IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF PETROLEUM, COAL OIL, AND OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES TO THE PURPOSES OF HEATING, LIGHTING, AND OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Franklin Stevens, of Trafalgar Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF PETROLEUM, COAL OIL, AND OTHER SIMILAR
SUBSTANCES TO THE PURPOSES OF HEATING, LIGHTING, AND OBTAINING MOTIVE
POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."-A communication
from abroad by Simon Stevens, of New York, in the United States of
America.
Sealed the 20th December 1864, and dated the 25th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Franklin
Stevens, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th June 1864.
I, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS, of Trafalgar Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF PETROLEUM, COAL OIL, AND OTHER SIMILAR
SUBSTANCES TO THE PURPOSES OF HEATING, LIGHTING, AND OBTAINING MOTIVE
POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," a communication to me
from abroad by Simon Stevens, of New York, in the United States of America,
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the application of petro-
leum, coal oil, and other similar substances to heating and lighting purposes,
and is applicable also to the obtainment of motive power.
According to the first part of this Invention it is proposed to vapourise in
any suitable vessel either crude or refined petroleum, coal oil, or other similar

page_text: substances, and to mix atmospheric air with such vapour by means of a
bellows or other suitable machine for producing a steady and regulated blast,
or to mix air and steam therewith, and to burn such mixture by means of
suitable devices for the production of light, for warming buildings, for gene-
rating steam, for drying grain, malt, hops, and the like, and for distilling
wood, coal, peat, and other substances. In carrying out this part of the
Invention, the petroleum or liquid hydrocarbon should be placed in a suitable
tank or reservoir, and by means of a pipe conducted into a boiler or vaporising
vessel, to which heat may be applied, so as to convert the liquid into vapour.
This vapour should be mixed with air, or with air and steam, and the com-
bustion of such mixture in the proper manner will effect the various useful
results above indicated. Instead of first vaporising the hydrocarbon, and
afterwards mixing air with the vapor, the air and the steam when used may
be passed directly into the vaporising vessel, and there mixed with the vapor
as it is generated. The steam may be ordinary or superheated steam.
Where it is necessary to regulate very accurately the relative quantities of
vapor and air, or of vapor, air, and steam, they should each be brought
through a separate pipe, and each may be passed through a meter. The
combustion of the hydrocarbon by this process is very perfect, and the temper-
ature and character of the flame easily controlled. The products of combus-
tion are free from soot and ashes, and therefore when used for distilling wood,
coal, and other substances, may be passed directly into the retort or vessel
containing the matter to be distilled. In like manner for drying grain, hops,
or malt, the products of combustion may be passed into, through, and among
the material to be dried. When used as fuel under steam boilers, the addition
of a jet of steam or superheated steam to the mixture of air and hydrocarbon
vapor gives a flame of large volume, which fills and heats evenly all the tubes
and spaces of the boilers. When used for beating buildings, the mixture of air
and vapor, or of air, vapor, and steam, may be burnt in jets on the inside of
a vessel made to resemble a common stove, or in a series of flues and tubes
similar to a steam heater. For producing a very intense light, a cone or
covering of platinum gauze may be fixed on the burner, so that the combus-
tion of the mixture of vapor and air, or of vapor, air, and steam, takes place
in the meshes of the gauze. For heating and melting metals, the mixture of
hydrocarbon vapor with air, as herein-before described, will be found very
convenient, and, in fact, whenever quick, well regulated heat is required, this
mode of effecting the combustion of the hydrocarbon is applicable.
The second part of this Invention consists in using the vapors of hydro-
carbons for roasting, desulphurising, and smelting ores. For this purpose it

