IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUfacture OF GAS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Saint John Vincent Day, of 166, Buchanan
Street, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Consulting
Engineer, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUfacture
OF GAS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."-A. com-
munication from abroad by Frederick Herschel Eichbaum, of
Detroit, in the State of Michigan, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Saint John Vincent
Day at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th September 1874.
I, SAINT JOHN VINCENT DAY, of 166, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, in
the County of Lanark, North Britain, Consulting Engineer, do hereby ¨
declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF GAS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOB," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Frederick Herschel Eichbaum, of
Detroit, in the State of Michigan, United States of America, to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to an improved method of manufacturing
permanent gas from hydrocarbons, and which may be used for lighting

page_text: and heating, & for actuating motive power engines, and other generally
similar purposes wherein gas is employed.
For the purpose of this Invention those substances containing hydro-
carbons, which may be either partially or wholly volatilized below a red
heat, are available. Among the most suitable of such substances may
be mentioned petroleum and its products, shale and coal oils and their
products, naptha, gasoline, coal tar, pitch, gums, bitumen, rosin, grease,
fats, oils, cannel coal, gas coal, shales, wood, lignites, peat, and turf.
93
"
In manufacturing gas according to this Invention the hydrocarbon to
be treated is placed in a still or retort and subjected to a heat sufficient to
vaporize its volatile contents. The terms " vapor or vaporize" are
herein intended to refer to condensible gases as distinguished from
permanent or incondensible gases. The vapors so produced are (when
the vaporizing still or retort is separate from the more highly heated
retort, herein-after described) conducted by pipes, which may be cased
in non-conducting material or otherwise protected against condensation
of the vapors during their passage through the said pipes to the interior
of a retort, chamber, pipe, or pipes, maintained at a full red to a white
heat and by being submitted to the full red or white hot interior of the
said retort, chamber, or pipe, the vapors are converted into permanent
gas and allowed to pass off for use. To ensure the entire conversion of
the condensible vapors into permanent gas, and to avoid portions of
condensible vapor being carried off mechanically by the permanent gas,
it is a convenient arrangement to have inside the highly heated retort or
chamber a cylinder or pipe of any desired shape, extending nearly the
entire length of the highly heated retort or chamber, the end of such
cylinder or pipe next the door of the highly heated retort or chamber
being furnished with a clay or other stopper capable of being removed
when desired, the other end of the cylinder or pipe being open. The
pipe conducting the vapors to be converted into permanent gas should
be inserted into and secured to the aforesaid cylinder or pipe near its
end next the door of the highly heated retort or chamber so as to cause
the vapors and gases produced therefrom to travel nearly the entire
interior length of the cylinder and then to return through the entire
interior length of the highly heated retort or chamber to the gas exit
pipe, which is placed on the mouth-piece as usual in ordinary coal gas
retorts. Other forms of apparatus may be employed to effect the same
results, such as placing the still or retort in which the hydrocarbon is

page_text: vaporized inside the highly heated retort or chamber in which the vapors
are converted into permanent gas, passages or openings being made for
charging and discharging the vaporizing still or retort, and for the
passage of the hydrocarbon vapors therefrom to the interior of the
external highly heated retort or chamber. The space or distance between
the sides of the respective retorts or vessels being filled with the hydro-
carbon vapors and gas, which are comparatively poor conductors of heat,
these maintain the necessary difference of temperature between the
vaporizing and more highly heated external retort or vessel, such space
or distance being proportioned to the temperature at which the hydro-
carbon to be treated is vaporizable.
A series of coiled, zig-zag, or tortuous pipes or passages, or a series of
retorts, chambers, or vessels communicating the one with the other and
maintained at a full red to a white heat may also be used for converting
the condensible hydrocarbon vapors into permanent gas.
It is usually found advantageous to exhaust or otherwise quickly
remove the permanent gas from prolonged contact with the highly
heated pipes, retorts, or vessels, that is to say, as soon as possible after
its formation, and so as to avoid further decomposition thereof.
The permanent gas produced from the condensible vapors by any of
the forms of apparatus described may be purified by any of the well
known purifiers (according to the nature of the impurities it contains,
these varying according to the impurities contained in the hydrocarbon
vaporized), and then led off for use.
"
Gas produced in the manner herein-before described from the richer
hydrocarbons, such as petroleum, shale, and coal oil, and their respective
products and substances approximating thereto in chemical composition,
is usually too rich or of too high illuminating power for use in ordinary
coal gas burners, and it may be reduced or diluted to such "candle
power as desired by the admixture therewith of coal gas, air, hydrogen,
carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, or the permanent gases resulting from the
destructive distillation of wood, coal, cannel coal, lignites, peat, turf,
shales, or other similar substances in close retorts at moderate tem-
peratures, the condensible vapors resulting therefrom being condensed
and utilized in the ordinary manner; or these may be converted into
permanent gas by the process herein described.

