IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING LIGNITE AND CERTAIN BITUMINOUS MINERAL SUBSTANCES SO AS TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS THEREFROM
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rees Reece, of Llandilo, in the County of Carmar-
then, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING LIGNITE
AND CERTAIN BITUMINOUS MINERAL SUBSTANCES SO AS TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS
THEREFROM."
Sealed the 15th March 1861, and dated the 18th September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rees Reece at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th Sep-
tember 1860.
I, REES REECE, of Llandilo, in the County of Carmarthen, Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING LIGNITE AND CERTAIN BITUMINOUS MINERAL SUBSTANCES, SO AS TO OBTAIN
PRODUCTS THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
From the tar and
The blast furnace
This Invention consists in effecting the burning and distillation of lignite
and certain bituminous mineral substances in a furnace by the aid of a blast,
so as to obtain inflammable gases, tar, and other products.
other products, paraffin and paraffin oils may be separated.
which it is proposed to employ may be similar to those ordinarily used for
smelting purposes, and may be surrounded on the outside with sheet iron for
the purpose of rendering it air-tight. A cover plate is fitted on the top of the
furnace, to which a suitable feeding hopper is fixed provided with a closing
door, which is kept shut during the process of distillation. This furnace is

page_text: connected by suitable pipes or passages with condensers and scrubbers for
cooling down and purifying the gaseous products of combustion, whilst the
other products are collected in the hydraulic main condensers and scrubbers
of the gas apparatus. The condensers consist of vertical pipes disposed in
groups and connected by branch pipes, and the scrubbers are vertical chambers
provided with several layers of small stones or coke supplied with water from
above by means of a float valve and water distributor. They may be cleansed
by blowing steam through them to remove the tar. By the term bituminous
mineral substances, I mean schistus rocks, and several varieties of coals, but
more particularly Parrott and Cannel coals, and especially the mineral sub-
stances known as Boghead coal or Torbane Hill mineral. I have moreover
found that certain of the before-mentioned mineral substances, such as Boghead
coal or Torbane Hill mineral, does not contain sufficient carbon or carbonaceous
matter to effect its complete distillation, I therefore mix therewith a sufficient
quantity of Parrott, Cannel, or other coal to effect the same. As some of
these substances, however, are rich in carbonaceous matter, I have found it
advisable in operating upon those substances to heat the blast employed to
600 or 700 degrees of Fahrenheit, and to pass also into the furnace a jet or
jets of superheated steam in combination with the blast, or in the form of
separate jets.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Rees Reece in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, REES
REECE, of Llandilo, in the County of Carmarthen, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Rees Reece, Her special license that I, the said Rees Reece,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Rees Reece, 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

page_text: TREATING LIGNITE AND CERTAIN BITUMINOUS MINERAL SUBSTANCES, SO AS TO OBTAIN
PRODUCTS THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Rees
Reece, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should par-
ticularly 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 I, the said Rees Reece, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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:-
My said Invention consists in effecting the burning and distillation of
lignite, and of certain bituminous mineral substances such as Parrot and
Cannel coal, schistus rocks, shale, and the mineral substances known as Bog-
head coal or Torbane Hill mineral in a furnace by the aid of a blast, so as to
obtain inflammable gases, tar, and other products therefrom.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Fig. 1 represents an elevation of a blast furnace in combination with a
condenser and scrubber; Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the furnace; Fig. 3 is
a transverse vertical section of the condenser; and Fig. 4 is a section of one'
of the scrubbers detached.
A, A, are the furnaces similar to those that are ordinarily used for the
smelting of iron, but I cover them on the outside with sheet iron so as to
render them air-tight; and on the top I place a cover plate as at B (Fig. 2),
to which is fixed a feeding hopper C and valve D; each furnace is provided
with two outlet pipes E, E, which terminate in the hydraulic main F, to
which is connected the condenser or condensers G, G. The extent of this
condensing apparatus is regulated according to the capacity of the furnace, so
as to be adapted for cooling down to an ordinary temperature the products of
condensation and the inflammable gases proceeding therefrom; H, H, are
the scrubbers or apparatus (connected with the condenser) for washing the
gases with water, so as to deprive them of all impurities, which are mechani-
cally carried away with them. These. scrubbers are filled, or partially filled

