IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OFGAS."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Denny Ruck, of Greenwich, in the
County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF GAS."

page_text: soda. These ingredients being placed in a suitable vessel or receptacle
and covered after the manner of a gasometer are subjected to the action
of air, which is forced through the vessel or receptacle by means of
a force pump or other suitable means of pressure, in order that the
atmospheric air may commingle with the hydrocarbon and fill the
gasometer with a pure air gas, the oxygen of which will of course
increase the power of combustion. More or less of the spirit will
consequently be decomposed by the caustic alkali according to the
volatility of the liquid employed. The nitrogen of the air will be
decomposed or neutralized by the caustic alkali, but some may pass
off as a diluent to the mixed air and gas, and consequently aid in the
combustion, not by direct action, but by dissemination of atoms.
The addition or admixture of caustic alkali neutralizes the phenic acid
contained in the spirit and otherwise effects organic changes in the
hydrocarbon, rendering it more free to be acted on by the flow or
current of atmospheric air.
The form of apparatus to be employed in carry out this Invention is
not of importance, because the ordinary gasometer would fulfil the
requirements. All that is necessary is to provide a receptacle for the
hydrocarbon liquid and the caustic alkali, and to afford ingress thereto
for the free and constant supply of air, when it must follow that the
gasometer will rise in accordance with the volume of gas generated in
the same manner as in the production of gas from coal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Denny Ruck in the Great Seal Patent 2.
Office on the 28th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DENNY RUCK, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the 3
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Denny Ruck, Her special

page_text: licence that I, the said William Denny Ruck, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Denny Ruck,
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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Denny Ruck, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 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 William Denny Ruck, 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:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture or
production of hydrocarbon gas free from all deliterious agents.
I propose to employ that portion of the hydrocarbon spirit which
distills at 50 to 70 degrees of centigrade, with which I mix about 10 per
cent. by measure of caustic alkali. These ingredients being placed in
a suitable vessel or receptacle, and covered after the manner of a
gasometer, are subjected to the action of air, which is forced through
the vessel or receptacle by means of a force pump or other suitable
means of pressure, in order that the atmospheric air may commingle
with the hydrocarbon and fill the gasometer with a pure air gas. The
addition or admixture of caustic alkali neutralizes the phenic acid
contained in the spirit, and otherwise effects organic changes in the
hydrocarbon, rendering it more free to be acted upon by the flow or
current of atmospheric air.
The form of apparatus to be employed in carrying out this Invention
is not of importance because the ordinary gasometer would fulfill the
requirements. All that is necessary is to provide a receptacle for the
hydrocarbon liquid the caustic alkali, and to afford ingress thereto

page_text: for the free and constant supply of air, when it must follow that the
gasometer will rise in accordance with the volume of gas generated in
the same manner as in the production of gas from coal.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I claim and
desire to be secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent,
the improvements in the manufacture of hydrocarbon gas by the means
and in the manner herein described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Denny Ruck, have hereunto
placed my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
ALEX. C. M. PRINCE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
W. D. RUCK. (L.S.)