page_text: is proposed to use, in lieu of ordinary fuel, volatile hydrocarbons, such as
petroleum, coal oil, or equivalent substances, which may easily be converted
into vapor by heat. By the combustion of such vapor, mingled with air, or
with air and steam, the roasting of ores and minerals is effected, and in the
case of the ores of the precious metals, the roasting, washing, and amalgama-
ting may be united so as to form a continuous process. The generating of
bydrocarbon vapors, and their mixture with air or with air and steam, may
be effected in the manner already indicated in the first part of this Invention.
The devices necessary for the combustion of such mixture are essentially the
same as those used for burning ordinary coal gas. for producing heat. The
burners should be arranged in a series so as to furnish the amount of heat
required to effect the roasting of the ore. Many different arrangements of
apparatus may be used for bringing the flame and hot products of combustion
in contact with the ore. One mode of effecting the roasting of the ore is to
bring it in fine powder into the flame. This may be accomplished by having
the ore fed from a hopper, so as to fall into the flame from a row of vapor
burners, or by driving the ore into the flame with an air blast. Or the com-
bustion may be carried on in an upright shaft or chimney, the gas or vapor
jets being arranged in rows on one, two, or more sides of the shaft, either
at the top or bottom of it, or when it is necessary to bring a large volume of
. flame in contact with the ore, several parallel rows of jets may be arranged at
different heights on the inside of the shaft. The ore in fine powder is to be
fed in, at, or near the top of the shaft or chimney, and as it falls it will be com-
pletely roasted by the flame and hot vapors and gases.
Steam or super-
heated steam may be injected through the jets which convey the hydrocarbon
vapors. Air also for supporting combustion may be mingled with by drocarbon
vapor, or it may be introduced through separate pipes.
The third part of this Invention consists in using a mixture of hydrocarbon
vapor and air, or of hydrocarbon vapor and air and steam, prepared in the
manner pointed out in the first part of this Invention, to operate what are
known as air engines, gas engines, and those engines in which the products of
combustion are made to act directly upon the piston or equivalent part of the
engine. The combustion may be effected in the cylinder of the engine as in
the common gas engine, or in a separate closed vessel or combustion chamber,
and the resulting gases used to operate the engine. But where it is desirable
to keep the temperature of the cylinder of the engine as low as possible, the
mixture of vapors and air should be burned in a closed chamber, and the
products of combustion passed through a strong vessel containing water. The
mixture of steam and the products of combustion is then to be used as ordi-

page_text: nary steam in high-pressure engines, or as heated air is used in the caloric
engine. It is necessary to observe that the pressure of the mixture of the
hydrocarbon vapor and air as it enters the combustion chamber must be at
least equal to that of the pressure to be exerted on the piston of the engine.
By the arrangement last indicated, the usual difficulty of packing the pistons
of air engines will be avoided, since passing the hot gases through water will
reduce the temperature to that of ordinary steam of the same pressure, and as
the products of combustion are free from soot and ashes, the main difficulty
heretofore experienced in using the products of combustion in the cylinder of
an engine will be obviated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Franklin Stevens, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN STEVENS, of Trafalgar Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Benjamin Franklin Stevens, Her special license that I, the said Benjamin
Franklin Stevens, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Benjamin Franklin Stevens, my executors, administrators, or
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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF PETROLEUM, COAL OIL, AND OTHER SIMILAR SUB-
STANCES TO THE PURPOSES OF HEATING, LIGHTING, AND OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER,
AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," a communication to me from abroad
by Simon Stevens, of New York, in the United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Franklin Stevens, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should particularly 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Franklin Stevens, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to certain improvements in the application of
petroleum, coal oil, and other similar substances to heating and lighting
purposes, and is applicable also to the obtainment of motive power.
According to the first part of this Invention it is proposed to vaporise in
any suitable vessel, either crude or refined petroleum, coal oil, or other similar
substances, and to mix atmospheric air with such vapor, by means of a bellows
or other suitable machine for producing a steady and regulated blast; or to mix
air and steam therewith, and to burn such mixture by means of suitable
devices for the production of light, for warming buildings, for generating steam,
for drying grain, malt, hops, and the like purposes, and for distilling wood,
coal, peat, and other substances. In carrying out this part of the Invention,
the petroleum or liquid hydrocarbon should be placed in a suitable tank or
reservoir, and by means of a pipe conducted into a boiler or vaporising vessel
to which heat may be applied so as to convert the liquid into vapor. This
vapor should be mixed with air, or with air and steam, and the combustion
of such mixture in a proper manner will effect the various useful results above
indicated. Instead of first vaporising the hydrocarbon and afterwards mixing
air with the vapor, the air and the steam when used may be passed directly
into the vaporising vessel, and there mixed with the vapour as it is generated;
the steam may be ordinary or superheated steam.
Where it is necessary to
regulate very accurately the relative quantities of vapor and air, or of vapor,
air, and steam, they should each be brought through a separate pipe, and each
may be passed through a meter.
The combustion of the hydrocarbon by this process is very perfect, and the
temperature and character of the flame easily controlled by regulating the
relative quantities of hydrocarbon, vapor, air, and steam. The products of
combustion are free from soot and ashes, and therefore when used for distilling
wood, coal, and other substances may be passed directly into the retort or
vessel containing the matter to be distilled. In like manner for drying grain,
hops, or malt, and for like purposes, the products of combustion may be passed
into, through, and among the material to be dried. When used as fuel under
steam boilers, the addition of a jet of steam or superheated steam to the

