IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND THE APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James McGeary, of Salem, Massachussets, U. S.,
now residing at Bayham Terrace, London, Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND THE APPARATUS TO BE
EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE."-Partly a communication from Mr. Edward
Laman Norfolk of Salem Massachussets. II. S.
Sealed the 5th May 1863, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord Chancellor,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James McGeary at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th July 1862.
I, JAMES MCGEARY, of Salem, Massachussets, U. S., now residing at Bayham
Terrace, London, Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND. THE APPARATUS TO BE
EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE," partly a communication from Mr. Edward Leman
Norfolk, of Salem, Massachussets, U. S., to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of hydrocarbon gas for the purpose
of illumination, and for other purposes, the apparatus to be employed, and
in the mode or method of working or using the same, by which a continuous
operation is ensured, and the mixing of the hydrogen gas with its proper dose
of carbon is chemically effected in a nascent state, thereby ensuring as a
resultant a permanent gas.
The arrangement or disposition of apparatus which I prefer to employ for
manufacturing gas according to this Invention is as follows:-Two retorts,
either of L-shape or other convenient form, are set in suitable furnaces, and

page_text: connected with each other either above or below, as the case may be. The
one is filled with charcoal or its chemical equivalent; into this retort is driven
or discharged, under suitable pressure, steam from a boiler or generator which
has first been passed through a superheater. This superheated steam being
projected into the retort amongst the charcoal produces a decomposition (and
it is believed a double decomposition ensues), and a compound gas, being a
mixture of light carburetted hydrogen and other gases, is the result.
From
the first retort the products of the process are conveyed, under pressure,
through a connecting pipe to a second retort or vessel, also filled with charcoal,
coke, or suitable material; but in the course of passing from the one to the
other a fluid or hydrocarbon of the kind or description best suited to the local
or other circumstances of the manufacture is caused to pass continuously,
under regulation, into the highly-heated vessel, conduit, or connection, and so
becomes combined with the compound hydrogen gas generated in the first
retort or vessel, and from thence the now combined or highly carburetted gas
is made to pass through amongst the contents of the second heated retort or
vessel into the receiver or gasholder, or otherwise carried away to be treated
or to be stored direct, as may be desired.
For the purpose of enabling the process of gas-making to be conducted,
and of charging or carburetting the gas or gases produced in the first retort
to the required extent as a continuous operation, and of feeding in the hydro-
carbon against the pressure of the superheated steam and resulting gases
contained within the retort, the following arrangement is provided:--A close
tank, chamber, or vessel of suitable size is conveniently placed at a suitable
level, and a pipe or tube connecting the bottom thereof with the connecting
tube or vessel through which the gas formed in the one vessel passes to
the other. At or near the top of the hydrocarbon tank or chamber another
tube or pipe, in connection with one of the retorts or the connection between
them, is made to communicate the pressure due to the process, and thus the
gravitating influence of the liquid is allowed free play in affording a supply for
the purpose of more highly carburetting the gas, the pressure within the vessel
being equalised however great the pressure of steam or of the resulting gases
within the retort or retorts may be. The tank or chamber containing the
carburetting liquid or hydrocarbon, such as naptha, petroleum, or such like
suitable liquid carbon, should be provided with a glass guage, or it may have
a second tank connected thereto, into which the fresh supply is from time
to time charged, and by the equilibrating connections and suitable stop-
cccks the supply may be regulated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said James McGeary in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MCGEARY, of Salem, Massachusetts, U. S., now residing at Bayham Terrace,
London, Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James McGeary, Her special licence that I, the said James McGeary,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
McGeary, 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
MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND THE APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE,"
partly a communication from Mr. Edward Leman Norfolk, of Salem,
Massachusetts, U. S., upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James McGeary, 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 on or before the Sixth day of May One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James McGeary, 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 in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Drawing, that
is to say:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of bydrocarbon gas for the
purpose of illumination, and for other purposes, the apparatus to be employed,
and in the mode or method of working or using the same, by which a
continuous operation is insured, and the mixing of the hydrogen gas with its
proper dose of carbon is chemically effected in a nascent state, insuring as a
resultant a permanent gas.
The arrangement or disposition of apparatus which I prefer to employ for
manufacturing gas according to this Iuvention is as follows:-Two retorts,

