IMPROVED APPA- RATUS FOR SUPPLYING WITH A CONSTANT AND REGULAR PRESSURE AIR TO BURNERS FOR CONSUMING OR BURNING HYDROCARBONS FOR ILLUMINATING PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward John Cowling Welch, of Harrow, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPA-
RATUS FOR SUPPLYING WITH A CONSTANT AND REGULAR PRESSURE AIR TO
BURNERS FOR CONSUMING OR BURNING HYDROCARBONS FOR ILLUMINATING
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 1st August 1865, and dated the 13th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward John Cowling
Welch at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th February 1865.
I, EDWARD JOHN COWLING WELCH, of Harrow, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING WITH A CONSTANT AND REGULAR PRESSURE AIR TO
BURNERS FOR CONSUMING OR BURNING HYDROCARBONS FOR ILLUMINATING PURPOSES,"
to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to cause a constant stream of air at an
uniform pressure to pass through a vessel containing any suitable liquid hydro-
carbon for the purpose of producing a combustible vapour capable of being
burned or consumed in burners in the same way as ordinary gas.
This object has hitherto been effected or attempted so to be, by enclosing a
large body of air in a capacious vessel like an ordinary gasholder and causing
the holder by its weight to force the air contained therein through pipes, and
through the carburetting vessel to the burner.

page_text: This apparatus is cumbrous, expensive, and not easy of management by
inexperienced persons.
The apparatus which forms the subject of the present Invention is on the
contrary compact in construction, inexpensive, and as easy of management as
an ordinary kitchen clock.
The apparatus consists principally of a pair of inverted drums or cylinders
open at their bottom ends, and suspended from chains connected to a rocking
lever, so that they may balance each other. These inverted drums are mounted
and work in vessels containing water, so that an air-tight joint is obtained, and
they are provided as in gas holders with entrance and exit tubes, furnished
with valves made of thin sheet india-rubber, so that they will work with little
pressure. A vibrating motion is communicated to the rocking lever, and an
up-and-down motion is thereby imparted to the inverted drums, which are thus
made alternately to draw in the air as they ascend, and expel it as they
descend, and force it into another reservoir from which it passes to the car-
buretting vessel, and from thence to the burners. The rocking lever may be
actuated by any suitable motive power, but I have found a clock movement
and weight is the most convenient, simple and effective. It will be under-
stood that the moving drums will alternately on their descent force the air
into the intermediate reservoir and that any desired pressure may be put upon
this for the purpose of forcing the air through the pipes and carburetting
vessel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward John Cowling Welch in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th August 1865.
то ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EDWARD JOHN COWLING WELCH, of Harrow, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward John Cowling Welch, Her special licence that I, the
said Edward John Cowling Welch, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Edward John Cowling Welch, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,

page_text: 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING WITH A
CONSTANT AND REGULAR PRESSURE AIR TO BURNERS FOR CONSUMING AND BURNING
HYDROCARBONS FOR ILLUMINATING PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edward John Cowling Welch, 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 Edward John Cowling Welch, 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 Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
The object of my Invention is to cause a constant stream of air at an
uniform pressure to pass through a vessel containing any suitable liquid bydro-
carbon, for the purpose of producing a combustible vapour capable of being
burned or consumed in burners in the same way as ordinary gas.,
This object has hitherto been effected or attempted so to be, by enclosing a
large body of air in a capacious vessel like an ordinary gasholder, and causing
the holder by its weight to force the air contained therein through pipes, and
through the carburetting vessel to the burner.
This apparatus is cumbrous, expensive, and not easy of management by
inexperienced persons.
The apparatus which forms the subject of the present Invention is on the
contrary compact in construction, inexpensive, and as easy of management as
an ordinary kitchen clock.
My Invention is shown in the accompanying Drawing in which Fig. 1 repre-
sents a sectional elevation of the apparatus complete; Fig. 2 is a plan view
of the same; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the carburetting vessel
and air holder.
The apparatus consists of a pair of pumps or exhausters each of which is
formed of a drum a, made either of tin or other metal and closed air-tight at
the top, and down the centre of the drum a is a metal tube b, passing a few
inches above the top. The use of this tube will hereafter be explained.