page_text: Any or all of the various pipes or other means of communication used
in parts of the different forms of apparatus, herein-before described,
may be provided with self acting or other valves, or water or other scals,
to regulate or control the passage of the vapors or gases therein.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Saint John Vincent Day in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAINT JOHN
VINCENT DAY, of 166, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
38th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Saint John Vincent Day, Her special
license that I, the said Saint John Vincent Day, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Saint John Vincent
Day, my executors, administrators, or 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREFOR," a communication to me from abroad by Frederick
Herschel Eichbaum, of Detroit, in the State of Michigan, United States
of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Saint
John Vincent Day, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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.

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say :-
The said Invention relates to an improved method of manufacturing
permanent gas from hydrocarbons, and which may be used for lighting,
heating, and actuating motive power engines, and for other generally
similar purposes wherein coal gas is employed.
<
For the purposes of this Invention all substances containing hydro-
carbons which may be either partially or wholly volatilized below a red
heat are available. Among the most suitable of such substances may
be mentioned petroleum and its products, shale and coal oils and their
products, naptha, gasoline, coal tar, pitch, gums, bitumen, rosin, grease,
fats, oils, cannel coal, gas coal, shales, wood, lignites, and peat or turf.
In manufacturing gas according to the first modification of this In-
vention the hydrocarbon to be treated is placed in a still or retort A
(see Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings), and subjected to a heat
sufficient to vaporize its volatile contents. The terms <
vapor" or
vaporize" as, herein intended to refer to condensible gases as dis-
tinguished from permanent or incondensible gases.
Tlic vapors so
produced are conducted in the direction of the arrows by pipes B, which
are provided with valves or stop-cocks C, and may be cased in non-
conducting material or otherwise protected against condensation of the
vapors during their passage through the said pipes B to the interior of
a retort or chamber D, so built as to be maintained at a full red to a
white heat, and by exposure in the full red or white hot interior of said
retort or chamber the vapors are converted into permanent gas, and
allowed to pass off for use. To ensure the entire conversion of the con-
densible vapors into permanent gas, and to avoid portions of condensible
vapour being carried off mechanically by the permanent gas, it is a
convenient arrangement to have inside the highly heated retort or
chamber D a cylinder or pipe E, of any desired shape, extending nearly
the entire length of the highly heated retort or chamber D, that end of
the said cylinder or pipe E next the door of the highly heated retort or
chamber D being furnished with a blind flanch F, or otherwise with a
clay or other stopper, removable when desired, the other end of the
cylinder or pipe E being open. The pipe B conducting the vapors to be

page_text: converted into permanent gas should be placed in communication with
the said cylinder or pipe E near its end next the door of the highly
heated retort or chamber D, so as to cause the vapors and gases to travel
nearly the entire interior length of the cylinder E, and then to return
through the entire interior length of the highly heated retort or
chamber D to the gas exit pipe G, which is placed on the mouth-piece
as usual in ordinary coal gas retorts.
It is to be understood that instead of vaporizing the substances in a
retort A (as herein-before described with reference to Figure 1 of the
Drawings) such substances, and especially those in a liquid state, may
be treated in a still, of any convenient shape, and heated by any con-
venient means. Figure 2 is a vertical section of such a still A partially
filled with a liquid to be so treated, which liquid is run into the still A
through the filler and cock B or other equivalent device, and run off
when necessary by the cock C. The interior of the still and the contents
thereof are heated by a coil of piping D, to which steam is admitted by
the valve E, and from which the water produced by the condensation of
the steam is run off by the pipe and cock F.
In lieu of employing a steam coil the contents of the still A, Figure 2,
may also be vaporised by means of a steam or hot-air jacket, or by hot-
air pipes, or by blowing hot air or other heated gases or vapors through
the body of the hydrocarbon to be treated. The gases and vapors thus
produced escape by the outlet pipe G to the herein-before described
highly heated chamber or retort D, Figure 1, where they are rendered
permanent by exposure to the necessary high temperature.
Figure 3 of the annexed Drawings is a longitudinal vertical section,
and Figure 4 a transverse vertical section of the line a, b, Figure 3, of
another form of apparatus which may be employed to effect the same
results. It consists in placing the retort A, in which the hydrocarbon is
vaporised, inside the highly heated retort or chamber B, in which the
vapors are converted into permanent gas.
The material to be treated is charged into the retort A, and the vapors
and gases arising therefrom pass in the direction of the arrows through
an orifice C formed in the retort A into the surrounding and highly
heated retort B, where they become permanent, and afterwards make
their exit by the outlet pipe D. The space or distance between the
sides of the respective retorts or vessels A and B is thus filled with the

