Improvements in the Means for Automatically Lighting Gas.
Year: 1894

page_text: Dale of Application, 2nd Nov, 1904
Complete Specification Left. 3rd Jan., 1895-Accepted. 16th Feb.. 1895
Complete Specification Left. 3rd Jan., 1895-Accepted. 16th Feb.. 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Means for Automatically Lighting Gas.
I, JOHN FREDERICK DUKE of 3 Union Square, Newington, in the County of
Loudon, Chemist do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has for its object the igniting of ordinary coal gas, or coal gas
combined with air, by its own action.
To attain this object I make use of the properties palladium and platinum bavo
of occluding hydrogen and oxygen respectively.
I make a mixture or alloy of palladium and platinum, either in the state of
metal, black or sponge, or of any of their salts, in such proportions that, when the
gas plays upon it, the hydrogen occluded by the palladium shall be to the oxygen
occluded by the platinum as H₂O.
This mixture incorporate with finely teased asbestos or any other suitable
material. I then place this prepared material in a small gauze-covered cage or
receptacle at the side of the burner in such a way as to leave free access of
atinospheric air. On the gas being turned on the palladium occludes free hydrogen
from the carburetted hydrogen. The platiuum then brings about the sudden
combination of this occluded hydrogen with the oxygen occluded within its own
pores thus forming water. The heat generated by this sudden combination is
sufficient to raise the mixture to a temperature high enough to render incandescent
a small length of platinum or platino iridium wire which lights the gas.
Dnted this Second day of November 1894.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Means for Automatically Lighting Gas.
1, JOHN FREDERICK DUKE of 3 Union Terraco, Newington in the County of
London, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
This invention has for its object the igniting by its own action, of ordinary
coal gas (alone or mixed with air) or of other gas having hydrogen for its base.
It is well known that platinum black or spongy platinum will occlude a large
quantity of oxygen from the air and that if a stream of hydrogen be directed upon
the platinum the chemical combination of the two gases takes place with sufficient
energy to raise the temperature of the platinum. Attempts have already been
made to take advantage of this property of platinum by applying it to the
automatic ignition of lighting coal gas. In these attempts the gas issuing from an
ordinary burner has been caused to blow upon the platinum contained in a receptacle,
so as to warm this platinum sufficiently to render incandescent a fine wire of
platinum carried froin the platinum in the receptacle to a position where it comes

page_text: into contact with the gas as it issues from the burner. This wire on becoming
incandescent ignites the gas.
None of these attempts has proved a practical success.
I bave found by experiment that metallic platium in the very finely divided
form known as platinum black or platinum mohr is the only form of platinum that
will cause the combination of the coal gas with its occluded oxygen at the ordinary
temperature with sufficient energy to produce a red heat or heat sufficient to
render incandescent a length of platinum wire when a current of cold carburetted
hydrogen or ordinary illuminating gas plays upon it. I have also found that after
a time the particles or atoms of the platinum black coalesce because the heat
communicated to them by the flame, and by their own act of occlusion, combined
with the free access of the oxygen in the air tend to decarbonize or fuse the
platinum black.
When the particles have more or less coalesced they are not in a finely enough
divided condition to bring about the combination of the coal gas with the oxygen
of the air, at the ordinary temperature, with sufficient rapidity to render the wire
incandescent when a stream of cold carburetted hydrogen is passed over or
along it.
Now the object of the present invention is to mix or use in conjunction with the
platinum black a material of such a nature and in such a proportion that when
the carburetted hydrogen plays upon the mixture the said material will abstract
free hydrogen from the gas and occlude it and this hydrogen will at once combine
This sudden
with the oxygen occluded by the platinum black and form water.
combination raises the temperature of the mixture sufficiently to render the
platinum active enough to bring about the combination of the coal gas with the
oxygen of the air at the ordinary temperature.
The material used with the platinum should be in such proportion that the
extent to which the occlusion of hydrogen and consequent formation of water are
carried should be such that the carbon which is separated from the carburetted
hydrogen in an amorphous form shall be consumed by the heat of the gas Hame or
by chemical reaction without leaving such a deposit of carbon as will diminish the
activity of the mixture but only just sufficient deposit to prevent the coalescing or
fusing of the particles of platinum.
The material which I find will effect the purpose is palladium in either of
the finely divided forms known respectively as palladium black and spongy
palladium.
In carrying out the invention I thoroughly mix together the platinum black and
the palladium black or spongy palladium, preferably by any suitable mechanical
nieans. The proportions have found to answer well are 9 parts by weight of
platinum to part by weight of palladium and it is best to first form a mixture
of the 1 part of palladium with 1 part of platinum and then to admix this mixture
to the other 8 parts of platinum.
This mixture of platinum and palladium can be employed alone but it is better
to incorporate it with a suitable incombustible material, preferably finely tensed
asbestos in the proportion of about 3 parts by weight of asbestos to one part of the
mixture. I place it in a small cage or receptacle formed preferably of platinum
gauze of very fine mesh, say about 120 meshes to the square inch, the cage being
so constructed that the air shall have free access to it especially at the bottom of
I have found
the cage or that part opposite to where the gas flame plays upon it.
that covering the mixture with a platinum wiro gauze of very fine mesh tends to
aid the activity of the mixture by keeping it below the temperature required for
consuming the amorphous carbon deposited within its pores. From the mixture in
the cage I carry a fine platinum wire to a position just at the outside of the black
line which is always naturally formed by the burning gas at the side of the slit or
opening in the burner, that is to say, just where the gas and air mix. This cage is
placed in such a position relatively to the gas burner that the atmospheric air shall
play on it or be drawn through it at the one side and the gas at the other. This