page_text: mixture of air and hydrocarbon vapor gives a flame of large volume which fills
and heats evenly all the tubes and spaces of the boilers. When used for.
beating buildings the mixture of air and vapor, or of air, vapor, and steam,
may be burnt in jets on the inside of a vessel made to resemble a common
stove, or in a series of flues and tubes similar to a steam heater. For pro-
ducing a very intense light, a cone, cap, or shell of platinum gauze may be
fixed on the burner, the shape of the cone being such as to envelope the flame
produced by the combustion of a mixture of air, hydro-carbon, vapor, and
steam. The burners may be such as are commonly used for burning coal gas
for purposes of illumination, the orifices being a little enlarged so as to dis-
charge a suitable volume of the mixture of air and vapor. The cone.or
covering may be made of platinum foil finely perforated, or of platinum wire
gauze. When the mixed vapors and air are first turned into the cone or cap
and lighted, if in too large a volume a flame will be found enveloping the
cap to a greater or less extent by the issue of the mixed materials through the
orifices or interstices of the cap. But, by a proper manipulation of the stop
cocks in the pipe the supply of vapours and air should be reduced and the
flame brought within the cavity of the cap or chimney, when the platinum
immediately attains a bright white heat emitting a brilliant light resembling
what is known as the calcium light, thus producing at small cost a steady
mild light much superior to the ordinary gas light. This light may be easily
adapted for use in light houses. Under this head of the Invention, it is not
intended to claim broadly the use of hydrocarbons for the purpose of produc-
ing heat and light, since it has been proposed to burn such substance in
various ways for generating steam and producing light and heat. But these
modes have not proved satisfactory, for the reason that when fire is brought in
direct contact with liquid petroleum, it is exceedingly difficult to prevent smoke,
and also difficult to regulate the combustion. Petroleum vapour has been
burned by mixing it with air in the open space under a grate or similar con-
trivance. A mixture of petroleum and water or their vapor has been subjected
to a high temperature, so as to produce permanent gas. These modes of
burning petroleum are not claimed. Nor is any claim made to what is known
as the benzole light, which consists in charging air with benzine vapour by
passing it through porous and spongy materials saturated with benzine and
then burning the product. For heating and smelting metals, the mixture of
hydrocarbon vapour with air, or with air and steam, as herein-before described,
will be found very convenient, and in fact whenever a quick, well regulated
heat is required this mode of effecting the combustion of hydrocarbon is
applicable.

