A MODE OR METHOD OF COLLECTING AMMONIA FROM THE WASTE GASES ARISING FROM THE COMBUSTION OF COAL."
Year: 1861

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LETTERS PATENT to James Alexander Manning, of the Inner Temple,
London, Esquire, for the Invention of "A MODE OR METHOD OF COLLECTING
AMMONIA FROM THE WASTE GASES ARISING FROM THE COMBUSTION OF COAL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left by the said James Alexander Manning
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd May 1861.
I, JAMES ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, London, Esquire, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A MODE OR METHOD OF
COLLECTING AMMONIA FROM THE WASTE GASES ARISING FROM THE COMBUSTION OF
COAL," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a mode or method of collecting and obtaining.
ammonia from the hitherto waste gases arising from the combustion of coal in-
the manufacture of coke, and in factories, foundries, and other trades where.
coal is largely consumed, and consists in vaporizing the gases as they leave
the furnace and ascend the main chimney or shaft, by the introduction therein
or the admixture therewith of a jet or jets of steam. This steam, after it has
become charged with the ammoniacal and other gases, with which it will.
combine or become impregnated is condensed by passing it through or into
suitable condensers or refrigerators so that an ammoniacal liquid may be

page_text: obtained, from which sulphate of ammonia may be manufactured by the ordi-
nary or any other suitable process for preparing that salt from ammoniacal
liquor..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Alexander Manning in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Alexander Manning, Her special license that I, the said James
Alexander Manning, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Alexander Manning, 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
"A MODE OR METHOD OF COLLECTING AMMONIA FROM THE WASTE GASES ARISING
FROM THE COMBUSTION OF COAL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Alexander Manning, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Alexander Manning, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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:-
My said Invention relates to a mode or method of collecting and obtaining'
ammonia from what have been hitherto. waste. gases arising from the com-
bustion of coal in the manufacture of coke, and from the combustion of fuel in

page_text: factories, foundries, and in other situations or processes wherein coal is largely
consumed, and it consists in vaporizing the effluent or escaping gases as they
leave the furnace and ascend the main chimney or shaft, by the introduction
therein, or the admixture therewith, of a jet or jets of steam. This steam,
after it has become charged with the ammoniacal and other gases with which
it will combine, or by which it becomes impregnated, is condensed by passing
it through or into suitable condensers or refrigerators so that an ammoniacal
liquid may be obtained from which sulphate of ammonia may be manufactured
by the ordinary or any other suitable process for preparing that salt from
ammoniacal liquor.
And in order that my said Invention of "a mode or method of collecting
ammonia from the waste gases arising from the combustion of coal" may be
properly understood, I shall now proceed to describe the actual detailed system
of procedure which I prefer to adopt in practice, reference being had to the
explanatory Sheet of Drawings, which I have hereunto appended, for the
purpose of detailing certain modifications under which I am of opinion that
my improvements may be judiciously carried out in practice, that is to say :-
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of illustrative Drawings is a complete
front end elevation of one modification or form of the apparatus which I find
to be advantageously available for the purpose of collecting ammonia from
waste gases; Figure 2 is a complete sectional elevation of the apparatus as
taken at right angles to Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a partially sectional plan
of the apparatus corresponding to Figure 2, the section being taken at the
horizontal dotted line a, b, in Figure 2.
This apparatus is here presented in its simplest form, and it may be modified
in various ways to suit the materials used and the locality or general con-
venience, the parts actually necessary for the due explanation of the Invention
alone being delineated so as to avoid complexity. The furnace or source
whence the waste or effluent gaseous matters derived from the combustion of
coal are obtained is not represented in my Sheet of Drawings as such gaseous
matters may be taken either from a furnace specially erected for the purpose
or from a furnace or fire-place erected and used for other purposes than the
mere generation of the matters to be utilized in accordance with the scheme
of the present Invention. A cylindrical wrought-iron chimney, shaft, or flue
A is erected vertically upon a brickwork base B. This brickwork forms a
base chamber for the primary reception of the gaseous matters which arrive
by the horizontal ducts C, D. From this receiving chamber the gaseous
matters ascend the shaft or chimney A, an artificial draught being created

