CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS FOR ILLUMINATION
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
SPINNEY, of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, Gas Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Second day of June, in the first year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Spinney, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority,
that I, the said Thomas Spinney, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Spinney, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS FOR ILLUMINATION;" in which said. Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas Spinney, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery. within two calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Spinney, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained by the following description thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-

page_text: My improvements in apparatus for manufacturing gas for illumination con-
sists in the adaptation of a valve to the ascention pipe leading from the retort
or brick oven in which the gas is generated. The object of this valve is to
supersede the employment of an hydraulic main, and thereby to take off the
pressure to which the gas has hitherto been subject in passing through the
hydraulic main. The advantages attendant upon thus removing the pressuro
are twofold: firstly, a considerable increased durability of the retort or oven;
and, secondly, a much larger quantity of gas obtained from whatever material
may be used for the production of gas for illumination.
In order to render my improvements in the manufacture of gas still more
evident, I have hereunto annexed Drawings, exhibiting the construction and
mode of adapting the valve to the ascention pipe which I employ for the above
purpose.
Figure 1 is a front view of a brick oven to be used as a retort for genc-
rating gas. a is the mouth of the oven; b, the fire door; c, the ascention pipe;
d, d, d, sight holes, for examining and cleaning the flues; e is the valve box'
placed upon the ascention pipe.
Figure 2 is a side view of the valve detached from the ascention pipe;
Figures 3 and 4 are vertical sections of the same. f is the lower pipe, through
which the gas passes from the ascention pipe into the valve box; g is the
lateral pipe, by which the gas proceeds to the purifiers; h is the cylindrical
cap or cover, which is made to move up and down by means of its rod passing
through a stuffing box; i, i, is a reservoir of water, tar, or any other liquid, in
the lower part of the valve box, into which the cylindrical cap or cover h
descends for the purpose of shutting off the passage of the gas. In Figure 3
the cap or cover h is raised, which allows the gas to pass freely from the gene-
rator to the purifying vessels and gas holder. Figure 4 shews the cap or
cover dropt down into the reservoir i, i, which effectually shuts off all com-
munication between the gas holder and the retort or oven.
Lastly, I have exhibited in the Drawing accompanying this Specification
such a form and construction of valve as fully answers the above purpose; but
I do not intend to confine myself to that particular form or construction, as my
Invention consists in the adaption of a valve of any suitable construction to
the ascention pipe of a gas retort, oven, or generator, for the purposes of
superseding the necessity of the hydraulic main hitherto used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Spinney, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.
THOMAS (L.S.)
(L.S.) SPINNEY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of July, in
the second year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Thomas Spinney came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-one.