IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND TREATING HYDROGEN GAS, AND THE APPLICATION THEREOF TO VARIOUS PURPOSES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1861

page_text: but at present residing in Golden Square (W.), London, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND TREATING HYDROGEN GAS, AND THE APPLICATION
THEREOF TO VARIOUS PURPOSES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE
TO THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL"-A communication from abroad
by Carl Preisenhammer and Carl Weniger, both of Zoptau, in the Empire
af Austria
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Jacob at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd September 1861.
I, JOSEPH JACOB. of Brunn. in the Empire of Austria. but at present residing
in Golden Square (W.). London, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE
07 AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND TREATING HYDROGEN GAS, AND THE
APPLICATION THEREOF TO VARIOUS PURPOSES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE
APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:--
This Invention consists in improvements upon and new features connected
[Price Sd.]

page_text: with the Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me, bearing date
the 9th day of March 1861, and consisting in the mode of obtaining hydrogen
gas and its application to various purposes. As described in the Specification
of the said Letters Patent, the hydrogen gas is obtained by passing steam over
iron in a finely divided state, and heated to a red heat, the iron thereby
absorbing the oxygen of the steam, and thus liberating the hydrogen, which is
conducted to and collected in a holder or gasometer, to be from thence
distributed as occasion may require. I have found that the iron during this
process gradually absorbs the oxygen until it is by degrees transformed into
pure or nearly pure oxide of iron. when the process is continued for the
requisite time. The iron during the process of oxidation and by its contact
with the gas generated is freed from the carbon mechanically, and chemically
combined with it, and also from impurities such as sulphur, phosphorus,
arsenic, and others. The silica contained in the iron becomes likewise
oxidised, and combining with the clay with which the retorts are coated,
forms silicate of alumina. The pure oxide of iron thus formed I find may be
very advantageously employed for the production of cast iron, malleable iron,
or wrought iron and steel, either alone or in combination with ores, ores, or with
other iron. When used alone, they are mixed with a reducing and carbonizing
body or matter, and then reduced, carbonized, and molten in the usual way, or,
by preference, by means of the hydrogen gas, and air flame, and it depends
upon the quantity of reducing and carbonizing matter employed whether cast
iron, wrought iron, or malleable iron or steel will be produced. For the produc-
tion of cast iron from the oxide. the blast furnace or the cupola may also be
employed. When the hydrogen gas and air flame are employed, the process
of puddling may be dispensed with, the heat being sufliciently intense to keep
even the decarbonized iron in a molten state. The various natural oxides in
the form of iron ores, as well as the cinders resulting from the various
processes, may, by means of the gas and air fire, be employed for decarbonizing
iron, but the oxide produced as described is superior, owing to its purity.
In blast furnaces, and in cupolas, the gas and air are injected into the
furnaces through the tuyeres instead of air. Instead of using a gasometer of
the ordinary construction for collecting and holding the hydrogen gas, I prefer
to employ a closed vessel or cylinder, filled with water, which latter is displaced
by the gas generated. and allowed to escape or flow into a receiver. When
filled with gas, the gas is forced out by admitting water into the vessel. the
pressure being regulated by a column of water and valves. The gas may also
be forced into the gasometer after its escape from the retort by means of

