CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PRODUCING GAS FOR ILLUMINATION, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED WITH THE CONSUMPTION
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HIPPOLYTE
FRANCOIS Marquis de BOUFFET MONTAUBAN, Colonel of Cavalry, of Sloane
Street, Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, and JOHN CARVALHO DE ME-
DEIROS, of Old London Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the first year of reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the Gaid
Hippolyte Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban and John Carvalho de
Medeiros, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
we, the said Hippolyte Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban and John
Carvalho de Medeiros, our executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as we, the said Hippolyte Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban
and John Carvalho de Medeiros, our executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PRODUCING
GAS FOR ILLUMINATION, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED WITH THE CONSUMPTION

page_text: THEREOF," being a communication from a Foreigner residing abroad; in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging us, the said Hippolyte
Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban and John Carvalho de Medeiros, by
an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear; and whereas we, the said Hippolyte
Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban and John Carvalho de Medeiros,
did, by Petition, represent to Her Majesty's Solicitor General for the time
being, Sir Robert Monsey Rolfe, Knight, that since obtaining the above-
named Letters Patent we had received a more full and particular description
of the said Invention from the party by whom the same was communicated,
and that we then discovered that, from an improper translation of the said
original communication, the Title of the said Invention was improperly worded
in the said Letters Patent, the improvements not being in any way connected
with the consumption of gas, but in the means and apparatus used for the
purpose of generating or producing the same, and that we had accordingly
been advised to amend the Title of our said Patent in order to render the same
safe and valid in law, and we therefore prayed leave to alter and amend the
Title of our said Patent under the Act of Parliament passed in the sixth year
of His late Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act to amend the Law touching
Letters Patent for Inventions," by leaving out and disclaiming the following
words in the Title of our said Patent: "and in apparatus connected with the
consumption thereof," in order that our said Title when so altered and amended
might read as follows: "Certain Improvements in the Means of Producing
Gas for Illumination." And whereas Her Majesty's Solicitor General, after
duly considering the same, was pleased to allow such Disclaimer or Memo-
randum of Alteration of the Title of our said Patent, as certified by his fiat,
bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of August instant, the " Entry Paper" of
which is deposited with the Clerk of the Patents for England, the original
being duly enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the proviso contained in the
above in part recited Letters Patent, we, the said Hippolyte Francois Marquis
de Bouffet Montauban and John Carvalho de Medeiros, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, are particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: description thereof (reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The object of these improvements in manufacturing or obtaining gas for
illumination is to produce a greater quantity of gas from a given quantity of
coal or other material than can be obtained by the ordinary means, apparatus,
or process commonly used in such manufacture, and consists in improve-
ments in the process or mode of obtaining gas from coal or other material,
and in the apparatus used in the same (that is to say):-These improve-
ments consist in collecting the crude or nascent gas as it arises from the
decomposition of the materials in the ordinary heated retorts into one or
more receiving chambers, and passing it through a decomposing chamber
or chambers heated by a separate furnace, or that used for heating the
retorts, but at a much lower temperature than that of the retorts, the
interior of such decomposer being supplied with caloric conductors in the
manner herein-after described, set forth, and shewn in the Drawings. It is
a well known fact that gaseous matter is a bad conductor of heat, and to
remedy this defect caloric conductors are placed within the decomposer to
preserve an equal temperature, or nearly so, throughout the chamber, in order
that the crude gas passing through it with the tar and ammonia in a state of
vapour may be decomposed; whereas, without the said caloric conductors, a
great portion of the tar, naptha, and ammoniacal gas passes off undecomposed.
We will, therefore, now proceed to describe the Drawings of this improved
apparatus, and the manner or process of carrying the same into effect.
Fig. 1 is a front view of a small gas-making apparatus, consisting of four
retorts, which will serve to illustrate our Invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal
section taken vertically through the same, shewing the interior of the decom-
posing chamber; and Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the said chamber, shewing
the interior. A, A, A, A, are the retorts set in brickwork B, B, and heated
by the furnace C, and its flues D, in the usual manner. The gas as it is evolved
from the coal or other material passes off from the retorts by the pipes E, E.
The receiver or collecting chamber F, F, is formed of iron or other. metal, and
situated in any part of the apparatus, and should be placed as near the retorts
and decomposer as convenient for the purpose of preventing tar being con-
densed. The pipes connecting the retorts with the receiver and decomposer
are each furnished with a slide valve z, or other suitable means, for the pur-
pose of insulating one retort from the other during the processes of charging
and drawing the retorts. From the receiver or collecting chamber F. the gas
passes by the pipe G into the decomposer H, also formed of iron and set in
brickwork B, the decomposer passing through the same, and is heated by the

