IMPROVEMENTS APPARATUS FOR ENRICHING GAS BY ADMIXTURE OF HYDROCARBON VAPOUR
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Livesey, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster,
IN
in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
APPARATUS FOR ENRICHING GAS BY ADMIXTURE OF HYDROCARBON VAPOUR."
Partly a communication from abroad by Johann Heinrich Vale, of Hamburg.
Germany.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Livesey at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th May 1880.
JAMES LIVESEY, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENRICHING GAS BY ADMIXTURE
OF HYDROCARBON VAPOUR." [Partly a communication from abroad by Johann
Heinrich Vale, of Hamburg, Germany.]
This Invention relates to apparatus for effecting the enrichment of gas by
mingling with it vapour of hydrocarbon, such as naphthaline or heavy oils.
For this purpose the gas on its way to the burner is passed through a
carburetting vessel, within which is placed loosely another vessel open at the top
and closed at the bottom, this latter vessel containing the hydrocarbon. The
burner is placed immediately on the top of the carburetting vessel, and has on each
side of it near the root of the flame pieces of metal which is a good conductor of
heat, such as copper. These pieces are in metallic connection with a tube that
descends from the burner into the interior, and nearly to the bottom of the vessel
containing the hydrocarbon. This tube is perforated by a number of lateral holes,
and is by preference filled part of its beight with a porous wick, which may be of
asbestos, or may consist of a bundle of fine copper wires, or of woven wires, or of
thin copper sheet rolled into volute form, so as to present capillary interstices and
also to conduct heat. The tube also may have wings or wires projecting laterally
from its exterior, so as to conduct heat into the body of the hydrocarbon in which
the tube is immersed. The tube may have an open slit along it for part of its
height, and the wick may be of annular form with an opening at the side corre-
sponding to the slit of the tube, giving free access to the interior cavity of the
wick. When the wick consists of a bundle of wires the tube may be dispensed with.
[Price Gd.1

page_text: The gas entering the carburetting vessel at its bottom passes up around the hydro-
carbon receptacle, and entering the central tube through some of the lateral holes
or the slit, passes up to the burner where it is ignited. The heat of the flame
conducted down the tube fuses and vaporises a portion of the hydrocarbon, and the
hydrocarbon vapour mingles with the gas on its way to the burner, causing it to
burn with a flame of great brilliancy. For the purpose of regulating the extent
to which the gas is enriched by admixture of hydrocarbon vapour, a lateral hole
is provided near the top of the central tube with a regulating screw or plug by
which it can be more or less closed from outside the vessel, the proportion of gas to
hydrocarbon vapour being thus varied.
The gas instead of entering the carburetting vessel at the bottom may enter it
near the top, in which case the carburetting vessel may itself contain the hydro-
carbon, a separate receptacle for the hydrocarbon being dispensed with.
When this arrangement is adopted the gas supply pipe is with advantage divided
into two branches, one leading the gas into the carburetting vessel and directing
it on the hydrocarbon, and the other leading it into the upper part of the wick
tube near the burner. By turning a stop cock, commanding the two branches,
more or less of the gas can be directed along either of them, and thus the gas can
be more or less carburetted. Several burners with their respective wick tubes
may be connected to one carburetting vessel, or several burners may branch from
one wick tube in a single carburetting vessel. In the latter case the wick tube is
with advantage extended to some height above the flames of the burners, and has
fitted on its top a metal crown having wings or rays projecting partly over the flames
so as to receive heat, which is conducted by the tube down into the hydrocarbon
below. The crown may be made to turn round on the tube as an axis, so that its
wings or rays can be brought more or less directly over the flames or over the
spaces between them, according as more or less heat is required to be conducted
down by the tube. The stop cock mentioned above as commanding the two gas
pipe branches may have its plug connected to the crown, so that while the quantity
of gas directed on the hydrocarbon is varied by turning the stop-cock the amount
of heat received by the crown is simultaneously varied by the turning of its wings
or rays more or less directly over the flames.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Livesey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
November 1880.
"
JAMES LIVESEY, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex. IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ENRICHING GAS BY ADMIXTURE
OF HYDROGEN VAPOUR." Partly a communication from abroad by Johann
Heinrich Vale, of Hamburg, Germany.