page_text: hydrocarbon vapors and gas produced therefrom, which being com.
paratively poor conductors of heat serve to maintain the necessary
difference of temperaturo between the vaporizing and more highly heated
external retort or vessel, such space or distance being proportioned to
the relative facility or temperature at which the hydrocarbon to be
treated is vaporizable.
A series of coiled zig-zag or tortuous pipes or passages, or a series of
retorts, chambers, or vessels communicating the one with the other
and maintained at a full red to white heat, may also be used for con-
verting the condensible hydrocarbon vapors into permanent gas.
It will usually be found advantageous to exhaust or otherwise
promptly remove the permanent gas from prolonged contact with the
highly heated pipes, retorts, or vessels as soon as possible after its
formation, and so avoid further decomposition thereof. A vacuum or
exhaust equal to a column of 3 inches of water has been found to give
good results, but I do not limit myself thereto.
The permanent gas produced from the condensible vapours by any of
these forms of apparatus may be purified by any of the well-known
purifiers (according to the nature of the impurities it contains, these
varying according to the impuritics contained in the hydrocarbon
vaporized) and then led off for use. Gas produced by this process
from the richer hydrocarbons, such as petroleum, shale, and coal
oil, and their respective products, and from substances approximating
thereto in chemical composition is usually too rich or of too high illu-
minating power for use in ordinary coal gas burners, and may be reduced
or diluted to such candle power as desired by the admixture therewith
gas derived from coal, cannel coal, lignites, wood, peat, turf, or shales
by destructive distillation in close retorts at high temperatures, air,
hydrogen, carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, or the gaseous products of
combustion, or the permanent gases resulting from the destructive
distillation of wood, coal, cannel coal, lignites, peat, turf, shales, and
similar substances in close retorts at moderate temperatures, the con-
densible vapors resulting therefrom being condensed and utilized in the
ordinary manner; or if desired these may be converted into permanent
gas by the process herein described.
of
Various modes of converting wood, peat, and the other previously
mentioned and other analogous substances into permanent gas to be used

page_text: in connection with and as diluents of rich hydrocarbon gases may be
carried out. Among others the following methods have been found
convenient:
First. The wood, peat, or other analogous substances may be mixed
with or saturated with a rich hydrocarbon, then placed in a retort, 5
vaporized, and the vapors converted into permanent gas by passage
through a highly heated retort or chamber, as herein-before described.
Second. The wood, peat, or other analogous substances mixed or
saturated with hydrocarbons, as above described, may be mixed in any
desired proportion with wood, peat, or other analogous substance not so 1
mixed or prepared, and the mixture treated in retorts, as described in
the previous clause hereof.
Third. The wood, peat, or other analogous substance mixed or saturated
with hydrocarbons, as above described, may be vaporized in one retort,
while a similar or analogous substance not so mixed or prepared is 1
vaporized in another retort, and the vapors from each mixed in a highly
heated retort, thereby becoming converted into permanent gas.
Fourth. Wood, peat, or other analogous substance may be placed in a
retort, heated, and when giving off gas and vapors freely a fluid hydro-
carbon in any desired and if necessary in a measured or weighed quantity 2
may be run in or upon it, the mixed vapors being conducted to a highly
heated retort for conversion into permanent gas. The charge of wood,
peat, or other analogous substance may be weighed, and the charge of
fluid hydrocarbon weighed or measured, so as to produce a gas of
definite standard candle power, and the fluid hydrocarbon may be forced 2
into the retort by gravity, air pressure, or by other equivalent mechanical
means, and the vessel from which it is discharged to the retort may be
provided with gauges to indicate the quantity of fluid hydrocarbon
delivered, or with floats or equivalent means to strike a gong or bell to
indicate when a given quantity has been delivered into the retort.
Fifth. The wood, peat, or other analogous substance may be vaporized
in one retort, while a rich hydrocarbon is vaporized in another still or
retort, and the vapours from each conveyed to and mixed in a highly
heated retort, becoming thereby converted into permanent gas, as herein-
before described.
3
3

