Improvements in Gas Compressing and Pressure Regulating Apparatus, suitable for Incandescent Gas Lighting.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 26th June, 1897
Improvements in Gas Compressing and Pressure Regulating
Apparatus, suitable for Incandescent Gas Lighting.
I, GEORG ROTHGIESSER, Manufacturer, of 9 Immermannstrasse, Düsseldorf,
in the German Empire, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Hitherto incandescent gas lamps have generally been used in connection with gas
at ordinary pressure, viz. about 2 or 3 inches water column, as it is supplied by the
various gas companies.
It has been known to gas lighting experts, that a much higher pressure of gas,
Bay from 40 to 60 inches water column, will greatly improve the amount of light
which can be had from a single incandescent mantle, but this system of gas
lighting has not come into extensive use, because gas companies have no means of
supplying gas under so high a pressure, and it was necessary, therefore, to provide
a gas pump for raising the gas to the required high pressure.
To facilitate the use of high pressure gas lights in almost every town house, I
employ a self-acting hydraulic compressor driven by high pressure, such as is
supplied by the water companies in almost every town.
The hydraulic gas compressor may be constructed on the injector principle, and
this is the most convenient way in most cases, where water can be had at a pressure
of not less than 40 pounds per square inch. The self-acting hydraulic gas
compressor consists in this case of one or more injector tubes, one end (the upper
end) of which opens into a chamber (suction chamber) connected with the ordinary
(low pressure) gas supply, while the other (bottom) end communicates with a
receiver or separating chamber, from which the gus escapes to the service pipes
through an opening in the upper part of the chamber, while the water flows off
through an opening in the bottom part.
At the upper end of each injector tube a small jet of water enters from the high
pressure water supply, and which jet forces the gas contained in the tube the same
way as the water, and a high pressure of gas is consequently produced in the
separating chamber, as well as in the tubes leading to the lamps.
As it is of great importance for the light, that the pressure of the gas should
always remain the same, otherwise the mautles and burners would easily be
destroyed and the light would be uneven, I bave provided a simple contrivanco in
the injector apparatus, to prevent the pressure of the gas from falling below the
desired limit, so that a fall of pressure under this limit can only happen, if the
water supply is not sufficient for the lamps kept burning. This effect is produced
by a hydraulic discharge pipe which forces the water flowing from the apparatus
to ascend to a certain height, depending on the gas pressure desired, before it can
reach the entrance to the exit tube. This pipe may be vertical and about 5 feet
long, the lower end communicating with the lower part of the separating chamber,
while the upper end brings the flowing water in contact with the entrance to the
exit tube.
In addition to this tube for the outflowing water, there is another small
regulating tube joining the lower part of the separating chamber with the suction
chamber which contains the gas at ordinary pressure, and supplying the injectora
with gas. Through this regulating tube compressed gas is led to the suction

page_text: chamber, as soon as the gas pressure surpassos a certain limit, viz. as soon as the
water in the separating chamber is pressed deeper than the bottom end of the
regulating tube. By this means the pressure of the gas always, corresponds with
the vertical height between two horizontal lines, viz. the upper end of the water
outlet pipe and the lower end of the regulating tube.
The suction chamber, as well as the separating chamber may have various
shapes, the two chambers being either a short distance apart and joined together
only by the injector or water jet and regulating tubes, or placed close together,
so that the injector and regulating tubes are situated in the separating chamber
itself.
The accompanying drawing is a vertical section of a water jet apparatus
embodying my invention. a is the suction chamber or reservoir for gas supply;
the gas enters at b, where a check valve may be fitted; o is the receiver or
separating chamber; d d are the injector tubes, ee the jet pipes; the ascension
pipe for the outflowing water; and 9 the regulating tube. Through the tube h
the water passes off, after it has reached the upper end of the tube, and through
the tube i the atmospheric air communicates with the upper end of the tube.
From the separating chamber the water escapes at k, and the compressed gas
at 1, whence it it conducted to the lamps.
If high pressure water enters the jet pipes e through the supply pipe m, the gas
will be drawn from a through the tubes d and forced into the chamber c, whore the
pressure will correspond to that of a wi ter column situated between the horizontal
lines n and n'.
As soon as the pressure of the gas surpasses that limit, the level of the water in
the chamber a sinks below the edge of the regulating tube g and then the water
contained in the tube g and a portion of the compressed gas is forced through the
tube g into the chamber a. Consequently, the gas pressure will drop a little, and
the water level will again rise to the lower end of the regulating tube. The water
and gas which have entered the chamber a through the tube 9, are then again
injected into the separating chamber.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1. In hydraulic gas compressing apparatus, a receiver provided with a hydrostatic
discharge pipe or a tube in which the pressure wator used in the apparatus must
rise to a given height, before reaching the entrance to the exit tube,.substantially
as described. and for the purpose specified.
2. In a hydraulic gas, compressor having a gas-supply reservoir, and a receiver
for compressed gas and water situated below the same, a regulating tube connecting
the receiver with the gas reservoir and adapted to conduct compressed gas from
the receiver back to the gas reservoir, when the water in the latter drops below a
given level, substantially as described.
3. A hydraulic gas compressor and regulator constructed and adapted to operate
substantially as described with reference to the drawings.
Dated this 30th day of March 1897.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
37 and 39, Essex Street, Strand, London, Agents.