IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING ILLUMINating Gas, HeatING APARTMENTS OR CHAMBERS, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter George Fearnley, of No. 2, Eardley
Crescent, West Brompton, in the County of Middlesex, Manu-
facturer of Gas Apparatus, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING ILLUMINating Gas, HeatING APARTMENTS OR
CHAMBERS, AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 8th November 1872, and dated the 14th May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter George Fearnley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th May 1872.*
I, WALTER GEORGE FEARNLEY, of No. 2, Eardley Crescent, West
Brompton, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer of Gas Apparatus,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MAKING ILLUMINATING Gas, Hrating AparTMENTS OR CHAMBERS,
AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows :-
This Invention is designed to render apparatus for the manufacture of
illuminating gas more compact, simple, and durable in construction, and
more economical in working than has heretofore been usual, and also to
enable the heat radiating from the furnace and flues to be utilized.

page_text: The furnace, which may be constructed of wrought iron, is arranged
so that it can be readily withdrawn for cleaning, and has a suitable coke
box or receiver beneath it. Over the furnace is placed a retort sur-
rounded by flues which communicate with a suitable chimney.
The retort may be of any convenient shape in cross section, but the
lower part of the retort is made circular in form and of corresponding
radius to the circular doorway through which it is to be fed, and which
consists of a tube or neck formed with or attached to the front of the
retort.
In order to close the retort perfectly without the use of packing, and
to obviate the difficulties arising from the presence of grit where the door
has to be accurately fitted within the circular doorway, a screw thread
or its equivalent is formed around or upon the outer part of the projecting
tubular doorway or neck, and the door or cover itself is made circular
and in the form of a cup, screwed or equivalently formed to fit upon the
said doorway or neck, and provided with suitable handles whereby it
may be turned. In order to support this circular door or cover in
position when open in such manner as to enable it also to be rotated and
moved in the required directions for closing the retort it is flanged and
held in a suitable ring within which it is capable of turning, and this
ring is provided with an adjustable hingo or adjustable hinges formed
with a slot or slots, through which screws, bolts, or pins are passed,
whereby the hinge or hinges is or are securely attached to the tubular
doorway or neck in such manner as to be capable of moving to and fro
to the requisite extent for closing and opening the circular door or
cover. The products leave the retort by a pipe provided with a safety
valve, which pipe, when the safety valve is opened, affords ready access
to the interior of the retort, and from this pipe the products pass through
a connecting pipe provided with a union joint into another pipe or
branch which is placed at the upper part of the condenser, and is fur-
nished with a safety valve. This pipe is connected with and leads the
products into a vertical coil arranged within a suitable vessel, and sur-
rounded by water fed to the vessel through an opening provided with a
ball cock. This vessel, which is furnished also with an overflow pipe, is
situated directly above another chamber, into which the products are
conducted by the coil. Within this chamber the coal tar and heavy
products are deposited, whilst the gascous products pass by an opening
at the upper part of the chamber, through a suitably formed tube into a

page_text: chamber provided with guage cocks and containing water supplied to it
by means of a feed pipe provided with a safety valve, and by the water
contained within this chamber the gascous products are washed. Above
the water chamber are arranged a number of perforated shelves or plates
provided with eyes or handles, and studs or legs, for retaining them at
their proper distances apart. Between these shelves or plates is placed
the filtering or purifying material whereby the gas is purified, the per-
forations in the plates being so arranged as to cause the gas in its upward
passage to travel diagonally from one plate to the other through the
filtering or purifying material, after which it is conducted to. the gas
holder by a suitable pipe.
The lid or cover of the purifying vessel is formed with a rib or fillet
which takes into a corresponding groove or channel formed around the
upper part of the. vessel, the joint being made air-tight by means of
suitable packing placed in the groove or channel, and the lid or cover is
held down by a suitable fastening.
In some cases the cock in the main leading from the gas holder may
be connected with a regulator by means of wire ropes or other con-
nections passing around the drum or pulley of such regulator.
The regulator may be placed in any convenient situation, and is pro-
vided with a toothed wheel and pawl or spring catch arrangement for
locking it in the position to which it may have been turned by means of
the key, so that the main cock cannot be turned otherwise than through
tho medium of the regulator.
For heating apartments or chambers I provide the apparatus with a
pipe or pipes passing through the furnace or through a chamber or
chambers in connection with the furnace. The said pipe or pipes is or
are arranged to conduct supplies of air to the apartment or chamber to
be heated, the air being heated during its passage through the pipe or
pipes to such apartment or chamber.
Sometimes I may construct the apparatus with an oven arranged at
one side of the furnace, and a boiler at the other side, so as to utilize the
heat radiating from the furnace.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Walter George Fearnley in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 13th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Walter
GEORGE FEARNLEY, of No. 2, Eardley Crescent, West Brompton, in tho
County of Middlesex, Manufacturer of Gas Apparatus, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the ycar
of.
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Walter George Fearnley, Her special
license that I, the said Walter George Fearnley, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter George Fearnley,
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,
usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING ILLUMINATING GAS, HEATING APART-
MENTS OR CHAMBERS, AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Walter George Fearnley, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and scals, 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar monthis next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Walter George Fearnley, 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 thereof and the Drawings therein referred
to :-
This Invention is designed to render apparatus for the manufacture of
illuminating gas more compact, simple, and durable in construction, and
more economical in working than has heretofore been usual, and also to
enable the heat radiating from the furnace and flues to be utilized.

