CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR LIGHTING AND HEATING
Year: 1845

page_text: CONSTABLE'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CONSTABLE, of the City of London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Constable, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Constable, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Constable, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, also in the Islands Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and
also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FOR LIGHTING AND
HEATING," communicated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad; in
which said Letters. Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said John
Constable, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months

page_text: next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Constable, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
(that is to say:
The Invention consists of a mode of manufacturing gas for the purposes of
light and heat by causing anthracite coal, when in a state of combustion, to be
subjected to streams of air and steam, so as to produce gas; and when so
manufacturing gas, the Invention further consists of employing pearlash,
together with anthracite, in order to obtain other saleable products, so as to
reduce as much as possible the cost of making gas according to this Invention.
And in order that the Invention may be most fully understood, and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued in carrying
the same into practice. The furnace used for the making of gas, according to
this Invention, is similar in construction to a blast furnace employed in making
iron from ironstone, mine, or ore, with only slight modifications to adapt the
'same to the purpose of gas making from anthracite coal, by applying thereto
'
streams of air and steam.
Figure 1 shows a vertical section of a blast furnace constructed suitably
for carrying out the Invention. The upper part of the furnace is closed by the
plate a, through which there is an opening, with a hopper 6 affixed, as is
shown; c being a valve or slide to be withdrawn when charging the furnace,
and closed when the charge has been introduced. At d, d, the furnace is con-
tracted, which is just above the boshes, and below such contraction of the
.furnaisce there is an outlet e, to which a pipe is fixed, and it is at this point the
gas (oxide of carbon) passes off from the furnace as generated; and as the
gas is liable to carry with it fine dust of the coal and ashes, I cause it to pass
through several surfaces of finely perforated metal, placed at a distance apart
so as to intercept the dust and separate it from the gas. The gas then passes
by a suitable pipe into an ordinary gasometer or suitable receiver, from which
the
gas
is conducted by other pipes to burners, to be used for the purposes of
light and heat. fis the blast pipe for introducing a hot blast of air, which I
have found does not require to be at a greater pressure than from three to
.four ounces on the inch. 9 is a steam pipe, by which steam is freely passed

page_text: into the furnace, taking care that the quantity admitted does not cool the
furnace down below a very bright red heat; and the steam so admitted is first
heated by passing through suitable heating apparatus, in the same way as
air is heated for a hot blast; and I prefer that the steam should be raised to
six hundred degrees of Fahrenheit. In charging the furnace (after it
has been lighted and well heated, as is well understood,) if only gas for the
purposes of light and heat are intended to be produced, then only anthracite
coal will be introduced into the furnace, and the process will simply consist of
keeping up the charge in the furnace as it becomes consumed, and from time
to time stopping the admission of the blast and the steam, and raking out the
ashes at the bottom of the furnace through a suitable opening, covered with
an iron plate, which is closed and luted when working. But in order to
obtain saleable products from the ashes (necessarily obtained in the making of
gas from anthracite), in charging the furnace six parts by weight of pearlash of
commerce is mixed with every ninety-four parts by weight of anthracite. The
furnace is worked by continuing the blowing of a hot blast of air and by the
admission of heated steam, the gas going off as before mentioned; and when
the lower part of the furnace becomes full of cinder or ashes, the blowing of
the blast and the admission of steam are to be stopped, and the door at the
bottom of the furnace opened, and the ashes or cinder removed. This cinder
will be valuable as a manure; or the cyanide of potassium may be obtained
therefrom by repeated washings in water, and the solutions evaporated to
obtain the cyanide of potassium in the solid state, as is well understood. Or,
in place of removing the cinders or ashes combined with the cyanide, as above
explained, ammoniacal products may be obtained from the cinders or ashes
so.combined with cyanide of potassium; for this purpose, in place of drawing
the cinder or ashes (when the blast is stopped), I simply allow steam to flow
amongst the cinders or ashes, having first closed the pipe which leads to the
gasometer, and opened another (in connection with the outlet e of the furnace),
which will conduct the ammonia produced off from the furnace, and bring it
into contact with diluted sulphuric acid, or the ammonia may be collected in
any other convenient form, as is well understood. The workman will know
when ammonia has ceased to come off from the furnace by opening a hole in
the pipe leading from the furnace, when he will readily ascertain whether
ammonia or steam only is coming off. When ammonia ceases to come off, the
further admission of steam to the furnace is stopped, and the ashes cleared out
at the door. The door is then again closed and luted. The blast of air and
steam aro again to be admitted, and the process goes on as explained.

page_text: By the above described means it will be seen that the gas (oxide of carbon)
is obtained by subjecting anthracite coal when in an ignited state to streams of
nir and steam; and, if desired, in order to reduce the cost of the gas, cyanide of
potassium may be produced, combined with the resulting cinder or ashes; and,
when it is wished, such cyanide may be obtained separate, or the cinder or
ashes so combined with such cyanide may be treated or acted on by steam, so
as to obtain products of ammonia.
I would remark, that oxide of carbon is a gas which is well known, and has
before been obtained by different means to those herein described, and its
capability of being used as a means of producing light and heat when inflamed
is well known; and I mention these circumstances in order to state that I'do
not claim the production of such gas generally; nor do I claim any novelty in
applying such gas to the purposes of light and heat.
And I would only further state, that when using the gas (oxide of carbon)
for the purposes of light, I use with it a portion of carburetted hydrogen to
increase its brilliancy. The substance which I prefer for this purpose is oil of
turpentine, but other convenient compounds of carbon and hydrogen, rich in
carbon, may be employed. The end of the pipe by which the oxide of carbon
is conveyed from the gasometer or receiver is at its end immersed in the oil of
turpentine, and the gas in its passage through such liquid takes up sufficient to
givė brilliancy to the light; or other modes may be resorted to for causing the
gas to become mixed with such substances. In burning the gas (oxide of
carbon) obtained according to this Invention for the purpose of heat, I prefer
to combine it with atmospheric air, and this I do by supplying air from another
gasometer or receiver, similar to that which contains the gas, so that the air
and gas may come to the burner in like quantities, and at like pressure, and be
mixed near the burner; but this using of.air is not essentially necessary.
Having thus described the Invention, and the best means I am acquainted
with for performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
as the Invention secured by the above recited Letters Patent is, the manu-
facture of gas for the purposes of light and beat by causing anthracite coal
in a suitable furnace, when in a state of combustion, to be subjected to streams
of air and steam so as to produce gas, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Constable, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
JOHN (L.s.) CONSTABLE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid John Constable came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.