IMPROVEMENTS IN RETORTS FOR THE DISTILLATION OF BITUMINOUS SCHISTS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firm of John Gedge
and Son, No. 4, Wellington Street South, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RETORTS
FOR THE DISTILLATION OF BITUMINOUS SCHISTS."-A communication from
abroad by Jacques Antoine Gossot, of Epinac, in the Empire of France,
Geometrical Architect.
Sealed the 17th July 1860, and dated the 21st January 1860.
ገ
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of, Patents, with bis Petition, on
the 21st January 1860.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDOE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, No. 6,
Wellington Street South, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RETORTS FOR THE DISTILLATION OF BITUMINOUS SCHISTS," communicated to me
from abroad by Jacques Antoine. Gossot, of Epinac, in the Empire of France,
Geometrical Architect, to be as follows:
I propose to construct my retort for the distillation, of schists in iron com-
partments. Its exterior form will be that of a truncated cone, to which will
be adapted a semi-spherical bell, and then a cylindrical box. The centre of
the retort will be a cylindrical iron tube destined for the passage of a part of
the flame from the furnace. The central cylinder will be tied to the exterior
cone by longitudinal plates forming compartments. Each compartment is.

page_text: intended to receive a carriage or waggon charged with schist. These carriages
will be made of iron (sheet) a little thinner than that used for the retort. The
extremity of the retort will be closed firmly, and if need be, luted. The flame
admitted into the central cylinder of the retort will escape by the chimney.
A semi-spherical bell, separated from the retort by a perforated plate, will re-
unite the vapours from the schist; from the bell or dome, this vapour will
traverse a cylindrical box, the two interior ends of which will be furnished with
perforated plates, and enter a pipe which will transmit it to a collecting pipe,
and thence it passes to the refrigerant or cooler. The furnaces will be placed
under the factory and contiguous, separated by walls supporting arches, for
each furnace will be arched, and the arch will only be pierced by a small
chimney at one of its extremities. Each furnace will be constructed to receive
but one retort, the walls will be upright to the height of the axis of the retort,
and the spring of the arch will be at this point. As the retort will turn upon
itself in the furnace by an intermittent movement, each of its exterior parts
will successively place itself above the focus of the heat, and the schist will be
continually displaced in the interior of the retort. The retort will unite with
the conduit vapour pipe. Combustable will be supplied to the furnace by
openings to be closed with iron doors. As each compartment of the retort is
charged with schist, the door is closed with the precautions before mentioned
for preventing any escape of vapour. The retort should rotate intermittantly
upon itself; this movement will be produced by means of a crank (moved by
any motor) a flyer and pinion is set in motion by the crank, the pinion gears
into a wheel which turns an endless shaft, which shaft passes into the factory
in front of the furnace. In front of each retort the endless shaft is furnished
with a wheel toothed on half its circumference, thus producing the intermittant
motion, and transmitting it to another wheel, which turns on an axle armed
with an endless screw, and this turns the retort by gearing into a wheel fixed
to the retort.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 30
by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, No. 4, Wellington
Street South, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send 35
greeting,

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special licence that I, the said
William Edward Gedge. my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Gedge, 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 Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RETORTS FOR THE DISTILLATION OF BITUMINOUS SCHISTS,"
(communicated to me from abroad by Jacques Antoine Gossot, of Epinac, in
the Empire of France, Geometrical Architect,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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.
KNOW NOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Gedge, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The treatment of bituminous schists being well known, I confine myself to
the demonstration of my system of distillation, to understand which, reference
is to be had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, in which Figure 1 represents
an elevation of the retort; Figure 2 a longitudinal section thereof, taken from
A to B; Figure 8, front view of end of retort; Figure 4, section of retort
taken at E, Figure 1; Figure 5, section of retort taken at D, Figure 1;
Figure 6, section of retort taken at C, Figure 1; Figure 7, side viow of
carriage; Figure 8, top plan of interior, or bird's-eye view of carriage;
Figure 9, front of carriage; Figure 10, plan of furnace, taken on scale twice as
large as the previous diagrams; Figure 11, vertical cross section of furnace;
Figure 12, vertical elevation of mechanism on same scale as the furnace;
Figure 13, vertical elevation of wheelwork; and Figure 14, horizontal and
side elevation of mechanism.
.
I construct my retort for the distillation of schists in iron compartments,
and of thick sheet iron, such as is used for steam boilers, of cast or other iron...