page_text: the retort, it is flanged and held in a suitable ring h, within which
it is capable of turning, and this ring is provided with an adjustablo
hinge (or adjustable hinges) formed with a slot (or slots) through
which screws, bolts, or pins & are passed, whereby the hinge (or hinges)
is (or are) securely attached to the tubular doorway or neck, in such 5
manner as to be capable of moving to and fro to the requisite extent
for closing and opening the circular door or cover. The products leavo
the retort by a pipe provided with a safety valve m, which pipe when
the safety valve is opened affords ready access to the interior of the
retort, and from this pipe the products pass through a connecting 1
pipen provided with a union joint into another pipe or branch o
which is placed at the upper part of the condenser, and is furnished
with a safety valve p. This pipe is connected with and leads the
products into a vertical coil q arranged within a suitable vessel r,
and surrounded by water fed to the vessel through an opening r¹, 1
which may be provided with a ball cock. This vessel, which is fur-
nished also with an overflow pipes and a draw-off cock 8', is situated
directly above another chamber into which the products are con-
ducted by the coil, and from whence they can be withdrawn by the
cock . Within this chamber the coal tar and heavy products are 2
deposited, whilst the gascous products pass by an opening at the upper
part of the chamber through a suitably formed tube u into a chamber v
provided with a guage cock ¹ and a draw-off cock v³, and containing
water supplied to it by means of a feed pipe ³ provided with a safety
valve ', and by the water contained within this chamber the gaseous 2
products are washed. Above the water chamber are arranged a number
of perforated shelves or plates w provided with eyes or handles w¹, and
studs or legs w³, for retaining them at their proper distances apart.
Between these shelves or plates is placed the filtering or purifying
material (such for instance as lime and sawdust), whereby the gas is 3
purified, the perforations in the plates being so arranged as to cause
the gas in its upward passage to travel diagonally from one plate to
the other through the filtering or purifying material, after which it is
conducted to the gas holder x by a suitable pipe y.
The lid or cover of the purifying vessel is formed with a rib or 3
fillet, which takes into a corresponding groove or channel formed around
the upper part of the vessel, as shewn, the joint being made air tight
by means of suitable packing placed in the groove or channel, and the
lid or cover is held down by a suitable fastening. .

page_text: Although I have shewn the apparatus with its furnace and flues con-
structed of iron as being more portable, it will be evident that my
improved retort may if preferred be set in brickwork.
In some cases the cock y' in the main y* leading from the gas holder,
may be connected with a regulator (Figs. 9 and 10) by means of wire
ropes y³, y³, or other connections passing around the drum or pulley
of such regulator, one of the ropes passing to each end of the lever yʻ
of the main cock y¹.
The regulator may be placed in any convenient situation and is pro-
vided with a toothed wheel &', formed by preference in one piece with
the drums, and a pawl or spring catch arrangement for locking it in
the position to which it may have been turned by means of a suitable
key, so that the main cock cannot bo turned otherwise than through
the medium of the regulator. The pawl may be thrown out of gear by
pressing the knob *. The nut may be moved to any desired part
of the circular slot in the plate 25, and tightened by a suitable key,
so that on turning the spindle for the purpose of turning on the
gas the projection on its drum or pulleys by coming in contact
with the nut will stop the rotation of the spindle, and so prevent
the farther opening of the gas main. The glass cover prevents access
to and tampering with the adjustable nut ;,, are guide pulleys
for the wire ropes y³, y*.
For heating apartments or chambers I provide the apparatus with a
pipe A (or pipes) passing through the furnace, as shewn in Figs. 2
and 3, or through a chamber or chambers in connection with the
furnace. The said pipe A (or pipes) is (or are) arranged to conduct
supplies of air to the apartment or chamber to be heated, the air being
heated during its passage through the pipe A (or pipes) to such apart-
ment or chamber.
Sometimes I construct the apparatus with an oven B arranged at one
side of the furnace a, and a boiler O at the other side, as shewn in
Fig. 12, so as to utilize the heat radiating from the furnace. In this
case the furnace is made somewhat like the fire-place of an ordinary
kitchen- range, with the retort c above it surrounded by flucs & which
communicate with the chimney, the upper side of the top fluc forming
a hot plate D, the part D' of which may be made removeable for
.

page_text: cooking purposes. The upper front part a¹ is made to open outwards
for enabling fuel to be fed to the fire-place.
Having described my said Invention, and having explained the
manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I hereby declare
that I do not claim as of my' Invention or the exclusive use of the 5
several parts herein-before described or referred to, except when tho
same are used in and for the purposes of my said Invention, with
reference to which I claim,-
"
First. The arrangement and construction of apparatus for making
illuminating gas, and heating apartments or chambers, substantially as 1
shewn in and described with reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8
of the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The combination of the tubular doorway f, flanged circular
door or cover g, ring h, and adjustable hinge i formed with a slot
through which screws, bolts, or pins are passed, whereby the hinge 1
is securely attached to the tubular doorway or neck, all substantially as
herein shewn and described for the purposes specified.
Thirdly. The combination of the vertical coil q, water vessel r, tar
chamber t, tube u, washing chamber v, and perforated shelves or
plates w, all arranged and operating together, substantially as hercin- 2
before described for the purposes specified.
Fourthly. The construction of regulator, shewn in and described with
reference to Figs. 9, 10, and 11 of the accompanying Drawings.
Lastly. The arrangement of the retort c in combination with the
oven B, boiler C, and fire-place a, substantially as shewn in and 2
described with reference to Fig. 12, for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Georgo Fearnley, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Ninth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
WALTER G. FEARNLEY. (L.S.)