page_text: with layers of small stones or coke (see Fig. 4), and are provided with the
.ordinary float valve I and water distributer K. The mode of arranging these
scrubbers and the apparatus for supplying water to them is shewn in Fig. 1.
In carrying on the processes of burning and distillation in the apparatus above
described, I first charge the furnaces A, A, with lignite, cannel, or Parrot
coal, schistus rocks, shale, Boghead, or Torbane Hill mineral, a fire is lighted
in the furnaces, and a gentle blast put on, the hoppers C are closed, and the
products of combustion and distillation pass off from the furnace through the
two pipes E, E, into the hydraulic main F, and thence through the condenser,
passing through its several tubes, where it is kept as cool as possible. From
the condensers the gases pass into the scrubbers, where they are well washed
by the descending stream of cold water. The blast is gradually increased so
as to raise the temperature within the furnace sufficiently high to reduce the
carbonic acid generated at the tuyeres into carbonic oxide. When schistus
rocks or shale is put into the furnace, I mix with these certain quantities of
coal, prefering to use Cannel or Parrot coal in the proportion of ten or twenty
per cent.
When the object is to produce inflammable gas sufficiently rich in
luminous matter to serve for the purpose of lighting, I put into the furnaces
Parrot or Cannel coal, with which I mix Boghead or Torbane Hill mineral,
the proportion of these depending on the quality of the gas required. I find,
however, to produce a gas equal in illuminating power to London coal gas,
seventy to ninety per cent. of Bogbead or Torbane Hill mineral mixed with ten
to thirty per cent. of Cannel or Parrot coal will give a good result, and if a
very rich gas be required, the Torbane Hill mineral above referred to may be
used alone. It may be sometimes found advisable to diminish the quantity
of nitrogen contained in the gas, and this I effect in the following manner:-
The blast injected into the furnace is to be heated to 600° or 700° F. and a
jet or jets of steam superheated to about 600° or 700° F. sent into the
furnace with the blast, or in the form of separate jets, the quantity of steam
being so regulated that it be converted into carbonic oxide and hydrogen; the
proportion of steam to effect this will be about ten per cent. of the air injected.
It may be generally observed, that whether lignite, schistus rocks, shale,
Parrot, Cannel coal, Bogbead or Torbane Hill mineral be put into the furnace
either alone or in mixture as above indicated, the condensible products will be
nearly the same commercially, that is to say, that the tar collected in the
hydraulic main and condensers, and the oils deposited in the scrubbers will
consist of paraffine, both liquid and solid, and a variety of carbo-hydrogens,
and these may be eliminated and purified by processes now well known. The
gases produced, however, will materially differ, that obtained by treating lignite,

page_text: will have but little luminosity, whilst that which is obtained by treating Parrot
and Cannel, or Boghead coal, may be used for illumination. These gases
contain the usual impurities of coal gas, and therefore previous to their being
used for domestic purposes either as fuel or for lighting, should be purified in
the usual manner.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,--
First, the system or mode of treating lignite either alone or in combination
with other substances, for the obtainment therefrom of inflammable gas, tar,
and other products as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of treating schistus rocks and shale, either
alone or mixed with coal, for the obtainment therefrom of inflammable and
illuminating gas, tar, and other products, as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of treating Parrot or Cannel coal, Boghead or
Torbane Hill mineral, either separately or in any combination with each other,
for the obtainment therefrom of inflammable and illuminating gas, tar, and
other products as herein-before described.
Fourth, the general system or mode of treating lignite and other bituminous
mineral substances, for the obtainment of products therefrom as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rees Reece, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
REES REECE. (L.S.)