IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bower, of Saint Neots, in the County of
Huntingdon, Gas Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS."
Scaled the 15th May 1857, and dated the 5th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bower at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th March 1857.
I, GEORGE BOWER, of Saint Neots, in the County of Huntingdon, Gas
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS," to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of gas
apparatus, suitable either as a portable apparatus or for the manufacture of
gas on a large scale, but it is peculiarly adapted for supplying private houses,
workshops, railway stations, lighthouses, and ships, and consists of a retort
placed inside a case lined with fire brick, such retort being furnished with an
Archimedian screw for the facility of supplying it with fresh material, the
screw at the same time discharging the coke or other carbonized substances*
which have been exhausted of their gas. Each charge of the retort is fed
at one end through a vertical pipe, having a flange fixed on its upper
end into which a plug is fitted; this pipe opens into a chamber in which
the screw works, and as fast as the material is exhausted of its gas it is
pushed out by the screw at the opposite end and replaced by fresh material,
which is traversed through the retort by occasionally turning the screw;

page_text: this may be done by a winch handle, fly-wheel, or gear work fitted for
that purpose. The coke or other substances from which the gas has been
exhausted falls through a descending discharge pipe into an iron vessel, or a
reservoir of water, if required, and may be removed in any convenient manner.
The gas passes up through a risc pipe, which conducts it to the condensing
and purifying apparatus; this apparatus I prefer to be of the construction
described by me in the Specification of my Invention, for which British Letters
Patent were granted to me on or about the Twenty-fourth day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two. The fire for heating the retort
or retorts is supplied with fuel cither from the top, through a suitable
mouthpiece for that purpose, or any other convenient arrangement of self-
feeding mechanism may be adopted for supplying fuel thereto, or it may be
supplied under the retort in, the usual way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed,
by the said George Bower in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE-
BOWER, of Saint Noots, in the County: of Huntingdon, Gas Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Bower, Her special license that I, the said Georgo Bower, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George'
Bower, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said George Bower, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal,
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 George Bower, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of gas
apparatus, suitable either as a portable apparatus or for the manufacture of
gas on a large scale, but it is peculiarly adapted for supplying private houses,
workshops, railway stations, lighthouses, and ships, and consists of a retort
placed inside a case lined with fire brick, such retort being furnished with an
Archimedean screw for the facility of supplying it with fresh material, the
screw.at the same time discharging the coke or other carbonized substances
which have been exhausted of their gas. Each charge of the retort is led at
one end through a vertical pipe having a flango fixed on its upper end, into
which a plug is fitted; this pipe opens into a chamber, in which the screw
works, and as fast as the material is exhausted of its gas it is pushed out
by the screw at the opposite end and replaced by fresh material, which is
traversed through the retort by occasionally, turning tho screw; this may bo
done by a winch handle, fly wheel, or gear work fitted for that
coke or other substances from which the gas been exhausted falls through
a descending discharge pipe into an iron vessel, or a reservoir of water, if
required, and may be removed in any convenient manner.
The gas passes up
through a risc pipe which conducts it to the condensing and purifying
apparatus; this apparatus I prefer to be of the construction described by mó
in the Specification of my Invention, for which British Letters Patent wero
granted to me on or about the Twenty-fourth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two. The fire for heating the retort or retorts is
supplied with fuel either from the top, through a suitable mouthpiece for that
purpose, or any other convenient arrangement of self-feeding mechanism may
be adopted for supplying fuel thereto, or it may be supplied under the retort in
the usual way.
purpose. The
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, tho
samo letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents an external side elevation of a coni-
plete apparatus for the manufacture of gas on a small scalo embracing niy
improvements, and shewing the retort stack, which forms the main feature of
"
- I
::

