Year: 1839

page_text: LONDON:
PRINTED BY GEORGE E. EYRE AND WILLIAM SPOTTISWCODE.
PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELENT MAJESTY :
PUBLISHED AT THE GREAT SEAL PATENT OFFICE,
25, SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS, HOLBORN.

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
OLIVER MANBY, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of May, in the second year of Her reign, did give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Oliver Manby, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Edward Oliver Manby, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Edward Oliver
Manby, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Inven-
tion of "A NEW METHOD OF MANUFACTURING GAS FOR THE GENERAL PURPOSES OF
ILLUMINATION;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that I, the said Edward Oliver Manby, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in
Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Oliver Manby, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
First, the new method of manufacturing gas for the purposes of illumina-
tion consists in passing steam into a retort or closed vessel containing
anthracite or stone coal, charcoal, coke, or bituminous coal, heated as herein-
after mentioned, and thereby obtaining a gas or combination of gases
applicable to the purposes of illumination.
Second, the manner in which the same may be performed will be more
particularly described by referring to the Drawing annexed. A cylindrical
retort (a), about eight or ten inches in diameter, placed vertically, and with
its lower end curved outwards, to facilitate the discharging its contents; this
end is furnished with a lid or cover, fitted in the usual way in which covers
are fitted to gas retorts; the upper end thrown back in the contrary direction
forms a funnel or hopper (6), also furnished with a lid, and which serves both
for feeding the retort or vessel at each renewal of the operation, and for
supplying the material and keeping the body of the retort full during the
progress of the generation of gas. Immediately over the centre of the retort
is a third opening c, also furnished with a lid, under which is a small box or
receptacle, which, in its lower part, communicates with the retort by an
aperture sufficiently large to admit the emission pipe d, and in the front (or
side opposite the hopper) communicates with the hydraulic cylinder (h), which
is similar to that used in the common gas apparatus with an ordinary gas-
holder or gasometer. The emission pipe d is furnished at the top or upper end
with a blank flange, which rests on the lower part of the box just described,
over the centre of the retort, and is held fast there by means of a tripod,
which is pressed down by the lid. This pipe is perforated with small holes,
about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, and beginning from the lower end,
which is closed or plugged, up to about twelve inches of the upper flanged end.
By this means no gas can escape from the retort into the gasholder but by
passing through the said pipe. The steam is supplied to each retort from a
boiler (k) by means of one main pipe e, from which a smaller pipe m leads to
each retort; this smaller pipe passes by the side of the fire, in which pipe the
steam becomes heated to a considerable temperature. This pipe is furnished
with a cork or valve f, from whence it enters the retort at the lower extremity
through the adinission pipe g. The retort is first heated to a lively red heat,
the same as for the distillation of gas from coals, then quickly charged with
the material to be used for producing gas, and the heat is continued the sanie

page_text: during the operation as is usual with the retorts in the common manufacture
of gas; the anthracite or other substances, when put into the retort, ought to
be in a state of fine division, not much exceeding in size that of a rough
powder. To facilitate the action of the steam, the anthracite or other sub-
stances are mixed with a mixture respectively consisting of one part of slacked.
lime to nine parts of silicious sand, and one part of clay, if the sand does not.
already contain clay in fit proportions. As this mixture is intended chiefly to
prevent the caking or hardening of the material in the retort, the proportions.
are not very important, and instead of the mixture, simple sea sand may be
used with equal effect. The quantity of this mixture or sea sand should be
increased with the encreasing quantity of hydrogen in comparison to the
carbon of the materials used for making gas; as, however, the mixture is not
intended to form the gas, no particular definite proportion is essential, but I
would recommend, for anthracite, about one-third of the above-mentioned
mixture, or sea sand; for bituminous coal, two parts of the said mixture or
sea sand to one of coal, and the other substances in proportion; some minutes
after the retort is charged and closed, the steam is let in; the quantity at first
let in must be very small, particularly when using anthracite or other matter
containing a large proportion of carbon. A small test burner (i) should be
employed, and if the illuminating power of the gas decreases, the quantity of
steam entering the retort should be lessened, as said before; the admission of
the steam is regulated by a cock or valve (f), and it is not necessary that the
pressure in the boiler should exceed four to five pounds per square inch. In
all cases when at work, the body of the retort ought to be kept full with the
material for gas making; and as soon as the carbonaceous contents are so far
sunk down as to leave the hopper or funnel empty, it ought to be filled
immediately with fresh materials, particularly when using those which contain
the largest proportion of carbon to the smallest of hydrogen; when the
quantity of refuse in the retort becomes so great as materially to interfere with
the supply of fresh material, the charge must be withdrawn. When bitu-
minous coal is used, if much tar shews itself at the test burner or elsewhere,
the quantity of the steam must be encreased as well as the heat, as the
greatest part of the generated tar in bituminous materials ought to form
under the co-operation of steam, gas or gases having illuminating power. The
gas may be purified in the usual manner, but if the pyrites and other parts
apparently containing sulphur be separated from the anthracite, and the purer
anthracite be used, or if charcoal be used, the gas generated will require little
or no purification.
I have thus described the apparatus found convenient in carrying into

page_text: effect my Invention, but it is obvious that the principle of that Invention
does not depend on the particular form, size, or position of the retorts or
closed vessels in which the gas is generated, or of the boilers supplying
the steam, or of the other apparatus, these may be varied to a very great extent
at pleasure, and must be proportioned in size to the quantity of intended
gas
to be made. That which I claim as my Invention is the manufacturing of
gas for the purposes of illumination by passing steam into a retort or
closed vessel containing anthracite or stone coal, or culm, charcoal, coke, or
bituminous coal heated to the temperature herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Oliver Manby, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-nine.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid Edward Oliver Manby came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.