IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COMBUSTION OF TAR AND OTHER SIMILAR MATTERS IN HEATING GAS RETORTS, AND IN THE CONSUMPTION OF SHOKE ARISING THEREFROM, AND FROM OTHER FUELS USED THEREWITH
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Anderson, of Queen's Road, Dalston, in the
County of Middlesex, Gas Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE COMBUSTION OF TAR AND OTHER SIMILAR MATTERS IN HEATING GAS
RETORTS, AND IN THE CONSUMPTION OF SHOKE ARISING THEREFROM, AND FROM
OTHER FUELS USED THEREWITH."
Sealed the 20th February 1857, and dated the 4th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Anderson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition on the
4th September 1856.
I, GEORGE ANDERSON, of Queen's Road, Dalston, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gas Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COMBUSTION OF TAR AND OTHER SIMILAR MATTERS IN
HEATING GAS RETORTS, AND IN THE CONSUMPTION OF SMOKE ARISING THEREFROM,
AND PROM OTHER FUELS USED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
I allow the tar or oleagineous or bituminous matters to fall in small streams
on and trickle down an inclined heated plate, which forms the furnace of a
retort heating chamber. The greater part of these matters are converted into
gas during the passage over the heated plate; the unconsumed part falls
from the lower end of the plate in the form of breeze into what may be termed
the ash-pit, which is the space below the inclined plate; this chamber is

page_text: nearly filled with this material, which remains in a red-hot state. An air
passage is maintained over this red-hot breeze, and immediately beneath the
inclined plate. The indraught of air thus permitted becomes heated, and
passes up through the space at the back end of the inclined plate, and there
mixes with the gas evolved from the tar or other matters, which are thereby
for the most part consumed in the retort chamber.
I employ another retort heating chamber and furnace of the ordinary kind
heated by the combustion of coke; from this I convey the unconsumed gases
and waste heat into a third retort chamber, placed between the other two, into
which also the unconsumed products from the tar furnace are conveyed.
The combustion and commingling of the products of combustion from the
two first furnaces produces a further combustion in the third furnace, whereby
the smoke and offensive gases are entirely or for the most part consumed.
This combination in the third furnace may or may not be accompanied by a
further admixture of air.
Instead of using three separate retort chambers or furnaces, one furnace or
chamber, if properly divided so as to form the tar and coke fires and a separate
combining and combustion chamber, will answer the purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Anderson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ANDERSON, of Queen's Road, Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, Gas
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Anderson, Her special licence that I, the said George Anderson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Anderson, 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 "IшPROVEMENTS IN THE COMBUSTION
OF TAR AND OTHER SIMILAR MATTERS IN HEATING GAS RETORTS, AND IN THE

page_text: CONSUMPTION OP SMOKE ARISING THEREFROM, AND FROM OTHER FUELS USED
THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Anderson, my executors or administrators, 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 George Anderson, 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,
reference being bad to the two Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is say):-
My Invention of improvements in the combustion of tar and oleaginous and
bituminous matters in heating gas retorts, and in the consumption of smoke, is
as follows:-I allow the tar or oleaginous or bituminous matters to fall in small
streams on and trickle down an inclined heated plate, which forms the furnace
of a retort heating chamber. The greater part of these matters are converted
into gas during the passage over the heated plate; the residue or part that
remains unconsumed falls from the lower end of the plate in the form of
breeze, or a kind of cinder, into what may be termed the ash-pit, which is the
space below the inclined plate. This chamber is kept nearly full of this
material, which remains in a red-hot state; an air passage is maintained over
this red-hot breeze, and immediately beneath the inclined plate. The
indraught of air thus permitted becomes highly heated, and passes up through
the space at the back end of the inclined plate, and there mixes with the gases
evolved from the tar or other matters, which gases are for the most part con-
sumed in the retort heating chamber.
I employ another retort chamber and furnace of the ordinary kind, which
is heated by the combustion of coke; from this retort chamber I convey
the unconsumed gases and surplus heat into a third retort chamber, placed
between the other two, into which also unconsumed products from the tar
furnace are conveyed.
The combination and commingling of the products of combustion from the
two furnaces produce further combustion in the third furnace, whereby the
smoke and offensive gases generated by the combustion of the tar or other
matters are entirely, or for the most part consumed. This combination in
the third furnace may or may not be accompanied by a further admixture
of air.

