A NEW AND IM- PROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING GAS FOR THE PURPOSES OF ILLUMINATION
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, REUBEN
PHILLIPS the younger, of the City of Exeter, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of July.
in the fifty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Reuben Phillips, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Reuben Phillips, my exors,
adiňors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of years
therein expressed, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW AND IM-
PROVED METHOD OF PURIFYING GAS FOR THE PURPOSES OF ILLUMINATION;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Reuben Phillips, shall particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,

page_text: that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and
by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Reuben Phillips, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly de-
scribed and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof (that is to say):-
I take any quantity of well burnt lime, and pour water on it till it falls to
powder. I then mix it with a further quantity of water, in order to bring
it into such a state that the particles of lime may adhere slightly to ench
other, but not to such a degree as to prevent the free passage of the air between
them. This mixture must be placed six inches deep, more or less, on move-
able perforated shelves in a vessel, the top of which is guarded by a water
joint, and underneath is a pipe to allow the passage of the gas that way,
so as that the gas may pass from the bottom of the vessel to the top thro'
the perforated shelves and lime mixture, or from the top to the bottom as
may be found most convenient, the purification being effected by the gas
being caused to pass through the layers of lime mixture; but where the
quantity of gas to be purified is very large I arrange a set of these vessels
consisting of five or nine or more, according to the size of the gas-work,
each vessel containing one or more shelves. These vessels are placed in
any way which convenience may require, but I prefer a circular arrangement
described as follows, and which the annexed plan exemplifies. The vessels
being without bottoms stand in a cistern of water or other fluid about six
inches deep, so that the gas cannot pass that way.
In the Fig. 1 there are nine vessels, four of which may work alternately.
There is also a series of stopcocks, placed in some convenient situation to
turn the gas through either set to the exclusion of the other. Suppose the
cock 1, Fig. 1, to be opened, which cannot be done without shutting cock 2.
The gas then passes through the vessels A, B, C, D, to the gasometers, and
when a renewal of them becomes necessary the cock 1 must be shut, and by
being connected with 2, opens it at the same time, and the gas flows through
E, F, G, H. K is an air drain, thro' which the fireplace is supplied with air,
and which is surrounded by a trench filled with water a few inches in depth, and
of a sufficient size to allow of a purifying vessel being easily placed within it,
so that the current of air may flow down through the vessel, the trench of

page_text: water preventing the passage of air under the bottoni edge. In the centre L
stands a crane for lifting the vessels with their contents.
Fig. 2 is a section of four vessels in a straight line, to shew that the gass
passes upwards and downwards alternately in the direction of the darts, the
upper communicating pipes are secured by water joints, the under ones are
firmly fixed, the lime mixture in the vessel that first receives the gas from the
retorts will be the first which requires to be changed. The proper time may be
ascertained by allowing a little gas to escape from a small cock inserted in
each of the covers, and holding in the steam of gas a bit of paper wetted
with acetate of lead or any other test for sulphuretted hydrogen. For
instance, if the test be slightly affected at the third vessel, the first may be
removed, as it may be inferred to have dono its utmost in purifying the
gas. The renewal is effected by shutting the respective cock, and taking off
the top pipes. A, the vessel containing the saturated lime mixture, is placed
upon the air drain. B is placed where A was; C where B, and D where
I is a spare vessel charged with fresh lime mixture, and brought
within reach of the crane, upon a carriage, and placed where D was. The top
pipes must be replaced, and the set is ready to work again. The current of
air through A soon clears it from its foulness, when it may be unpacked and
charged with fresh lime mixture, and wheeled to the other side, to fill the
vacancy occasioned by the next renewal.
C was.
Fig. 3 shews the cocks upon an enlarged scale; two only of the communi-
cating pipes can be shewn in the Figure. The exterior vessel is a cistern of
water; the four pipes cnter through the bottom, and project above the surface
of the water; above is a hood counterpoised by the one in the opposite cock.
The hoods are divided into four chambers; one division extends to the bottom,
the other about halfway down; the edge is shewn in the Figure. The cock A
is open and B shut. In A the two pipes shewn are in communication, the
shortest division being above the water, which allows the gas to pass to the
purifiers, and return through the two pipes behind to the gasometers; as the
longes division is never above the water, the gas cannot pass to the gaso-
meters without going through the purifiers; in cock B all communication is
stopped. This apparatus works without pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Reuben Phillips, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighteen.
REUBEN (L.S.) PHILLIPS, Jun.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1818, the aforesaid Reuben Phillips came before our
said Lord the King in His 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 Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighteen.