IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS." A com-
munication from abroad by James Wilson Hodges, of Flushing, New York,
United States of America.
Sealed the 14th March 1879, and dated the 24th September 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th September 1878.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF GAS." [A communication from abroad by James Wilson Hodges,
of Flushing, New York, United States of America.]
This Invention relates more particularly to that class of generators which pro-
duce fixed illuminating gas from liquid material, such as petroleum or other
hydrocarbon oils; but other gas can be manufactured if desired, in the said
generators.
For the most economic production of gas from liquid material, and in order to
obtain gas of the best quality, it is necessary that the oil or other liquid should be
projected in small drops or very minute quantities upon highly heated surfaces.
While to a certain extent this has been heretofore attempted and accomplished in
certain gas generators, yet practically the full benefits of such method have not
been attained owing to certain defects of construction, causing not unusually the
production of inferior gas and much clogging of the pipes and parts of the generators.
with the solid residue of the oils employed. Such defects it is the object of this
Invention to obviate, and thus to secure a maximum of superior gas economically
produced, without requiring very nice care and attention for its production, but
only ordinary care on the part of an attendant of ordinary intelligence.

page_text: The said Invention comprises one or more retorts provided with safety escape
seals or valves upon the end or ends thereof, in combination with an external
chamber enclosing said ends.
The said Invention also comprises a certain combination of straight and curved
retorts.
It also comprises certain details or combinations of internal construction of the
retort as herein-after described.
The said apparatus has an external case or shell enclosing therein a furnace in
combination with one or more laterally curved and one or more straight retorts,
the said retorts being set with either or both ends thereof outside of the said
furnace. I use a cellular retort consisting of a single casting divided interiorly
into a series of non-communicating cells, each cell being both an oil receiver and a
gas generator. The retort has its bottom of arched or convex interior sectional
form, and is provided with a scattering plate in the interior of the retort whereby
the liquid is first sprayed and then spread into a thin sheet. The said retort is
provided with internal transverse ribs or barriers at or near its lines for its furnace
settings for the purpose of confining the liquid to the mid section of the retort.
I secure to the walls of the gas generating apparatus an external chamber in
combination with one or more retorts, having each a safety escape seal or valve
opening into the said chamber, whereby all gas discharged through the said valve
or valves is delivered into the said chamber. The said external chamber is pro-
vided with a conduit connecting the said chamber with the smoke pipe of the
apparatus, and each retort has an end projected into said chamber and provided
with a safety escape seal or valve. By the conjoint action of the spray plate and
convex bottom of the retort, both the liability and frequency of the clogging of the
pipes and retorts are greatly diminished, for such construction permits of a larger
bore of feed pipe than can safely be used without such devices. The convex bottom
and transverse ribs also increase the strength and durability of the retorts, as do
also the partitions cast therein. Where said partitions are used, the cells created
thereby may each be provided with an independent seal or escape valve discharging
into one common seal chamber.
It may be desirable in some situations to connect the safety escape valves by an
arm or wire with some simple form of alarm apparatus or gong, and also with a
feed cock, so that if any serious obstruction should occur in the retorts or pipes the
alarm will be sounded and the feed shut off by the lifting of an escape valve. A
suitably balanced damper attached by a line or otherwise to the feed cock handle
might at the same time be closed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
'the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
March 1879.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF GAS." A communication from abroad by James Wilson Hodges,
of Flushing, New York, United States of America.
This Invention relates more particularly to that class of generators which pro-
duce fixed illuminating gas from liquid material, such as petroleum or other hydro-
carbon oils; but other gas can be manufactured if desired in the said generators.
For the most economic production of gas from liquid material, and in order to
obtain gas of the best quality, it is necessary that the oil or other liquid should be
projected in small drops or very minute quantities upon highly heated surfaces.
While to a certain extent this has been heretofore attempted and accomplished in
gas generators, yet practically the full benefits of such method have not been
attained by reason of defects of construction, causing not unusually the production
of inferior gas and much clogging of the pipes and parts of the generators with the
solid residue of the oil employed. Such defects it is the object of this Invention to
obviate, and thus to secure a maximum of superior gas economically produced
without requiring very great care and attention for its production, but only ordinary
care on the part of an attendant of ordinary intelligence.
The said Invention partly consists in the employment of one or more retorts
provided with safety escape seals or valves upon the end or ends thereof, in com-
bination with an external chamber enclosing the said ends.