page_text: exhausters, the exhausters may also be employed independently of the water
column for passing the gas at any desired pressure from the gasometer to the
burners or other destination.
The burners I use consist of two pipes placed one inside the other: the
outer one is the gas pipe, and the inner one the air pipe. The external end
of the air pipe is made in the form of a cone and fitting into an internal cone
at the end of the gas pipe. By withdrawing the air pipe from the gas pipe
the space between the two cones, and thereby the escape of the gas, can be
regulated at pleasure; thus, by giving more gas a deoxidising or reducing
flame is produced, by giving less gas an oxidising flame is produced, and by
otherwise varying the proportions of gas and air, a neutral flame may be
produced, as may be required in metallurgical and other processes. The
furnaces used for such processes are lined partly with lime or chalk, or with
mixtures of lime or chalk with other materials.
Another part of this Invention relates to the use of certain combinations of
hydrogen gas produced as described, and coal gas. The hydrogen gas is
forced either direct from the generator by means of an exhauster or from the
gasometer into the retort, in which coal gas is being generated. This will
have the effect of increasing the yield of gas from a certain quantity of coal by
dissolving and combining with certain products of the coal, which in the
ordinary process form into tar and solid parts. By this process the illuminating
power, as well as the heating power, when used in combination with air, can
be considerably increased. The coal gas and the hydrogen gas may also be
mixed in one common gasometer or in another suitable vessel, or in the pipes.
Such compounds of coal gas and hydrogen gas, or coal gas, hydrogen gas, and
air may be employed for all heating purposes enumerated in the Specification
of the above named Patent, and the combination of coal gas and hydrogen gas
is likewise suitable for illumination, but for metallurgical and other processes
requiring more intense heat, I prefer to use the hydrogen gas and air. The
hydrogen gas alone, and the compound of hydrogen gas and coal gas is also
intended to be used for the purpose of filling balloons. The combination of
2 parts of hydrogen gas to 5 parts of air, which is used for most of the heating
and smelting processes, and which is known as a highly explosive compound,
is also intended to be employed for purposes of blasting, the gas being filled
into suitable holders of metal, india-rubber, or other material, and ignited by
a.battery.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Jacob in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
JACOB, of Brunn. in the Empire of Austria, but at present residing in Golden
Square (W.), London, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign. did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Jacob. Her special licence that T, the said Joseph Jacob,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1. the said
Joseph Jacob, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND TREATING
HYDROGEN GAS, AND THE APPLICATION THEREOF TO VARIOUS PURPOSES, PARTS OF
WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
(a. communication to me from abroad by Earl Preisenhammer and Earl
Weniger, both of Troptan, in the Empire of Austria, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Jacob, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 Joseph Jacob, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This Invention relates to improvements upon and new features connected
with the Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me, bearing
date the Ninth day of March One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
one, No. 593, and consisting in the mode of obtaining hydrogen gas and its

page_text: application to various purposes. The hydrogen is obtained in the manner
described in the said Patent, by passing steam over iron in a finely divided
state and heated to a red heat, the iron thereby absorbing the oxygen from the
steam and liberates hydrogen, which is conducted to and collected in suitable
holders or receiving vessels. Instead of using retorts as described in my
former Specification. I prefer to use revolving retorts, or to fit in stationary
retorts a suitable number of moveable trays, whereby they are divided into
compartments suitably arranged one above the other, through which the steam
is made to circulate. These trays may be formed of sheet iron or of cast-iron
plates resting on suitable ribs or other projections. The plates are coated with
a solution of clay previous to putting the iron required to be heated upon
them, by that means the iron is prevented from adhering to the plates. In
addition to the increased surface thus obtained. this mode of employing a
number of trays has the important. advantage of permitting an almost uninter-
rupted production of gas. owing to the facility and rapidity with which trays
can in succession be removed from the retorts and replaced by others filled
with metallic iron. When a suitable quantity of iron in a finely divided state
has been put into a tray, a few minutes are sufficient for heating it to the
temperature required for the decomposition of the steam. The steam is then
made to come into contact with the heated red-hot iron by means of pipes
suitably arranged, and is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen, the former is
conducted into a condenser and from thence to the gasometer, and the latter
forms a compound with the heated iron. Should the iron contain sulphur,
phosphorus, and other substances which at the temperature of the retort are
capable of combining into gaseous compounds with the liberated hydrogen,
the latter will at the same time act as a purifier and liberate the iron, or rather
the compounds of iron with oxygen. from these substances. Should the iron,
on the other hand, contain carbon, silicium, aluminium, calcium. magnesium,
manganese, and other substances which at the prevailing temperature would
combine with oxygen, then these substances would become oxydised with the
iron and at the same time increase the quantity of hydrogen, because some of
these substances, such as silicium and carbon, are, owing to the difference in
their equivalents, as also in consequence of the difference in their relative
capacity for oxydisation, capable of liberating a much larger quantity of
hydrogen. The oxides of iron produced as described and purified at least from
such substances as sulphur and phosphorus, which, as is well known, have a
highly injurious effect on the quality of the iron, may be employed with the
greatest advantage in the various branches of the manufacture of iron and