page_text: same furnace as the retorts; but it may be set in other brickwork, and heated
by a separate fire if thought desirable. But this is not necessary, as it does not
require to be heated to so high a temperature as the retorts, and therefore the
waste heat escaping by the flues of the retorts will answer the purpose. The
interior of the decomposer H is supplied with the caloric conductors I, I, I,
which are plates of iron or other metal or substance placed one above another,
and supported upon each other by iron or other metal ribs or feet, as shewn in
the Drawings. These caloric conductors extend nearly the whole length of the
decomposer, and touch its bottom and sides, as shown in the Drawing, and
presenting an extensive heated surface to the gaseous inflammable matter as it
passes through the decomposer (as before stated), encreasing the volume of gas
from a given quantity of coal. The gas passes from the decomposer through
the pipe K to the hydraulic main L, and from thence by a pipe to the usual
purifying apparatus.
We will now proceed to the several other transverse sectional Figures of
the decomposer furnished with different shaped caloric conductors than those
exhibited in Figures 1, 2, and 3, all of which are movable, and may be easily
and readily drawn out of the chamber, and others applied in their places when
necessary. Fig. 4 shews the caloric conductors as plates, placed vertically,
and kept apart by a rib or stud, Fig. 5; the same is formed of radial plates
meeting at the centre. Fig. 6, coiled plates kept apart by ribs or studs.
Fig. 7, a series of iron tubes placed in the decomposer. Figures 8 and 9,
corrugated or curved plates which touch each other and form passages for the
gas without any ribs or studs to keep them apart. Fig. 10 shews the caloric
conductors in the form of tubes and semicircular plates. All of these
variations will present large heated decomposing surfaces to the gas without
offering any material opposition to its passage through the decomposer, and
therefore we do not intend to confine ourselves to any one particular form or
shape of caloric conductors, as the same may be varied at pleasure without
departing from these improvements.
And we will now proceed to state, that when oils, resins, tar, pitch, bitumens,
schistus, or other such matters, are used for making the gas, we prefer the
application of water or steam in the process; but when making gas from oils,
resin, tar, pitch, or other bitumous matter in a liquid state, we mix the water
with such material before placing it in the retort; this we effect by passing a
given quantity of oil or other material into a barrel or other suitable vessel,
together with the requisite quantity of water, and keep the same constantly
agitated or stirred in order to produce a proper admixture of the said materials
during the time it is being passed into the retort. Fig. 11 is a sectional

page_text: diagram of an apparatus which will serve to explain this improvement. a is
the barrel or chamber in which the water and oil is placed; b, the rotatory
fan or beater placed on an axis turning in proper bearings at the end of the
chamber, and kept constantly revolving by means of the winch handle c, or
other means, while the materials are passing into the retort, which are allowed
to percolate or drop from the vessel by the pipe d into the funnel e, which has
a siphon fixed in it to prevent the escape of the gas. During the said operation
the inflammable materials (in a liquid state) descend and drop on to a plate in
the retort, which is to be supplied with the caloric conductors, as herein-
before set forth and described, a separate decomposer or chamber not being
required.
In witness whereof, we, the said Hippolyte Francois Marquis de Bouffet
Montauban and John Carvalho de Medeiros, have hereunto set our
hands and seals, this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
(L.S.) HTE DE BOUFFET MONTAUBAN.
(L.S.) J. C. DE MEDEIROS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of August,
in the second year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said
Hippolyte Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban and John Carvalho de
Medeiros came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.

page_text: DISCLAIMER AND MEMORANDUM OF ALTERATION,
In the Matter of a Patent granted to HIPPOLYTE FRANCOIS Marquis
de BOUFFET MONTAUBAN, Colonel of Cavalry, now residing in
Sloane Street, Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, and JOHN
CARVALHO DE MEDEIROS, of Old London Street, in the City of
London, Merchant, for an Invention communicated to them by a
Foreigner residing abroad, of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
OF PRODUCING GAS FOR ILLUMINATION, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
WITH THE CONSUMPTION THEREOF," bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-eighth day of February, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight.
DISCLAIMER AND MEMORANDUM OF ALTERATION entered by
the said Hippolyte Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban and John
Carvalho de Medeiros with the Clerk of the Patents of England, pursuant
to an Act passed in the fifth and sixth years of the reign of His late
Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act to amend the Law touching Letters
Patent for Inventions."
We, the said Hippolyte Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban and
John Carvalho de Medeiros, do hereby declare that since the grant of the
said Letters Patent we have received a more full and particular description of
the said Invention from the party by whom the same was communicated, to
enable us more fully and properly to specify the said Invention; that we
have now, for the first time, discovered that from an improper translation of
the said original communication, the Title of the said Invention was improperly
worded in the said Letters Patent, the improvements not being in any way con-
nected with the consumption of gas, but in the means and apparatus used for
the purpose of generating or producing the same, and that we have accordingly
been advised to amend the Title of our said Patent, in order to render the same
safe and valid in law; and, for the reasons aforesaid, we, the said Hippolyte
Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban and John Carvalho de Medeiros, do
hereby disclaim and omit such part of the Title of the said Patent as relates
to apparatus for the consumption of gas (that is to say); we, the said
Hippolyte Francois Marquis de Bouffet Montauban and John Carvalho de
Medeiros, do hereby make the following Disclaimer and Memorandum of
Alteration of part of the Title of the said Patent, and for this reason (viz.), in
order to make the same consistent with what the Specification will describe the
said Invention to be when such Disclaimer and Memorandum of Alteration as

page_text: foresaid shall have been entered as aforesaid (that is to say):-We disclaim
he words "and in Apparatus connected with the Consumption thereof" in the
aid Title, in order that the said Title, when so altered, may read as follows:-
Certain Improvements in the Means of Producing Gas for Illumination."
In witness whereof, we, the said Hippolyte Francois Marquis de Bouffet
Montauban and John Carvalho de Medeiros, have hereunto set our
hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.