or Improved Apparatus for Utilizing Ordinary Illuminating Gas for Heating Purposes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Mar., 1891-Accepted, 25th Apr., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICA
New or Improved Apparatus for Utilizing Ordinary Illuminating
Gas for Heating Purposes.
I, FRANK LITTLETON BROWNE, of Washington, in the District of Columbia,
United States of America, Lawyer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to utilize the ordinary illuminating gas as an
economical and acceptable fuel for heating and cooking purposes, and to obtain
therefrom all the heat properties. For this purpose I have found it necessary to
mix air supplied by induction with gas supplied under pressure in measured
proportions under equal pressures in order to produce a perfectly homogeneous
mixture to insure the combustion of all the properties of the gas to obtain all the
heat the latter can produce. The mixing of gas supplied from the meter under
pressure with atmospheric air supplied by induction so that both will be mixed
under the same pressure in the right proportions, is a novel method, so far as I
know and find, for preparing gas for heating and cooking purposes, or for any
purpose.
For effecting these objects I have produced a mixer wherein the normal pressure
of the gas as it comes from the meter is measured and delivered under the same
pressure as atmospheric air supplied by induction, so that the two aeriform volumes
come together under the same velocity, and are therefore perfectly mixed and
delivered under the same pressure at the point of combustion by a supply pipe
provided with suitable burner appliances for heating and for cooking purposes.
The mixer for this purpose is composed of two independent water containing
cylinders, each having a screw drum of novel construction, one for measuring the
gas and the other for measuring the air, so that when revolved together they
produce the result stated, in which the gas delivered to the supply pipe at the
same velocity and pressure as the air which is supplied to the same pipe by
induction, so as to properly mix them to obtain the greatest degree of heat in
their combustion.
In such construction the measuring compartments both for the air and for the
gas are caused to operate with a balanced resistance to the inlet and discharge of
the gas as it is measured in the gas cylinder. This balanced action is obtained by
a certain and particular construction and arrangement of the screw compartments,
whereby they are sealed by the water at every point between their receiving and
their discharging ends during the revolution of such compartments, that is, so that
either the receiving or the discharging opening is always sealed, so that the pressures
due to such action are equal at all points in both measuring drums, and therefore in
every position of their measuring compartments, the resistance to the revolution of
the connected screw drums in the water is balanced so as to give a continuous and
uninterrupted measured flow and pressure of the mixture under all conditions of the
velocity in the revolutions of the screw drums.
In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated my air and gas mixer as applied
for use with a broiling device which I call a perforated broiler and which is applied
as an adjustable bracket to the pipe which supplies the mixture, but it will be
understood that this pipe may be used for supplying the mixture to any suitable
cooking and heating appliances.
In these drawings
Figure 1 shows in side elevation my improved air and gas mixing apparatus and

page_text: Figure 4 shows the receiving end of the screw drum; and
Figure 5 the discharging end of the same;
Figure 6 is a diagram of one of the screw drums to illustrate the balancing action
of the gas pressures under the receiving and discharging flow in the measuring
compartments; and
Figure 7 shows a register plate applied to the receiving end of the gas measuring
screw drum to allow the water level in the cylinder to be raised for regulating
the volume of the gas containing space of the screw compartments, according to its
gravity.
find
The mixing apparatus consists of two independent water containing cylinders A
and B which I prefer to arrange in superimposed relation for compactness and to
give the advantage of securing them directly together so that they practically form
one casting, and thereby maintain their fixed relation upon a single support. These
cylinders are of unequal capacity in diameter but are of equal length, and the
cylinder of greatest capacity is supported upon legs and forms the air cylinder, while
the top cylinder of less capacity forms the gas cylinder. Each of these cylinders
contains a drum C and D connected to revolve together, of a size not quite filling
the cylinder chamber and constructed with spiral partitions or vanes E, which
form compartments b, e, h, k, n open at both ends and which constitute the measuring
or proportioning compartments for the air and for the gas and are of equal length
while corresponding with the unequal diameters of the cylinders. The compart-
ments of the drum are of equal area, and after many tests and experiments
that these compartments should be formed by five division vanes, as being the only
construction that will give the proper sealing action of the compartments in the
water during the revolution of the drum, and that such sealing action is a necessity
to give the required balancing action of the pressures of the gas upon the drum for
the purpose of giving the proper measuring or proportioning action of these screw
formed compartments in their delivery of the gas under pressure, and of the air by
induction at the same velocity. While the particular and certain construction of
compartments as stated, is a positive requirement, it is also a positive requirement
that these screw formed compartments shall have a length greater than their diameter,
and that the screws shall have considerable pitch in order that the opening and
the closing of each compartment in the water shall be simultaneous at one point in
every revolution of the drum to give the required check to the gas pressure to hold
such pressure in abeyance, so that the air and the gas shall be delivered in such
relative proportions as to produce the greatest heat in their combustion.
