IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SCURFING RETORTS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Cockey and Francis Christopher Cockey,
of Frome Selwood, in the County of Somerset, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SCURFING RETORTS."
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SCURFING RETORTS."
Sealed the 18th March 1870, and dated the 21st September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Cockey and
Francis Christopher Cockey at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 21st September 1869.
We, HENRY COCKEY and FRANCIS CHRISTOPHER COCKEY, of Frome
Selwood, in the County of Somerset, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SCURFING RETORTS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the more ready removal of the carbon
which adheres to the interior of retorts used in the manufacture of gas,
and especially from the angles at the back end thereof where it collects,

page_text: and where great difficulty is experienced in detaching it by the means
usually employed without damaging the retort.
The apparatus consists of a pipe about five or six inches diameter,
which is inserted in the back end of the retort, and projects through the
wall of the retort bench. The pipe is fitted with a metal plate or disc
of such a size as while it nearly covers the area allows it to pass freely
backwards and forwards when required. A rod is fixed to the centre of
the plate and terminates in a handle at the other end. Attached to the
rod and also to the plate before mentioned are wings or radial plates so
disposed as to divide and direct any current of air that may pass through
the pipe. When not in use the pipe is closed by a cover. When it is
necessary to scurf the retort the cover of the pipe is taken off, and the
plate or disc is passed through the pipe so as to extend a short distance
beyond the orifice of the pipe in the retort. The lid of the retort is put
on and luted in the usual way, and the cover or plug of the ascension
pipe is removed; this causes a current of air to pass through the pipe at
the back and into and through the retort, but being intercepted by the
plates is directed against that part of the retort in which the carbon
collects, and under ordinary circumstances offers the greatest resistance
to its removal. By these means however the carbon if not wholly
consumed is soon displaced and may be cleared away by any convenient
method. The form, size, and number of the plates may be varied to
suit the kind of retort they are employed with.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Cockey and Francis Christopher Cockey 2
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
COCKEY and FRANCIS CHRISTOPHER COCKEY, of Frome Selwood, in the
County of Somerset, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Henry Cockey and Francis Christopher

page_text: Cockey, Her special licence that we, the said Henry Cockey and Francis
Christopher Cockey, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Henry Cockey and Francis Christopher Cockey,
our 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 APPARATUS FOR SCURFING RETORTS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Henry Cockey and Francis Christopher Cockey, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Henry Cockey and Francis
Christopher Cockey, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same 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 marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the more ready removal of the carbon
which adheres to the interior of retorts used in the manufacture of gas,
and especially from the angles at the back end thereof where it collects,
and where great difficulty is experienced in detaching it by the means
usually employed without damaging the retort.
The apparatus consists of a pipe about five or six inches, more or less,
in diameter, which is inserted in the back end of the retort and projects
through the wall of the retort bench. The pipe is fitted with a metal
plate or disc of such a size as while it nearly covers the area allows it to
pass freely backwards and forwards when required. A rod is fixed to
the centre of the plate and terminates in a handle at the other end.
Attached to the rod and also to the plate before mentioned are wings
or radial plates so disposed as to divide and direct any current of air
that may pass through the pipe. When not in use the pipe is closed by
a cover.

page_text: In order that the foregoing may be more readily understood Drawings
are attached hereto of which the following is a description :-
:-
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of the apparatus and part of the retort
to which it is applied; Fig. 2 is a section through A, A, Fig. 1; Fig. 3
is a sectional plan; Figs. 4 and 5 show a mode of attaching the cover!
when the pipe is not in use, but any other suitable device may be
adopted for this purpose; Fig. 6 is a section of the apparatus through
B, B, Fig. 1; Fig. 7 exhibits the method of applying the apparatus
should the pipe C, Fig. 1, become irregular in form in consequence of
the great heat to which it is exposed; and Fig. 8 is a section of the same
through D, D.
In Fig. 1 E is the back wall of the retort bench; F, the retort; C, the
pipe; H, the radial wings or plates; and I the disc; J is the rod by
which the disc is introduced. In Fig. 7, K is a pipe formed with
collars L, L, thereon, and which may be thrust within the pipe C should
the latter assume an irregular form in the course of use, the disc being
inserted within the interior pipe when the apparatus is employed. This
interior pipe however is not claimed. Similar letters indicate the same
parts in the different Figures. When it is necessary to scurf the retort
the cover of the pipe is taken off, and the plate or disc is passed through
the pipe O so as to extend a short distance beyond the orifice of the pipe
in the retort. The lid of the retort is put on and luted in the usual
way, and the cover or plug of the ascension pipe is removed; this causes
a current of air to pass through the pipe at the back and into and
through the retort, but being intercepted by the plates is directed against
that part of the retort in which the carbon collects, and under ordinary
circumstances offers the greatest resistance to its removal. By these
means however the carbon if not wholly consumed is soon displaced
and may be cleared away by any convenient method. The form, size,
and number of the plates may be varied to suit the kind of retort they
are employed with.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of this
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be carried
into effect, we would observe in conclusion that we do not confine
or restrict ourselves to the precise details or arrangements which we
have described or referred to, as variations may be made therefrom
without deviating from the principles or main features of this Invention;

page_text: but what we consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as
the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the construction of apparatus for scurfing retorts substantially
as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Cockey and Francis
Christopher Cockey, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.