page_text: steel, as herein-after described, and will enable a better quality of iron to be
produced at a cheaper rate than the methods heretofore employed. These
pure or comparatively pure oxydes may be converted into iron or into steel
by adding to them a larger or smaller proportion of a reducing and carbonizing
substance they are easily reduced, and the process can be performed in the
cupola in which the oxydes may be melted down, either alone or mixed with
pig iron; and the purified oxydes may in like manner be melted in the blast
furnace, either alone or in combination with iron ores or natural oxides. The
conversion of the oxides into steel depends on the proportion of carbon em-
ployed, and this process may be performed either by means of the crucible as
usual or without the use of crucibles. by means of the gas process, as will be
hereafter described.
Another mode of utilising these oxydes in the various branches of the
manufacture of iron and sicel consists in their application as oxidising media
where such media can be advantageously used. They are employed with the
greatest advantage for the production of malleable cast iron, and in the
puddling furnace for the conversion of pig iron into wrought iron, coming in
contact with carbon. sulphur. phosphorus, silicium. aluminium, or in other
words, with substances having a greater chemical affinity for oxygen than is
possessed by the iron. The iron oxydes become decomposed in the high
temperature of the puddling furnace and the liberated oxygen will combine
with the above substances and form partly gaseous compounds, partly solid
compounds, which latter combine with the slag and may be removed with it.
These substances being very easily reducible, the object in view can be attained
rapidly and in a higher degree of perfection with facility and economy.
In
employing these oxydes as oxydising media in the puddling process the
advantages consist in the transformation of pig iron of an inferior quality into
wrought iron of superior quality as well as in rendering the process of
puddling a much shorter one. It is advisable to add the oxydes in the furnace
at the moment when the extraneous substances have the greatest affinity or
tendency to combine with the oxygen, namely, at that point of the process
when the iron is already in a molten state. Soon after the oxydes have been
mixed with the molten iron the latter will begin to rise, and the slag being
highly oxydised, it completes the decarbonization of the iron, and when the
slag falls to the bottom the particles of iron begin to cohere and assume a
solid form. The process of turning over is entirely dispensed with, and the
iron, which is by the common process generally lost, is saved.
Another mode of utilizing the oxides as oxydising media consists in their

page_text: application for the production of cast sicel from cast or pig iron. Regarding
the various descriptions of cast or pig iron suitable for this purpose it is to he
observed that pure white iron, the carbon of which is chemically combined.
with it, can be employed without further preparation; gray iron or white iron
containing larger quantities of silicium, sulphur, phosphorus, and the like,
requires to be separated from the mechanically combined carbon, silicium, and
other substances, which are injurious to the crucibles. The purification of
the pig iron is effected by the ordinary process for refining, but it is to be
observed that the oxides can be used with great advantage for the oxydisation
of those extraneous substances. The process of producing cast steel from the
cast iron in combination with the above-mentioned oxydes consists in filling
the crucibles with small pieces of cast iron and such a proportion of the oxyde
as is necessary for the intended degree of decarbonisation. Instead of putting
the cast iron and the oxyde into the crucible at the same time, the cast iron
may be put in first and melted and the oxyde added to the molten iron.
The hydrogen gas which has left the condenser and been conducted into
and collected in the gas holder can be employed for lighting and various heating
and manufacturing purposes, as herein-after described. The gas should be
conducted to the condenser directly from the retorts for the purpose of being
freed from the undecomposed steam with which it is mixed, and which partly
originates from the boiler and partly is formed in the retorts themselves. The
hydrogen gas. namely, when it comes in contact with red-hot oxyde of iron,
forms steam by a process of reduction. This steam, which issues from the
retorts together with the gas, passes into the condenser and is there condensed
into water. With the water in the condenser I attain. moreover. another
object, namely, the purification of the gas from such gaseous combinations as,
for example, sulphuretted hydrogen and phosphuretted hydrogen, etc., the
power of absorbing which the water possesses. As. however, a certain quantity
of water can only absorb these combinations to a certain degree, care must be
taken to so arrange the condensing apparatus that the gas comes uninter-
ruptedly in contact with water possessing unimpaired power of absorbtion, so
as to obtain for the former the greatest possible purity. This can be very
easily accomplished by enlarging the condenser itself and by providing it with
a suitable arrangement for receiving a continuous supply of fresh water and
carrying off the used water.
One way of employing hydrogen gas as fuel, is to use it as an auxiliary, and
that without mixing it with air. It can therefore be introduced into the flames
of puddling. smelting, and annealing furnaces, where it finds a sufficient

