IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH GAS HOLDERS
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Andrew Fleming at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 7th September 1881.
ANDREW FLEMING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH GAS HOLDERS."
This Invention relates to certain improvements in or connected with gas holders,
and has for its objects to obviate the outward radiation of heat from the sides-and
crown or top of such holders, and consequent deterioration of the quality of the gas
in cold weather or during frost, and also to prevent the accumulation of snow
on the roof, and resulting liability to accident from unusual weight of the
structure.
The Invention consists essentially in forming the sides or sides and crown or top
parts of gas holders with jackets or double casings, the spaces between the inner
and outer shells being traversed by heated air or filled with a suitable non-
conducting composition.
In a modification in which the main objects of the Invention are secured, a thin
and light outer shell or casing is fitted round the sides and over the crown of the
gas holder with a narrow channel or space between the holder and outer casing,
the latter being kept at a uniform distance from the former by means of strips of
metal, wood, or other suitable material, which also form baffle plates to cause the
beated air which is blown into this jacket space to traverse in a channel or series
of channels all round the sides and crown of the gas holder.
The heated air may be blown into the jacket space through a number of
openings round the holder, and ultimately escape by one or more outlet openings
at the top; and the air is preferably heated by the waste heat from retort furnaces
or other furnaces connected with the gas producing apparatus; or the hot air and
gaseous fumes escaping as waste from such furnaces may be used, and be blown in
by a "Root's" blower or fau. The outer shell of the casing or jacket may be
formed of sheet metal, covered also for retention of heat by a non-conducting
substance or composition; or it may be altogether formed of wood felting or other
non-conducting material, hooped or otherwise fixed together and attached to the
holder, and steam or hot water instead of hot air may be injected into the jacket
space round the holder or through pipes fitted within the jacket.

page_text: In other modifications of the Invention the gas holder is simply covered round
the sides and crown with a non-conducting substance or composition, such covering
or coating being rendered impervious to water, and retained by means of wire-
cloth, canvas, or strips or bands of binding material fixed at intervals to the shell of
the gas holder. Any of the following .non-conducting substances or compositions
will be found suitable for the purpose, viz., hair felting, kamptulicom, or linoleum
cements, wood, india-rubber, gutta-percha, cork, or bark of trees, wood, or other
fibrous material, wood ashes, loams, soils, or sands, or compositions of which any of
these substances form ingredients.
When a coating or covering of non-conducting material is used to cover the shell
of the gas holder or is fitted in between the shells of a jacket space round the
holder, the internal heat will be retained, and the injurious action of frost or cold
in condensing and reducing the quality of the gas will be obviated or lessened; but
when a jacket space is formed round the sides and crown of the holder the further
advantage will be obtained that snow falling on the crown or sides will be.melted
as it falls instead of accumulating and breaking down, twisting or injuring the
holder and its supporting gearing, while the temperature of the air blown into the
jacket space can be regulated so as in general to improve the quality of the gas
contained by the holder. The quality of the coal used in making illuminating gas
during cold weather may thus be reduced without deterioration of the quality of
the gas supplied to the consumer.