AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS BY THE AID OF STEAM, ALONE OR MIXED WITH
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Pourché, of Montpellier (France), for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE
DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS BY THE AID OF STEAM, ALONE OR MIXED WITH
"
Sealed the 5th June 1874, and dated the 14th January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Albert Pourché at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th January 1874.
I, ALBERT POURCHÉ, of Montpellier (France), do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS
FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS BY THE AID OF STEAM, ALONE OR MIXED WITH
CHEMICAL VAPOURS, TO BE APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE," to be as follows, that is
to say :—
This Invention relates to an improved method or process and
apparatus for the destruction of insects, and which consists in the
injection of water steam alone or of water steam mixed with chemical
yapours or gases.

page_text: To carry out my Invention I employ a portable steam boiler with a
pipe provided with a tap. At the extremity of this pipe another flexible
pipe may be screwed, provided at its extremity with a suitable union,
which may be suspended by a hook to enable it to be placed in the
position and at the height required for the injection.
When injecting steam mixed with poisonous vapours or gases I
introduce into the end of the union the extremity of a pipe, conducting
the poisonous gases, such as sulphurous or other like acid, which is
prepared in a separate vessel and injected at the same time as the
steam.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Albert Pourché in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALBERT
POURCHÉ, of Montpellier, France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Albert Pourché, Her special
licence that I, the said Albert Pourché, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Albert Pourché, my 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 "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS BY THE AID OF
STEAM, ALONE OR MIXED WITH CHEMICAL VAPOURS, TO BE APPLIED TO AGRI-
CULTURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Albert
Pourché, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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

page_text: 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 I, the said Albert Pourché, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to destroy insects which attack plants,
shrubs, or trees. The Invention consists in the employment of a jet of
steam either alone or mixed with a jet of insecticide gas directed upon
the parts of the plants, shrubs, or trees which are attacked by the
insects.
To carry out my Invention I employ a portable steam generator in
which is produced the steam, which is directed upon the plant, shrub, or
tree by means of a flexible pipe terminated by a nozzle or rigid piece,
which is provided with a tap, and with a ring or hook for holding it in
cases where the places to be reached are not readily accessible.
In conjunction with the steam generator I employ a vessel for pro-
ducing insecticide gas. This vessel is likewise furnished with a flexible
pipe terminated by a nozzle.
The two nozzles, viz., that for the steam and that for the gas, lead
into a common mouth-piece or nozzle, through which the mixture of
steam and gas is ejected upon the plants.
The accompanying Drawings represent an apparatus constructed
according to my Invention. G, Figure 1, is a steam generator, which
is placed on the ground near the plants to be operated on.
It is pro-
vided with a gauge n for indicating the water level, and with a safety
valve S. At the upper part a tubular connecting piece t is fixed, being
provided with a joint r, to which the flexible pipe m is hermetically
secured. This pipe m may be of any convenient length, and be of india-
rubber, leather, or other suitable material. It terminates in a nozzle or
piece 7, see Figure 2. The nozzle has a regulating tap p and a ring a,
by means of which latter the nozzle can be raised to places which cannot
be reached by hand, the rod 6 (Figure 3) being used for this purpose,
the hook c taking into the ring a.
For the employment of steam alone only the nozzle 7 is employed, but
when it is necessary to throw upon the plants a mixture of steam and

page_text: insecticide gas I also employ the nozzle which is in connection with the
gas vessel (see Figuro 4). The gas generator (which may generate
sulphurous acid gas for example) consists of a vessel K, in the interior
of which burns a wick which has been dipped in sulphur. The narrow
end of the vessel K forms a nozzle at k¹, and is surrounded by a conical
casing ², forming a prolongation of the steam pipe m, which is brought
from the generator G.
The steam and gas nozzles may also be arranged as represented in
Figure 5. In this case the steam nozzle is fitted in the rear end of a
large nozzle or hollow conical piece q, while a second nozzle at the end
of a flexible pipe ¹ which conveys insecticide gas is inserted laterally
about the middle of the piece q. The two jets issuing from the nozzles
and ♬ become mixed, and the mixture is directed in the same manner as
from a single nozzle, either by hand or by means of the hooked rod b,
Figure 3, and ring a¹ at Figure 5.
According to the intensity of the stream which it is desired to have,
and to the bore of the pipe employed, there may be substituted in some
cases for the nozzle a rose or spreader as represented in Figure 6.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the
method and apparatus herein-before described for the destruction of
insects on plants, shrubs, or trees, that is to say, by means of steam
either alone or mixed with chemical vapours substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Albert Pourché, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-four.
ALBERT POURCHÉ. (L.S.)
Witness,
ALBERT CAHEN,
Civil Engineer,
of Boulevard Magenta, 32,
at Paris.