AN IMPROVED PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AND PURIFYING LIGHTING GAS."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Antoine Barde, of Paris, France, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AND
PURIFYING LIGHTING GAS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Antoine Barde
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th December 1860.
I, JOSEPH ANTOINE BARDE, of Paris, France, Gentleman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR
PRODUCING AND PURIFYING LIGHTING GAS," to be as follows:-
The object of the Invention is to offer in a small compass a portable appa-
ratus for evolution and purification of gas for general lighting or illuminating
purposes, without being dependant on the ordinary gasworks for the supply
of gas.
The apparatus for the evolution of the gas is by preference a portable
calorifere or other suitable stove, provided with a cast-iron or other suitable
retort for the distillation of the coals from which the gas is to be evolved; if
required the retort might be set in an ordinary kitchen range or other furnace.
From this retort a curved gas pipe, the bent part of which is turned down-
ward, conducts the gas into the purifier, while a branch pipe fitted at the
lower part of the bent, and dipping with its lower end into the water of a
[Price Sd.]

page_text: reservoir partly filled therewith, carries the tar or other products collected in
the bent part into the said reservoir. The purifier consists of three chambers
superposed, the one on the top of the others, and separated by suitable
partition plates, the entire suitably screwed together; at the outside on the
top of the 1st or uppermost chamber a moveable lid fits by means of a
hydraulic or other suitable joint, so as to prevent any escape of gas at that
part of the purifier. The already mentioned gas pipe dips with a bent or
syphon end into the water with which the 1st or uppermost chamber is partly
filled, which chamber is to perform the office of the hydraulic main in ordinary
gas apparatus. Towards the top this 1st chamber is provided with a lime
purifier, consisting of a vessel divided into two parts by a horizontal partition
plate, through which pass pipes conducting the gas in direct contact with the
lime, so as to cause the same to pass through several layers of this latter;
from this lime purifier the gas is conducted by means of a pipe into the upper
part of the 3rd or lower chamber, which latter is likewise partly filled with
water, while the lower part of this chamber is connected by a bent pipe to the
lower part of the 2nd or intermediate chamber in such manner that by the
pressure of the gas the water from the lower-chamber may be forced up into
the said 2nd or middle chamber, from which the same will flow back into the
lower chamber whenever by opening the cock,, with which is provided a pipe
leading from the upper part of this lower chamber to the gas burners, is
opened. The upper and lower chambers are provided with suitable cocks for
if required, drawing off the water from them, and replacing the same by fresh
they ought also to be provided with water cocks, pressure guages, or othe
means for ascertaining the height of the water and degree of pressure in the
chambers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lttters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Antoine Barde in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ANTOINE BARDE, of Paris, France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Antoine Barde, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Antoine

page_text: Barde, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Antoine Barde, 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 "AN IMPROVED
PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AND PURIFYING LIGHTING GAS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Antoine Barde, 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 per-
formed, 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 Joseph Antoine Barde, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The Invention relates to an improved portable apparatus for manufacturing
and purifying, lighting, or illuminating gas, the purifier forming a small
gasometer, which I intend calling interior gazometer, as the same may be put
up in the interior of a house, say a room, kitchen, or in a workshop or other
similar places, the evolution of the gas taking place in the same room or in
close proximity to the gazometer.
In the annexed Drawings Fig. 1 represents a room provided with a portable
calorifere stove a for heating the retort b for the evolution of the gas, and
which retort is suitably connected to the purifying gasometer; instead of the
calorifere stove the retort might be placed in an ordinary fire-place, kitchen
range, or other suitable furnace. To the retort b 1 prefer giving a conical
shape, although a retort of a cylindrical or other suitable shape might also
serve for the same purpose; the retort is to be closed in the ordinary manner
by a lid c, with key d or other suitable fastening, the joints being further filled
up with fire-clay or other suitable material in the well-known manner.
purifying gasometer is divided according to its height into three compartments
or separate chambers e, f, g, superposed the one above the other; the 1st or
uppermost chamber e is partly filled with water, into which dips the bent
end h of a pipe h conducting the gas from the retort into the purifier; the
ower chamber is likewise partly filled with water, which may be drawn off
by means of a cock j; g is the middle chamber, and serves for receiving the
The