This Invention relates to apparatus for effecting the enrichment of gas by
mingling with it vapour of hydrocarbon, such as naphthaline or heavy oils.
For this purpose the gas on its way to the burner is passed through a
carburetting vessel, within which is placed loosely another vessel open at the top
and closed at the bottom, this latter vessel containing the hydrocarbon. The
burner is placed immediately on the top of the carburetting vessel, and has on each
side of it near the root of the flame pieces of metal which is a good conductor of
heat, such as copper. These pieces are in metallic connection with a tube that
descends from the burner into the interior, and nearly to the bottom of the vessel
containing the hydrocarbon. This tube is perforated by a number of lateral holes,
and is by preference filled part of its height with a porous wick, which may be of
asbestos, or may consist of a bundle of fine copper wires, or of woven wires, or of
thin copper sheet rolled into volute form so as to present capilliary interstices and
also to conduct heat. The tube also may have wings or wires projecting laterally
from its exterior, so as to conduct heat into the body of the hydrocarbon in which
the tube is immersed. The tube may have an open slit along it for part of its
height, and the wick may be of annular form, with an opening at the side corre-
sponding to the slit of the tube, giving free access to the interior cavity of the
wick. When the wick consists of a bundle of wires the tube may be dispensed
with. The gas entering the carburetting vessel at its bottom passes up around the
hydrocarbon receptacle, and entering the central tube through some of the lateral
holes or the slit passes up to the burner where it is ignited. The heat of the flame
conducted down the tube fuses and vaporises a portion of the hydrcarbon, and the
hydrocarbon vapour mingles with the gas on its way to the burner, causing it to
burn with a flame of great brilliancy. For the purpose of regulating the extent
to which the gas is enriched by admixture of hydrocarbon vapour a lateral hole is
provided near the top of the central tube, with a regulating screw or plug by
which it can be more or less closed from outside the vessel, the proportion of gas
to hydrocarbon vapour being thus varied.
The gas instead of entering the carburetting vessel at the bottom may enter it
near the top, in which case the carburetting vessel may itself contain the hydro-
carbon, a separate receptacle for the hydrocarbon being dispensed with.
When this arrangement is adopted the gas supply pipe is with advantage
divided into two branches, one leading the gas into the carburetting vessel and
directing it on the hydrocarbon, and the other leading it into the upper part of the
wick tube near the burner. By turning a stop-cock commanding the two branches
more or less of the gas can be directed along either of them, and thus the gas can
be more or less carburetted. Several burners with their respective wick tubes
may be connected to one carburetting vessel, or several burners may branch from
one wick tube in a single carburetting vessel. In the latter case the wick tube is
with advantage extended to some height above the flame of the burners, and has
fitted on its top a metal crown having wings or rays projecting partly over the
flames so as to receive heat, which is conducted by the tube down into the hydro-
carbon below. The crown may be made to turn round on the tube as an axis, so
that its wings or rays can be brought more or less directly over the flames or over
the spaces between them, according as more or less heat is required to be conducted

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The accompanying Drawings shew various forms of apparatus, according to this
Invention, for enriching gas with hydrocarbon vapour. In the vertical section,
Fig. 1, A is a vessel made in two parts, which are screwed together, making a gas
tight joint at the junction. Within this vessel is loosely placed on ribs or studs
another vessel B, which is open at the top and is charged with the hydrocarbon.
This when solid, as naphthaline, is preferably moulded in the form of discs K with
central holes. The burner D is fixed at the top of a copper tube E which descends
into the hydrocarbon, the lower part of it having numerous lateral perforations and
containing a porous wick F. Close to the burner D on the tube E is fixed a piece
of copper G, shaped so as to receive considerable heat from the gas flame and
conduct it by the tube E to the hydrocarbon. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the
burner and the conducting piece G; Fig. 3 is a sectional plan of the tube E. The
gas entering at the bottom of the vessel A, and ascending around the vessel B enters
the tube E by some of the lateral perforations and proceeds to the burner. The
heat of the flame conducted down the tube E melts and vaporises portions of the
hydrocarbon, and the vapour mingles with the gas on its way to the burner. The
wick may be of asbestos enclosed within wire gauze, and it should not quite fill
the tube E, but should leave a thin annular space around it for the passage of gas
and vapour. The amount of carburation may be regulated by a screw plug H
more or less closing a lateral hole C, so as to give less or greater freedom of passage
for gas directly to the burner. In a modified form of the apparatus, shewn by the
vertical section, Fig. 4, the inner vessel is dispensed with, the hydrocarbon being
introduced in fragments by a hole closed by a screw plug L. The gas supplied by
the pipe C may be directed by a cock more or less into either of two channels R
and S formed in the pipe M, so as to receive a greater or less degree of carburation.
