IMPROVEMENTS IN THE. PURIFICATION OF COAL GAS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Leigh, of the City of Manchester, in the County.
of Lancaster, Surgeon, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE.
PURIFICATION OF COAL GAS."
Sealed the 6th May 1859, and dated the 28th February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Leigh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
February 1859.
I, JOHN LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF COAL GAS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the extensive use of gas water, commonly called
ammonia water, in the purification of coal or cannel gas, the object of such
use being the removal of various salts of ammonia from gas. It is well known
that coal or cannel gas contains before its purification a large quantity of
ammonia, combined with carbonic acid, hydrosulphuric acid, prussic acid,
&c.; and for the removal of this ammonia from the gas various substances
have been employed, such as sulphate of iron, salts of manganese, sulphurous
acid, &c., but instead of these substances I wash the gas in suitable vessels
with the gas water or ammonia water itself, by which I find nearly all the.
ammonia salts in the gas to be removed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Leigh in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Surgeon,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Leigh, Her special licence that I, the said John
Leigh, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Leigh, 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 "IMPROVE..
MENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF COAL GAS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Leigh, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Leigh, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to.
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):
-
My Invention consists in the constant and extensive use of gas water,
commonly called ammonia water, in the purification of coal or cannel gas, the
object of such use being the removal of various salts of ammonia from the gas..
It is well known that coal or cannel gas contains before its purification a large
quantity of ammonia combined with carbonic acid, hydrosulphuric acid,
prussic acid, &c.; and for the removal of this ammonia from the gas various
substances have been employed, such as sulphate of iron, salts of manganese,
sulphurous acid, &c., but instead of these substances I wash the gas in suitable
vessels with the gas water or ammonia water itself, by which I find nearly all
the ammonia salts in the gas to be removed.

page_text: And in order that the process may be clearly understood, I have shewn in
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings a suitable apparatus for the purpose,
though other kinds of apparatus may be used.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section, and Fig. 2 a sectional plan of the apparatus,
which I have found very efficient. The washer or vessel in which the gas is
purified or freed from its salts of ammonia, is shewn at a, which may be made
of any convenient size or shape. The ammonia water is supplied at the upper
part of the vessel by the injection pipe 6, and spread about by the dispersing
plate c. At intervals in the interior of the vessel are grids d, each of which is
covered with materials to retard the return of the ammonia water, and thus
afford time for it to mix with and purify the gas, the said materials being
composed of bricks, ashes, or other suitable substance. The inlet pipe for the
gas is shewn at e, and the outlet pipes at f and 9, the water being discharged
through the cistern h and the syphon k.
Having thus fully described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be distinctly
understood that I do not claim any particular kind of apparatus for carrying
out my Invention; but I claim the washing of coal or cannel gas in suitable
vessels with the gas water or ammonia water, for the purpose of removing the
ammonia salts therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Leigh, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named John Leigh in the presence of
E. J. HUGHES, Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN LEIGH. (L.S.)