page_text: this Invention. The washer and purifier and gasholder, however, are merely
shewn for the purpose of exhibiting their connection with the retort or gas-
producing apparatus, and form no part of my present Invention. Figure 2 is a
section of the retort stack, shewing its internal arrangement and mode of setting.
A is the retort furnace, which is supplied with fuel through the fire door a,
and fitted with a metal chimney at b. This furnace is surrounded with brick-
work B, and contains the retort C, which is passed transversely and horizon-
tally, or nearly so, through it above the fire-place. A fire brick arch C' is
built beneath the retort, and has openings C" made in it at the haunches or
springing of the arch for the heat and flame to pass through. This retort
is stationary, being set into the brickwork, and is made slightly tapered,
the feeding end having a smaller diameter than the other end. At the
smaller end of the retort is fitted the coal receiver or hopper D, which is
closed at its upper end or mouth by a plug E ground tight into its socket.
An Archimedean screw F is placed at right angles, or nearly so, to the
receiver or hopper, and under the same, so that when coal is thrown into the
receiver it falls upon the screw. By imparting a rotatory motion to the screw
the pieces of coal (which should be rather smaller than the pitch of the screw)
will be carried or pushed into the retort. This rotatory motion may be given
either by means of a winch handle G and spur gearing H, worked by hand, as
shewn in my Drawing, or a steam engine or other convenient prime mover
may be used, so as to turn the screw by power, according to the size of the
apparatus, which may be adapted for domestic use on a small scale, or for
public service on a large scale, without interfering with the principles of my
Invention. The discharge end of the retort, which is made wider to allow
for the expansion of the coal during the process of coking, and to facilitate
the discharge of the coke, opens into the coke receiver I, the lower end of
which is open and dips into the water pan or reservoir K, for the purpose of
rapidly cooling the coke and sealing the gas. A mouthpiece and lid L are
fitted to the coke receiver for the purpose of facilitating the examination of
the retort. M is the ascension pipe which leads to the bydraulic main N of
the combined apparatus O, forming in one vessel the hydraulic main condenser
and purifier. The inlet syphon P conveys the purified gas from the apparatus
O to any ordinary or other gasholder Q.
In working my retort, the ground plug E is removed and the hopper D
is then supplied with a charge of coal, such charge being about one-fourth of
that which would be introduced under the ordinary system.
It will now be evident, on referring to the Drawings, that at each revolution
of the screw Fa quantity of coal equal to the contents of one complete thread

page_text: will be delivered into the retort, so that a few revolutions will suffice to deliver
the whole contents of the hopper D. After this charge has remained in the
retort for about an hour, another charge is supplied thereto by repeating the
operation before described, which second charge will impel the preceding one
forward along the retort. The succeeding or third charge at the expiration of
another hour will push the two previous charges still further, until the fourth
charge will expel from the discharge end of the retort at the expiration of
three hours the first charge placed therein, which is completely extracted
of its gas. The discharged coke falling into the receiver I and into the pan
or reservoir K can be then raked out, and will be found to be a much better
coko than the ordinary gas coke, such superiority being due in a great
measure to a certain amount of compression to which the coal is subjected
when undergoing the first hour's heat at the smaller end of the retort. The
process is thus intermittent, the retort being charged with a small quantity
of coal every hour.
It is obvious that by this method there will be no escape of gas during
the operation of charging and discharging the retort, whilst the quantity of
gas obtained from a given amount of fuel is greater than that obtained by
the ordinary method, for the vapors and gases from the charge last introduced
must always pass along three-fourths of the entire length of the retort, and
through the incandescent coke of that portion of the charge ready to bo
delivered into the receiver, and there is a great saving of time effected as the
retorts are always in operation. The fact of there being no nuisance in
charging and discharging the retort, and the facility with which an unskilled
person may attend to the apparatus, renders it on a small scale particularly
well adapted for domestic use. When used on a large scale, the several
screws of the retorts may be driven by the engine at the gas works, whereby
a great saving of manual labor is effected, whilst a greater quantity of gas
is produced, and the time now lost during the operation of charging and
discharging the retorts will be saved.
Figure 3 represents a detail front elevation of one mode of driving the two
screws of a pair of retorts, introduced by way of illustration only. The two
retorts are part of a setting in one bench, and both of their respective screws
are actuated by means of the worm A on the horizontal shaft B, which may be
driven in any convenient manner by a steam engine or other power. This
worm gears into the two worm wheels C and D, respectively keyed on to the
spindles C and D' of the screws. This mode of driving may be adopted for
feeding any number of retorts set in two tiers. In some cases bevil or spur

page_text: gearing might be advantageously employed in place of worms and worm
wheels. E, E, are the coal hoppers or receivers.
From this description it will be perceived that by my apparatus the coal is
delivered into the retort and coke expelled therefrom at one operation by
meaus of an Archimedian screw.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
'describe or refer to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of my said Invention, nor do I claim
any of the mechanical elements of which the said apparatus and parts of
apparatus are respectively composed as being separately or apart from the use
or application of such elements to form the combination constituting such
apparatus and parts of apparatus respectfully as being any part of my said
Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim
as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Lettors
Patent, is, the general construction, arrangement, and combination of apparatus
for producing gas, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bower, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Third day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.