page_text: quantity of unconsumed oxygen; also into the flames of reverbratory furnaces
for re-melting iron, and for all heating processes in general, in which it effects.
under any circumstances, a saving in the consumption of fuel, and insures
greater purity in the flame. But when the hydrogen gas is to be used as a direct
heating agent to the exclusion of every other, and it is desired to produce a
very high temperature, as for instance, in all metallurgical processes of metals
not easily melted, as iron, copper. etc.. the hydrogen gas must be burnt.
combined with atmospheric air. In what manner the gas and air are mixed,
and in what proportions. I have already described in the Specification of
Letters Patent granted to me, bearing date March the Ninth. One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one, No. 593, as well as how the combustion is
accomplished by means of a burner.
A mixture of hydrogen and illuminating gas (to be described hereafter) or
the latter alone may be used and burni in combination with either air or
Oxygen, or with a mixture of air and oxygen.
The burner, which I prefer to make of iron, is so arranged, that the com-
pressed air passes into the gas flame, whereby the most perfect combustion is
attained. For this purpose the burner consists of two tubes, of which one is
placed within the other. The outer tube serves for the passage of the gas, the
inner for that of the air. Both tubes are conical at the end, the external cone
of the inner tube fitting into the internal cone of the outer tube; the bore of
the inner tube is cylindrical, and sufficient space is left between the inner and
the outer tube for the passage of the gas. Therefore, by advancing and
withdrawing the air pipe, which can be performed by means of a very simple
mechanism, the opening for the exit of the gas can be regulated with the
greatest exactness. The general regulation is performed by means of the gas
and air cocks, which are fitted to the respective conducting pipes, but as near
as possible to the place of combustion. The suitable proportion of gas and air,
as well as the attainment of the highest temperature, can be discovered from
the presence of the heat itself, and also from the circumstance that, when
composed of the right proportions, the gas mixture burns with only a very
slight noise. In this case, when as above said the exact quantity of air
necessary for the complete combustion of the hydrogen is being supplied, the
flame is in a neutral state with regard to the product undergoing the process
of melting. From the above-described arrangement of the burner, it follows,
that it is very easy to increase the issue of either the air or the gas, and thereby
to produce a flame of either an oxydising or reducing nature, which for the
majority of metallurgical processes is of the greatest importance. In order

page_text: that the burner may not suffer in consequence of even the greatest heat, it is
advisable to provide it with a suitable water cooler. both to the gas and air
as already mentioned pressure is applied. As regards the air pressure, any
of the various apparatus at present in use for this purpose may be employed.
For effecting the pressure of the gas. I prefer to use an exhaustor.
The furnaces which are used with this method of heating by gas, differ
from those hitherto made, in this alone. that they consist only of the so called
melting chamber, and consequently require neither fire space nor chimney.
In employing the hydrogen gas for the blast furnace or the cupola, it may
be mixed with air and forced into the furnace through the fuyere. Owing to
its great power of reduction, however, the process in the blast furnace may be
separated in such a manner that the reduction of the ores is first effected by
the hydrogen gas: next, the carbonising process is effected by introducing
carbon in a suitable form, and after that follows the smelting of the carbonized
iron by means of the combined hydrogen and air. The reduction of ores may
be effected, either by means of the hydrogen or by means of the illuminating
gas hereafter described, in which latter case the reducing and the carbonizing
process may be combined.
The conversion of the hydrogen gas into illuminating gas will be described
below, but I wish to observe here, that the process of carbonizing the iron
obtained from the reduction of the ores can be more advantageously carried
out by the application of the illuminating gas hereafter described than by the
application of carbon in the ordinary way.
Regarding the application of the hydrogen to the ordinary process of
puddling, it is to be observed that the gas flame can be used in a downward
direction as well as from the sides. The puddling process itself is slightly
modified, inasmuch as the decarbonization is produced entirely by the admixture
of cinder slag, bull dog, and all descriptions of slag from puddling and welding
furnaces, or the oxides resulting from the production of the gas, or a mixture
of the two. In consequence of the intense heat, the partially decarbonized
iron becomes sufficiently fluid for being run into moulds.
The manufacture of cast steel by the application of the gas enables the use
of the crucible and of the coke to be dispensed with. The process is performed
in furnaces built in the form of large crucibles. the gas flame acting in a
downward central direction upon the metal under operation.
In all processes in which coal, coke, or other fuel has hitherto been used,
and which fuel may be superseded by the use of the gas, the only alteration
required is the slight modification in the construction of the furnaces for

