AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING FOUL OR NOXIOUS GASES AND VAPOURS, TO PREVENT THEIR CONTAMINATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE, AND TO UTILIZE THEM FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR
TREATING FOUL OR NOXIOUS GASES AND VAPOURS, TO PREVENT THEIR
CONTAMINATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE, AND TO UTILIZE THEM FOR VARIOUS
PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by James Turner, of
Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, Merchant.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd June 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS
FOR TREATING FOUL OR NOXIOUS GASES AND VAPOURS, TO PREVENT THEIR CONTAMI-
NATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE, AND TO UTILIZE THEM POR VARIOUS PURPOSES," a
communication, to be as follows :-
1
My said Invention is designed to afford the means for obviating the

page_text: danger and annoyance arising from the production of noxious and foul
smelling gases or vapours in the manufacture of tallow, lard, soap, and
the like, or from chemical works, or from sewers and other sources, in
or near cities, towns, and other inhabited places.
Various attempts have been made from time to time for the sup-
pression of the nuisance produced by such manufactories or works in
thickly populated neighborhood, but the result in most cases has been
simply the removal of the noxious-vapours by means of lofty chimneys
from the place of their production, and their distribution over more
extended areas.
According to my Invention I collect the gas or vapor in a receptacle
of any suitable kind, and conduct it therefrom by means of apparatus
herein-after described to a furnace or fire-place, where it is when
practicable utilized for heating purposes, or it may be collected for use
as illuminating gas; but where this utilization is not practicable, it is
destroyed or deprived of its noxious properties by combustion with other
materials.
'
In the application of my Invention in works for, rendering lard or
tallow and the like, I provide the rendering tank with a pipe leading
to a condenser of any suitable construction, but preferably provided
with a coil. From this condenser a waste pipe extends to the drains,
the said pipe being bent to form a water seal or trap. The said condenser
is also provided with a pipe for conveying the gas or vapour to a
purifier filled with lime or other suitable purifying agent. From this
purifier a pipe extends to a vessel filled, or partially filled, with gasoline
or other hydrocarbon liquid, through which the foul gas or vapour is
forced by the pressure in the aforesaid tank. This hydrocarbon vessel
is constructed with' division plates or passages so arranged that the gas
must pass in small streams through the hydrocarbon liquid, and will
thereby be charged or impregnated with carbon. If this gas is to be
used. in a steam boiler or other furnace for heating purposes, it is
conducted directly from the last-named vessel to the said furnace; but
if it is to be used for illuminating purposes it will be conducted into a
gas holder.
In many instances it is impracticable to utilize the gases produced
in manufacturing or industrial processes for heating or illuminating
purposes, for instance in chemical and other works, where the gases.to

page_text: be removed are entirely or partially the products of combustion. I
therefore in these instances confine my Invention to the destruction or
annihilation of these gases or of their noxious properties. For this
purpose I first collect the foul gas in a vessel or receptacle, to which
if steam or other pressure is not available for the purpose, I connect a
fan or other blowing or draught producing apparatus. The aforesaid
condensing and purifying apparatus will not be required, but in some
cases it will be necessary to pass the gas or vapour through a vessel
containing hydrocarbon or other inflammable substance to render it
combustible. The gas or vapour is finally forced by the said fan or
blower into a furnace where it is consumed or rendered innocuous.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
(WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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 "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING FOUL OR NOXIOUS GASES AND VAPOURs,
TO PREVENT THEIR CONTAMINATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE, AND TO UTILIZE THEM
FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES," a communication to me from abroad by James
Turner, of Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, Merchant, upon

page_text: the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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
Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-
My said Invention is designed to afford the means for obviating the
danger and annoyance arising from the production of noxious and foul
smelling gases or vapours in the manufacture of tallow, lard, soap, and
the like, or from chemical works or from sewers, and other sources in
or near cities, towns, and other inhabited places.
Various attempts huve been made from time to time for the sup-
pression of the nuisance produced by such manufactories or works in
thickly populated neighbourhoods, but the result in most cases has been
simply the removal of the noxious vapours by means of lofty chimneys
from the place of their production, and their distribution over more
extended areas.
According to my Invention I collect the gas or vapour in a receptacle
of any suitable, kind, and conduct it therefrom by means of apparatus :
herein-after described to a furnace or fire-place, where it is when
practicable utilized for heating purposes, or it may be collected for use
as illuminating gas; but where this utilization is not practicable, it is
destroyed or deprived of its noxious properties by combustion with other
materials.
1
In the application of my Invention in works for rendering lard or
tallow and the like, I provide the rendering tank with a pipe leading to
a condenser of any suitable construction, but preferably with a coil.
From this condenser a waste pipe extends to the drains, the said pipe
being bent to form a water seal or trap. The said condenser is also a
provided with a pipe for conveying the gas or vapour to a purifier filled