page_text: This drum is placed "open end downwards" into another vessel c of similar
form, but a few inches larger in diameter, this is called the tank or reservoir,
and is provided with a central iron rod d, which passes up the tube b in the
other vessel as seen at Fig. 1. This tube is closed at the top and bas there
a strong hook or eye e. Inside the "tank" or "reservoir," are two tubes f and g
passing from the bottom to the top; one of these tubes f is open at the top
and the other, g, has a small flat brass plate on it cut out for the tube to pass
through, and is made to carry a valve formed of a small piece of vulcanized
india-rubber, about one-sixteenth of an inch thick, which covers the mouth of
of the pipe, and acts as a valve which opens outwards. The tube g with the
valve at top is open at the bottom to admit air from the outside, while the
tube f, which is open at top is connected at bottom by a horizontal pipe to
the valve box h. The other drum is provided with pipes and valves in a
similar manner, and the pipes f, f, from each of the drums terminate in the
valve box h, where they are provided with india-rubber valves às shewn in the
detached sectional view, Fig. 4; an exit pipe i communicates with a receiver j.
These two drums are made to balance each other, and are supported by means
of chains from arcs at the ends of a vibrating lever k, which may be either
worked by a lever on the centre pin so that the drums are moved alternately
up and down, or by means of a connecting rod jointed at its lower end to a
crank, which is driven by the clockwork m, or by any other prime mover.
The tanks c in which the drums work, are filled with water to within an inch
of the tops of the tubes and 9. It will, therefore, be seen that when the
apparatus is in action one drum will ascend as the other descends. The
ascending one draws in air through the upright pipe g and through the valve
at its upper end into the interior of the drum, while the other on descending
will force the air it already contains out through the open tube through the
valve which belongs to it in the valve box h. The air will pass from thence
through the exit pipe i at top of the box to an air holder or "regulator "j. This
air holder is also provided with two tubes i and i', but both are open inside
at top. The one i receives the air from the valve box h, the other conveys
it to the supply pipe n which conducts the air wherever it is needed. The
moveable drum of the air holder may be provided with suitable cords, pulleys,
cross bars, &c., as shewn in the Drawing.
the weight to whatever may be needed.
the pressure of the air which is to be
regulated by means of what is termed the governor, which consists of a cock o
in the supply pipe i from the valve box h. This cock is governed by a con-
necting rod
P, which works the short lever o' and is actuated by the vibrating
These are fixed above so as to regulate
This part of the apparatus regulates
always the same, the supply being

page_text: levor q, the lover 9 is actuated by the end of a tubular rod r, which passes
through a guide or hole in the cross bars so that when the air holder is full
the drum will raise the lever q, and by means of the connecting rod and
cock o will cut off the admission of air from the pumps, the descending-one
of which not being able to continue its descent by reason of its exit being
closed the whole machine will be stopped until some of the air escapes from
the air holder, through the pipe n, and thus allows the drums to descend. The
clock work is actuated by a weight, or by a spring, but it will not have power
to raise the weight of tho ascending drum when the counterbalance weight of
the descending one is taken off. The machine will consequently stop or rather
will only movo so fast as tho air in the air holder by being consumed or used
up allows the lever q to descend and again open the "governor cock" o.
Having now described my Invention of improved apparatus for supplying
with a constant and regular pressure air to burners for consuming or burning
hydrocarbons for illuminating purposes, and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters
Patent as aforesaid, supplying air to burners for consuming or burning hydro-
carbons by means of an apparatus, such as that herein set forth, and actuated by
any suitable mechanism so that the air may be drawn in and forced through the
carburetting vessel in order to take up and convey to the burner a portion of
the volatile bydrocarbon to be burned as above shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I the said Edward John Cowling Welch, have bere-
unto set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
EDWARD WELCH. (L.S.)