IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MATTERS TO BE CONSUMED IN OBTAINING LIGHT, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BURNERS FOR BURNING THE SAME
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDRE
DROUOT DE CHARLIEU, of Coleman Street Buildings, in the City of London,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Andre Drouot De Charlieu, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Andre Drouot De Charlieu, my exors, adñors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Andre Drouot De Charlieu, my exors,
adiñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
MATTERS TO BE CONSUMED IN OBTAINING LIGHT, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
BURNERS FOR BURNING THE SAME," communicated to me by a certain Foreigner
residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said Andre Drouot De Charlieu, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six 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
Andre Drouot De Charlieu, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The Invention relates, first, to the preparation of a liquid matter to be
consumed for the purposes of obtaining light; and, secondly, the Invention
relates to the construction of burners to be used in consuming such liquid for
the purposes of obtaining light. And in order that the Invention may be
most fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to explain
the means pursued by me in carrying out the Invention.
It is well known that volatile or essential oils from mineral, animal,
and vegetable matters in burning give a large flame with much smoke,
owing to the quantity of carbon which they contain; and it is also well
known that spirits in burning produce a bluish flame with little light,
owing to the want of carbon. Now, the object of the first part of the
Invention is to combine essential or volatile oils with spirits, and by distillation
of the compound to produce a liquid which will be found of great value.as à
means of obtaining light, and it will be found that the flame produced will
have a similar character to the flame of coal gas, and the liquid is consumed
by burners very similar to those used for consuming coal gas. I would
remark, that essential or volatile oils and spirits generally, when combined and
then distilled, will produce a liquid according to the Invention, but the cost of
many of these matters being too high, in consequence of the present state of
their manufacture, and from excise duties and other causes, they cannot with
advantage be used, I will therefore simply mention those which from their
cheapness will enable the manufacture to prepare a liquid at a cost which
will be found highly beneficial as a means of producing light, at the same
time the description herein given will apply to other essential oils and spirits,
when their cost will justify their use, and it will be found that by varying the
proportions of essential or volatile oils in combination with spirits, varying"
degrees of strength and light may be obtained from the liquid produced; and
by the use of ethers in the combining the other two matters, the spirits
employed may be caused to dissolve more of the essential or volatile oils.
The materials I prefer to employ are the essential oil of turpentine, some-

page_text: times called spirits of turpentine, but it is well known to be an essential oil,
and the spirits which are preferred to be used are the spirits of wood; and it
is important to call attention to the circumstance that the spirits of wood are
also sometimes called pyrolignus spirit" and "methylene," and möre
frequently is. sold under. the name of "naptha" and "wood naptha.". This
naptha is a spirit, and is a well known product; obtained by the distillation of
wood, and has, in many respects, a similar character to alcohol, but is very
different in smell and taste. There is another matter sold as naptha, which is
obtained from coal tar; and this naptha is an essential oil, and therefore in using
such naptha according to the Invention it is to be treated as an essential oil.
I have thought it.desirable thus to call attention to the circumstances, in order
to say that the manufacturer must not depend on the names under which the
articles required are sold, but in carrying out the Invention he is to be careful
in not compounding two essential oils or two spirits. I may, however, remark,
that essential oils and spirits are well known to chemists, and I have, as 'above
stated, only called attention to these matters that persons may not depend on
the names given to the liquids in the market. It is found that on the strength
of the spirit used, materially depends the quantity of essential oil it will
dissolve, for this reason it is important, in working according to the Invention,
that the strength of the spirit used should be ascertained, and I prefer to
employ the aerometer of Gay Lussac for this purpose, and in this Specification',
when I mention strengths of liquors, I refer to "that instrument. In manu-
facturing the liquid according to the Invention, I do so for three kinds of
purposes, as follows:-
No. 1, liquid made with spirit of 95°. For this liquid I combine twenty-
three parts of essential oil with seventy-seven parts of spirit. This liquid will
burn with a very superior flame, having little smoke.
No. 2, liquid made with spirit of 97°-For this liquid. I combine thirty-
three parts of essential oil with sixty-seven parts of spirit. This liquid will
burn with a strong flame but with smoke, which, however, by the aid of
glass chimneys, as at present practised in respect to gas or oil burners, may be
consumed.
:
No. 3, liquid made with spirit of 98° to 99°.-For this liquid I combine
fifty parts of essential oil with fifty parts of spirit. This liquid will have
much more smoke, and should therefore not be employed where the smoke
would be an objection.
In thus giving the above as the three classes of liquid which I manu-
facture, I do not confine myself thereto, as the relative quantities of the
spirits and essential oils used may be varied according to the object desired
to be obtained. In the event of the manufacturer not being able to

