IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR ILLUMINATING AND HEATING PURPOSES, AND FOR MELTING AND REDUCING METALS FROM THEIR ORES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Frederick Parker, of Gravelly Hill, noar Birming.
ham, in the County of Warwick, Chemist, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR ILLUMINATING AND HEATING PURPOSES,
AND FOR MELTING AND REDUCING METALS FROM THEIR ORES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Frederick Parker at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th September 1880.
JOHN FREDERICK PARKER, of Gravelly Hill, near Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Chemist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR
ILLUMINATING AND HEATING PURPOSES, AND FOR MELTING AND REDUCING
METALS FROM THEIR ORES."
I take hydrate of lime, that is, lime slaked with water or lime which has been
slaked by exposure to the air, and I mix therewith petroleum, paraffin oil, or any
of the other volatile liquid products obtained by the distillation of coal, coal tar,
mineral oil, shale, or schist. I will herein after call the said volatile liquid products
volatile liquid hydrocarbons.
I prefer to employ from ten to twelve parts by weight of the said volatile liquid
hydrocarbons to every one hundred parts by weight of hydrate of lime, or lime
slaked by exposure to the air. The latter consists essentially of carbonate of lime or
chalk, and I will herein after refer to it as chalk. By heating to redness the
mixture of volatile liquid hydrocarbon with hydrate of line or chalk in retorts or
other receptacles, a permanent gas is produced suitable for use for illuminating and
heating purposes, and for inelting and reducing metals from their ores. The gaseous
products are to a large extent the same whether hydrate or carbonate of lime be
used, but when the gas is to be used for illuminating purposes I prefer to use chalk,
as the flame is in that case somewhat whiter than when hydrate of lime is used.
When hydrate of lime is employed the oxygen of the water combines with carbon
of the volatile liquid bydrocarbon, forming carbonic oxide, while hydrogen is set free.
When chalk is used carbonic acid gas is evolved, and combining with carbon of the
volatile liquid hydrocarbon forms carbonic oxide.
The gas produced as herein before described does not require to be treated by any
nurifying process

page_text: The hydrate of lime or chalk after having been mixed with volatile liquid hydro-
carbon and heated, leaves in the distillatory vessel caustic or quick lime, which may
be utilized by being converted either into hydrate of lime by the addition of water,
or into chalk by exposure to the air. After having been so treated it may be used
again in the way already described.
The mixture of hydrate of lime or chalk with volatile liquid bydrocarbon may be
used in admixture with coal slack or coke.
The gas obtained by heating such mixtures requires to be treated by the purifying
process employed in the manufacture of coal gas.
Gas formed by heating á inixture of hydrate of lime or chalk and volatile liquid
hydrocarbon may be economically used in the smelting of iron when iron ores are-
found not associated with coal.
The volatile liquid hydro-carbons herein before referred to may be used singly or
in mixture. The proportions I have herein before given of volatile liquid hydro-
carbon and slaked lime or chalk I have found to answer well in practice, but I do
not limit myself to those proportions.
I also employ hydrate of lime or chalk mixed with coal or slack in the manu-
facture of gas for illuminating and heating purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Frederick Parker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st March 1881.
JOHN FREDERICK PARKER, of Gravelly Hill, near Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Chemist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR
ILLUMINATING AND HEATING PURPOSES, AND FOR MELTING AND REDUCING
METALS FROM THEIR ORES."
I take hydrate of lime, that is, lime slaked with water or lime which has been
slaked by exposure to the air, and I mix therewith petroleum, paraffin oil, or any
of the other volatile liquid products obtained by the distillation of coal, coal tar,
mineral oil, shale, or schist.
I will herein after call the said volatile liquid products volatilo liquid hydro-
carbons.
I prefer to employ from ten to twelve parts by weight of the said volatile liquid
hydro-carbons to every one hundred parts by weight of hydrate of lime or lime
slaked by exposure to the air. The latter consists essentially of carbonate of lime
or chalk, and I will herein after refer to it as chalk..
