IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBURETTED HYDROGEN AND OXY-HYDROGEN GASES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Alfred Stephan, of Worcester, in the County of
Worcester, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CARBURETTED HYDROGEN AND OXY-HYDROGEN GASES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Alfred Stephan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th November 1877.
JOHN ALFRED STEPHAN, of Worcester, in the County of Worcester, Manufacturer.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBURETTED HYDROGEN AND
OXY-HYDROGEN GASES."
This Invention refers to the manufacture of carburetted hydrogen and oxy-
hydrogen gases from water or from sewage.
In making carburetted hydrogen gas the process is as follows:-I employ a
steam boiler to contain water or sewage, the saddle form preferred, and within this
boiler I place a retort in such position that there is sufficient space between the
boiler and the retort for the fire which is to heat both; steam being generated in
the boiler is passed by a syphon pipe into one end of the retort, which is fitted with
a honeycombed chamber formed of closely-packed metal or tubes; this chamber
being heated the metal extracts the oxygen from the steam, and leaves hydrogen,
which is passed on through a carburetter consisting of a block of any suitable
carbon placed at a slight distance from the metal chamber so as to allow of an
accumulation of hydrogen at that point, and thus create a pressure upon the
carburetter.
When the gas issues from the carburetter it is carburetted hydrogen, and burns
with a reddish flame, but I then cause it to pass through a second block formed of
or containing a large proportion of hydrocarbon, such, for instance, as chalk
saturated with petroleum, coal, coal-dust, sawdust, creosote, or other suitable
.

page_text: material; when the gas issues from this block the flame is brilliant and clean.
Metallic carbonates may be used for these blocks, if preferred.
In making oxy-hydrogen gas the oxide formed in the first metallic chamber is to
be decomposed by the employment of any suitable acid, thus producing pure
oxygen, which, in combination with the hydrogen already produced, forms oxy-
hydrogen gas.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Alfred Stephan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th May
1878.
JOHN ALFRED STEPHAN, of Worcester, in the County of Worcester, Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBURETTED HYDROGEN
OXY-HYDROGEN GAS."
AND
This Invention relates to the manufacture of carburetted hydrogen gas from
water or from sewage, and also to the manufacture of oxy-hydrogen gas, partly from
the resultants of certain portions of the process employed in the manufacture of the
carburetted hydrogen gas.
The process is as follows:-I employ a steam boiler to contain the water or
sewage, and I prefer for this purpose a form of boiler, within or beneath which I
can place a retort or retorts in such position that there is sufficient space between
the boiler and the retort for the fire, which is to heat both.
Steam being generated from the water or the sewage in the boiler, it passes, by
means of a syphon pipe, into one end of the retort; thus communication is main-
tained between the boiler and the retort. The retort is fitted with a honeycombed
chamber formed of a mass of closely-packed metal or perforated discs or tubes,
beyond which is a carburetter, consisting of any suitable carbon or carbonate, that
which I prefer being layers of limestone placed closely packed in the retort at a
slight distance from the metal chamber, and contained in a basket or cage to admit
of its ready insertion into and withdrawal from the retort; by its passage through
the limestone the hydrogen gas becomes saturated with carbonic acid.
A second carburetter is placed in the retort beyond the first-named, and this may
consist of any suitable material which contains a large proportion of hydrocarbon,
such as bones, chalk saturated with petroleum, coal, coal-dust, sawdust, or creosote, or
any metallic carbonates may also be used for these carburetters. The steam from the
boiler thus passes into the retort by the syphon tube already named, and is forced
through the metal chamber, which, being heated, extracts the oxygen from the
steam, leaving hydrogen, the oxygen having been deposited in the iron in the form
of magnetic oxide, the hydrogen then passes on through the first carburetter, which,
as before stated, I prefer should be limestone, and which is to be placed at some
little distance from the metal chamber so as to generate an accumulation of
hydrogen at that point, and thus create a pressure upon the carburetter. At this

page_text: stage, that is to say, when the gas issues from the carburetter it is carburetted
hydrogen, and burns with a reddish flame, but it has then to pass through the
second carburetter of hydrocarbons, after which it will burn with a brilliant, clean,
and white flame.
The residuals, which are valuable, pass some in the form of vapour up the pipe
from the retort and into the condenser and cooler; others are removed from the
retort in their baskets or cages.
When sewage is employed in the process, one result of its boiling is the
deposition in the boiler of a dry black pitch-like substance, which is nearly pure
carbon, an indorous hydrocarbon, and which forms a very valuable material
to be employed as the second carburetter for the hydrogen to pass through. The
heat causes an abundance of carbon to be given off to this substance, which carbon
being absorbed by the lightly carburetted hydrogen which the gas has become by
its passage through the limestone, the gas is thus rendered highly luminous, incon-
densible, and permanent.
In making oxy-hydrogen gas the oxide formed in the metallic chamber, in the
process of deoxygenising the steam, as before-named, is to be decomposed by the
employment of any suitable acid, thus producing pure oxygen, which, when com-
bined in due proportion with the hydrogen, forms oxy-hydrogen gas; and in order to
effect more readily the decomposition of this oxide by the acids I shut off the steam
from the retort and introduce a blast of atmospheric air, by which, that which was
a magnetic oxide becomes a red oxide, being a sesquoxide or peroxide of iron.
The gas once generated and carburetted as it comes from the limestone can be
employed in place of any other fuel for producing further supplies.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly. The improvements in the manufacture of carburetted hydrogen gas by
deoxygenising steam and carburizing or imparting carbon to the hydrogen gas
resulting therefrom, substantially as herein described.
And, Secondly. I claim the improvements in manufacturing oxy-hydrogen gas, as
herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Alfred Stephan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
JOHN ALFRED STEPHAN.
L.S.