page_text: obtain the spirit to be employed of the degree of strength desired for the
particular class or character required, I recommend the following as the
best means I am acquainted with for increasing the strength of the spirits to be
employed. I will suppose that the strength of spirit desired is 95°, and that
the spirit which has been obtained only indicates 87°. In order to render such
spirit to the strength desired, a quantity of water equal to eight one-hundredth
of the entire quantity of the fluid would be required to be removed; for this
purpose I employ fresh quicklime, which is known to absorb about one fourth
its weight of water; if therefore 32 lbs. of quicklime be added to 100 lbs. of
spirit of 87°, the spirit obtained will be raised to 95°, but should the lime not
be capable of taking up one fourth of its weight of water, then a larger
quantity of lime will be required, and in such manner other strengths are to
be treated in obtaining the strength required. The lime should remain for two
or three days with the spirit, and then the spirit be distilled. The turpentine
used should be 75°, which will readily be obtained by purchase in the market,
and such should also be the strength with other essential oils when they are
employed in place of turpentine, the proportions above given being referable
to such strengths. The spirits and essential oils are to be mixed and then
distilled, and the receiver used should be large enough to receive the whole
charge of the still, otherwise liquids of different characters would be obtained,
as the first part which comes over will not possess the proper quantity of
essential oil. By observing the above directions, a clear transparent liquid will
be obtained, which constitutes the first part of the Invention, that is, a liquid
obtained by distillation from a combination of essential oils and spirits, and it
will be found that by using ether with the spirit employed, the spirit will
dissolve more essential oil.
I will now proceed to describe the second part of the Invention, which
relates to suitable burners for consuming such liquid. The liquid, produced as
above described, is consumed by being volatilized by the heat of burners, and
the burners are so made that the heat may be transmitted to the liquid for
that purpose.
Figure 1 represents a burner of the simplest kind. d is part of the vessel
containing the liquid which may be of any convenient shape; and Figure 2
shows a similar burner applied to the branch of a lamp. The liquid is con-
ducted up to the burner a by means of fibres, and I prefer to use cotton yarn'
for that purpose, as is shewn at b, and the flame in burning keeps the stem c
affixed to the burner heated, and thus the liquid as it comes up towards the
burner is volatilized, and the vapour to be consumed passes through the small
holes at e, e, in like manner to gas. Figure 3 shows a view of another

page_text: arrangement of burner, where there are several stems c, one to each hole
through which the vapour passes. Figure 4 shows another arrangement of
burner acting on the principal of an Argand lamp. The dotted lines
represent a tube which may be used to increase the draft within the burner
when it is desired to increased the flame. Figure 5 shows another arrange-
ment of Argand burner; in this case, there are several stems c, one to each hole
of the burner. In each of these Figures the same letters are used to denote
similar parts.
I would remark, that in some cases I dispense with the use of
the fibres for conducting up of the liquid to a proper position in respect to the
burner, but in such cases care is to be observed in so constructing the lamp or
vessel to which such burner is applied, that it will maintain the liquid at the
same level in respect to the burner at all times, as is shewn at Figure 6.
I however prefer to use fibres as above explained, such fibres simply acting as
a capilliary means of conducting up the liquid to a proper position to come
within the influence of the heat of the burner, and thus be volatilized. In lighting
burners consuming the combustible liquid above described, I employ a hoop
surrounded with cotton or other fibres with a stem to it, as shewn at Figure 7,
which I dip into some of the liquid, and then ignite the liquid on the hoop
which I place around the burner a, and bring it below the upper part of the
cotton, and vapour will quickly be produced within the burner a and pass
through the holes of the burner and become ignited; the hoop may then be
removed, and the heat of the flame of the burner c will maintain the supply of
vapour. It will be found that the cotton or fibres b will require changing
occasionally, but sometimes not for many days. I would further remark, that
variations may be made in the burners above described, so long as they be so
constructed as to generate the required vapour by volatilizing the liquid, and be
so formed as to allow the vapour so generated to pass off in a similar manner
to gas burners.
And I would have it understood, that what I claim is,―
First, the mode of preparing matters for the purpose of producing light, by
combining essential oils and spirits, and obtaining a liquid therefrom by
distillation, as above described.
And, secondly, I claim the mode of constructing burners for consuming such
liquid as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andre Drouot De Charlieu, have
'hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
ANDRE DROUOT (L.S.) DE CHARLIEU.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1841, the aforesaid Andre Drouot De Charlieu.came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification-aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and speci-
fied, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose...
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh-day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-one.