AN IMPROVED GAS GENERATOR
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Pierre Fageol at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th June
1875.
I, PIERRE FAGEOL, of Rue de la Roquette, 80, at Paris, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
GAS GENERATOR," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that description of apparatus for generating
combustible gas, wherein atmospheric air is caused to pass through
chambers containing volatile oils, such as petroleum, so as to become
Cimpregnated with the vapour thereof.
In the present improved apparatus the air is caused by a fan or other
forcing apparatus first to pass in contact with water, in order to
separate therefrom any impurities, and is then made to pass successively
through a number of compartments containing the volatile oil with the
5 vapour of which it becomes impregnated, after which it enters other
compartments containing cotton or other fibre, through which the impreg-
nated air is made to pass in order further to purify it before being led
away to be burnt. For this purpose an apparatus similar in construction

page_text: to the drum of a wet gas meter, but operating in the contrary manner is
employed, that is to say, a cylindrical drum mounted on a central shaft
is divided into a number of compartments each having an opening at
the periphery, a second opening near the central shaft, and a third
opening on one side communicating with a side chamber on the drum. 5
The drum is enclosed in a casing filled with water to a level above the
openings near the shaft and is made to revolve by clockwork or other
power, in such manner that as the compartments in rotating dip into
the water the latter enters the openings at the periphery, and in filling
the compartments forces the air contained therein (which has previously 10
entered through holes in the casing) through the side openings into the
lateral chamber, whence it passes through a pipe into the lower part of
the impregnating apparatus placed above.
The impregnating apparatus consists of a closed upright vessel divided
by a diaphragm into an upper and lower part; in the lower part are li
fixed trays, which are charged from time to time with hydrocarbon
liquid through an admission pipe communicating with the space above
the topmost tray, openings being formed at opposite ends of the trays
through which the liquid can flow down from one tray to the next
below, and the lower part of the casing is filled with the liquid up to the 20
level of the lowest tray.
The air is caused to bubble up through this layer of hydrocarbon
liquid, and then it passes in a zig-zag direction over the surfaces of the
superposed trays taking up hydrocarbon vapour on its passage. Arrived
in the space above the top tray the impregnated air passes through the 2
before-mentioned pipe for the introduction of the hydrocarbon liquid into
the upper part of the apparatus, which is also provided with a number
of superposed trays, each of which communicates with the before-
mentioned pipe by means of a branch provided with a stop-cock, by
opening which a certain quantity of the hydrocarbon liquid can be 30
allowed to flow on to the trays if required. Upon each of these trays
is placed a layer of cotton wick, and they have openings alternately at
opposite ends so that the carburised air is made to pass in a zig-zag
direction over them, being thus brought into intimate contact with the
cotton or other fibre, which may be suspended on wires in the spaces 85
between the trays so as to cause the air to pass through it. Arrived at
the space above the top tray the carburised air passes into a spherical
chamber at the top of the apparatus, in which is a porous diaphragm of

page_text: cotton or other fibre through which the air has to penetrate before
issuing into the conduit pipe which leads it to wherever required.
In place of the before described apparatus for forcing the air through
the apparatus an ordinary blowing fan may be employed, which is made
to force the air into a separate vessel containing water, whence it passes
through a pipe into the impregnating apparatus before described.