IMPROVED APPA- RATUS FOR CHARGING GAS RETORTS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of. Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPA-
RATUS FOR CHARGING GAS RETORTS." A communication from abroad by Joel
F. Rice, of Louisiana, County of Pike, State of Missouri, United States of
Ainerica.
Scaled the 1st September 1876, and dated the 1st May 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st May 1876.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in. the County of Mid-
dlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CHARGING GAS RETORTS."
In order to prevent loss of gas and also cracking of retorts by sudden change of
temperature, charges holding a large quantity of coal, and provided with devices for
operating them quickly, have been devised and to some extent adopted in practice.
This Invention is an improvement in this class of apparatus, and consists chiefly in
the arrangement of a plug or stop device and means for locking the same, or
holding it stationary in the frame that supports the tubular reciprocating charger,
as hereafter.described. .
The charger is an iron tube, open on its upper sido as well as at its inner end,
and having the same shape as the retort which it is adapted to enter. It is
supported on the same horizontal plane as the retort, in a whiceled frame mounted
on a suitable truck, so that the charger may be moved up to or away from the
retort as occasion requires. The means of forcing the charger into the retort
consists of a cord or rope which passes over a stationary pulley and a windlass
shaft, and having both its ends connected to the charger. When the charger is
being filled with coal a plug is located at the head thereof, but when the charger
has been thrust into the retort the said plug is locked or held stationary by means
of a lever, and which is dropped into a horizontal position behind a vertical
extension of the plug. A spring is attached to the plug and to the head of the
charger to draw the plug back preparatory to filling the charger, and a spring is
attached to the lever to hold it out of the way till required to lock the plug. It is
evident that when thus secured the plug will force the coal out of the charger into
the retort as the charger is being drawn out. The tube of the retort is provided
with a valve, by which the discharge of gas to the purifiers may be controlled or
cut off as required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 10th
October 1876.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lano, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent. "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CHARGING GAS RETORTS." A com-
munication from abroad by Joel F. Rice, of Louisiana, County of Pike, State of
Missouri, United States of America.
In order to prevent loss of gas and also cracking of retorts by sudden change of
temperature, charges holding a large quantity of coal and provided with devices for
operating them quickly have been devised, and to some extent adopted in practice.
This Invention is an improvement in this class of apparatus, and consists chiefly in
the arrangement of a plug or stop device, and means for locking the saune, or
holding it stationary in the frame that supports the tubular reciprocating charger,
as herein-after described.
In the accompanying Drawing forming part of this Specification, Figure 1 is a
sectional elevation of the retort and charging apparatus; Figure 2 a top view of the
same; and Figure 3 is a section on line x, x, Figure 1. Similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts.
The charger A is an iron tube open on its upper side as well as at its inner end,
and having the saine shape as the retort R which it is adapted to enter. It is
supported on the same horizontal plane as the retort, in a wheeled frame I mounted
on a suitable truck, so that the charger may be moved up to or away from the
retort as occasion requires. The means of forcing the charger into the retort
consists of a cord or ropo a passing over a stationary pulley i and a windlass
shaft D, and having both its ends connected to the charger at E, the operation of
which parts will be readily understood from the Drawing. When the charger is
being filled with coal the plug B is located at the head thereof, as shown in dotted
lines;
but when the charger has been thrust into the retort the said plug is locked
or held stationary by means of a lover C pivoted in frame H, and which is dropped
into a horizontal position behind a vertical extension d of the plug, as shown in
the Drawing. A spring G is attached to the plug and to the head of the charger
to draw the plug back preparatory to filling the charger, and a spring I is attached
to lever C to hold it out of the way till required to lock the plug. It is evident
that when thus secured the plug will force the coal out of the charger into the
retort as the charger is being drawn out. In the Drawing the charger is repre-
sented as drawn partly out of the retort.
The tube from the retort to the purifiers is provided with a valve by which the
discharge of gas to the purifiers may be controlled or cut off' as required.
Having described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I would observe that I do not claim broadly the mode of filling gas
retorts with coal by means of a charger arranged to be moved up to or away from
the same by suitable mechanism, but what I claim as the Invention to be protected
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is the combination with the
charger arranged in a supporting frame of the removable plug B, having the vertical
extension d and the lever C pivoted to said frame, and thereby adapted to hold the
plug stationary therein, as shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.