IM- PROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING INFLAMMABLE AND OTHER NOXIOUS GASES FROM COAL AND OTHER MINES
Year: 1860

page_text: Sealed the 11th June 1861, and dated the 15th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Griffith Williams at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th December 1860.
I, JOHN GRIFFITH WILLIAMS, of Blaenavon, in the County of Monmouth,
Gas Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING INFLAMMABLE AND OTHER NOXIOUS GASES FROM COAL
AND OTHER MINES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to a system or mode of extracting the inflammable
and other noxious gases from the workings of coal and other mines, whereby
the danger arising from explosions and the presence of choke damp may be
obviated.
According to this Invention it is proposed to convey a ramification of pipes
into the several workings of the mine, and to connect such pipes with suitable
appliances for exhausting, by machinery or otherwise, the gases from the said
workings. The gases so exhausted from the mine may be either discharged
into the atmosphere or consumed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Griffith Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GRIFFITH WILLIAMS,. of Blaenavon, in the County of Monmouth, Gas Pro-
prietor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Griffith Williams, Her special license that I, the said John Griffith
Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Griffith Williams, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others) from time to time and 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN EXTRACTING INFLAMMABLE AND OTHER NOXIOUS GASES FROM COAL AND
OTHER-MINES,-upon-the-condition-(amongst others) that I, the said John
Griffith Williams, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of
them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 John Griffith Williams, 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 had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar system or mode of extracting the
inflammable and other noxious gases from the workings of coal and other
mines, whereby the danger arising from explosions, and the presence of the
gases known as fire damp and choke damp, may be obviated.
According to this Invention it is proposed to convey a ramification of pipes
into the several workings of the mine, and to connect such pipes with suitable
appliances for exhausting or extracting, by machinery or otherwise, the gases

page_text: from the said workings. The gases so exhausted or extracted from the mine
may be either discharged into the atmosphere or consumed.
66
When it is desired to extract the light and inflammable gases from the
goafs" or workings, ascending branch pipes are fitted into the main pipes,
such branch pipes rising to the top of the "goafs" or cavities in the upper
parts of the workings, so as to be surrounded by the gas which may collect in
such cavities, but when choke damp or carbonic acid gas, which is much
heavier than air, is to be extracted, the branch pipes should descend down to
the lowest parts of the workings, when the gas may be extracted by any
suitable arrangement of pumps.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in both the Figures.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a portion of a coal pit as provided with my
appliances, adapted for extracting the inflammable gases therefrom. . A, A, are
two workings, and B is the pit mouth or shaft; C, C, are cavities or "goafs "
in the workings, in which the light inflammable gas known as fire damp
collects; D, D, are main pipes communicating with pipes E, E, which are
carried upwards on each side of the shaft or pit to the surface. The main
pipes D, D, which should extend along the whole of the main workings of the
mine are provided with branch pipes F, F, which rise vertically into the upper
parts of the cavities or "goafs" known to contain fire damp, or descend into
those workings containing choke damp or carbonic acid gas. These pipes are
provided with stop-cocks or valves f. f, and are so shaped or constructed at
their upper ends as to form a gas seal, and exclude the entrance of air into
the pipes. This may be effected either by bending downwards the head of the
ascending branch pipe, as shewn at a, or by fitting a cap or hood over it, as
shown at b. The upper ends of the main pipes E above the surface are also
gas-sealed for the purpose of excluding the air therefrom, such sealing
being effected by causing the pipes to open into the upper part of a closed
chamber G, which communicates at its lower end with a discharge pipe H.
This discharge pipe should of course be of sufficient area to discharge the
whole of the gas supplied from the several pipes leading out of the pit. By
this arrangement of exhausting pipes a gas syphon is established, whereby the
light and inflammable gases may be allowed to flow out of the mine by their
own powers of ascension without any absolute necessity for artificial exhausting
appliances or pumps, which would, however, be requisite for extracting the

page_text: heavier gases, as choke damp or carbonic acid gas. In order to expedite the
process of exhaustion, however, I propose to heat the upper portion of
the pipes E by the aid of a furnace I, as shown, or in lieu thereof a fan
blower, exhaust pump, or other suitable contrivance may be adapted to the
pipes for the purpose of more rapidly extracting the gas from the workings.
K is a steam or air jet pipe opening into the lower end of the discharge
pipe H. It may be supplied from any convenient steam generator or blower,
and will be found to considerably expedite the escape of the gas discharged
from the pipes in the mine into the vessel G.
In carrying out my Invention it is of course desirable to adopt some simple
and at the same time effective mode of joining the several lengths of pipes;
I have found that a dovetail joint, rendered tight by suitable packing, as
represented at Figure 2, to be a most useful joint for the purpose.. This
joint consists of a square flange a, and a correspondingly formed socket b, the
flange being bevelled at its edges, as shown, and the socket dovetailed to
receive it. In joining two pipes the flange is slipped laterally into the dovetail
socket, and when forced home is packed by means of pitch or other convenient
packing.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the 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, the peculiar system or mode of
extracting inflammable and other noxious gases from coal and other mines, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Griffith Williams, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
M. JAMES.
JOHN GRIFFITH WILLIAMS. (L.S.)