page_text: The second part of this Invention consists in using the vapours of hydro-
carbons for roasting, desulphurising, and smelting ores. The ordinary mode
of roasting ores is in heaps, mounds, ovens, and furnaces, by means of solid
fuel, such as wood, coal, and peat.
'
By this Invention the volatile hydrocarbons, such as petroleum, coal oil,,
or equivalent substances which may easily be converted into vapor by heat are.
used as fuel in roasting ores and minerals, and.in the case of the ores of the
precious metals the roasting, washing, and amalgamating. may be easily united
so as to form a continuous process. The generating of hydrocarbon vapors:
and their mixture with air, or with air and steam, may be effected in the manner
already indicated in the first part of this Invention, or in any other suitable
manner. The devices necessary for burning such mixture are essentially the
same as used for burning ordinary coal gas for producing heat. The burners
should be arranged in a series so as to furnish the amount of heat required to
effect the roasting of the ore; many different arrangements of apparatus may.
be used for bringing the flame and hot products of combustion in contact with
the ore.
One mode of effecting the roasting of the ore is to bring it in fine
poweder into the flame; this may be accomplished by having the ore fed from
a hopper so as to fall into the flame from a row of vapor burners, or by driving
the ore into the flame with an air blast; or the combustion may be carried
on in an upright shaft or chimney, the gas or vapor jets being arranged in
rows on one, two, or more sides of the shaft either at the top or bottom of it
(preferably at the top), or when it is necessary to bring a large volume of
flame in contact with the ore several parallel rows of jets may be arranged at
different heights on the inside of the shaft. The shaft should be usually from
ten to thirty feet high, and from three to five feet in diameter. For this
purpose of collecting the fine dust of the ore water in spray may be injected
in the lower part of the shaft. The ore in fine powder is to be fed in, at, or
near the top of the shaft or chimney, and as it falls it will be completely
roasted by the flame and hot vapors and gases. Steam or superheated steam
may be injected through the jets which convey the hydrocarbon vapors.
Air also for supporting combustion may be mingled with hydrocarbon vapor,
or it may be introduced through separate pipes. The object of applying heat
to the ore while it is suspended in the flame is to prevent the aggregation of
the mass of roasted ore. This, when roasting pyrites containing ores of the
precious metals, is very important, as the particles of precious metals are
thereby prevented from being enveloped in oxides and earths and may there-
fore be easily collected by amalgamation. The process is still further aided
by having water at the bottom of the shaft, so that the hot ore may fall into

page_text: it, and by means of stirrers and the usual washing and amalgamating
machinery, the complete extraction of the gold and silver may be effected.
Inasmuch as there is no soot or ashes consequent on this mode of heating the
ore, the water used does not become thick or foul. When it is necessary that
common salt (chloride of sodium) should be mixed with the ore, as in roasting
certain ores of silver, the salt may be either mixed with the ore or a jet of salt
water thrown in with the flame. When the burners are arranged at the top
of the shaft, it is best to have a fan or other blower in a flame or trunk leading
from the bottom of the shaft so as to produce a good downward draught in the
shaft. Other arrangements of apparatus may be employed where the ore to
be roasted is not in fine powder. Thus the ore broken into pieces may be fed
through a long retort, or on an inclined hearth, the flame from the bydro-
carbon playing over and through the ore as it is passed along. This arrange-
ment may also be employed when the ore has been ground to powder, and it
is best when it is required that the roasting should be gradual. Ores of lead,
tin, copper, zinc, and antimony and bismuth may be roasted and desulphurized
by the process above described.
The third part of this Invention consists in using a mixture of hydrocarbon
vapor and air, or of hydrocarbon vapor, air, and steam, prepared in the
manner pointed out in the first part of this Invention, to operate what are
known as air engines, gas engines, and those engines in which the products
of combustion are made to act directly upon the piston or equivalent part of
the engine. The combustion may be effected in the cylinder of the engine as
in the common gas engine, or in a separate closed vessel or combustion
chamber, and the resulting gases used to operate the engine. But where it
is desirable to keep the temperature of the cylinder of the engine as low as
possible, the mixture of vapors and air should be burned in a closed chamber
and the products of combustion passed through a strong vessel containing
water. The mixture of steam and the products of combustion is then to be
used as ordinary steam in high pressure engines, or as air is used in the caloric
engine. It is necessary to observe that the pressure of the mixture of the
hydrocarbon vapor and air as it enters the combustion chamber must be at
least equal to that of the pressure to be exerted on the piston of the engine.
By the arrangement last indicated, the usual difficulty of packing the pistons
of air-engines will be avoided, since passing the hot gases through water will
reduce the temperature to that of ordinary steam of the same pressure, and
as the products of combustion are free from soot, ashes, the main difficulty
heretofore experienced in using the products of combustion in the cylinder of
an air engine will be obviated.

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, the application and use of the vapours of petroleum, coal oil, and
similar hydrocarbons when mixed with atmospheric air, or with air and steam,
substantially in the manner and for the purposes specified under the first
head of my Invention.
Second, the roasting, desulphurising, and smelting of ores by the ignited
vapours of hydrocarbons mixed with air, or with air and steam, substantially
in the manner herein-before described under the second head of my Invention.
Third, the application and use to and in the obtainment of motive power of
the vapour of hydrocarbons mixed with air, or with air and steam, substantially
in the manner herein-before described under the third head of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Franklin Stevens, have here-
unto set my hand [and seal, the Twenty-third day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.