IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS RETORT LIDS AND MOUTH PIECES AND MACHINERY FOR LUTING THE SAME
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Somerville, Gas Engineer of the Gas
Works in the City of Dublin, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GAS RETORT LIDS AND MOUTH PIECES AND MACHINERY FOR LUTING THE
SAME."
Sealed the 23rd August 1872, and dated the 14th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Somerville at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th March 1872.
I, JOHN SOMERVILLE, Gas Engineer of the Gas Works in the City of
Dublin, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "-IM-
PROVEMENTS IN GAS RETORT LIDS AND MOUTH PIECES AND MACHINERY FOR LUTING
THE SAME," to be as follows:-
:—
This Invention has for its object the substitution of machinery worked
by any convenient power for hand labour as now employed for luting
the lids or doors of gas retorts, and although the apparatus may be

page_text: made separate and distinct, it is preferred to be used in conjunction
with machinery for charging and drawing retorts.
In order that machinery may be made available for luting the lids
are 'made with a groove on or near their circumference, the groove
fitting on to a corresponding projection from the face of the mouth piece
cast or formed thereon with that intention, against which the lid is
made to press by the ordinary cross bar and screw or other suitable
means, the cross bar being by preference, but not necessarily, hinged on
one side. The lid may be made of cast or wrought iron, but it is
preferred to use wrought-iron plate and stamp or press them into the
requisite form. To the lid is attached 'a band which terminates in lugs
or projections and serves to support the lid in its place. Handles are
also fixed thereto, and advantage is taken of these to retain the lid in
position on the luting machine, which consists of a platform of iron or
other material with a water tank fixed in it at the side, end, or other
convenient position and elevation. On the platform are erected one or
more pug mills or cylindrical vessels, the bottom of them being raised
a little above it. Each of the mills is furnished with a vertical shaft
working in a suitable stuffing box and has one or more blades of peculiar
shape fixed to it. These blades are made to revolve by means of gearing
attached to the shaft, motion being imparted to it from the main shaft
of a steam or other engine, and is provided with clutches or other
suitable appliance for throwing in and out of gear. In connection with
the same gearing or by independent gearing, and at a convenient
height above the platform, one or more discs are arranged and made to
revolve.
The mills having been charged with suitable luting materials and
Brought by their action into proper condition, the apparatus is set in
motion and employed as follows:-The lids when taken off the mouth
pieces should be allowed to cool, they are then to be put upon the-discs,
attached by the handles before mentioned, and a scraper applied to
remove the old and dry luting, which may be returned to the mill, and
by trituration with additional materials be rendered again fit for use.
The lids being cleaned a valve or tap to the mill is opened and a
stream or quantity of luting is delivered on to each lid in the course of
its revolution in suitable thickness and in the 'groove before described,
the operation being' completed by the action of a presser which presses
and smooths down the luting, so as to make it fitting for use. The

page_text: lids may then be removed and laid by or at once put upon the mouth
pieces.
The apparatus may be made stationary, or it may be attached to
drawing and charging machinery, or it may be made to travel along a
tram or other way by means of a small engine erected on the platform
before referred to.
By modifying the details of the machine lids as at present made may
be luted thereby, but it is desirable to have the lids specially adapted to
it as described in this Specification.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Somerville in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SOMERVILLE, Gas Engineer of the Gas Works in the City of Dublin,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Somerville, Her special licence that I,
the said John Somerville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Somerville, 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 RETORT LIDS AND
MOUTH PIECES AND MACHINERY FOR LUTING THE SAME," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Somerville, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Somerville, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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
Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
This Invention has for its object the substitution of machinery worked
by any convenient power for hand labour as now employed for luting
the lids or doors of gas retorts, and although the apparatus may be
made separate and distinct it is preferred to be used in conjunction with
machinery for charging and drawing retorts.
In order that machinery may be made available for luting, the lids
are made with a groove on or near their circumference, the groove fitting
on to a corresponding projection from the face of the mouth piece cast
or formed thereon with that intention, against which the lid is made to
press by the ordinary cross bar and screw or other suitable means, the
cross bar being by preference, but not necessarily, hinged on one side.
The lid may be made of cast or wrought iron, but it is preferred to use
wrought-iron plate, and stamp or press them into the requisite form. To
the lid is attached a, band which terminates in lugs or projections and
serves to support the lid in its place. Handles are also fixed thereto,
and advantage is taken of these to retain the lid in position on the
luting machine, which consists of a platform of iron or other material
with a water tank fixed in it at the side, end, or other convenient
position and elevation. On the platform are erected one or more pug
mills or cylindrical vessels, the bottom of them being raised a little
above it. Each of the mills is furnished with a vertical shaft, which is
supported by a collar above and works in a step, collar, or seat in the
platform below, the orifice in the bottom of the mill through which the
shaft passes being furnished with a suitable stuffing box to prevent the
material with which the mill is charged from escaping. The shaft has
attached to it within the mill a number of blades set at an inclination
to each other and to the vertical shaft. Alternating with these blades
are other flat blades furnished with long teeth, as will be observed in the
Drawing. Motion is imparted to the shaft by suitable gearing in con-