page_text: admitting the gas. Steam boilers to be heated with gas should be constructed
with a number of internal tubes, or like what is commonly known as tubular
boilers the jets of gas, or gas and air, are made to pass directly into the tubes.
By a slight modification, the boiler and the gas generator may be united with
great advantage.
The hydrogen gas obtained as above described, may be employed generally
for reducing the various ores by the various methods required to be adopted:
and for this purpose it excels other reducing agents, because, on account of
its intimate affinity to oxygen, it performs the process of reduction with
much greater rapidity, and also because. for this purpose, a comparatively
low temperature is requisite. Compared with carbon as a reducing agent,
hydrogen has this advantage. that it reduces the products under operation,
without at the same time carbonizing it, which is of great importance with
regard to several metals. In the treatment of some ores, such as those
of metals obtained by a process of reduction which have a strong tendency, at a
higher temperature. Lo reabsorb oxygen, and which become volatilized, such as
zinc ores, hydrogen gas may be used with great advantage: it should be
introduced in hermetically closed furnaces intended for this purpose. and it
will be found that volatilization takes place on a much smaller scale, and the
vapours produced can again be condensed by the application of suitable con-
densing apparatus; this is quite practicable, because the hydrogen gas is
applied with artificial pressure, but cannot be effected if coal or any other fuel
or heating agent be used, which would require a chimney in order to provide
the draught requisite for producing combustion, and through which the zinc
vapours would escape and be lost.
Another part of this Invention consists in mixing the non-illuminating
hydrogen gas with such gaseous compounds of carburetted hydrogen which
contain an excess of carbon over the hydrogen, and which, therefore, if burnt
alone, have an imperfect combustion, permitting a large amount of carbon to
escape in the form of smoke. By mixing such gaseous compounds which con-
tain an excess of carbon with the hydrogen gas, this evil is obviated. Such
compounds of carburetted hydrogen exist in all the various descriptions of tar
oils, resins, and fatty matters, and also in all descriptions of coal from which
gaseous compounds of carburetted hydrogen can be produced.
The hydrogen can therefore easily be used with the now existing mode of
coal gas generation, and with this advantage, that the greater part of the com-
pounds of carburetted hydrogen are transferred into permanent gases which
at present are condensed to tar, being unable to form permanent gases; at the