page_text: with lime or other suitable purifying agent. From this purifier a pipe
extends to a vessel filled, or partially filled, with gasoline or other
hydrocarbon liquid, through which the foul gas or vapour is forced by
the pressure in the aforesaid tank. This hydrocarbon vessel is con-
structed with division plates or passages, so arranged that the gas must
pass in small streams through the hydrocarbon liquid, and will thereby
be charged or impregnated with carbon. If this gas is to be used in a
steam boiler or other furnace for heating purposes it is conducted
directly from the last named vessel to the said furnace; but if it is to be
used for illuminating purposes it will be conducted into a gas holder.
I do not limit myself to any particular form or arrangement of
apparatus, but that shown in the Drawing illustrates the manner in
which my said Invention is carried into practice.
A is a steam rendering tank or other suitable receptacle for the
substance to be treated, constructed in the usual manner; B is a
condenser containing water; C is a purifier; D is a gasometer which
is to be of any suitable size depending on the quantity of gas to be
stored therein.
From the top of the tank A a tube a passes through the condenser B,
being coiled therein. After leaving the condenser this tube a may be
carried down to a sewer and provided with a trap c, which has sufficient
capacity to prevent any material portion of the gas from escaping with
the water of condensation as it might do, as the offal is treated under
pressure, in which event this pressuro is as liable to force the gas
through the pipe a as the pipe d were it not for the column of water
held in the trap c.
The moisture, gases, and other volatile matters which are formed while
the substances in A are being rendered or treated, pass into the tube a
and through or into the coil in the condenser, and there the moisture
is condensed and passes off through the tube a'; but the gas, the
moisture having been separated therefrom, will pass into the tube d,
and be conducted into the purifier C, and from this purifier through the
pipe or tube e it will be conveyed into the gasometer, in which should
be constantly stored a quantity of gasoline or other suitable carbureting
material; and the gas passing up through the gasoline becomes
carbureted and suitable for illuminating purposes, and if not wanted for
this
purpose it can be conveyed to the furnace and consumed.

page_text: Lime or other suitable material is to be used in the purifier for
absorbing or extracting the carbonic acid gas. For the purpose of
preventing the forcing of moisture into and through the tube d, I use a
small close chamber 6, into which the gas first passes from a, the tube
d entering at the top of b; if the tube d is large this chamber will not 5
be necessary. The condenser may be open at the top.
For illuminating purposes the gas should be thoroughly distributed
through the gasoline, and for this purpose it may be introduced through
a number of small perforations.
When the moisture has been separated from these gases they can be 1
burned in a fire without being carbureted; but in this condition they
are valueless for illuminating purposes and have but little value for
heating purposes, hence it is better to complete the process as described
and utilize the gases more perfectly.
The water of condensation is nearly odorless, and having been cooled 1
will not be offensive. Nearly all of the odors are stored up in the gases,
and when these escape into the air they are carried great distances and
the odors are very offensive.
By my process these odors are suppressed and destroyed, no odor
arising from the combustion; at the same time the gases which have 2
heretofore been wasted and are large in quantity can be rendered
valuable.
In many instances it is impracticable to utilize the gases produced
in manufacturing or industrial processes for heating or illuminating
purposes, for instance in chemical and other works, where the gases to 2
be removed are entirely or partially the products of combustion, I
therefore in these instances confine my Invention to the destruction or
annihilation of these gases or of their noxious properties. For this
purpose I first collect the foul gas in a vessel or receptacle, to which, if
steam or other pressure is not available for the purpose, I connect a fan 3
or other blowing or draught producing apparatus. The aforesaid con-
densing and purifying apparatus will not be required, but in some cases
it will be necessary to pass the gas or vapour through a vessel containing
hydrocarbon or other inflammable substance to render it combustible.
The gas or vapour is finally forced by the said fan or blower into a 3
furnace, where it is consumed or rendered innocuous,

page_text: Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. The method of suppressing the offensive odors arising from
rendering or treating animal substances, and utilizing the gases
therefrom, by separating the said gases from the moisture and car-
bureting the same, as above specified.
Second. The apparatus consisting of the various parts shewn in the
Drawing, combined and arranged in the proper manner for carrying
into practice my improved process, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of December in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
JAB. EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
WM. ROBT. LAKE.
(L.S.)