AN IMPROVED RECEPTACLE OR RECEPTACLES FOR GENERATING GAS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Walcott, of No. 24, Abchurch Lane, in the
City of London, Civil Engineer and Contractor, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED RECEPTACLE OR RECEPTACLES FOR GENERATING GAS"
Sealed the 1st May 1860, and dated the 7th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Walcot at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
March 1860.
I, GEORGE WALCOTT, of No. 24, Abchurch Lane, in the City of London,
Civil Engineer and Contractor, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED RECEPTACLE OR RECEPTACLES FOR GENERATING GAS,"
to be as follows:-
The word receptacle being intended to imply a gas retort or gas oven.
The objects proposed to be obtained by the following Invention are, the
obtaining from the fire of the furnace the heat heretofore lost by the reverse sides
of flues not coming into contact with the surface of the receptacle required to
be heated, for which purpose it is proposed to admit of part or all the fire
from the furnace or furnaces to pass through a flue or flues placed either
perpendicularly, horizontally, or partially in one or more receptacles, and the
flue carried on from one receptacle to. another receptacle, and so on to others.
Receptacles may be connected together side to side, or top to floor, with or
without a flue between the receptacles, or the receptacles may be placed in
beds in accordance with present practice, and the foregoing flue adapted to

page_text: the receptacles. Further so to construct the receptacle as to remove the
carbon deposited on the inner surface of the receptacle (set either by the fore-
going arrangement or by any other mode). It is proposed to have a pipe or
pipes connected with the inside of each receptacle at such place or places as
will insure, when the lid or lids are removed, a draught of air through the
receptacle, by the said pipe or pipes being connected at pleasure to a flue
going to the chimney shaft. When not in use, the said pipe or pipes may be
sealed up with a cap or plug. Further, such draught pipes may be fixed
permanently to a flue going along a bench or benches of receptacles, each pipe
being then isolated by a tnrn-cock, or isolated in sets. The flue already
described, and the air pipes may be made of fire-clay or iron, or other metal,
or a metal pipe lined with a pipe made of fire-clay.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Walcott in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WALCOTT, of No. 24, Abchurch Lane, in the City of London, Civil Engineer
and Contractor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
'George Walcott, Her special licence that I, the said George Walcott, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Walcott, 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 "AN IMPROVED
RECEPTACLE OR RECEPTACLES FOR GENERATING GAS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Walcott,, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Walcott, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say:-
Note. The word receptacle being intended to imply a gas retort or oven
made of any materials.
This Invention has for its object in the first place, the obtaining the more
perfect action of fire than has hitherto been practicable by placing the flue or
flues through the material or materials intended to be converted into gas, and
on the principle to be hereafter described, by which means the fire heretofore
lost (by the reverse sides of flues, and the covering brick arches of retort beds
not coming into contact with the parts required to be heated) is beneficially
used.
The second part of this Invention is an arrangement for a more effectual
mode of loosening and destroying the incrustation that occurs on the inner
surface of a sealed vessel or vessels used for generating gas by the principle of
having a vent opening or openings with draft pipes in such part or parts of
the said sealed vessel or vessels as will admit a current of air to pass through
the same when required on the lid or lids being wholly or partially removed.
The plan recommended by the Inventor for carrying out the first part of
this Invention is as follows, videlicet, for carbonizing about thirty cwt. of coal
daily for gas purposes. (It being nevertheless clearly understood that modi-
fications of the principle of this Invention with different dimensions may be
arranged for carbonizing any other quantity of coal, or heating other mate-
rials), as for instance in Drawings 4 & 5.
To any ordinary furnace (as shewn in Drawings No. 1, 2, & 3), branch flues
are to be built, having their opening or openings in the front part of the fur-
nace, and also one, two, or more flues as may be deemed expedient to issue
from the latter end of the furnace, said flues being carried up so as to form
a longitudinal flue, say, at twelve inches or thereabouts, above the top of the
covering over the furnace, which covering can be made with abutments, or
four separate arches of fire-brick, or, if preferred, a solid arch of fire-bricks or
lumps from end to end; if separate, the arches may be 4 inches deep by
9 inches long; the arches or abutments being covered with a substantial
arched or other description of fire tile or tiles made gas-tight. The upper
surface of this tile is to form the floor of the first receptacle, and which is
intended shall form a sealed vessel for carbonizing coal or heating other
substances. The
upper part of the first receptacle is the lower part of the