The said Invention also consists in the peculiar combination of straight and
curved retorts.
It also consists in certain details and combinations of parts in the internal con-
struction of the retort, as herein-after fully described.
The said Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, which I will
now proceed to describe.
Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section of an apparatus or generator con-
structed according to this Invention.
Figure 2 is a plan of the same.
The remaining Figures illustrate details herein-after fully described.
"
The body A of the generator may be of any desired form or configuration, for
example, like an ordinary stove, and preferably of cast iron of a maximum size, not
too large for convenient moving by one or two men. The " stove as it may be
called contains a grate and furnace B and a series of retorts or cells C arranged
within the furnace above the grate, with a view of absorbing all the most intense
heat of the furnace possible. Three of these retorts are shown in the Drawing,
but any desired number may be used depending upon the size of the furnace.
Within practical limits the greater the number of independent generating cells of
small magnitude and high temperature the more efficient will be the apparatus. It
is desirable therefore that these retorts be no larger than necessary to afford room
enough to open either of their ends for cleaning them out with small scrapers or
rods. Each retort has cast upon one end a seal chamber D for liquids or molten
metal, and which does not differ in principle from an ordinary hydraulic seal, or
any other suitable valve chamber may be cast thereon. This end of the retort may
be closed by a cover or bonnet secured by bolts and luted with clay, or may have
only a screw cap or plug. Through this end therefore the retort may be cleaned
out or through the seal valve also if desired. The opposite end of the retort where
the exit pipe joins may also have a cap or detachable joint for cleaning out the
retort. Each retort has also cast upon or within its body and forming part of its
walls one or more conduits E shewn in transverse section in Figures 3 and 4..

page_text: These conduits discharge into the interior of the retort near a central point therein,
and are continued through and within the walls of the retort either to its extreme
end or sidewise through the furnace wall if desired. In front of the inner orifice of
the said conduit is cast a plate or barrier F which forms a scattering plate for the
oil entering the conduit E. The conduit E may also have one or more discharge
orifices along its length. The retorts need not necessarily be tubular, but may be
square or cylindrical cells having vertical axes normal to instead of parallel with
the grate. The bottom of each retort or cell is cast in the form of a convex floor as
seen at a, and transversely to the interior bottom or floor of the retort if tubular
are cast ribs or barriers b near the ends of the retort. A single retort may be also
subdivided into cellular retorts of but one casting by partitions c, each sub retort or
cell being provided with its own induction and eduction pipe.
The body of the stove or generator is provided (either cast thereon or detachably
connected thereto) with a seal chamber G. Into the said chamber the safety seal
or valved ends of the retorts are protruded through the walls of the furnace. This
chamber may be provided with any suitable kind of door large enough for access of
the hands to the seal valves placed therein upon the ends of the retorts. A suitable
conduit or pipe H connects the seal chamber G with the smoke pipe K of the
generator. An inlet supply pipe L is connected to the conduit E. As many of
these pipes as are required are led from one common feed pipe, and any suitable
ordinary stop-cocks and feed pipe funnels are provided for convenience in feeding
the generator or any one or more of its cells.
The generator is thus operated. The furnace being at a good heat and the retort
sufficiently hot, oil is allowed to flow into the inlet pipes L, thence it passes through
the hot conduits E, and is projected with the force due to its head against the
scattering plate F, whence it falls in fine spray or drops upon the intensely heated
arched bottom of the retort, where it is instantly converted into a rich permanent
gas, and passes out of the rear end of the retort to the washer or gas-holder through
any suitable exit pipe or pipes. The conduit pipes E may be conveniently cast in
the angles formed by the partitions c which divide the retorts into cells; when
retorts so divided are used, the arched or convex bottom in combination with the
spray plate F forms an important construction within the retort, although each of
said features per se I do not herein claim.
Attendants are frequently tempted to force the generation of gas by supplying
the oil too fast. The consequence is inferior gas, waste of oil, and increased
clogging of the pipes and retorts, for the oil being poured upon the generating
surfaces in too large volume for proper vaporization, part of the oil is merely boiled
instead of being permanently decomposed. The spray plate F therefore first pre-
cipitates the oil in the form of minute drops or spray, and then the heated arched
floor of the retort presents a more rapidly diffusing surface for spreading the oil out
into a thin sheet than would be presented by a flat or concave floor. Again, should
the oil be improperly allowed to flow too fast, unless the crown of the arch a be
flooded, the excess of oil will settle in the bottom of the retort below the crown a,
leaving the hot gas generating surface of the said crown bare, dry, and intensely
hot for the rapid generation of gas of the best quality, as the oil is first precipitated
almost exclusively upon the crown a. The transverse ribs bare important as
barriers to confine the oil to the central and hottest part of the retort, the ends
being cooler by reason of their greater remoteness from the centre of the furnace.