page_text: nection with the main shaft supplying the power, clutches or other
appropriate appliances being provided for throwing it in or out of gear.
At the bottom of the mill and on opposite sides are fixed two cylinders
placed horizontally, one end of each having a tap or spout-like termina-
tion. Each of the cylinders is furnished with a shaft which passes
through it, and to one end of the shaft is keyed a mitre wheel which
gears into another mitre wheel fastened to the upright shaft that passes
through the mill. Clutches are provided for throwing these wheels also
in and out of gear. Within each cylinder the shaft has an archimedian
or endless screw of nearly the same diameter as the cylinder. On
opposite sides and below the mill rise two short shafts, which work in
suitable collars in the platform, and are supported above by passing
through a frame for that purpose. These shafts are made to revolve
through the intervention of gearing connected with the vertical mill
shaft before alluded to. At the top of the short shafts a disc is fastened,
which has in its centre a depression formed to receive a corresponding
clutch-like projection fixed in the centre of the lid. The disc may also
be furnished with a rim, on the edge of which notches or indents are cut
to receive the handles of the lids and thus retain them in a proper
position during their revolution. Attached to the platform are two
standards, cach of which rise a little above the height of the lid
when placed on the disc. At the top of each standard are pivotted
two pieces of metal, one fashioned into a scraper (corresponding in
form to the groove in the lid) to remove the old and dry luting, and
the other is formed into a presser to press and smooth down the luting
in the groove of the lid as the luting material issues from the spout of
the mill.
In order that the foregoing may be more readily understood Drawings
are attached hereto, of which the following is a description:-Fig. 1 is
an elevation of the retort lid and mouth piece, one half marked A
exhibiting the lid, and the other half marked B showing the mouth
piece; Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of both lid and mouth piece.
In Fig. 1C is the strap terminating in handles, and D the clutch-like
projection in the centre of the lid before mentioned. In Fig. 2 the
form of groove preferred is seen at the points E, E. Fig. 3 is an eleva-
tion of the luting machine, a part of it being in section, and a part of
the mill F broken away to show the arrangement of the arms H,
H.
I is the main shaft which supplies the power from a steam or other

page_text: engine and communicates motion by means of the mitre wheels J and K
to the vertical mill shaft L. The shaft L in its turn conveys motion by
means of the toothed wheels M, N, O, to the short shafts P and Q,
whereon the disces R and S are fastened; T and U are two lids supported
by the discs R and S; V is the archimedian screw which propels the
luting material through the spout W on to the lid; X is a presser for
pressing and smoothing the luting material, and Y is a scraper for
removing the old luting which has become hard and dry.
a, a, a, are mitre wheels (with their attendant clutches b, b,) which
convey motion to the shaft and screw V; c, c, are clutches by which
the discs R and S are thrown in and out of action. The water tank
referred to previously is not shown on the Drawings, because water may
be obtained from another source and the tank dispensed with. Similar
letters indicate the same parts in the different views.
The mills having been charged with suitable luting materials are
brought by their action into proper condition, the apparatus is set in
motion and employed as follows:-The lid when taken off the mouth
pieces should be allowed to cool, it is then to be put upon one of the
discs and attached either by the centre clutch-like projection or by the
handles to the rim of the disc or by both, when the scraper Y should
be applied to remove the old luting, which may be returned to the mill
and by trituration with additional materials be rendered again fit for use.
The lid being cleaned a valve or tap attached to the spout W is opened,
or what is preferred is that the shaft carrying the screw V shall be put
in motion, whereupon a quantity of luting will be propelled through
the spout W, and delivered on to the lid in the course of its revolution
in suitable thickness and in the groove before described, the operation
being completed by the action of the presser X which smooths down
the luting so as to make it fitting for use. The lid may then be
removed and laid by or at once put upon the mouth piece.
The apparatus may be made stationary, or it may be attached to
drawing and charging machinery, or it may be made to travel along a
tram or other way by means of a small engine erected on the platform
before mentioned.
By modifying the details of the machine lids as at present made may
be luted thereby, but it is desirable to have the lids specially adapted to
it as described in this Specification.

page_text: Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of this
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be constructed
and used, I would observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have described or
referred to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of this Invention; but what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
Firstly. The construction and application of gas retort lids and mouth
picces, as herein-before described.
Secondly. The construction, application, and employment of machinery
as herein-before described for luting the lids of gas retorts.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Somerville, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
JOHN SOMERVILLE. (L.S.)