page_text: Its exterior form is that of a truncated cone, to which is adapted a semi-
spherical bell, and then a cylindrical box. The centre of the retort is a
cylindrical iron tube destined for the passage of a part of the flame from the
furnace; (this tube may be of cast iron or of sheet bordered with iron
(Figure 2 m). The central cylinder is tied to the exterior cone by six or
more longitudinal plates forming compartments within the retort (Figures 4
and 5). Each compartment is intended to receive a carriage or waggon
charged with schist (Figures 2, 7, 8, and 9 i); the carriages are of the same
form as the compartments intended to receive them, and as the retort is about
four inches larger in circumference at the point of than at the point d (Figure 1)
the carriages are submitted to but little friction in entering and quitting the
retort, and fit better. These carriages are made of sheet iron, a little thinner
than that used for the retort, and their shape is preserved by bars of iron
placed about twenty inches apart in their interior (see Figure 8); these plates
being pierced with holes for the escape of the vapour. The carriages will be
furnished with at the least six small cast-iron wheels running upon iron rails
placed outside the establishment on wooden sleepers, and inside the retort upon
a centre cylinder (see Figure 11 g, and Figure 4 m). The extremity f of the
retort is firmly closed with strong doors, fastened by screws, and should they
permit any escape of vapour, the openings must be stopped or luted with
refractory clay, or otherwise. The flame which is admitted into the central
cylinder of the retort escapes by the chimney (o, Figures 1, 2, and 4). A
seini-spherical bell (p, Figures 1 and 2) separated from the retort by a per-
forated plate, is intended to reunite the vapours from the schist. From the
bell or dome, this vapour traverses a cylindrical box, the two interior ends of
which are furnished with perforated plates and enters a cast-iron pipe, which
transmits it to another collecting pipe (y, Figure 11), which conducts this
vapour to the serpentine refrigerant or cooler. The said box (G, Figures 1
and 2) is filled with vegetable fibre or tow, to cleanse the vapour from the
schist of the schistic particles which have not remained in the dome or bell.
A small door is provided in the bell, and another in the box, to admit of their
being cleaned. The furnaces are placed under the factory in a straight line and
contiguous, separated by walls of from twenty-four to thirty-two inches thick,
and supporting arches, for each furnace is arched, and the arch is only pierced
by a small chimney at one of its extremities (see Figures 10 and 11). One of
the walls of the factory serves for a part of the said furnaces, and is constructed
of refractory bricks. Each furnace is constructed to receive but one retort;
the walls are upright to the height of the axis of the retort, and the spring of
the arch is from this point. The interior of the said furnaces is so constructed

page_text: as to leave little more than one inch of free space, in order that the heat may
act more strongly on the outer side of the retort, and also to constrain it to
enter the interior cylinder, thus heating it from the interior and exterior at
one and the same time. As the retort turns upon itself in the furnace, by an
intermittent movement, each of its exterior parts successively places itself above
the focus of the heat, and the schist will be continually displaced in the interior
of the retort. The axle of the retort united to the interior rails turns upon
two bearings formed to receive the extremities (w) of the said axle (see
Figure 1). The retort unites with the conduit vapour pipe at the point i,
(Figure 2) at which point the pipes turn the one within the other. An iron
door E (Figures 10 and 11), is destined to admit the carriages in supplying
and discharging the retort. Combustible is supplied to the furnace by openings
F, (Figures 10 and 11) closed by iron doors. The fire-place of the furnace
rests upon a grate 9 (Figures 10 and. 11), the cinders falling into the ash-
pan No. 8, (Figure 11). To compel the flame to enter the interior cylinder
of the retort, a semicircular plate is placed, one end resting upon the point A'
(Figure 11) of the wall of the furnace, and the other upon projecting circle
placed facing the thickness of the interior cylinder of the retort. The retort
having six compartments, each of which receives a carriage laden with schist,
its movement is arrested for charging or emptying, by moving the wheel II from
the wheel G (Figures 13 and 14), and sliding this wheel G along the endless
shaft Figure 14. The retort is fixed to an iron band by means of a draw
pin, then having opened the door of the first compartment, which, when open,
will fall horizontally upon the sill of the door E (Figures 10 and 11), so as to
bring the rails with which it is furnished into connection with those of the
exterior railway, and those of the retort. The carriage which is within, is
hooked by the ring = (Figure 9) and run along the free line of rail, being
immediately replaced by a carriage from a branch line, which should be pro-
vided with a charged carriage. As each compartment of the retort is charged
the door is closed, with the precautions before mentioned for preventing any
escape of vapour, and the same proceeding continued for each successive com-
partment. During the charging and emptying, the retort is turned upon
itself by a lever introduced into the toothed wheel h (Figure 1) fixed at the
extremity of the retort. After discharging the retorts, should some fragments
of schist remain, not entirely distilled, they may be used as fuel for the furnace.
As before stated, the retort should rotate intermittently upon itself. This
movement is produced by the following mechanism:-A crank receives motion
from any motor, but in preference, from a steam engine; the crank sets in
motion a flyer C and pinion D (Figures 12 and 14), the pinion D transmits
2

page_text: its motion to a wheel E, which turns an endless shaft, passing into the factory
in front of the furnaces Figure 14. In front of each retort, the endless shaft
is furnished with a wheel G (Figures 13 and 14), which is toothed on half its
circumference. This wheel produces the intermittent motion, and transmits it
to another wheel H (Figures 13 and 14), which turns its axle armed with an
endless screw, and this turns the retort by gearing into the wheel h, which is
fixed to the retort. The intermittent movement is employed because it permits
the use of a force less by one half than would otherwise be required for
putting several retorts in motion, as for example, if there are six retorts, the
toothed wheels are so disposed that three are travelling while three are in
repose, and this reciprocally. And on the other hand, during the moment of
repose, the heat will be more powerfully felt in the interior of the retort, and
the tars will flow with greater facility.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE,
11, Wellington St.; Strand.
W. E. GEDGE. (L.S.)