page_text: either of L-shape or other convenient form, are set in a suitable furnace, and
connected with each other either above or below, as the case may be. The
retorts are filled with charcoal, or its chemical equivalent. Into one retort is
driven or discharged, under suitable pressure, steam from a boiler or generator
which has first been passed through a superheater, and freed from moisture
and delivered in a highly superheated state into the retort for more perfect
decomposition. This highly superheated steam being projected into the retort
amongst the charcoal produces a decomposition (and, it is believed, a double
decomposition ensues,) and a compound gas, being a mixture of light
carburetted hydrogen and other gases, is the result. From the first retort
the products of the process are conveyed (under pressure) through a connecting
pipe to a second retort or vessel, (also filled with charcoal, coke, or suitable
material,) but in the course of passing from the one to the other a fluid hydro-
carbon of the kind or description best suited to the local or other circumstances
of the manufacture is caused to pass continuously under regulation into the
highly-heated vessel, conduit, or connection, and so becomes combined with
the compound hydrogen gas generated in the first retort or vessel, and from
thence the now combined or highly carburetted gas is made to pass through
amongst the contents of the second heated retort or vessel into the receiver or
gasholder, or otherwise carried away to be treated or to be stored direct, as
may be desired.
For the purpose of enabling the process of gas-making to be conducted and
of charging or carburetting the gas or gases produced in the first retort to the
required extent as a continuous operation, and of feeding in the hydrocarbon
against the pressure of the superheated steam and resulting gas contained
within the retort, the following arrangement is provided-A close tank,
chamber, or vessel of suitable size is conveniently placed at a suitable level,
and is provided with a pipe or tube connecting the bottom thereof with the
connecting tube or vessel through which the gas formed in the one retort or
vessel passes to the other. At or near the top of the hydrocarbon tank or
chamber another tube or pipe, in connection with one of the retorts or the
connection between them, is made to communicate the pressure due to the
process, and thus the gravitating influence of the liquid is allowed free play in
affording a supply for the purpose of more highly carburetting the gas, the
pressure within the vessel being equalised however great the pressure of steam
or of the resulting gases within the retort or retorts may be. The tank or
chamber containing the carburetted liquid or hydrocarbon, such as naptha,
petroleum, or such like liquid carbon, should be provided with a glass guage,
or it may have a second tank connected thereto, into which the fresh supply is

page_text: from time to time charged, and by the equilibrating connections and suitable
stop-cocks the supply may be regulated.
I am aware that liquid hydrocarbons have been employed in combination
with water, and also with the vapor of water or steam, each being separately
decomposed or converted into the resulting gas or gases, and afterwards
combined either in a third retort or otherwise mixed for the purpose of
producing a gas for illumination. I am also aware that the vapour of liquid
hydrocarbons in combination with the vapour of water has been employed
and together admitted into a heated retort for the purpose of decomposition in
the presence of heated solid carbonaceous matter; but the effect of employing
water, although admitted into the retort drop by drop, or in a finely divided
stream, is, that it so rapidly reduces the temperature of the retort as to impair
the efficiency of the operation, and, when ordinary steam is employed, the
cooling effect, although less in degree as compared with the admission of drops
of water, still leaves the process of gas-making difficult, uncertain, and
expensive, inasmuch as during the decomposition of ordinary steam within the
retort in contact with any of the materials usually employed for that purpose
the reduction of temperature incident to the decomposition renders it
impossible to obtain an uninterruptedly continuous production of gas, or an
uniform result.
By the present Invention, through the employment of steam highly
superheated, and rendered perfectly free from moisture before it is permitted
to enter the retort wherein the decomposition of the superheated steam is
completed in contact with charcoal or its chemical equivalents, the cooling
effect upon the retort which would otherwise take place is not produced, and
an uniformly high temperature of that retort can therefore be maintained
whilst in operation, for instead of producing a reduction in temperature, as is
the case in the ordinary methods of employing steam in a retort for the
generation of the hydrogen gas, the complete decomposition of the superheated
steam in the presence of and in contact with the incandescent charcoal,
through amongst which it is made to pass, is found not to produce the same
injurious effect; and, moreover, the gaseous result of this decomposing action
which has taken place between the incandescent charcoal contained in the
retort and the highly superheated steam admitted, when brought into contact
5 with the gas generated from the liquid hydrocarbon employed, is in the most
favorable condition possible for effecting a perfect union therewith, and so
producing a permanent illuminating gas of a quality capable however of
regulation as to its degree of illuminosity.
Heretofore the regulation of the uniform admission of the liquid bydro-

page_text: carbon to the retort has not been attained, so that a continuous manufacture
of gas of uniform quality could not be ensured, but by the use or employment
of the novel contrivance and arrangement of apparatus herein described, the
continuous admission of a liquid hydrocarbon to the retort can be ensured.
By the form and arrangement of retorts herein described the means of
regulating the supply of the solid material or materials employed within the
retorts, and of replenishing them from time to time, is rendered facile.
Thus it will be understood that the supply or admission of the two elements
necessary to be admitted to the retorts for the purposes of discomposition can
be accurately regulated as to quantity, and perfectly controlled, so as to
produce the resulting or combined gases of a given illuminating power, and
also as the material or materials contained within the retorts become reduced
in quantity by slow deflagration during the process of gas-making, the form
and arrangement of the gas retorts employed admits of their being readily
recharged.
Instead of employing two retorts, or two retorts and a central intermediate
vessel (also subject to the action of fire), for the completion of the process, a
greater number of retorts may be employed in combination, and the size of
each retort may be reduced, the gases having to pass from one to the other
before reaching the discharge or outlet; and instead of one long coil of
superheating pipes, two or more coils may be connected together, the object
being to employ such an extent of piping for the conveyance of the steam as,
by its exposure to the action of the fire, the maximum quantity of steam to
be passed through the coil shall not reduce the temperature of the iron tubes
or coils to a point at which it would be inoperative. The iron tubing or
piping for the conveying and superheating the steam may either be placed in
the fire-place or furnace of each set of retorts, or it may be placed above the
arch of the furnaces, or between the retorts, as may be most convenient, and
at the same time admit of a sufficient quantity of heat acting upon it.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn an arrangement and disposition
of gas apparatus according to my Invention, in which I employ four small
retorts of L-shape, so connected together as to insure the combined gases
passing through two of the retorts before reaching the discharge pipe or outlet.
I have also shewn the coil of pipe or tubing placed vertically between the
retorts; and although, for the sake of clearness, the furnace is shewn square,
with a fire lump top and lateral flue openings, any other form of furnace or
mode of setting may be adopted.
Figure 1 is a transverse sectional elevation of an apparatus according to
my Invention, the line of section (A, B, Figure 2,) passing through the two