A shield O, of glass, ceramic ware, or other imperfectly conducting material, protects
the conducting metal G and E from loss of heat by radiation. The tube E may
be made with radiating ribs N, as shewn in the sectional plan, Fig. 5, so as to
conduct heat farther into the body of the surrounding hydrocarbon, and instead
of a number of lateral holes it may have a long slit e along its side, as shewn in
Fig. 6, the wick being also open along its side. In this case the wick may be
pressed against the interior of the tube by the elasticity of a wire gauze lining, or
the wick may consist of a sheaf of copper wires, as shewn in Fig. 7, so as to operate
as a conductor of heat, and by its capilliary action to draw up the molten hydro-
carbon. In the modified form shewn by the vertical section, Fig. 8, the gas supply
and regulating cock Q, with its two channels R and S, are arranged in the stem P
at the bottom of the vessel. Several burners may be applied to the apparatus, as
shewn by the part vertical section, Fig. 9. For a group of burners the apparatus
may be of the form shewn by the vertical section, Fig. 10. The heat is in this case
conveyed to the tube E by a metal crown T, which may be protected from radiation
upwards by a covering O of imperfectly conducting material. The crown T may
be of star form, as shewn in the plan, Fig. 11, and elevation, Fig. 12, with wings or
rays alternating with open spaces between, and it may be made to turn round so
as to bring the wings over the flames when considerable heat is required, or to
bring the spaces over the flames, as shewn in Fig. 11, when less heat is required
for effecting carburation. The regulating cock Qmay be connected by a rod U to
the crown, so that when the cock is turned for varying the degree of carburation
by causing more or less of the gas to pass by the pipes C¹ or O either directly into
the tube E or on to the surface of the hydrocarbon, the heating effect of the flames

page_text: will be correspondingly varied by the turning of the crown so as to bring its wings
or its spaces over the flames. The crown T may however be fixed, the degree of
carburation being regulated solely by the stop cock Q governing two pipes, as
shewn in Fig. 8, the one leading the gas directly into the tube E and the other
directing the gas upon the surface of the hydrocarbon. It is of advantage to
prevent radiation of heat from the vessel A by enclosing it in a casing of metal or
ceramic material, which may be ornamented as desired. The wick enclosed in
the tube may be of any of the several kinds above described, and an external wick
may also be fixed or wound upon the tube, as shewn.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I make no general claim to the
enriching of gas by mingling with it hydrocarbon vapour generated by the heat of
the combustion of the enriched gas, or by other heat applied under or at the side
of a vessel containing hydrocarbon; but I claim in respect of apparatus for enriching
gas by admixture of hydrocarbon vapour,-
First. The combination of a burner or set of burners with a tube of conducting
material extending down from the burners into a carburetting vessel, and having
Jateral passages and a wick, so that heat conducted down from the burners
generates hydrocarbon vapour, which mingles with gas admitted to the vessel
and tube and passes therewith to the burners, substantially as herein described.
Second. In carburetting apparatus of the kind referred to in the preceding claim,
regulating the degree of carburation of the gas by means of a stopcock governing
two gas passages, the one directed to the flame tube and the other directed on the
bydrocarbon, substantially as herein described.
Third. The construction of carburetting apparatus herein described with reference
to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings.
Fourth. The construction of carburetting apparatus herein described with
reference to Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Fifth. The construction of carburetting apparatus herein described with reference
to Figs. 8 and 9.
Sixth. The construction of carburetting apparatus herein described with reference
to Figs. 10, 11, and 12.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Livesey, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty third day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
JAMES LIVESEY. (L.S.)