page_text: Instead of using three separate retort chambers or furnaces, one furnace or
chamber, if divided so as to form the tar and coke fires with a separate com-
bining and combustion chamber, will answer the purposes required.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Sheet 1 represents retort settings for the manufacture of gas, arranged,
according to my Invention, in two sets, each of three furnaces or chambers.
Figure 1 represents a plan, taken on different levels above and through the
several retort chambers. Figure 2 shows a part in front elevation, with the
remainder in vertical section, transversely through the retorts and their
chambers; while Figure 3, Sheet 2, represents a transverse section, taken
through the tar furnace and its retort chamber.
A is the tar furnace, and B the coke furnace, immediately under their
respective chambers, in which the retorts a, a, a, and b, b, b, are arranged and
set, as represented. The coke furnace B is constructed in the usual manner,
while the tar furnace A consists of a surface of fire tile d, d, placed at an
incline of one in four, on which the tar or bituminous or oleaginous matter is
placed; this is supplied in small streams from a vessel or pipe e, by which
it is distributed across the breadth and at the upper end of the inclined
surface.
The supply should be regulated according to 'the combustion, neither sup-
plying too much to flow over the lower end of the plate into the ash-pit
below, nor too little, whereby the combustion will not be properly sustained.
The supply may either be regulated by suitable valves or stop-cocks; or in
case of its being too thick, or liable to clog the passages, it may be injected by
a suitable pump, or other suitable means, in measured quantities, proper for
the purpose. The tar or other matter admitted at e trickles down the inclined
surface d, d; this surface is always in a heated state, by which the tar or
other matter is converted into a gaseous form, while the residue (the earthy
case of the tar) in the form of cinder or breeze falls, or is shoved down through
the opening f, which is of the breadth of the fire-place, at the lower end, into
the ash-pit or space F below. In this space F an accumulation of the cinder is
always maintained, as seen in Figure 3, so as nearly to fill up the ash-pit; a
passage g for air over the top of the cinder and immediately under d, d, is
kept free for the ingress of air to the tar fire. The admission of air is regu-
lated by a door on the ash-pit, and is otherwise excluded from the furnace.
The mass of cinders remain constantly in an uncandescent state, which
thereby imparts the necessary heat to the surface d, d; it also heats the air
entering by the passage g. This air passes up through fand mixes with

page_text: the gases generated from the tar, and being heated, causes them to ignite
and be partly consumed.
The products of combustion and heat generated thereby take effect first on
the retorts a, a, which are so arranged and set that the heat and flame plays
round them and passes thence into the. retort chamber C, in which the products
of combustion of furnace B are also admitted, as represented by the arrows.
The chambers A and B have no other passage to the main flue and chimney;
the products of combustion are therefore constrained to pass through and mix
together in the furnace or chamber C. The openings h, h, of communication
admit the products from chambers A, B, to the lower part of C, about the
middle of which chamber the additional combustion takes place most actively;
from thence the heat ascends and encircles the retorts c, c, in chamber C, and
ultimately escapes by channels i, i, into the main flue H leading to the chimney.
These channels and flue are best seen in Figure 4, Sheet 2, which is a trans-
verse section of chamber C. In chambers A and B the retorts are repre-
sented as of fire clay, while those in chamber C are iron, the heat in that
chamber being less intense. The lower retorts c, c, in chamber C have a
protection of fire clay on their sides where the heat is most intense. A small
admixture of air with the unconsumed gases may take place where the
gases from A¹ and B¹ combine. The setting of retorts being generally well
understood, no particular description of furnace B and chamber B', or the
several fittings and fixing of the retorts, will be necessary. I is the hydraulic
main, to which the several pipes K, K, lead, as usual, from the retorts.
Instead of coke being used in furnace B, charcoal, coals, or other suitable fuel
may be substituted.
Sheet 2 represents at Figure 5 a front elevation of two retort chambers con-
structed according to my Invention for the combustion of tar or other similar
matters, and coke or other fuel, the one having the front wall removed; Fig. 6
is a transverse vertical section through the coke furnace B, and Figure 7 a
horizontal section of the retort chamber above the fires. In this case both
the tar fire A and the coke fire B are placed within the same retort chamber;
they are placed side by side, but divided and separated from each other, so that
the combustion of both fires take place in their respective furnaces or fire-
places, as before described with reference to Sheet 1. The tar fire A being
the same as before referred to, and shown in section, Figure 3, will not require
further description. In this arrangement the products of combustion from
both fires mix in the space D immediately after leaving their respective furnaces
or fire-places, whereby the combustion of the unconsumed gases are facilitated,
the heat and products of combustion circulating round the several retorts

page_text: placed in the upper part of the oven or chamber, and from thence descend to the
lower part of the retort chamber and escape by the flue in back wall to the
main flue L leading to the chimney. The several arrows show the direction
and inclination of the passage of the gaseous products and heat resulting from
the combustion of the tar and coke fires in the retort oven or chamber.
Thus the necessary combustion of the tar is produced in one retort oven or
chamber when combined with a coke fire, as herein-before described. The
supply of the tar or other oleaginous or bituminous matter is admitted and
regulated as before described, and in proportion, so that the products of the
coke fire have due effect in facilitating the consumption of any noxious and
combustible gases arising therefrom.
The several parts of the retort settings and fittings will be readily under-
stood from the Drawings, and require no particular notice or description.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same may be performed, I declare that what I claim as my Invention, and
desire to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,
the arrangement and combination of furnace or fire-place for the combustion
of tar or other oleaginous or bituminous matters, with a furnace or fire-place
burning coke or other suitable fuel either in the same or in separate retort
chambers, for heating gas retorts, herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Anderson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Present,
JOSEPH EDWP TRACY.
GEORGE ANDERSON. (L.s.)