IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLING COAL, SHALES, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Young, of Limefield, in the County of Mid
Lothian, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISTILLING
COAL, SHALES, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 14th August 1866, and dated the 15th February, 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Young at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
February 1866.
I, JAMES YOUNG, of Limefield, in the County of Mid Lothian, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DISTILLING COAL, SHALES, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in the employment of a retort placed at an angle
and made to revolve on its longitudinal axis by any well-know mechanical
contrivance for imparting a continuous rotatory motion in one direction, such
revolution in conjunction with the inclined position of the retort causing the
materials placed therein to descend or pass through the retort, which being
heated externally by a furnace situate beneath it will effect their distillation.
The retort may be constructed of iron or other suitable material, and
provided at the upper end with a stationary hopper for the charging of the
same with the materials to be distilled, and also with a pipe or pipes at the

page_text: lower or opposite end for their discharge after distillation. An exit pipe or
pipes through which the volatile products of distillation pass off are also adapted
to the upper end of the retort or distillatory apparatus, in order that such
volatile products may be collected and utilized in the usual manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
YOUNG, of Limefield, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Young, Her special license that I, the said James Young, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Young, 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 DISTILLING COAL,
SHALES, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Young, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Young, 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 consists in the employment of a retort placed at an angle
and so constructed as that it may be made to revolve, and that such revolution
shall cause the materials placed therein to descend or pass through the retort,
which being heated externally will effect their distillation.

page_text: The retort or distillatory apparatus may be constructed of iron or other
suitable material, and provided with an arrangement for the charging of the
same with the materials to be distilled, and also with an arrangement for their
discharge after distillation, exit pipes through which the volatile products of
distillation pass off are also adapted to the retort or distillatory apparatus, in
order that such volatile products may be collected and utilized.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I shall
now proceed to describe more particularly the system or manner under which
the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference being
had to the Figure on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, which represents a
longitudinal section of a retort constructed according to this Invention.
;
In the Figure the retort A is placed at an angle, and each of its ends pass
through openings made in two opposite sides of the hot or firing chamber B
these openings are provided with metallic rings C fitting with sufficient close-
ness to the retort to enable it to be turned round without obstruction, at the
same time preventing as much as possible the escape of heat from or ingress
of cold air at these points. The covers or ends of the retort are formed with
circular projecting pieces D and E, that marked D constituting a stuffing box,
being provided with a gland F, for compressing the packing therein in the
usual manner. The end of the retort through which the material to be dis-
tilled is passed thereinto is provided with the closed hopper H, and this is
connected with the retort by the curved passage I, the stuffing box and gland
D and E being for the purpose of forming an air-tight junction of the retort
with the hopper. At the opposite end of the retort the projecting piece F
passes into the stuffing box in the curved exit piece K, and is thus made
sufficiently air-tight therein, at the same time enabling the retort to be turned
round. The exit piece K is supported by bracket pieces L attached in any
suitable manner to the walls of the furnace, and its lower end dips below the
surface of the water in the pan M; thus this end of the retort is made air-tight,
and the refuse of the distillation as it passes out of the end of the retort falls
therein, froin which it is withdrawn by an attendand when required. Each
end of the retort is carried upon antifriction rollers N and O, which are held
in the brackets l', and rotatory motion is imparted to the retort by means of
the tangent screw Q gearing into the toothed circumference of the stuffing
box D. The fire for heating the retort is placed upon the grate R, and the
flames and heat pass hence into the chamber surrounding the retort, whence
they escape by the flue S. The closed hopper H is supported by the wall T,
or it may be held by brackets attaching it to the brickwork of the hot chamber.
As the material to be distilled passes from the hopper into the retort it is

page_text: continually stirred up, so as to facilitate its passage by the stirring bar U,
which turns round with the retort. As the distillation proceeds the products
pass off through the pipe V, whence they are conducted to a condenser.
From the foregoing description and Drawing hereunto appended it will be
obvious that the essential feature of this Invention consists in the employment
of a revolving retort, so constructed that is is regularly fed and discharged
without stopping the process of distillation, thus rendering the operation
continuous. The angle at which the retort is placed, the rate of rotation, as
well as the temperature for effecting the distillation, all vary with the material
under treatment; for the distillation of ordinary shale or coal the angle may
be about 6°, with the horizontal the rotation may be about once in two
minutes, and the temperature a low red heat.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or practically 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, the employment of a revolving retort combined with
feeding and discharging apparatus, arranged so as to produce a continuous
process, in the manner and for the purposes substantially as herein-before
described, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Young, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six.
JAMES YOUNG. (L.S.)