GB190412541A - Improvements in the Production of Chemical Reactions in Gases and Vapours by Electric Discharges - Google Patents

Abstract

12,541. Montlaur, Count A. de. June 3, A.D. 1903, [date applied for under Patents Act, A.D. 1901]. Rontgen-ray and like apparatus.-In the production of ozone, and of compounds of nitrogen with air, oxygen, or hydrogen, or with both hydrogen and oxygen, for forming nitric acid or ammonium nitrite, or with acetylene in the manufacture of hydrogen cyanide, the gases, either previous to or during the operation of the electric discharge, are submitted to the ionizing action of cathode or X rays. The silent-discharge apparatus, shown in Fig. 1, consists of two concentric cylinders a, b, serving as conductors for the discharge, and an X-ray bulb d placed inside the inner cylinder. The cylinder a is formed of thin smooth or striated aluminium, or it may be perforated, being made of aluminium wire gauze, or the surface may be studded with small projections. The cylinder b, of aluminium &c., or of tin for the production of ozone, is enveloped in a casing c of lead or other substance impenetrable to the rays, and may or may not be lined internally with a dielectric such as glass. The gases, which are introduced through the aperture h, pass into the annular space between the two cylinders, and leave through the pipe p. Liquid products pass out through the orifice a. With high-frequency currents, a bulb e, Fig. 2, of the d'Arsonval type is employed, being fitted with a glass tube f which is filled with conducting- liquid and acts as the cathode ; the anode consists of a metal ring g fixed on the outside of the bulb. In the discharge apparatus shown in Fig. 3, the discharge takes place between a ball-shaped conductor i and a metal ring k placed against the inner wall of the tube j, which is made of resistant non-conducting material. The bulb l, situated adjacent either to the inlet or to the outlet for the gases, is furnished with a number of electrodes n, preferably four or six, which are supplied with polyphase currents by conductors m, each of the electrodes being fed by a different phase so that pencils of cathode rays are emitted by them in succession, and the spark circulates around the tube, describing a luminous cone. The radiating bulb may be fed either by a derivation of the discharge-producing current or by a separate source, or it may be energized by the field created by the high-frequency discharges without the employment of electrodes properly so-called.