IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING INFLAMMABLE GAS FROM MINERAL AND OTHER OILS, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR HEATING PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Clayton and William
Henry Bailey at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 27th August 1870.
We, THOMAS CLAYTON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanic, and WILLIAM HENRY BAILEY, of the Albion Works, Salford,
in the same County, Brass Founder and Turret Clock Maker, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR PRODUCING INFLAMMABLE GAS FROM MINERAL AND OTHER OILS, PARTS OF
WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR HEATING PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention relates to the inflammable gas produced
by heating mineral, creosote, or other suitable oils, the gas being in-
tended to be used for lighting and heating purposes in the same manner
as the ordinary coal gas.
Instead of allowing the gas to be generated in retorts heated in the
same manner as the retorts for coal gas, we cause the generators to be
heated by the ignition of the oil gas mixed with atmospheric air, the
mixture being obtained by any well-known description of blowing
apparatus. To obtain the greatest effect from the heat we employ
improved heating surfaces by fixing in the generator one or more trun-

page_text: cated, sugar-loafed, or other shaped cones, either plain, corrugated, or
formed with serpentine indentations, and surround each cone with
another cone of a similar shape in the interior of the generator, there
being a space between the two, and the heat from the ignited gas and
air is impinged on the surface of the smaller cone; and we also use flat
or angular corrugated metal for heating surfaces. The oil falls through
a syphon tube and passage in the larger cone on to the heated surface
of the smaller cone, and is converted into gas, which traverses the space
between the two cones and escapes at the bottom into the chamber of
the generator, and as it traverses a considerable surface the decom-
_position_of_the_oil_is_more_complete-than-has-hitherto-been-attained.
The gas is allowed to flow into a gas holder, either with or without
passing through a scrubber or other purifier, and the flow of oil into the
generator can be regulated by the rising and falling of the holder, and
when required the gas is washed by passing it at a reduced temperature
through naptha or other hydrocarbon. The oil is dropped into a syphon
leg, which when full causes the amount displaced to be dropped on the
heated surface in the usual manner, and we add to the syphon a glass
tube for enabling the pressure of the gas to be indicated.
We also make a gas generator in the form of a spiral pipe or worm
coiled like a dome, through which the oil runs, the dome being heated
by the ignited gas and air and the generated gas passing into the
chamber of the generator.
Another of our improvements consists in the employment of a rod of
metal, which expands and contracts according to the heat, and con-
necting the rod with the oil supply cock, so that when the heat is too
high the cock shall be closed and shut off the supply of oil; and when
in connection with this rod there is a quadrant, pinion, hand, and dial
the temperature of the gas in the chamber of the generator can be indi-
cated, and this part of our improvements we apply to all descriptions
of oil gas generators.
The next part of our improvements relates to the generation of heat,
and consists in employing similar cones to those before described, and
heating them by the ignition of oil gas and atmospheric air.