IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HYDROGEN GAS, AND IN THE UTILIZATION OF THE BY OR SECONDARY PRODUCTS OBTAINED IN SUCH MANU- FACTURE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HYDROGEN GAS, AND IN THE
UTILIZATION OF THE BY OR SECONDARY PRODUCTS OBTAINED IN SUCH MANU-
FACTURE, -A communication from abroad by Jean Octave Ernest
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st December 1874.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HYDROGEN GAS,
AND IN THE UTILIZATION OF THE BY OR SECONDARY PRODUCTS. OBTAINED IN SUCH
MANUFACTURE, a communication to me from abroad by Jean Octave
Ernest Moreau, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Manufacturer, to be
as follows:-
-
"
This Invention relates to the application in the manufacture of
hydrogen gas suitable for illuminating and heating purposes of a

page_text: material not hitherto used in such manufacture, whereby a considerable
saving is effected in the cost of production and (in the case of lighting
gas) greater illuminating power is obtained, and it consists in the
employment of the slime or ooze composed of the detritus of floating
plants, aquatic vegetables, and the like, which settle on the bed or
bottom of rivers, lakes, and similar watercourses or sheets of water, and
there collect, forming strata or layers which in a short time become
decomposed. This slime or ooze moreover contains the remains of fish
and animalcula, and is consequently rich in animal substances.
In carrying out this Invention the slime or ooze derived from the
before-mentioned sources is distilled in the ordinary or any other con-
venient apparatus for producing gas, and is subsequently purified by any
suitable means. The gas thus obtained possesses greater illuminating
power than gas generated from coal, and is also well adapted for use for
heating purposes.
In utilizing the by or secondary products it is proposed to mix the
waste or residuum from the distillation of the slime or ooze with, say, an
equal quantity of bituminous coal dust, and to distil the mixture for the
production of a coke suitable for heating purposes; it is also proposed to
employ the tar in the manufacture of blocks of artificial fucl and the like;
or the residuum from the distillation of the slime or ooze, which residuum
contains nitrogen, phosphate of lime, oxide of iron, soluble alkaline salts,
and carbon, may be utilized as a manure and disinfectant, and for a
variety of other useful purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in
the 38th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-

page_text: cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her
special license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 MANUFACTURE OF HYDROGEN GAS, AND IN
THE UTILIZATION OF THE BY OR SECONDARY PRODUCTS OBTAINED IN SUCH MANU-
FACTURE," a communication to me from abroad by Jean Octave Ernest
Moreau, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Manufacturer, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my.
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to bo per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calender months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to the use and application in the manu-
facture of gas intended for illuminating and heating purposes of a
material not hitherto used in such manufacture, whereby a considerable
saving is effected in the cost of production, (and in the case of lighting
gas) greater illuminating power is obtained, and it consists in the
employment of the slime or ooze composed of the detritus of floating
plants, aquatic vegetables, and the like, which settle on the beds or
bottoms of rivers, lakes, and similar watercourses or sheets of water, and
there collect, forming strata or layers which in a short time become
decomposed.
Lakes and rivers having but very little current give rise for the most
part during summer to considerable quantities of aquatic vegetables and
floating plants, which obstruct the bed. On the approach of winter
these plants fall to the bottom of the water and form a deposit there,

page_text: said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The application and use to and in the manufacture of gas for
illuminating and heating purposes of the slime or ooze obtained from
lakes, rivers, and like places, such slime or ooze being composed of
the detritus of floating plants or aquatic vegetables, as herein-before
described.
Second. The utilization of the residuum obtained from the distillation
of the before-mentioned slime or ooze, as and for the purposes herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of
June, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.