page_text: water of the lower chamber whenever this water by the effect of the pressure
of the gas thereon would be carried into the chamber g through the connecting
pipe the upper parts of the chambers e and communicate by means of
the pipe 1, each end of which pipe is provided with a rose; k is a pressure
indicator from the chamber the gas is carried to the burners by the pipe m.
To the top of the purifier is hinged a lid o for allowing of suitably closing the
same by means of a hydraulic obturation, or by a ring of india-rubber or other
elastic medium, or any other suitable means so as to prevent any undue escape
of
gas from the purifier. p is a small reservoir hermetically closed by a lid,
through which passes air-tight a pipe p' for allowing the tar to run off into
this reservoir p, from which the same may be drawn off by a cock i; q is a
sort of sieve, in the interior of which is contained the lime or other material
made use of for the purification of the gas before being sent to the burners.
Fig. 2 represents a separate view, on a larger scale than the remainder of the
Figures, of this sieve q: the same is formed of a cylindrical basin of shallow
vessel, fitting exactly into the upper part of the purifying gasometer by
means of a flange or ring s; the bottom of this basin is provided with a
suitable number of perforations, each of-which-ends into a small tube a little
shorter than the depth of the basin; a second basin r' exactly similar to the
first is applied upside down, and from underneath against this latter, a per-
forated plate t, of iron, having been inserted previously between them, which
plate must be of the same diameter as the two basins, so as to form a partition
plate between these latter, while in each of the perforations of this plate fits
a tube u, the length of which is such as to leave a suitable distance between
its ends and the bottoms of the basins; in Fig. 3 which represents a plan
view of the sieve q, the tubes u are indicated by red, and those of the basins r
by black lines. In fixing the several parts together, care must be taken that
the tubes should as much as possible be situated in a quinconcial manner.
The space between the basins r and the plate t is to be filled with hydrate of
lime, or other suitable gas-purifying medium, through which the gas wiN
consequently be obliged to pass in the manner as shown in Fig. 2 by the
arrow, and a suitable number of these sieves may be situated one above the
other in the upper-chamber e of the apparatus, so as to cause the gas to
pass through several layers of the purifying material before reaching the
burners.
A modification of the purifying gasometer is shown in Fig. 4, which Fig
represents the interior of a kitchen, the range or furnace A of which is made
use of for heating the retort B. to the lid C of which is given a semi-spherical,
conical, or other suitable shape, and provided towards the center with an

page_text: elbow pipe D connected by a boss i to the pipe E, by which latter the gas
evolved in the retort is carried into the lower chamber of the purifying
gasometer F. the tar running off into the receiver p by the small branch
pipe p passing air-tight through the lid of this receiver. The purifier F is
formed of a cylinder divided into three compartments or chambers, the lower
one of which is provided with a sufficient quantity of water in which dips the
free or bent end of the pipe E: the top of this compartment is formed by a
sieve resting on a circular bracket or ring fixed round the inner surface of
the cylinder F. On this sieve q is put a metal box K. open at the top, while
the bottom forms a funnel 1, ending into a bent pipe m the box K is filled
with water up to the required height, and a second sieve q is put over the
top. A suitable number of such boxes and sieves may be in this manner
alternately applied one above the other in the interior of the purifier, and this
latter finally closed at the top by a conical lid n provided witli a pipe O for
conducting the gas to the burners.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be put into practical effect. I declare that I do not intend
to restrict myself to the precise details of the above-described apparatuses; but
what I claim is, the general arrangement of the apparatuses here above
described. for producing and purifying lighting or illuminating gas in rooms,
workshops, or other confined places where apparatuses of a small compass are
required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Antoine Barde, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-one.
Witness,
DREYFOUS,
Eng. Civil.
J. A. BARDE. (L.S.)