page_text: first longitudinal flue, and made saddle-shaped in transverse section; the sides
of the first receptacle are partly formed by the concave. form of longitudinal
flue, also by the flues bifurcating from the furnace before forming the first
longitudinal flue; also by fire-clay blocks or. lumps, or abutments resting on
the tile or tiles over furnace, and abutting against or protruding from the
side walls forming chamber, the receptacle being about 12 inches high,
18 inches wide, and seven feet long. The firstly above described longitudinal
flue, laid the whole length of the furnace or nearly so, is turned upwards as
shown in Drawing No. 2, and then returned to the front. Where the bend
occurs, the innermost or auxiliary flue or flues from the end part of the fur-
nace may be connected, the longitudinal flue being about 20 inches broad by
4 inches deep, and bow-shaped transversely.
Another receptacle, somewhat similar to the first, is formed partly by the
second longitudinal flue as shewn in Drawings No. 1, 2, & 3. A few inches
deep of both sides of this, (the second) receptacle are formed from fire-clay,
blocks, lumps, or abutments, the ends being formed by turning of flue. The
longitudinal flue is bifurcated, and carried up to form another (the third) lon-
gitudinal flue in a manner somewhat similar to what has been described
already, and another (the third) receptacle is formed as shown in Drawings
No. 1, 2, & 3. The saddle pipes or flues, or any one of them, may be con-
structed separately, or in such part or parts as may be deemed expedient.
All waste cavities not being flues or receptacles, may be filled in with some
non-conductor of heat and sealing substance, or. the fire may be returned
through them. An external sido flue may be built if deemed expedient for the
purpose of working only the lower receptacle at such times as may be desired:
Further additional receptacle or receptacles may be formed by the exten:
sion of the already described longitudinal flue, with or without auxilliary fluo
or flues direct from the furnace; but in this instance, the three receptacles
already described would be sufficient for carbonizing thirty cwt. of coal daily.
Or, instead, receptacles may be formed whole or in parts, and so arranged for
carrying out this Invention by forming the flues between them by means of
either fire-clay blocks or lumps, abutments, tiles, pipes, &c. Further receptacles
may be arranged in two or more rows with a furnace or furnaces under them,
instanced or shown in Drawings Nos. 4 & 5, for a set of receptacles. Or,
instead, furnaces may be placed one above the other, and the receptacles on
each side with flues proceeding horizontally and transversely. The walls,
enclosing sides, and back of receptacle or receptacles, may be made of brick-
work, or a receptacle may be formed. of large size of metal lined with fire-
clay work or solid brickwork, and flue or flues as already described, or any

page_text: other kind of flue or flues placed therein for the passage of fire. The mate-
rials or materials to be acted on by fire, being filled into the intervening space
in the manner that may be considered most expedient.
The second part of this Invention cousists, in having a vent opening or
openings in such a part or parts in a receptacle as may be considered suitable,
as shown in Drawings No. 1, 2, & 4. The said vent opening or openings to
have a pipe or pipes for connection to a main pipe or pipes, or main flue.
Any number of receptacles may have vent openings, and be connected singly
or in sets, and sealed together or separately when not in use. It is desirable
that the vent openings have an exit in the chimney shaft. Any receptacle or
receptacles may be constructed with all or part of the appliances or requisites
in common use in connection with the generation or production of gas.
The claims are for,-
1st, various arrangements of flues for economizing fire, one mode avoiding
the expense of brick arches as generally used over commonly constructed
apparatus for generating gas.
2ndly, for a draft pipe or pipes to a vent opening or openings for creating
a draft in a receptacle when the mouth-piece, lid or lids is or are partially or
wholly removed, or when air is admitted into a receptacle, meaning by the
word receptacle, any vessel used for producing or generating gas.
3rdly, the general arrangement and construction of apparatus for generating
gas, or for heating purposes as herein-before described, and the Drawings
referring hereto.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Walcott, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
GEORGE WALCOTT. (L.S.)