page_text: can be satisfactorily carried out by mounting the cage on the top of a metal tube
open at the bottom and fixed to the side of the burner. The current of gas blowing
across the top of the cage tends to produce an upward current of air the tube
acting as a chimney. The atmospheric air is thus drawn through the platinum-
palladium mixture in the cage and the combination of the carburetted hydrogen
and oxygen of the air is thus favored. The heat generated by this combination is
sufficient to raise the temperature of the mixture high enough to render the platinum
wire incandescent notwithstanding the stream of cold coal gas passing along or over
it and this wire then ignites the gas at the burner. The current of air continually
passing through the mixture from the tube has the effect of keeping the mixture
comparatively cool.
The accompanying drawings show how I prefer to apply my invention to an
ordinary gas burner.
Figure 1 is an elevation of the burner with the tube and cage fixed thereto;
Figure 2 is a similar view but with the tube and cage in section; and Figure 3 is
a plan.
a is the burner. is a tube fixed to one side of the burner and open at bottom
with open screw plug. c is the cover of the gauze cage at the top of the tube,
and containing the mixture of platinum and palladium with or without asbestos or
other incombustible material; the cover e is preferably made of platinum wire
gauze of very fine mesh for the purpose already explained. is a screw cap to
secure the cage in position. e is the platinum wire carried from the mixture in the
cage to a position near the outlet of the burner. indicates a small quantity of
fused platinum and palladium mixture which it is preferred to have on the wire e
near the gauze covere. fis a partition of wire gauze forming the bottom of the
cage. g is a more or less compressed pieco or plug of asbestos in the tube b, and
is loose asbestos placed in the lower part of the tube. is a hollow screw inserted
in the bottom of the tube to hold up the .asbestos. The asbestos and h is
however not essential its object being chiefly to catch any particles of the mixture
which may pass through the gauze. The dotted line indicates the current of
gas that issues from the burner.
Although specially applicable to automatically igniting gas at ordinary gas
burners used for illuminating it is also adapted for igniting atmospheric burners,
and for igniting the explosive mixture of gas and air in gas motor engines in
place of the master light ordinarily employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim in respect of means for automatically lighting gas is :—
1. The use of platinum black mixed or in conjunction with palladium black or
spongy palladium incorporated or not with asbestos or other incombustible material
for the purpose of automatically lighting gas, substantially as set forth.
2. The use of platinum black mixed or in conjunction with palladium black or
spongy palladium incorporated or not with asbestos or other incombustible material
in such position with respect to a gas burner that the gas issuing from the burner
plays upon the mixture in combination with a platinum wire leading from the
mixture to near the outlet of the burner, whereby when the gas begins to play upon
the mixture it raises its temperature sufficiently to render the wire incandescent so
that this ignites the gas, substantially as set forth.
3. The enclosing of the mixture, described and used as referred to in Claim 2, in
a cage the cover of which is formed of platinum wire gauze of very fine mesh
substantially as and for the purposo set forth.
4. The combination with a gas burner of a cage containing platinum black and
palladium black or spongy palladium incorporated or not with asbestos or other
incombustible material, a platinum wire leading from the material in the cage to
Dear the outlet of the burner, and an open air tube below the cage so that the

page_text: atmospheric air may be drawn up through the platinum and palladium, substantially
as and for the purpose set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 3rd day of January 1895.
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.