IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Henry Still, of Kirkboro' House, Cork,
and Denny Lane, of 72, South Mall, Cork, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Henry Still and
Denny Lane at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 9th April 1868.
We, ALFRED HENRY STILL, of Kirkboro' House, Cork, and DENNY
LANE, of 72, South Mall, Cork, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture
of gas.
For this purpose we mix small coal with gas tar, and we
mould the mixture into bricks or blocks; these bricks or blocks we
charge into gas-making retorts, and heat them to a bright red heat,
and so we obtain an illuminating gas of good quality, whilst at the
same time the bricks or blocks are converted into a hard and valuable
coke. The tar and small coal may advantageously be mixed in the
proportion of, say, 30 gallons of tar to, one ton of small coal.

page_text: Also breeze or small coke and peat mould may be used in preparing
the bricks or blocks.
In some cases we distil the gas tar before using it to make the bricks
or blocks; we thus separate the naphtha and the pitch for sale, and use
to make the bricks or blocks only the intermediate product called 5
dead oil or creosote, which is of small commercial value.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Henry Still and Denny Lane in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 9th October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALFRED
HENRY STILL, of Kirkboro' House, Cork, and DENNY LANE, of 72, South
Mall, Cork, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Alfred Henry Still and Denny Lane, Her
special licence that we, the said Alfred Henry Still and Denny Lane,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Alfred Henry Still and Denny Lane, our 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF
GAS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Alfred
Henry Still and Denny Lane, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us or 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Denny Lane, on behalf of myself
and the said Alfred Henry Still, 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
thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture
of gas. For this purpose we mix small coal with gas tar, and we
mould the mixture into bricks or blocks; these bricks or blocks we
charge into gas-making retorts, and heat them to a bright red heat, and
so we obtain an illuminating gas of good quality, whilst at the same
time the bricks or blocks are converted into a hard and valuable coke.
The tar and small coal may advantageously be mixed in the proportion
of, say, 30 gallons of tar to one ton of small coal.
Also breeze or small coke and peat mould may be used in preparing
the bricks or blocks.
.
In some cases we distil the gas tar before using it to make the
bricks or blocks; we thus separate the naptha and the pitch for sale,
and use to make the bricks or blocks only the intermediate product
called dead oil or creosote, which is of small commercial value.
The apparatus employed for moulding the mixed materials may be
such as is used for moulding similar materials for use as artificial
fuel. The blocks may conveniently be of the size of ordinary bricks or
larger, and the pressure applied in moulding should be sufficient to
make a firm block. The manufacture of gas from such blocks is
conducted as when coal is employed for gas making.
What I claim is, the manufacture of gas from moulded blocks of
small coal or coke, or breeze, or peat mould and tar, or dead oil or
creosote, by the distillation of such blocks in retorts, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Denny Lane, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
DENNY LANE. (L.S.)