IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MAKING AND CONDENSING OF OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN GASES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Beck, of Cornhill, in the City of London,
Optician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND
APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MAKING AND CONDENSING OF OXYGEN AND
HYDROGEN GASES." -A communication from abroad by N. H.
Edgerton, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, in the
United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Beck at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd October 1874.
:
I, JOSEPH BECK, of Cornhill, in the City of London, Optician, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE MAKING AND CONDENSING OF
OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN GASES," a communication to me from abroad by
N. H. Edgerton, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, in the
United States of America, to be as follows :—
The apparatus employed in the making and condensing of oxygen and
hydrogen gases consists of a solid wrought-iron cylinder, "plug welded"

page_text: at the ends, and fitted at one end with a cast-iron cap having a ground
metal bearing making a gas-tight joint, such cylinder being also fitted
with a pressure gauge for indicating the developement and pressure of
the gas in connection with a stop-cock and nipple.
The process consists in making and condensing by molecular action
oxygen and hydrogen gases in the above-mentioned cylinder.
For oxygen to any given weight of chlorate of potash add a sufficient
quantity of black oxide of manganese (half the weight preferred); mix
them together thoroughly, and pour the mass into the cylinder; screw
down the cap, making an air and gas tight joint; set the cylinder over a
strong "Bunsen" flame, or other source of sufficient heat. During the
making of the gas the nipple is removed, and the gauge put in its place
to register the pressure.
The hydrogen cylinder is coated with vulcanised rubber, or is other-
wise propected to render it acid proof. In other respects it is similar to
the one for oxygen.
The process for hydrogen consists in putting into the cylinder in their
combining proportions or chemical equivalents zinc and dilute sulphuric
acid in such quantity as is necessary for the amount of gas desired, and
of condensing the said gas by the molecular action thus induced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Beck in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BECK, of Cornhill, in the City of London, Optician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Beck, Her special license 3
that I, the said Joseph Beck, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Beck, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: oxygen and hydrogen gases in the above-mentioned cylinder.
For oxygen to any given weight of chlorate of potash add a sufficient
quantity of black oxide of manganese (half the weight preferred); mix
them together thoroughly, and pour the mass into the cylinder; screw
down the cap, making an air and gas tight joint; set the cylinder over a
strong "Bunsen" flame, or other source of sufficient heat. During the