page_text: when necessary by the revolution of the fan E, carried upon a short horizontal
spindle on which is a driving belt pulley. F. This fan is contained within an
external case G carried by the chimney, and its vanes project to about the
vertical central line of the chimney, so that when driven at a high rate of
speed in the direction of the curved arrow an upward current is produced
within the chimney, and this artificially produced draught is particularly useful
when the fires are first lighted, although in actual practice it has been found
that it can occasionally be dispensed with using merely a steam blast or jet.
The steam is brought from a boiler or other steam reservoir by the pipe H, on
which is a stop-cock or valve I. The steam passes through this valve up the
vertical pipe J, which pipe enters by a bend at K into the upper part of the
chimney A, and terminates in a blast or jet piece at L. This steam jet pro-
duces a powerful draught in the chimney, and the ascending smoke or gaseous
matter at once commingles with the steam, and the entire gaseous product is
at once carried, in the form of vapour, up into the conical top M of the
chimney, and thence by the surmounting bend N to the condensers contained
in the large vertical refrigerating tube or vessel O. An annular trough or
gutter P is fitted in the interior of the chimney A for the purpose of catching
any liquid of condensation which may trickle down the sides of the conical
head M of the chimney A. Whatever fluid is detained here is at once con-
-veyed by the pipe Q to one of the condensers in the vessel O. The vessel O
is kept fully supplied with water by the bottom horizontal pipe R, furnished
with a regulating stop-cock S, and the discharge of the used water takes place
by the vertical pipe T, the heated or spent water being passed off to a proper
receiver at U. The surmounting bend N; leading from the chimney A, ter-
minates at in the upper spherical condensing chamber W of the series in
the vessel O. The portion V of the bend N is passed for a considerable dis-
tance into the interior of this upper spherical condensing chamber W, and it
has suspended from it, by small bracket holders, a concave disc X to act as a
spreader or diffuser of the passing vapour and gaseous matters. In this upper
sphere W the passing current is partially condensed or reduced in temperature,
and the current passes onwards by the pipe Y, which is fitted, like the portion
V of the bend N, with a suspended concave disc Z set in the interior of the
second sphere a. There the diffusion and condensation go on still further, and
the connecting pipe b conducts the current further downwards to the diffusing
disc c in the interior of the sphere d. The connecting pipe e again conveys
the products to the bottom condensing sphere f, which is formed and fitted in
every way in the same manner as the other spheres. The condensing details
"

page_text: may obviously be of various shapes and variously arranged both as to series
and number. The terminal pipe gi is entered by a stuffing box h through the
top of the tank or receiving reservoir i, supported upon the brickwork or
masonry foundation j. In this way the sleam, charged with the ammoniacal
and other gases arising from the combustion of the coal, is condensed, and the
ammoniacal liquid is deposited in the tank i for after treatment, according to
the ordinary or other manner of obtaining sulphate of ammonia from ammo-
niacal liquor. A door K is fitted in the end of the tank for the purpose of
obtaining easy removal of the flocculent, sooty, carbonaceous or other solid
deposit arising in the process. The pipe 1, governed by a stop-cock, is fitted
upon the tank for the conveyance therefrom of the ammoniacal liquor, as
represented in the Drawing, to the still or other apparatus employed in the
conversion of the liquor into sulphate of ammonia. The pipe m on the top of
the tank is for the conveyance of the carburetted hydrogen and other gaseous
bodies, apart from the ammoniacal liquor, for separate treatment and use, as
may be deemed advisable. In this process the whole of the gaseous matters
arising from the combustion of the fuel are utilised to the utmost extent as
the whole apparatus is closed and virtually sealed up. It will be obvious to
the practical man that my herein-before described improvements may be
judiciously adopted for the abatement of the smoke nuisance in most situations
where such nuisance exists. The smoke evolved from the chimneys or shafts
of factories, foundries, coke ovens, and generally from all smoke outlets, may
thus be condensed and prevented from escaping into the atmosphere, and tall
chimneys will then in most cases be unnecessary. In steam ships the smoke
may be taken off and prevented from escaping as at present by at once taking
the smoke into the apparatus from the "up-take" of the boiler flues.
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 what I consider novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement of apparatus or means for collecting ammonia
from the waste gases arising from the combustion of coal, as herein-before
lescribed.
Second, the system or mode of collecting, condensing, and utilising ammonia
or ammoniacal matter from the effluent or escaping gases arising from the
combustion of coal, as herein-before described, or any mere modification
hereof.

page_text: Third, the obtainment of ammonia or ammoniacal matter from the other-
wise waste gases arising from the combustion of coal by a combined means of
collection and condensation, as herein-before described.
ال
Fourth, the collection and condensation of the waste or effluent gaseous
matters arising from the combustion of coal for the obtainment therefrom of
sulphate of ammonia or ammoniacal matter.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Alexander Manning, have here
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
JAMES ALEX. MANNING. (L.S.)