IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDROCARBON GAS APPARATUSSES.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Ferdinand Schüssler, Engineer, in the City
of Hamburg, Germany, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HYDROCARBON GAS APPARATUSSES.
"
Scaled the 26th November 1875, and dated the 1st June 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carl Ferdinand
Schüssler at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 1st June 1875.
I, CARL FERDINAND SCHÜSSLER, Engineer, in the City of Hamburg,
Germany, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN HYDROCARBON GAS APPARATUSSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to hydrocarbon gas apparatusses in which
atmospheric air is carburetted and furnished with the illuminating power
of common coal gas.
The apparatus consists of a closed reservoir made of sheet copper or
other suitable material within which a coiled metal tube is placed.
This reservoir is partly charged with the hydrocarbon, the temperature

page_text: of which can be regulated and heightened by hot water which circulates
from a basin (heated by a flame or stove) outside a reservoir in a com-
partment placed at the bottom of the same. On one side of the coiled
tube within the reservoir a small scoop wheel is arranged which can be
turned from outside the apparatus by clockwork or other motive power.
When the apparatus is at work this wheel lifts the hydrocarbon liquid
within the reservoir from its surface to the top of the reservoir and
discharges it thero into a small basin, from whence it runs into the top
end of the coiled tube, and passing through the latter downwards
reaches again the bottom of the reservoir. Thus during the operation
a continual current of hydrocarbon passes through the coiled tube from
the top to the bottom end, and it is this stream of liquid against which
the atmospheric air is pressed, and passing the same in the reversed
direction absorbs the vapours of the carburetting liquid. The air so
impregnated with hydrocarbon vapour can be led directly to the burners
and be used like common coal gas for illuminating purposes.
The pressure of the atmospheric air is attained by a set of bellows
moved by mechanical power, which press the air into an air vessel
suitably connected with the coiled tube, and which is used as a regulator
for a constant and normal pressure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Carl Ferdinand Schüssler in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CARL
FERDINAND SCHÜSSLER, Engineer, in the City of Hamburg, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First 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 Carl Ferdinand Schüssler, Her special
license that I, the said Carl Ferdinand Schüssler, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Carl Ferdinand
Schüssler, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any

page_text: 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDROCARBON GAS APPARATUSES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Carl Ferdinand Schüssler, 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 Carl Ferdinand Schüssler, do hereby
declare the naturo 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, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to an apparatus for impregnating atmospheric
air with hydrocarbon, or in other words, for carburetting said air, thereby
producing an economical and powerful illuminating gas.
The Invention consists in a novel construction of the apparatus, in
which is combined a close receptacle for the hydrocarbon liquid, a scoop,
wheel, or lifter for discharging the latter into a coiled pipe or circulating
duct down which the liquid passes or returns, and means for forcing a
; current of atmospheric air under pressure into and through the coiled
pipe in a reverse direction to the flow of the liquid through said pipe,
whereby the air absorbs the vapours of the liquid in the coil, and
the required gas is accordingly produced.
The Invention also consists in a combination with the carburetter of
) a hot water apparatus for heating the hydrocarbon liquid to facilitato
the production of the gas.
Figures 1 and 2 represent vertical sections of the apparatus mainly on
the lines x, x, and y, y, that is, in planes at right angles to each other;
and Figure 3, a plan of the same with the top and gas receiver
5 removed.
A is a closed vessel or rescrvoir for receiving the bydrocarbon liquid
through a nozzle at top till it reaches a level indicated by the letter b.

page_text: This reservoir may be made of sheet copper or other suitable material,
and be placed in a cupboard or on a stand or shelf. Underneath this
reservoir A is a close chamber or compartment B, forming as it were a
hollow bottom to the reservoir, and which is in communication by
upper and lower pipes c, d, with a water vessel C that is heated in any
suitable manner, as for instance, by a burner m arranged below it. The
hot water from the vessel C circulates by the pipes c, d, through
the chamber B for the purpose of raising the temperature of the hydro-
carbon liquid or fluid in the reservoir A, and thereby facilitating the
production of the gas. K is a scoop wheel or lifter arranged within the
reservoir A at one side and fast to a shaft o which passes through a
stuffing box in the side of the reservoir, and is revolved or set in motion
by clockwork or other motive power. By means of this scoop wheel K
the hydrocarbon liquid is lifted within the reservoir A, that is, from the
lower part to the upper portion thereof, and is delivered into a trough or
basin D, whence it flows through a coil E, entering the latter at its top
and ultimately passing out at its bottom within the lower portion of the
reservoir A, thus returning the lifted liquid to the main body of the
liquid in the reservoir. In this way a continuous current of hydro-
carbon liquid is passed through the coiled tube from the top to the
bottom, and it is this stream of liquid with which the atmospheric air to
be carburetted is brought in contact, said air being introduced under
pressure or forced through the coil in an upward or reverso direction to
the flow of the liquid through the coil. The air thus absorbs the
vapours of the carburetting liquid, and may be passed off into a
receiver G, whence it passes to the burners. The atmospheric air is
forced or introduced under pressure to the coil E at or near its bottom
by means of a pipe S from an air vessel R, which latter also serves as a
regulator of the pressure, and into which the air is forced by means of
bellows T set in motion by a crank shaft which is actuated by the clock-
work that drives the scoop wheel K, or by any other motive power.
Any other blower or blowers may be substituted for the bellows. The
atmospheric air rises through the pipo S from the vessel or pressure
regulator R to the coil E.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
Firstly. The combination of appliances forming an apparatus in which

page_text: the production of hydrocarbon gas can be effected, substantially as
herein-before described and shown.
Secondly. The combination of the hydrocarbon reservoir A provided
with a lifting wheel K for elevating the hydrocarbon fluid, the coiled
tube E passing through the reservoir and through the heating chamber B,
and the feed water heater C communicating therewith by means of the
pipes c, d, and the blast apparatus R, whereby the hydrocarbon fluid
and air are passed in opposite directions through the tube and heated
during their passage, as hercin described and as shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Carl Ferdinand Schüssler, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of
November, One thousand cight hundred and soventy-five.
CARL FERDINAND SCHÜSSLER. (L.S.)