page_text: same time the hydrogen gas operates advantageously in quickly forcing forward
all compounds of carburetted hydrogen contained in the retorts, which, by the
present method, are decomposed into gases of less illuminating power, in con-
sequence of remaining too long in the heated reforts.
The above-named substances are placed in a retort or other suitable vessel.
and are heated to that degree of temperature at which their gaseous compounds
become liberated, whereupon the hydrogen is passed into the retort and com-
bines with the gaseous compounds of carburetted hydrogen, and this new coal
gas, consisting of a combination of carburetted hydrogen (C, H, + H),
is conducted from the retorts to the gasometer. The liquid compounds
of carburetted hydrogen, such as tar and oil, and other similar substances.
are conducted into the retorts in a continuous stream, regulated by a cock
or tap and in order to increase the heating and evaporating surface, the
said retorts are partly filled with pieces of burnt clay, pumicestone, coke, or
other substance. The flow of hydrogen into the retort is likewise made con-
tinuous, and regulated by a valve or cock. In this process the hydrogen
will sometimes in its passage through the retort carry off with it small particles
of undecomposed tar or oil, which, if not arrested, would accumulate and stop
the free passage in the pipes to prevent which, the combined gases before
reaching the pipes, are passed through suitable coils of pipes surrounded with
cold water, in which coils of pipes the said particles of undecomposed tar or oil
will become deposited and flow to the reservoir which holds the oil or tar, and
which supplies the retort or mixing chamber. Care must be taken to free the
hydrogen gas from all traces of undecomposed steam before it reaches the
retort, as any such admixture of steam will result in the formation of carbonic
oxyde, whereby the illuminating power of the gas is impaired. I prefer there-
fore to obtain the purified hydrogen from the gas holder, where, having already
passed through the condenser, it is perfectly pure.
The coal gas issuing from the mixing apparatus, and which may be con-
sidered as a mechanical compound of carburetted hydrogen and hydrogen
(C. H. H). may, without undergoing any further purification, be at once
distributed to the burners. The illuminating gas thus produced is free from
sulphur and ammonia, and contains merely traces of carbonic oxyde, and it is
therefore, independently of its greater purity, also far superior to the ordinary
coal gas as regards its illuminating power. It is well known that the ordinary
coal gas becomes deteriorated by being kept in the gasometers beyond a certain
time, whilst the illuminating gas produced as described being distributed for
consumption immediately after its production, and the gasometers containing

page_text: unimpaired.
The water gas, commonly so called, which has in the present time become
known, is only in so far analogous to hydrogen gas, as both are produced from
water. The modes of preparing the two gases differ essentially, as do also
their chemical properties.
In the process I have described for producing hydrogen gas. the oxygen of
the water is absorbed by the iron, and its component parts form with the iron
solid compounds or combinations, whilst sulphur and phosphorus form com-
pounds of sulphuretted and phosphuretted hydrogen (S H and P H,), which
are absorbed in the condenser. The gas is therefore pure with the exception
only of slight traces of carbonic oxide (CO). In the production of the so
called water gas, the whole of the oxygen of the water is absorbed by the
carbon and forms carbonic oxide (CO) and carbonic acid (CO,). the prin-
cipal portion of which latter is, however, in passing over heated coal, trans-
formed into carbonic oxide (CO), which becomes mixed with the liberated
hydrogen; the water gas contains therefore a mixture of carbonic oxide, car-
bonic acid and hydrogen (CO + CO2 + H).
When both gases, are used to generate coal gas by mixing them with com-
pounds of carburetted hydrogen, it follows that the coal gas generated with my
hydrogen must be purer than that generated with water gas; but in con-
sequence of the method of the generation of water gas, which is always rich in
carbonic oxide, the illuminating power of coal gas generated with water gas is
much less than that of coal gas generated with hydrogen.
I employ hydrogen gas produced as described, as well as the compound of
the hydrogen with the illuminating gas for the filling of balloons, and the
explosive compounds of two parts of hydrogen with five parts of atmospheric air,
and which is applicable for most of the heating and melting purposes, for the
purpose of blasting rock and mines, and for like purposes, the gas being filled
into suitable holders or receptacles, and ignited by the electric battery.
Having now described the nature of the Invention which has been commu-
nicated to me, I wish it to be understood that what I claim as the Invention
to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is.-
Firstly, the use and application of the hydrogen gas, with or without the
illuminating gas produced with the hydrogen as a reducing medium for the
manufacture of metals, and the production thereby of improved qualities of
metals, as herein described.
Secondly, the use and application of the hydrogen gas for the production of

page_text: illuminating gas, by mixing the same with volatile compounds of carburetted
hydrogen. as described.
Thirdly, the mode of employing hydrogen gas, by transforming the same into
illuminating gas immediately before its distribution to the gas pipes and burners,
as described.
Fourthly, the use of the simple condensing apparatus for the purification of
the hydrogen gas. as described.
Fifthly, the improved mode of manufacturing iron and steel by employing
purified oxides. as herein described.
Sixthly, the production of cast steel in furnaces without the employment of
crucibles, by the application of the gas melting process, as described.
Seventhly, the use of hydrogen gas in combination with atmospheric air or
oxygen, for blasting, as described.
In witness whereof, 1. the said Joseph Jacob, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOSEPH JACOB. (..S.)