IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Jensen, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR." -A communication
from abroad by Egmond Julius Erichsen, of Copenhagen, in the
Kingdom of Denmark.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Jensen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th March 1874.
. I, PETER JENSEN, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for. “IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR," (a communication
to me from abroad by Egmond Julius Erichsen, of Copenhagen, in the
Kingdom of Denmark) to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of gas from petroleum or
other crude or refined hydrocarbon oils. Heretofore danger and difficulty
have attended the manufacture of gas from such substances (alone or in

page_text: combination with other gas-producing materials) owing to the in-
flammable nature of the said substances. Now by this Invention the
aforesaid danger and difficulty are obviated, all as hereafter described.
•
I provide retorts or ovens made of clay, bricks, iron, or other suitable
material, set over a furnace horizontally, vertically, or at an angle.
To obtain illuminating gas I saturate pieces of fire-clay, fire-brick, or
other suitable porous refractory material with petroleum or other crude
or refined hydrocarbon, which may be in the cold state, or by preference
in a more or less heated state. The pieces to be saturated should be of
a suitable size and form, and by preference be of a cylindrical or
spherical shape. They may bo saturated by simple immersion or by
preference by means of vacuum produced by pump or otherwise.
Instead of the aforesaid refractory materials other porous
substances
may be employed, such as wood, peat, or asbestos. The pieces so saturated
are then by preference coated with a thin coating or solution of silicious
or other substance for the double purpose of retaining the hydrocarbon
in the saturated pieces while in stock, and in order to prevent the pro-
duction and escape of gas before the retorts charged with such saturated
picces are closed.
.
-
It is found in practice that the gas produced from such hydrocarbons
is too rich for ordinary illuminating purposes, and it is therefore proposed,
as the next part of this Invention, to introduce hydrogen gas (which
may conveniently be obtained from superheated or other steam) into the
aforesaid retorts during the time of gas production in order to mix or
amalgamate such hydrogen gas with the hydrocarbon gas evolved as
aforesaid. The aforesaid mixture may however be accomplished in other
or separate chambers.
Gas produced from the aforesaid saturated pieces, combined or not
with hydrogen gas, may, be mixed with lighting gas produced in any
other known manner in order to enrich the quality of the same by com-
mingling the same at a high temperature.
E

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Peter Jensen in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 25th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
JENSEN, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, 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
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Peter Jensen, Her
special licence that I, the said Peter Jensen, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Jensen,
cxccutors, 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,
usc, 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 AND APPARATUS THEREFOR," (a
communication to me from abroad by Egmond Julius Erichsen, of
Copenhagen, in the Kingdom of Denmark,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Peter Jensen, 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 in the Great Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters:
Patent.
66
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Jensen, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 of reference marked thereon, that is
to say
This Invention relates to the manufacture of gas from petroleum
1
STANL

page_text: difficulty have attended the manufacture of gas from such substances
(alone or in combination with other gas producing materials) owing to'
the inflammable nature of the said substances. Now by this Invention
the aforesaid danger and difficulty are obviated, all as hereafter
described.
I provide retorts or ovens made of clay, bricks, iron; or other suitable"
material, set over a furnace horizontally, vertically, or at an angle.
To obtain illuminating gas I saturate pieces of fire-clay, fire-brick, or
other suitable porous refractory material with petroleum or other crude
or refined bydrocarbon, which may be in the cold state, or by preference
in a more or less heated state. The pieces to be saturated should be of a
suitable size and form, and by preference be of a cylindrical or spherical
shape. They may be saturated by simple immersion, or by preference
by means of vacuum produced by pump or otherwise.
Instead of the aforesaid refractory materials other porous substances
may be employed, such as wood, peat, or asbestos. The pieces so
saturated are then by preference coated with a thin coating or solution..
of silicious or other substance for the double purpose of retaining the
hydrocarbon in the saturated pieces while in stock, and in order to:
prevent the production and escape of gas before the retorts charged with
such saturated pieces are closed.
It is found in practice that the gas produced from such hydrocarbons
is too rich for ordinary illuminating purposes, and it is therefore proposed,
as the next part of this Invention, to introduce hydrogen gas (which'
may conveniently be obtained from superheated or other steam) into the
aforesaid retorts during the time of gas production, in order to mix or
amalgamate such hydrogen gas with the hydrocarbon gas evolved as'
aforesaid. The aforesaid mixture may however be accomplished in other
or separate chambers.
i
-
Gas produced from the aforesaid saturated pieces, combined or not with
hydrogen gas, may be mixed with lighting gas produced in any other
known manner, in order to enrich the quality of the same by com-
mingling, the same at a high temperature.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a vertical longitudinal section,
and Fig. 2 a vertical cross section througli a retort a charged with
balls b, which have been previously saturated with gas producing liquid.*

page_text: Any convenient and expeditious mode of charging. the retort with these
balls may be used, and with this view the retorts may have a slight
inclination from front to back. The retort bottom should also have
guides, as shewn, for the balls to run between; or temporary guide bars
may be pushed in, and again removed when the retort is charged.
Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section, and Fig. 4 vertical cross
section through a retort a charged with cylindrical pieces b, which have
been previously saturated with gas producing liquid. The retort a is by
a pipe connected to another retort c, which contains red-hot coals.
Steam being let into it by the pipe d carbonic acid gas and hydrogen
gas are produced, which are led into the retort a and mixed with the
rich gas produced therein. The retorts are here shown with ordinary
grate firing, but they may of course be set and heated in many other
ways, such for instance as by the waste heat from coke ovens.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and
some modes of carrying the same into effect, I declare that I claim,—
First. The mode, substantially as herein described, of saturating pieces
of porous material with gas producing liquor, and the subsequent glazing
or coating of such pieces.
Second. The adaptation and application of gas produced, as herein
set forth, from petroleum or other hydrocarbons for lighting purposes
in and by the mixture of same at a high temperature with hydrogen
gas.
Third. Mixing the gas produced, as herein set forth, from petroleum
or other hydrocarbons, either alone or combined with hydrogen gas as
described, with ordinary lighting gas at a high temperature in order to
enrich the quality of the latter.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Jensen, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.