page_text: It
retorts Nos. 2 and 3, and shewing the coil of superheating tube or pipe
immediately behind them and between the four retorts; Figure 2 is a plan of
the apparatus; Figure 3 is a front elevational view thereof. In these three
views I have only considered it necessary to shew in one of such illustrations
(Figure 1) the hydrocarbon tank and connections in detail, and detached.
will be seen that by the arrangement shewn the retorts are set perpendicular,
with a bend at the bottom of each, and fitted with a cover at each end, at the
top for the purpose of charging, and at the bottom for removing the spent
material. The retorts are connected with each other, as shewn, by means of
elbow pipes and bends. Thus No. 1 is joined at the bottom to the bottom of
No. 2, and the top of No. 2 is connected to the top of No. 3, by means of a
bend pipe; the bottom of No. 3 retort is connected with the bottom of No. 4,
thus forming a passage way through the whole four retorts. The four retorts
are shewn as being set in a square furnace resting upon fire lumps, which
protect them from the direct action of the fire; the fire passes through the
lateral flues on each side, and circulates freely around the retorts and the
superheating pipe which is placed between the retorts, each retort being
filled with charcoal, and when all are heated to a bright red heat, the highly.
heated or decomposed steam is admitted, being regulated by a valve and cock,
and passes freely through No. 1 and 2 retorts. At the top of No. 3 retort I
admit the liquid hydrocarbon, which may be kept in a closed cistern, as shewn
in the Drawing (Figure 1), having a supply pipe and guage cock connected
with No. 3 retort, and another pipe connected with the top of this closed
cistern at one end, and attached at the other end to the outlet or gas exit pipe
from No. 4 retort, so as to equilibrate the pressures within the reservoir, by
which the liquid hydrocarbon is permitted to flow by its own gravity from the
reservoir into the retorts under regulation; the gas resulting from the admission
of the liquid bydrocarbon into the third retort is mixed or combined with the
carburetted hydrogen gas made in No. 1 and 2 retorts, and passes from No. 3
to the lower part of No. 4, from whence it passes to the top of No. 4 through
the outlet pipe to the sealed box and condenser, and from thence to the gas-
holder; the quality of gas can be tested at the trial cocks. The waste heat
from the furnace may after heating the retorts be conveyed by flues around
the boiler for generating the steam.
Having in the accompanying Drawing shown by preference an arrangement
of my apparatus with four retorts combined, in the manner herein described, it
is unnecessary to designate the several parts by the aid of letters of reference,
as the principal portions of the said apparatus have their names or uses
written thereupon.

page_text: Having now described the said Invention, which, as has herein-before been
stated, is partly a communication to me from Mr. Edward Leman Norfolk, of
Salem, Massachusetts, U.S., and having illustrated one of the modes or
methods in which I prefer to arrange and put the same into practice, I wish
it to be understood that I do not claim the use of moist steam or the vapour of
water in combination with liquid hydrocarbons for the manufacturing of
illuminating gas, nor do I claim the use of L-shaped retorts for the generation
of gas; neither do I claim the generation and combination of the vapours of
water and a hydrocarbon within the same vessel, and afterwards passing the
combined vapours through a retort containing red-hot carbon; nor the
generation of such vapours separately, and their admixture previous to being
passed through a retort, as these several plans have been practised heretofore;
neither do I confine myself to the use or employment of retorts of the form
shewn in the Drawing, and herein-before described, nor to the exact number
or arrangement thereof, nor to the mode of firing shewn in the accompanying
Drawing, and herein-before described; but what I do claim is,-
First, the use or employment of steam in a highly superheated and thoroughly
desiccated condition in combination with a suitable liquid hydrocarbon, in the
manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
Second, passing steam which has been previously highly superheated through
amongst charcoal, or its equivalent, in an incandescent state, contained within
a retort or retorts, and thoroughly carburetting it, or charging it with the
requisite amount of gas generated in another retort from a liquid hydrocarbon
whilst such hydrocarbon is in course of being converted into gas.
Third, the mode or method herein described of making illuminating gas
from a liquid hydrocarbon and steam (the steam having been first highly
superheated) by a continuous process, by which the quantity of the steam and
hydrocarbon which is admitted may be varied, as herein set forth.
Fourth, the apparatus herein described for manufacturing illuminating gas,
in the manner herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James McGeary, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, One' thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
JAMES MCGEARY.
(L.S.)