IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING GAS RETORTS, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Anthony Kent, of Twickenham, in the County
of Middlesex, Clerk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING GAS RETORTS, AND FOR OTHER
SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Sealed the 8th December 1871, and dated the 13th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Anthony Kent at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th June 1871.
I, ANTHONY KENT, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex,
Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING GAS RETORTS, AND
FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The main object of my Invention is to charge and discharge gas
retorts in an expeditious manner. For this purpose I mount scoops or
charging instruments and rakes or discharging instruments on a frame
or frames mounted on (but by preference capable of being made separable.
from) a carriage or framework having a lateral or traversing motion, and

page_text: ✓ (while such carriage is stationary) I project or propel the scoops or
charging instruments, and the rakes or discharging instruments into and
from the retorts by steam or other power or motive means, causing them
to move to and from the retorts on or over the platform or surface in
front of the retorts. I prefer to furnish this platform or surface with
fixed rails or other guiding contrivances on or in which the instrument
frame or frames travel. The carriage itself is not moved to and from
the retorts or other receivers to be charged and discharged, but the
instruments advance and recede in the space between the carriage and
the retorts or other receivers.
The apparatus may be constructed and applied in the same manner
to the charging and discharging of retorts other than gas retorts, and
also to the charging and discharging of ovens, kilns, and furnaces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Anthony Kent in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTHONY
KENT, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex, Clerk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Anthony Kent, Her special licence that I,
the said Anthony Kent, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Anthony Kent, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
CHARGING AND DISCHARGING GAS RETORTS, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES,"
upon the condition. (amongst others) that I, the said Anthony Kent,.
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly

page_text: 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 YÈ, that I, the said Anthony Kent, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the sainė is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
The main object of my Invention is to charge and discharge gas
retorts in an expeditious manner. For this purpose I mount scoops or
charging instruments and rakes or discharging instruments upon a
movcable frame or frames mounted on, and, by preference, separable
from, a carriage or under framework having a lateral or traversing
motion. And (while such carriage is stationary) I project or propel
the scoops or charging instruments and the rakes or discharging
instruments into and from the retorts (by steam or other power or
motive means), causing them to move to and from the retorts on or
over the floor, platform, or surface in front of the retorts. I prefer
to furnish this floor, platform, or surface with fixed rails or other
guiding contrivances on or in which the instrument frames travel. The
traversing carriage itself is not moved to and from the retorts or other
reccivers to be charged and discharged, but the instruments, that is to
say, the frames carrying them, advance and recede in the space between
the carriage and the retorts.
The apparatus may be constructed and applied in the same manner
to the charging and discharging of retorts other than gas retorts, and
also to the charging and discharging of ovens, kilns, and furnaces.
The accompanying Drawings illustrate how the Invention may be
carried into practical effect.
In order that the Invention may be fully understood I would
mention that it applies to apparatus in which the scoops or charging
instruments and the rakes or discharging instruments instead of being
annlied to the retorts by hand are moved to and from them hv

page_text: Hitherto this motion has been effected by mounting such instruments
on frames supported on rails on a carriage or traveller, which carriage
or traveller has been moved from end to end of the retort bench, and
the instrument frames or carriers have been propelled or worked to
and from the retorts on such carriage or traveller. In this method the
same pair of rails is constantly used for the travel of the instrument
carriers or frames and are thus liable to be worn, and when any repair
of rail has been required the whole machine has had to be dismounted.
Whereas, according to my Invention, when the frames carrying the
instruments have to be propelled to and from the retorts to be charged 1
and discharged they run off the carriage or traveller and run or travel
on the floor or fixed surface in front of the retorts (which floor or fixed
surface may or may not be provided with rails), and when the instru-
ments have charged or drawn the retorts the instrument frames bearing
the instruments run back to the carriage or traveller.
Figure 1 is a perspective view shewing a retort bench and the floor
in front; Figure 2, similar perspective view, excepting that a portion
of the floor, as shown at b*, is depressed or recessed; Figure 3, plan of
the floor, Figure 1, and of the carriage or traveller D.
Figure 4 is a plan and Figure 5 an end elevation of the carriage
arranged for the floor shewn in Figures 1 and 3.
Figure 6 is a view of one of the instrument frames.
Figure 7 is an elevation, and Figure 8 a plan of the carriage arranged
for the floor shewn in Figure 2.
Figure 9 is a modification of carriage, Figure 4.
A is an ordinary retort bench provided with retorts a, a; B is the
floor in front of the retort bench. The fore portion of the floor is
provided with a number of fixed parallel rails c, c, laid in the direction
of the retorts. Next this portion the floor is provided with a pair of
rails laid in a direction transverse to that of the rails c, c. D is
the carriage or traveller, which is a truck provided with wheels or
rollers d, d, which run on the rails b, b. Motion is communicated to
the carriage by a steam engine or other prime mover in any ordinary
manner. The steam engine may be stationary or it may be supported
on the carriage D. The carriage D, which runs in front of the bench
of retorts, is intended to carry from end to end thereof two instrument
]