Each screw formed drum is mounted upon a central shaft F one end of which has
a bearing in a stuffing box G, in one of the cylinder heads, extends outward there-
from and has a pinion H, while the other end of said shaft has a bearing in the
inner end of an elbow pipe I, which rises above the water level and opens into a
chamber J at the end of the drum into which chamber the screw formed compart-
ments oper.
In the air drum D this pipe I' forms the inlet for the air, and in the
gas drum the pipe I forms the outlet for the gas as shown in Figure 2, while at
the other ends of these drums the compartments open directly into the cylinder
chambers which it will be understood are supplied with water on a level K above
the axis of the revolving drums. The outlet air pipe L connects with the cylinder
chamber above the water level, while the inlet gas pipe M connects with the
cylinder chamber above the water level, and the outlet gas and air pipes I and L
may terminate in and near the top of the mixing chamber N, into which the outlet
supply pipe P extends and terminates near the bottom of said mixing chamber N to
convey the mixture to the point or points of combustion.
Referring to Figure 6, the balancing and sealing action of the screw formed
compartments is effected as follows: a indicates the water level in the gas cylinder
chamber and in the screw formed measuring compartments. b is a compartment
extending spirally lengthwise from c to d and in the position of the drum therein
shown, is full of gas and is just water sealed at both ends, that is, it is just closing

page_text: с
at the inlet c and opening at the outlet ; e is a compartment extending spirally
lengthwise from fto y and is partly full of gas and partly full of water and is
sealed at the discharge end; ½ is a compartment extending spirally lengthwise
from i toj and is full of water and is sealed at both ends; is a compartment
extending spirally lengthwise from i to m and is full of water and is sealed at both
ends, while n is a compartment extending spirally from o to pand is partly full of
gas and partly full of water and is open at its discharge end. By this construction
of the five measuring compartments it will be seen that there is no resistance to
the free revolution of the drum by the pressure of the gas passing into the compart-
ment b because the resistance on the drum is equal at both ends by reason of its
filling and discharging equally and simultaneously; compartment k being full of
water and having no resistance due to the pressures in the filling and discharging
actions by reason of neither receiving or discharging, therefore balances the gas
filling chamber b, while the resistance due to the pressures in the filling and
discharging action of the other compartments e, h, and n are equal at all points
and balance each other, so that the gas and air are measured under equal pressures
and discharged under equal velocities from each compartment.
The length and pitch of the spiral compartments must be such as will cause the
inlet opening and the outlet opening to open and to close in the water so that the
seal in each will be perpetual or uninterrupted and thereby cut off the pressure of
the gas as it is being conveyed through the screw compartment from the pressure
with which it enters the cylinder chamber from the meter. For, were this seal
broken by uncovering the outlet opening before the inlet opening is closed in the
water the gas would be forced by its pressure through the screw compartiments and
would fail to be measured and moreover would act with the full resistance of its
pressure from the meter by packing in the cylinder chainber. By ny construction
however, two of the screw formed compartments are receiving the gas under the
meter pressure and discharging it at a low pressure, while the fifth compartment
is under water and inactive, there being neither pressure or resistance within it.
This operation gives the balanced action to the gas drum because it equalizes the
resistance caused by the pressure of the gas passing into it and the revolution of
the screw formed compartment drum is thus made uniform, and the gas delivered
under the same pressure that the air is, because the action of the air drum is the
same as that of the gas drum in effecting and maintaining the seal of the measuring
compartments. This uniform delivery of the gas and air in respect to their
pressures and velocity renders it easy to determine and to maintain the proper
proportions necessary to perfect combustion and the production of the greatest
heat thereby. For this purpose I find that the capacity of the screw delivery
should be about one of gas to four of air, in using the ordinary illuminating gas.
Without the sealing action which I have described the screw compartments
would act merely as induction passages and there could be no measuring or
proportioning action in the screw compartments, as the gas would both enter
and pass out under the full pressure from the meter, while the air would enter
and pass out by induction. By my invention the gas is caused to enter the screw
compartment by the full pressure from the meter and to leave it under a
comparatively low pressure created solely by the revolution of the drum in the
water and which is necessary to deliver the gas to the burners at a low pressure.