page_text: Sixth. The vapors or the permanent gas resulting from the distillation
in close retorts, either at high or low temperatures, of wood, peat, or
other analogous substances may be mixed at any convenient point with
the vapors of a rich hydrocarbon, or may be used to vaporize such rich
hydrocarbon, and the mixture passed through a highly heated retort to
effect the conversion of the whole of the mixture into permanent gas.
Seventh. The permanent gas resulting from the distillation in closc
retorts or vessels, either at high or low temperatures, of wood, peat, or
other analogous substances may be mixed in any convenient manner
with the permanent gas produced from a rich hydrocarbon as herein-
before described. This mixture may be conveniently effected in the
exhauster if desired.
"
The object of the foregoing modifications is to procure a cheap diluent
gas to mix with the highly. illuminating gas derivable from rich hydro-
carbons by the process herein-before described, and when it is not desired
to dilute such gas their use may be dispensed with. By the terms
high temperatures and "highly heated retort" I desire to denote
that degree of temperature at which the vapors of the substance under
treatment are converted into permanent gas, as herein-before described,
this temperature ranging from a red up to a white heat, according to the
special hydrocarbon under treatment, some hydrocarbons requiring more
heat than others to attain this result. It is advantageous to keep the
highly heated retort fully supplied with hydrocarbon vapors, so as to
force a rapid circulation of the said vapors and the gas produced there-
from through the said highly heated retort.
Various methods of introducing and mixing the diluent gas may be
adopted; thus the diluent gas may be introduced and mixed with the
rich gas to be reduced after its formation in and after leaving the highly
heated retort; or the diluent gas may be mixed with the rich hydro-
carbon vapors before or during their passage through the said highly
heated retort; or the diluent gas (either previously heated or not) may
be forced into the still or retort in which the rich hydrocarbon is
vaporized, and if desired may be forced through the body of said hydro-
carbon, thereby becoming thoroughly mixed with the said hydrocarbon
vapors and carburetted, and for this end the diluent gas may be
previously heated and introduced through many small apertures in the
pipe or other apparatus through which it is forced into the hydrocarbon ;

page_text: or the hydrocarbon may be caused to pass over shelves or equivalent
devices, or absorbed in fibrous fabrics, or may be agitated by mechanical
stirrers or paddles placed inside the still or retort in which it is to be
vaporized for the purpose of presenting a very extended surface to the
action of the diluent gas, and for this end many of the devices hitherto
used for the purpose of carburetting air or gas are available.
It will be understood that the necessity or desirability for such
arrangements for extended carburetting surfaces depends greatly on
the volatility of the hydrocarbon under treatment, the degree of dilution
with other gases desired, the rapidity with which the apparatus is
required to work, the temperature at which the diluent gas is intro-
duced, and the temperature at which the hydrocarbon is maintained.
When the hydrocarbon vapour and diluent gas are thus mixed they are
passed on to the highly heated retort for conversion into permanent gas,
as herein-before described.
The various pipes or other means of communication used in parts of
the different forms of apparatus herein-before described, may be pro-
vided with self-acting or other valves, or in places where suitable with
water or other seals to regulate or control the passage of the vapours or
gases therein.
I am aware that attempts have been previously made to produce
permanent gas by first vaporizing hydrocarbons, and subsequently con-
verting the vapors, or parts thereof, into permanent gas in "redistillation
retorts," which in some instances have been highly heated, and in others
merely heated to from six hundred to thirteen hundred degrees Fahren-
heit; but all such attempts have either either involved the assistance of
steam, or the gases produced from its decomposition by passage over red-
hot carbon, or iron mixed with the hydrocarbon vapors, or the assistance
of zinc, manganese, or analogous deoxidizing materials, charcoal, coke,
chalk, lime, bones, limestone, bricks, metals, or metallic oxides place
in such "redistillation retorts," the use of all which is hereby disclaimed,
it having been discovered by the said Frederick Herschel Eichbaum
that the use of such substances is not only expensive and unnecessary,
but in many cases injurious to the quality and quantity of the resulting
permanent gas, and that good results are obtainable by first vaporizing
the hydrocarbon, and subsequently converting such vapours into per-
manent gas by exposure to a full red and up to a white heat in a close