page_text: F is an
frames, one of which frames, shewn in Figure 6, carries scoops or
charging instruments, the other frame carries rakes or drawing or dis-
charging instruments, or the carriage may carry a single frame, such
frame being provided with scoops or charging instruments on one side
and rakes or discharging instruments on the other side, the instruments
swinging or moving into and out of action, so as to be brought to
and from their work. The frame E may be of any convenient shape
and arrangement for the purpose.
upright fixed to the
carriage D and carrying fast and loose pulleys driven by a belt from
a steam engine and communicating motion to the driving wheels of
the carriage D by a belt f* passing round a pulley f* on an axis f³
supported in the carriage and on whichi axis is the driving wheel d
of such carriage. J is a bar fixed to and projecting from the carriage
or traveller D. This bar J supports at its further end chain wheels j
on arms j. Round each wheel j passes a chain k, which also passes
over a wheel on an axis * supported in bearing brackets in the
carriage D. This wheel is worked by gearing from the pulley f*
when the latter is thrown into gear with it and disconnected from
the driving wheel d. The chains are connected with the frames E
carrying the charging and drawing or discharging instruments by hooks
or otherwise, so that when the chain is worked it draws the instrument
frame forward and backward. The motion can be readily transferred
from working the traversing carriage D to be applied to the working
of the instrument frames, and vice versa, throwing the pulley f* into
and out of gear with the parts by means of clutches p, p*, as is readily
intelligible to any engineer. When the pulley f* is in gear with the
wheel the carriage is caused to traverse on the rails b, b, while the
frames E are stationary, and when the pulley f* is thrown out of
gear with the wheel d² and into gear with the wheel 1, the chains k
are worked and the frames E moved while the carriage D is stationary.
The axis * of the chain wheels is in a direction at right angles to the
axis of the wheel d³. By means of this chain wheel arrangement
the frames carrying the charging and discharging instruments are
worked forward and backward, that is to say, each such frame is caused
to run off the carriage and on the rails c towards the retorts in order
to charge them or draw them and to run back on the said rails after
having charged or drawn the retorts back to the carriage D in order
to be moved opposite another part of the retort bench. There may,
"

page_text: be short grooves, rails, or guides on the carriage D to facilitate the
run of the instrument frame on or off-the carriage to or from the
rails c.
In the arrangement, Figures 4 and 5, the axes of the wheels d, d',
are above the bottom of the carriage D.
In the carriage shewn in Figures 7 and 8 the axes of the bearing
wheels and driving wheel are below the bottom of the carriage, which
runs in the recessed portion 6* of the floor B.
In both arrangements the bottom of the carriage is on a level with
the rails c, c, of the front portion of the floor B, so that the frame E
may run časily from the carriage to the rails.
In the modification (shewn in back view, Figure 9,) the carriage has
a stage on each side to support the two instrument frames, the central
portion containing the driving gearing.
When two frames are used, one carrying the scoops or charging
instruments and the other the rakes or drawing instruments, these
frames are placed on the carriage so that they may be one on each side
of the same, the bar J being between them. They may be caused to
advance and recede by two pitch chains /, one such chain being on each
side of the bar J, there being a chain wheel j, one on each side of the
end of the bar J, as shewn in Figures 3 and 8.
-
If both frames are to advance and recede together, so that vertical one
line of retorts may be charged while another vertical line is being
drawn, one driving wheel will work them both backwards and forwards
through the chains and chain wheels.
If the frames are to work alternately, the two chain wheels are
alternately clutched with and disengaged from the driving pulley or
driving wheel. e, e, are wheels or rollers on which the instrument
frame runs; is a prop attached to the bar J for helping to support
the weight of the instrument frames E. This prop has a roller n* at
the bottom, which runs on the rail m, which is one of the rails used
for the travel of the ordinary coal hopper.
Although I have described certain arrangements for driving the
carriage D and frames E, of course I do not restrict myself to these
mechanical arrangements, as the same may be varied and other ordinary
•

page_text: driving arrangements may be used for the purpose without departing
from the nature or distinctive character of my Invention.
In working the Invention the instrument frame is only supported on
the carriage in order to be moved or shunted from or in a direction
from one end of the retort bench to the other end, so as to be brought
opposite the retorts required to be fed and drawn. When the retorts
are to be fed or drawn the frames run forward from the carriage, off
which they run on to the rails c, c, and they run on these rails to the
retorts a, a, or near enough for the charging and discharging instru-
ments which they carry to act in such retorts, and when their work is
finished the frames run back again on the rails c on to the carriage D
if to be moved in the direction of the rails b, b.
Instead of having rails on the front portion of the floor for the
frames E to run on, there may be trams, grooves, or other guides; or
rails, trams, and grooves may be dispensed with, and the frame may
run on the plane or blank surface of the floor B to and from the carriage
or traveller. It may be guided by slotting the bar J and causing a
guide piece on the frames to run in it.
I am aware that instruments used for charging and discharging retorts
and caused to move by mechanical means to and from the retorts have
been known prior to the date of my Patent; but in all such arrange-
ments the instrument frame has been supported or carried on a carriage
while being moved towards and from the retorts, that is to say, while
the instruments have been brought to and from their work; whereas,
according to my Invention, the instrument frame moves towards and
from the retorts on a floor or fixed surface and not upon the carriage,
whereby considerable advantage is obtained.
Although I have described the Invention as applied to charging and
discharging retorts it is evident that it may be applied in like manner
to the other like purposes within the scope of this Invention.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be performed, I declare that I claim apparatus
constructed, arranged, and combined in such manner that frames carry-
ing instruments for charging and discharging retorts, and for other
similar purposes, shall run off and on a traversing carriage and shall
travel on a floor or fixed surface to and from the retorts or other

page_text: |_ receptacles to be charged and discharged or acted on--substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Anthony Kent, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
E. EDMONDS,
68, Fleet Street,
London.
ANTHONY KENT. (L.S.)