IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Paulson Spice, of 21, Parliament Street,
in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Paulson Spice
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th September 1874.
I, ROBERT PAULSON SPICE, of 21, Parliament Street, in the City of
Westminster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
GAS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements upon apparatus for which
Letters Patent No. 4178, dated December 19th 1873, were granted to me,
and consists in a method enabling the employment or use of spirit or oil
of heavier specific gravity than is available by the arrangement described
in the Specification of the said Letters Patent, and is intended to be used.
in combination with the apparatus so described, or a part thereof, by.

page_text: adding thereto a tank or reservoir for containing heavy oil or spirit, or
petroleum, whether crude or refined, and connecting the same by means
of suitable pipes, cocks, valves, or other appliances, with the upper part
of cach conduit pipe conveying superheated steam into the retorts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Paulson Spice in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
PAULSON SPICE, of 21, Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Paulson Spice, Her
special licence, that I, the said Robert Paulson Spice, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Paulson Spice, my 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Paulson
Spice, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Robert Paulson Spice, 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

page_text: and by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
This Invention relates to improvements upon apparatus for which
Letters Patent No. 4178, dated December 19, 1873, were granted to me,
and consists in the employment of additional apparatus whereby spirit
or oil may be used of greater specific gravity than is available by the
arrangement described in the Specification of the said Letters Patent,
and is intended to be used in combination with the apparatus so described
or a part thereof. The additional apparatus which constitute the present
improvements consists of a tank or reservoir for containing heavy oil or
spirit, or petroleum, whether crude or refined, and connecting the same
by means of suitable pipes, cocks, valves, and other appliances with the
upper part of each conduit pipe conveying superheated steam into the
retorts.
In order that the same may be more easily understood a Drawing is
attached hereto, of which the following is a description :-It represents
in general a vertical section of a bench of retorts. A is the furnace;
B, the oven; C, C, the retorts; D, the steam pipe from boiler; E, the
steam chest and F, F, the steam superheaters; G, is the tank or
reservoir placed upon brackets attached to the wall of the building or
otherwise conveniently supported; and H, a pipe leading therefrom to
another pipe I placed in the Drawing at right angles thereto. From
this pipe I branch pipes J, J, are connected, and communicate with the
pipes K, K, which lead from the superheaters into the retorts C, C. In
the pipe H at the point L is inserted a cock or valve, and in each of the
branch pipes J, J, is inserted a cock M.
The arrangement of the pipes and the points of insertion for the cocks
are not by any means limited to the exact positions shown, but may be
placed so as to suit the convenience of the building and other apparatus
they may be employed with. By the adoption of these means heavy oil.
or spirit may be converted into gas, and made to combine sufficiently
with the gases evolved by the decomposition of water in the retorts C, C,
so as to make the compound gas available for general lighting purposes,
and assist materially in reducing the cost of producing the same.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of this
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried

page_text: into effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have described or
referred to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of this 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 Letters Patent is, the tank G,
with the pipes H, I, and J, together with their cocks or valves used in
combination with the apparatus cither in whole or part described in
the Specification of Letters Patent No. 4178, 1873.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Paulson Spice, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.