Suitable caps d are provided for the seals; if a water or other liquid or molten seal
be used, a valve of any suitable yielding form being provided if desired instead of
a liquid seal. These valves or seals are intended for safety outlets for the gas in
case of any stoppage of its flow by collections of residue in the pipes. With
generators as heretofore constructed stoppage of the pipes is not an unusual
occurrence, and where the seals have been constructed to rest in and discharge into
the furnace the loss of gas through this source is considerable, to say nothing of the
loss of molten metal blown into the furnace by the pressure of the escaping gas.
By the method of construction herein described the seal valves are directly under

page_text: the eye and care of the attendant by simply opening the door of the chamber G
instead of the door of the furnace. Thus any escape of gas through the seals
becomes instantly apparent. The seal chamber G prevents the escape of the gas
into the apartment in which the generator may be situated, and the conduit or
pipe K leads any gas that may escape safely and directly into the chimney of the
generator. Another important office of the chamber G is the preservation of an
equable and high temperature surrounding the safety valves d if the said valves or
caps are inserted in molten lead, for then the contact of a cold draft of air must be
excluded in order to ensure complete fluidity of the metal.
It is obvious from the construction of the retorts and their connections that
ample provision has been made to clean them out as well as their connecting pipes
when a removal of oil residue becomes necessary; but by virtue of the conjoint
action of the spray plate and convex bottom. of the retort both the liability and
frequency of the clogging of the pipes and retorts are greatly diminished, for such
construction permits of a larger bore of feed pipe than can safely be used without
such devices. The convex bottom and transverse ribs also increase the strength
and durability of the retorts, as do also the partitions cast therein. Where said
partitions are used the cells created thereby may each be provided with an inde-
pendent seal or escape valve discharging into one common seal chamber.
It may be desirable in some situations to connect the safety escape valves by an
arm or wire with some simple form of alarm apparatus or gong, and also with a
feed cock, so that if any serious obstruction should occur in the retorts or pipes the
alarm will be sounded and the feed shut off by the lifting of an escape valve. A
suitably balanced damper attached by a line or otherwise to the feed cock handle
might at the same time be closed, and thus check the draught of the furnace.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
First. An apparatus for the generation of illuminating or other gas, and con-
sisting of an external case or shell enclosing therein a furnace in combination with
one or more laterally curved and one or more straight retorts set with either or
both ends thereof outside of the said furnace, and all combined and operating as
and for the purpose set forth.
Second. In a gas generating apparatus a cellular retort for the generation of gas
from liquid material, and consisting of a single casting divided interiorly into a
series of non-communicating cells, each cell being an oil receiver and a gas generator,
and operating as and for the purpose set forth.
Third. In a gas generating apparatus a retort for the generation of gas from
liquid material having a bottom of arched or convex interior sectional form, and
provided with a scattering plate in the interior of the retort, whereby the liquid is
first sprayed and then spread into a thin sheet as and for the purpose set forth.
Fourth. In a gas generating apparatus a retort for the generation of gas from
liquid material, and provided with internal transverse ribs or barriers at or near
the lines for its furnace settings for confining the liquid to the mid section of the
retort as and for the purpose set forth.
"
Fifth. In a gas generating apparatus a retort for the generation of gas from
liquid material, and having a bottom of arched or convex interior sectional form,
and provided with internal transverse ribs or barriers as described, whereby the
entering liquid is both spread over and concentrated upon the most efficient
decomposing or vaporizing surface of the retort as above set forth.
Sixth. In a gas generating apparatus secured to the walls thereof an external
chamber in combination with one or more retorts, having each a safety escape seal
or valve opening into the said chamber, whereby all gas discharged through the
said valve or valves is delivered into the said chamber as and for the purpose set
forth.
Seventh. In a gas generating apparatus secured to the walls thereof an external
chamber provided with a conduit connecting the said chamber with the smoke

page_text: pipe of the apparatus, in combination with one or more retorts, having each an end
projected into the said chamber, and provided with a safety escape seal or valve as
and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.
W. ROB³, LAKE: (L.S.)