page_text: vessel without the assistance of any other substance, substantially as
herein-before described.
It is to be here observed that although I have illustrated on the
appended Sheet of Drawings certain forms or constructions of apparatus
which may be employed in practising the said Invention, that the
Invention is not confined to such arrangements of apparatus, as the
same may be modified without departing from the essence of the said
Invention.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I would observe in conclusion that what is considered to be novel and
original, and therefore claimed as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The production of permanent gas from one or more hydro-
carbons, either alone or mixed together, to serve either as diluents or
enrichers, by first producing vapors therefrom at a temperature below
a red heat, and subsequently converting such vapors into permanent
gas by exposure thereof, either alone or mixed with permanent gases,
to a red or higher heat in one or more close vessels, as and for the
purposes and substantially as herein-before described.
Second. The conversion of hydrocarbon vapors into permanent gas,
and effecting the prompt removal of the permanent gas from the highly
heated decomposing chamber, retort, or vessel, by exhaustion or other-
wise to prevent further decomposition of such gas, by the means and
substantially as herein-before described.
Third. The employment of one or more cylinders or pipes, or their
equivalents, inside the highly-heated retort, vessel, or chamber, main-
tained at a full red to a white heat, as and for the purposes and
substantially as herein-before described.
Fourth. The combined arrangement of a vaporizing still or retort
provided with means for vaporizing its contents, and for filling, emptying,
and heating it, vapor conducting pipes, one or more internal cylinders
or pipes, or their equivalents, and one or more external retorts or
chambers, or a series thereof, provided with inlets, outlets, and valves
or seals, and maintained at a full red to a white heat, as and for the.
purposes, and substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: Fifth. The combined arrangement of vaporizing still or retort pro-
vided with means for vaporizing its contents, and for heating, filling,
and emptying it, vapor conducting pipes, and one or a series of retorts,
chambers, pipes, or other close vessels, or a combination thereof, pro-
vided with inlets, outlets, and valves or seals, and maintained at a full
red to white heat, as and for the purposes and substantially as herein-
before described.
Sixth. The combined arrangement of an internal vaporizing still or
retort and an external highly-heated retort or chamber with space and
communication between said inner and outer retorts, whereby the hydro-
carbon may be first vaporized and subsequently converted into a
permanent gas, as and for the purposes and substantially as herein-
before described, with reference to Figures 3 and 4 of the annexed
Drawings.
Seventh. The combined arrangement of a vaporizing still or retort
connected to one or more straight, coiled, zig-zag, or tortuous pipes or
passages, or to one or more retorts or chambers, either provided or not
provided with internal pipes or equivalent devices, communicating by
pipes or other means with each other, or to a combination of such pipes
or passages, and retorts or chambers, maintained at a full red to a white
heat, as and for the purposes and substantially as herein-before
described.
Eighth. The manufacture and use of a permanent gas formed by
mixing the permanent gas produced from hydrocarbon vapors and the
permanent gas produced from the destructive distillation of wood, coal,
cannel coal, peat, turf, lignites, or shales, or any one or more of these or
analogous substances in close retorts, either at low or high temperatures,
for the production of a permanent gas suitable for lighting or heating
purposes, or for actuating gas engines or motors, or for other purposes,
substantially as herein-before described.
Ninth. The manufacture and use of a permanent gas formed by
mixing the permanent gas produced from hydrocarbon vapors with
either air, coal, wood, or other gas of the ordinary manufacture, carbonic
oxide, carbonic acid, hydrogen, or the gaseous products of combustion,
or any one or more or all of those substances, for the production of a
permanent gas for lighting or heating purposes, or for gas engines or
motors, or other purposes, substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: Tenth. The several modes of diluting rich hydrocarbon gas, manu-
factured as herein described, or of enriching poor gas with rich
hydrocarbon gas, manufactured as herein described, as and for the
purposes and substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Saint John Vincent Day, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
ST. JOHN VINCENT DAY. (L.S.)