should
be of a very permanent or non-condensing description.
•
8
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed or carried
into effect, I would observe that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise shape and other details or arrangements which I have
described or illustrated by the accompanying Drawings, as variations 8
may be made therefrom without deviating from the principles or main

page_text: features of my said Invention, but what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the construction, arrange-
ment, and use of an apparatus by means of which atmospheric air or
gases may be more or less carburetted with hydrocarbon vapour, and so
that variations in the degree of vapour saturation may be counteracted
and regulated, substantially in the manner herein-before described and
illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
5
T. MORGAN,,
Secretary,
Inventors' Patent Right Association, Liª.,
ง
21, Cockspur Stroet,
London, S.W.
O. C. D. ROSS. (L.B.)