By reason of sealing the compartments as stated, the normal pressure of the gas
from the meter is cut off and rendered non-active within the screw compartments,
so that it can only leave said compartments under a low pressure created by the
action of the screw in the water. The air drum operates in the same manner and
in this way the gas and the air pass out of the screw compartments under the'
same pressure in the measured proportions which I have stated. The proportion
of gas
and air which I have stated as being required to give a combustion that
burns up all the properties of the gas, reduces its gravity or richness to such a
low condition that only a low pressure is required at the burners.
The rotation of the drums is regulated by the weight Q which is only sufficient

page_text: to revolve the connected drums in the water, and in event of the weight running
down, and the stopping of the drums a perfect check upon the inflow of the gas is
made by the water seal and there can be no discharge of the gas at the burners.
The screw formed measuring compartments communicate by openings s in the
middle of their length and at the junction of the shaft for the purpose of permitting
the water to retain a uniform level in the compartments by reason of the freedom
of the water in passing from one compartment to the other as the screw drum
revolves. This levelling action of the water avoids any resistance to the revolution
of the screw drum which would be caused by the lifting of the water within the
compartments as the drum revolves.
For regulating the volume of the gas according to its gravity or richness, to the
measuring compartments I provide for raising the water level in the cylinder, by
which such regulation is effected by means which act to lessen the area of the
inlet openings of the said compartments.
A register plate R for this purpose is secured by a sleeve upon the shaft of the
drum at the inlet end thereof and is made adjustable to close the said openings
more or less as may be required and thereby change the sealing points of the
screw ends to the increased height of the water so as to preserve the sealing of the
compartments in the way described. For adjusting this register I provide a hole
in the cylinder head through which a pin or screw-driver may be inserted to set
the register by a clamp screw and then closing said hole by a plug.
The two cylinders are firmly bound together by brackets secured directly to the
flanged heads as seen in Figures 2 and 3.
A large spur gear S engages the pinions H on the shafts of the screw drums so
as to cause the latter to revolve in the same direction at the same speed, and this
spur gear is mounted by a stud in a bracket T which is bolted to the lower
cylinder head.
A ratchet
This spur gear has a winding drum U for the weight cord V and a hand wheel W
by which to wind up the weight which revolves the screw drums.
clutch X is used with the winding drum.
The broiling device which I have shown consists of two depending pipes Y
secured by suitable flexible couplings to the supply pipe, and each depending pipe
is provided with a series of jet pipes Z arranged similar to a gridiron and adapted
to be swung toward and from cach other so as to direct the gas jets upon the meat
which is supported between the jet pipes. In the drawings Figure 1, these jet
pipes are shown as standing in open relation to each other, but when in use they
are brought together as shown in dotted lines, so that the gas jets impinge directly
upon the article being broiled and will cook it perfectly free of the taste or smell
of the gas leaving the flavour of the article unchanged in the least degree.
The article being cooked is suspended from the top of the burner arms down
between the jet pipes and the article is roasted uniformly, perfectly and quickly
leaving it sweet and juicy all of which is due solely to the proportioning and
mixing of the gas and air as I have stated, but I do not confine myself to any
precise construction or arrangement of the broiling device so long as it is perforated
and carried by the supply pipe.
Having now particularly described and ascertamed the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In an air and gas mixer the combination of a cylinder for containing water, a
screw wheel consisting of a drum having a length greater than its diameter a
central shaft mounted in said cylinder, a chamber at one end and five spirally
arranged partitions forming chambers open at their ends and having a pitch that
will effect the simultaneous closing and opening of the inlet and the outlet ends of
said chambers in relation to a water line K in the rotation of said wheel and
mechanism for rotating said screw-wheel, whereby the said chambers will be
water sealed between their receiving and discharging ends the gas received within

page_text: said chambers at its normal pressure and delivered therefrom at a low pressure the
wheel balanced, and the flow of gas through it automatically cut off when the
machine is at rest substantially as described.
2. In an air and gas mixer the combination of a cylinder for containing water, a
screw wheel consisting of a drum having five screw formed division vanes of a
length greater than its diameter, a central shaft mounted in said cylinder, a chamber
at one end, and a series of spirally arranged partitions forming chambers open at
their ends having the pitch described, with a register plate mounted upon the
receiving end of said drum, and mechanism for rotating said screw wheel,
substantially as described, for the purpose stated.
Dated this Oth dow of March 1801
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.