By heating to redness the mixture of volatile liquid hydro-carbon with hydrato
of lime or chalk in retorts or other receptacles, a permanent gas is produced suitable
for use for illuminating and heating purposes, and for melting and reducing metals
from their ores. The gaseous products are to a large extent the same whether
hydrate or carbonate of lime be used, but when the gas is to be used for illuminating
purposes I prefer to use chalk, as the flame is in that case somewhat whiter than
when hydrate of lime is used. When hydrate of lime is employed the oxygen
of the water combines with carbon of the volatile liquid hydro-carbon, forming
carbonic oxide, while hydrogen is set free. When chalk is used carbonic acid gas
is evolved, and combining with carbon of the volatilo liquid hydro-carbon forms
carbonic oxide.
The gas produced as herein before described does not require to be treated by any
purifying process. The hydrate of lime or chalk after having been mixed with
volatile liquid hydro-carbon and heated, leaves in the distillatory vessel caustic or
quick lime, which may be utilized by being converted either into hydrate of lime
by the addition of water, or into chalk by exposure to the air. After having been
so treated it may be used in the way already described.
The mixture of hydrate of lime or chalk with volatile liquid hydro-carbon may
be used in admixture with coal slack or coke.
The gas obtained by heating such mixtures requires to be treated by the purifying
process employed in the manufacture of coal gas.
Gas formed by heating a mixture of hydrate of lime or chalk and volatile liquid
hydro-carbon may be most economically used in the smelting of iron where iron
ores are found not associated with coal.
The volatile liquid hydro-carbons herein before referred to may be used singly or
in admixture.. The proportions I have herein given of volatile liquid hydro-carbon
and slaked lime or chalk I have found to answer well in practice, but I do not limit
myself to those proportions.
I employ hydrate of lime or chalk mixed with coal or slack in the manufacture
of gas for illuminating and heating purposes.
When it is wished to obtain gas for heating and reducing purposes I prefer to
employ freshly prepared hydrate of lime or hydrate of line from which air has
been excluded, and which has consequently not absorbed carbonic acid. With
freshly prepared hydrate of lime ten parts by weight of the liquid hydro-carbon to

page_text: ninety parts by weight of hydrate of lime yield a good reducing or heating gas.
I do not however limit myself to any particular proportions.
In districts where iron ores are found not associated with coal, heating and
reducing gas made according to my Invention is both efficient and economical.
In districts where iron ores containing carbonic acid are employed, such, for
example, as black band oro for the manufacture of iron, the carbonic acid of the said
ores may be utilized by being used in conjunction with hydrate of lime.
This utilization of the carbonic acid may either be effected by roasting the said
ores in closed vessels, and passing the evolved carbonic acid gas into the retort
containing the mixture of hydrate of lime and liquid hydro-carbon, or the iron ore
from which carbonic acid is to be expelled may be introduced into the retort
containing the mixture of hydrate of lime and liquid hydro-carbon.
The retorts or distillatory vessels and appliances which I use in carrying my
Invention into effect are essentially the same as thoso employed in the manu-
facture of coal or illuminating gas, and I do not consider it necessary to describe
the same.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture of Gas for Illuminating and
Heating Purposes, and for Melting-and-Reducing Metals-from-their Ores," the
employment of a mixture of hydrate of limo or carbonato of lime with petroleum,
paraffin oil, or other volatile liquid products obtained by the distillation of coal tar,
mineral oil, shale, or schist, the said mixture being heated to redness in retorts or
apparatus similar to the retorts employed in the manufacture of coal or illuminating
gas; also the use of a mixture of hydrate of lime and volatile liquid hydro-carbon
in conjunction with the carbonic acid of iron ores containing carbonic acid,
substantially as and for the purpose herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Frederick Parker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
THA
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
37, Temple Street,
Birmingham.