IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS BURNERS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Beaumont Leeson, of Greenwich, in the County
of Kent, M.D., for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS BURNERS."
Sealed the 22nd March 1854, and dated the 11th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Beaumont Leeson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th January 1854.
I, HENRY BEAUMONT LEESON, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, M.D.,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS
BURNERS" to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obtain a more convenient means of com-
bining air with gas in a gas burner. For this purpose the burner is constructed
with numerous small passages at the upper part where the gas mixed with air
is burned. The burner is hollow, and the lower part is open, but capable of
being closed more or less by a conical or other suitable form of valve on the
tube which introduces the gas into the hollow chamber of the burner, and the
burner is made capable by means of a screw of rising or falling, so as to
regulate the quantity of air which is permitted to flow into the hollow chamber
of the burner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Beaumont Leeson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BEAUMONT LEESON, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, M.D., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
. One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Beaumont Leeson, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Beaumont Leeson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henry Beaumont Leeson, 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
IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS BURNERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Henry Beaumont Leeson, by an instrument in writing under ny
hand and seal, 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 Henry Beaumont Leeson, 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 thereof (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to obtain a more convenient means of com-
bining air with gas in a gas burner. For this purpose the burner is constructed
with numerous small passages at the upper part, where the gas mixed
with air is burned. The burner is hollow, and the lower part is open, but
capable of being closed more or less by a conical or other suitable form of
valve on the tube which introduces the gas into the hollow chamber of the
burner, and the burner is made capable by means of a screw of rising or
falling, so as to regulate the quantity of air which is permitted to flow into the
hollow chamber of the burner.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to

page_text: describe the manner of performing the same. I will, however, first remark
that when gas is burned for the purpose of producing light, it is necessary that
a certain amount of its constituent carbon remain unburnt, that is, the whole
of the carbon must not enter into combination with oxygen. Imperfect com-
bustion and a limited supply of atmospheric air is, therefore, necessary for the
purpose of illumination. When, on the contrary, the greatest amount of heat
is to be obtained from the combustion of the gas, the whole of the carbon as well
as other constituents must unite with oxygen, and sufficient air must be ad-
mitted for that purpose. For the purpose then of obtaining the greatest heat,
just sufficient air should be admitted into the mixing chamber of the burner
by the valve to remove all white light from the flame. If less than this be
introduced there will be a waste of gas; if more, a waste of heat by the cooling
due to the superfluous air. Much of the economy and utility of my Invention
depends on the relative areas of the apertures and supplying pipes. I find
when air is mixed with gas in sufficient quantity to insure perfect combustion,
the bulk of the mixed gas is increased to about fifty times its volume, and
requires, therefore, a proportionate outlet. Thus, if the apertures for the
admission of the gas into the mixing chamber be one-twelfth of an inch,
the jets or burners should be formed either with fifty holes one-twelfth of an
inch diameter, or with a proportionate larger number of smaller apertures. I
find also that the area of pipe conducting the gas from the mixing chamber of
the burner to the burner must in this case be about three-quarters of an inch
internal diameter. If the outlets be not sufficient the gas will ignite when a
light is held to the lower part of the chamber where air is admitted; indeed,
the gas in that case will frequently catch fire at this part. If when the air
valve is fully open the gas flame still contains a portion of white light, it shows
either that too much gas has been admitted to the mixing chamber for the
size of the jets or burners, and the flow of gas must be lessened by screwing
in the plug by which the size of opening from the gas pipe is regulated, or it
may proceed from the want of a sufficient heat at the burner to insure the
requisite flow of air with the gas. A single chamber about two inches diameter
is supplied with gas through a hole one-twelfth of an inch diameter, and this
is sufficient to supply four or five feet of pipe drilled with holes one-sixteenth
of an inch diameter, and having about fifty holes in twenty-one inches of
length, hence it is sufficient for an ordinary roasting chamber. When the gas
is burnt from apertures in a tube or pipe, it will be found useful to slightly
elevate the extreme portion of the pipe, which will facilitate the equal distri-
bution of the flame. I do not limit myself to these precise proportions,

page_text: inasmuch as the pressures at which gas is delivered, and the quality of the
gas itself will
vary, but I have given the above particulars as useful information
to enable a workman to follow out my Invention..
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, shows a section of a burner regulated by a conical valve; Figure
2, shows a plan; Figure 3, a side view; and Figure 4, a section of an appa-
ratus arranged with three burners and one mixing chamber, according to my
Invention; Figure 5, is a section of another arrangement where there is but
one burner over the mixing chamber, and there is an exterior chamber which
I sometimes find convenient for the purpose of more thoroughly mixing the
gas and air which then burns, as shewn in the Drawing. And it is desirable
to remark, that by the peculiar combination of parts constituting my Invention,
all the air necessary for the combustion of the gas employed is first mixed with
the gas in the mixing chamber of the burner or burners; hence the. burners
according to my Invention do not require that the lower part of the apparatus
or chamber in which the burning takes place should have openings, or be open
for the passage of air upwards to support combustion, and this is important
as such unnecessary air tends to cool the object to be heated. Figure 6, shows
an arrangement where the burner is a tube perforated with holes communicating
with a mixing chamber, such as before referred to; in this case there is a bar to
aid in keeping the apparatus or burner hot; Figure 7, shows a plan of a circular
concentric ring burner in communication with a mixing chamber; Figure 8,
shows a side view of a series of cylindrical burners fixed to a tube and in com-
munication with a mixing chamber. The nature of these parts being clearly
shewn in the Drawing, it will not be requisite to describe them further, and I
would state that the peculiarity of my apparatus is chiefly to be found in the
combination of the parts constituting the mixing chamber, and that the form
of the burner may be varied. I prefer in all cases that the gas supplying tube
should have but one outlet, and that the opening of such outlet should be
regulated by a screw plug, as shown either at the top or other convenient part
of the supply tube: The shape of the mixing chamber may be varied, but I
prefer them to be of the form shown, and in each case it is made with a valve
to adjust the quantity of air passing into it. The following references apply
to each of the Figures. A, the pipe for the introduction of gas to be connected
to the usual supply cock; D, the small orifice for the exit of gas into the
chamber regulated by a screw to close, or open the aperture; B, the chamber
in which the mixture of air and gas, takes place; C a second chamber for the

page_text: further mixing of the gas which enters therein by holes from the chamber B;
E, the valve which regulates the entrance of the air; F, the holes or jets
where the gas is inflamed, having a button or bar of metal "G to raise the
burner to a proper temperature.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
combined apparatus herein shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Beaumont Leeson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four..
Witness,
FRED HARRIS.
HENRY BEAUMONT LEESON. (L.S.)