A PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE AND SUPPLY OF GAS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Aubury, of Queen Street, Edgware Road,
in the County of Middlesex, and William Richard Bridges, of Gravel
Lane, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "A PORTABLE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Aubury and
William Richard Bridges at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 8th December 1854.
We, GEORGE AUBURY, of Queen Street, Edgware Road, in the County of
Middlesex, and WILLIAM RICHARD BRIDGES, of Gravel Lane, in the County
of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A PORTABLE
APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE AND SUPPLY OF GAS" to be as follows, that is
to say:
Our Invention, which has for its object the commodious and economical
manufacture and supply of gas upon a small scale, for the purpose of burning
in lamps, jets, grates, ovens, and furnaces, in houses and factories, in isolated
localities, on shipboard, or under other conditions where no large stocks of gas
are within reach for the purpose, consists in using for the said purposes a
portable gas-producing retort of such form and construction as to be con-

page_text: veniently fitted or adjusted to stoves or furnaces of the ordinary kind, and
furnished with a gasometer and pipes in the usual manner, on a scale pro-
portioned to the size of the retort, and with suitable contrivances for fixing it
in the required position and for removing it when desirable.
We claim the construction and employment of portable gas retorts of
suitable form and construction to be fitted or adjusted to ordinary stoves or
furnaces, in connection with pipes and gasometers of a proportionate size
communicating in the usual way with the burner, and furnished with suitable
contrivances for fixing and removing them, for the purposes herein-before
described and set forth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Aubury and William Richard Bridges in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
AUBURY, of Queen Street, Edgware Road, in the County of Middlesex, and
WILLIAM RICHARD BRIDGES, of Gravel Lane, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said George Aubury and William Richard Bridges, Her special licence that
we, the said George Aubury and William Richard Bridges, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Aubury and
William Richard Bridges, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "A PORTABLE APPA-
RATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE AND SUPPLY OF GAS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said George Aubury and William Richard Bridges, by an
instrument in writing under our 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Aubury and William
Richard Bridges, do hereby declare the nature of our 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):-
_
Our Invention, which has for its object the commodious and expeditious
manufacture and supply of gas upon a small scale, for the purpose of burning
in lamps, jets, stoves, grates, ovens, and furnaces, in houses and factories, in
isolated localities, on shipboard, or under other conditions where no large stocks
of gas are within reach for the purpose, consists in using for the said purposes
a portable gas-producing retort of such form and construction as to be con-
veniently fitted or adjusted to stoves or furnaces of the ordinary kind in
kitchens or dwelling apartments, as aforesaid, furnished with a gasometer and
pipes in the usual manner, on a scale proportioned to the size of the retort,
and with suitable contrivances for fixing the same in the required position, and
for removing it when desirable.
But in order that this our said Invention may be more fully understood
and readily carried into effect, we now proceed to describe it by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings, reference being had to the letters and figures thereon
marked, that is to say :-
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of our portable apparatus for the manu-
facture and supply of gas; Fig. 2, a top or plan view thereof; Fig. 3, vertical
section, taken through the dotted lines in Fig. 2; Fig. 4, horizontal section
through the dotted lines in Fig. 1, one of the retorts being removed for the
purpose of showing the construction and arrangement of the fire bars. In
each Figure the same letters of reference denote similar corresponding parts.
a, a, small cast metal furnace or stove; b, b, ash pan, perforated in front, for
the admission of air to the furnace and the regulation of draft; c, c, fire door;
d, d, fire bars; c, e, gas retorts; f,f, brackets upon which the ends of the
retorts rest; 9, g, bevelled top or cover; h, h, flue piping; i, i, draft distributor,
for the purpose of distributing the current of air over the surface of the fire;
jj, pipes conducting the gas into the hydraulic chamber and tar well k and k';
1, pipe leading into the tar well, through which the tar is conducted by the
5 action of its specific gravity, in the direction indicated by the arrows; m, outlet
tap or valve; n, n, tripod stand; o, o, lid or cover; p, p, projecting ears; 9, I,
fixing screws for attaching or detaching the same; r,, purifying chamber;
s, s, perforated receptacles or trays, containing lime, and subdividing the said

page_text: chamber for the purpose of purifying the gas, as in manner shown at Figs. 3
and 4; t, t, lower compartment or division into which the gas first enters
from the hydraulic chamber through the pipe u; v, brise or brushwood for
cleansing or ridding the gas of its coarser fuliginous particles before passing
through the different purifying layers of lime, as indicated by the arrows 4, 5,
6, 7, and 8; w, w, moveable lid or cover, enabling the perforated trays or
receptacles to be taken out for the purpose of cleansing, and supplying the
same with fresh lime; x, x, gasometer; a³, a¹, gas-holder or upper portion of
the gasometer; y, y, pipe for conveying gas to the same; 2, 2, cross-head
standards; 2, 1, counterbalance chain weights and wheels, for facilitating and
steadying the ascent and descent of the gas-holder when actuated by the gas;
22, pipe for conveying the gas to the burner; 3, lower friction rollers, fixed
upon the gas-holder in such manner as to impinge and travel upon the inner
surface of the lower portion of the gasometer; , upper friction rollers, fixed
upon the gas-holder, so as to travel upon the inner surfaces of the vertical
standards for the purpose of preventing any lateral movement or sway of the
gas-holder.
Fig. 5 represents a single retort of convenient construction for using in an
ordinary grate or furnace; the advantage thereof, where there is a small con-
sumption of gas, being a saving in fuel necessary for heating the retort, and
for the generation of gas, as above described. In this Fig., A, A, repre-
sents a stove or grate; B, B, retort; C, C, conical lid or top; D, D, pins or
keys for securing or removing the top; E, E, pipe for conveying the gas to the
burner through the intervention of the several parts of the apparatus above
described.
We would here briefly remark, before proceeding to describe the general
action of our apparatus, that it may be necessary to modify and increase the
number and size of the retorts proportionate to the supply of gas required, and
where circumstances permit, we cause any one or more of the said retorts to be
fitted to any of the ordinary cooking apparatus, or furnish such other similar
apparatus as may be found convenient for this purpose in conjunction with
our mode of working the retorts, which is as follows (that is to say):-We
cause one of each of the said retorts alternately to be cleansed and replenished
as they become burnt out, and for this object we cause the said retorts to
be moveable for the purpose of facilitating the operation, by which means a
greater uniformity in the supply of gas will be maintained; the said retorts
are rendered gas-tight by clay or other suitable substance, and the operations
of generating and purifying the gas are then conducted as follows:-The

page_text: retorts having been filled with coal are placed upon the furnace or fire, and
the gas thus evolved is carried off through the hydraulic chamber, above
described, and purified by the lime in the receptacle for that purpose provided,
the tar being separated as explained in the description of the apparatus.
Having now fully described the nature of this our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we would have it clearly under-
stood that we do not by any means intend to confine ourselves to the precise
details herein-before described, as the same may be without departing from
the general principle of this our said Invention; but that which we do
claim as new, and of our said Invention, is, the construction and arrangement
of the several mechanical parts and contrivances of the portable apparatus for
the manufacture and supply of gas, in the manner and for the purposes
herein-before set forth and 'described.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Aubury and William Richard
Bridges, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifth day of
June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five.
GEORGE AUBURY.
(L.S.)
WILLIAM RICHARD BRIDGES. (L.S.)