IMPROVED PROCESS OR METHOD OF MAKING CARBURETTED HYDROGEN GAS FOR THE PURPOSE OF ILLUMINATION
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GRAFTON, late of London, but now of Edinburgh, send greeting.
my
WHEREAS His present 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 Tenth day of
December, in the fifty-ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said John Grafton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said. John
Grafton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend
"IMPROVED PROCESS OR METHOD OF MAKING CARBURETTED HYDROGEN GAS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF ILLUMINATION," within Eugland, Wales, and 'Berwick-
upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said John Grafton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should in our discretion seem meet; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I, the said John Grafton, should not
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, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should. utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in 'and by the said recited Letters Patent, relation being there-
unto had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Grafton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is. to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in manner following (that is to say):-.
In Figure 1A is a retort, of cast iron or other suitable metal, formed in
a cylindrical or such other shape as may be formed at once, that is, without
any joining. This retort is placed in an upright or inclined position at any
angle, but considerably removed from horizontal. In this retort coal and
other substances are carbonized. B is a tube made of fire clay, commonly
called Stourbridge clay, or other ductile substance, to fit the inside of the
retort A as a casing, in order to protect the retort from the action of the
coal or other substances therein contained. This inner casing may cover the
whole of the retort in the inside, or only a part of the lower end, as in the
Drawing B, as the retort is most liable to damage at the lower end. The retort
A is open at both ends to admit of being charged and discharged. The coal or
other substances are put in at the upper end C, and the coke or other residuum
drawn out at the lower end D. To each of these ends C and D is applied,
after the retort is charged, a lid or stopper with a screw attached, Fig. 2; this
stopper is luted on with clay or cement in the usual manner to prevent the escape
of the gaseous products. F, F (Fig. 1), is the common arched furnace or
flue apparatus by which the retort is enveloped and heated; and G is a section
of, the flue by which the smoke and heat are conveyed to the general flue or
chimney. 9, 9 (Fig. 1), are blocks or bearers of cast iron or other substances
by which the retort is supported, and of which g, g (Fig. 7), is an end view,
and section y, y (Fig. 7), is an end view of a flaunch cast the full length of
the retort on each side, which rests upon the blocks above mentioned, and by
this means supports and protects the lower and under side of the retort from
the weight of the superincumbent metal pressing upon it. H, H, H, is a
communicating pipe by which the gas tar and whole volatile products dis-
engaged from the coal or other substances are conveyed to the horizontal pipe
or vessel, of which I is an end section, which pipe is commonly called the
bydraulic pipe. The pipe H rises vertically from the upper end of the
retort A, and after passing along by a curved communication, descends ver-
ically into the inside of the hydraulic pipe I, dipping into it about three
fourths of the diameter of the said hydraulic pipe. In the hydraulic pipe I
the liquid is kept at a regulated level by the position of the aperture T, where
the gas passes off, as delineated in Fig. 5, thro' which. liquid (after after
having bubbled up thro' the water) the gas passes by the pipe W (Fig. 5)
to the purifying vessels and ultimately to the gasometer..

page_text: In Fig. 3, immediately. to the under side of the hydraulic pipe I, by an open
communication,. I attach what I term a hydraulic feeding apparatus,. consisting
of a perpendicular, cylindrical, or other conveniently shaped vessel K, closed
at the lower end. This pipe or vessel is necessarily full of liquid matter, which.
liquid rises to the regulated level in the hydraulic pipe I, while the gas and
ammoniacal liquor from. the pipe H. go off by the aperture T, as in Figure 5.
The tar and oily matter fall down to the bottom of the vessel K by .deposition,
and from hence they are conveyed to another retort Q by the pipe L, which
last is turned lower than the surface of the liquid.at the top of the pipe K, and
conveys the tar and oily matter thereof thro' the valve or regulating cock M
(which prevents too much descending at once) thro' the small pipe P, which is
carried into and placed within the retort Q at the lower end, and passing a con-
siderable way into it. Before opening the retort Q is .heated red hot; and
thereby, and by the further ordinary means of red hot iron filings or: red hot
coke, or other substances, decomposes and converts into gas the tar and oily
matter. This retort is constructed by me in the same manner with the first
retort, which I have described in Fig. 1, A, with casing and furnace apparatus
complete; that is to say, my first retort A, Fig. 1, is designed for the purpose
of carbonizing coal or other substances, and my second retort Q (Fig. 3).is
designed for decomposing the tar and oily matter, and converting the same
into gas. To the valve or cock M may be attached a dial or index to denote
the quantity of liquid flowing thro' it.. O (Fig. 6) is a cleansing rod within
the small pipe P, for the purpose of removing the carbonaceous matter or
residuum which accumulates at the end of that pipe from the decomposition of
the tar or other matter. R is a moveable partition plate of iron or other
suitable material, for the purpose of preventing the coke or red hot iron above
mentioned from adhering to and obstructing the opening at the end of the
small tar pipe at P, while at the same time the plate R is perforated with
holes to allow of a passage for the gas and vapour from the tar (the front
view of the Plate R is represented by Fig. 4). N is a stuffing box and cap and
screw, to prevent the escape of the gas or tar from the pipe P by the aperture,
which the cleansing rod renders necessary. Fig. 5 represents a longitudinal
section of the twofold communication. with the. same hydraulic pipe I above
described. A is an end view of the first retort, and Q of the second
retort, of which respectively A and Q are longitudinal views in Figures 1
and 3. I, I, I, is the longitudinal view of the hydraulic pipe, of which I in
Figures 1 and 3 are the end views. H, H, is the upright connecting and
descending pipe, designated by the same letter in Fig. 1. S, S, is the same
form of pipe, designated by the same letter in Fig. 3. Both these pipes in the

page_text: delineation in Fig. 5 pass behind the pipe I in ascending, so that their bends
are concealed. K is the hydraulic feeder; L, the pipe through which the
tar and oily matter are propelled to the retort Q..
Having thus described my apparatus for making carburetted hydrogen gas
by my improved process or method, I now proceed to point out in what my
improvement consists, and wherein my process or, method differs from others
now in use.
My improvements consists in employing retorts lined or cased with fire.
clay, which can be opened at both ends, and which are placed in an inclined
position for the convenience of discharging the contents.; also in employing a
secondary retort with feeding apparatus K, L, M, N, such as I have described,
to receive the tar separated from the gas produced by the first retort, and
to introduce the tar into the secondary retort, in order to be redistilled and
• converted into gas.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Grafton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and nineteen.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of May, in the
fifty-ninth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the said
John Grafton came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-