US1061861A - Process of manufacturing gas. - Google Patents

Description

C. R. MILLER. PROCESS OP MANUFACTURING GAS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 7, 1912.

Patend May 13, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

MRM.

ITNEISEB C. R. MILLER.

PROCESS 0F MANUFACTURING GAS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 7, 1912.

4 SEBETBSHEET 2.

Patntea May 13,1913. v

C. R. MILLER. i PROCESS OP MANUFACTURING GAS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. '1,' 1912.

1,061,861'.4 Patenteamay 13,1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

C. R. MILLER. IlROCESS OF MANUFACTURING GAS. APPLIUAT'ION F'ILED sBPTJl, 1912.

' wn'NsssEs mvxnrroaw Patented May 13, 1913.

4 SHBETS-SEHET 4- V process.

,county t'acturing Gas,

nnrrno s'lrarns rnrnu'r ernten.

COMMODORE R. MILLER, OF WOODLAWN BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY 'MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 SUPERIOR GAS IMPROVEMENT COMPANY, Ofi` PITTSBURGH, FENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF ARIZONA.

recense or MANUFACTURING Gas. i

To all whom it muy concern e it known that l, GoMnononn R. MIL mln. a citizen oi the United States, and residing in the borough of llloodlawn, in the ot Bearer and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements in Processes ot' Manuof which the; following is a specification.

My invention consists in-a new and improved process of 'producing gas tor illuminating und otherv purposes.

My object is to produce gas from coal and similar material, and by means of my new process l greatly increase the percent-- age of 'value extracted .trom the ran7 material, expedite and cheapen the operation, and obtain a combined Water and coal gas of the highest eiciency with no resulting residue or ley-products.

Generally speaking, my prooess is as tollows: in a plurality oit adjacent generating chambers contained in a common furnace l bring beds of suit-able fuel, such as coke, to state ot'high combustion. When said fuel beds have become incandescent, spread upon the top ot each of .the-same a-thin bed or layer ot fine or nut coal. rEhe drafts or air-blasts used to incite combustion of the coke are noi'v cut oit and all egress to aimes pliere closed. l now force dry steam -up through the coke and coal beds in one of said generating chambers, decomposing the steam and forming uncarbureted water gas intermingled with the lighter l'iydro-carbons et the coal released by the colcing The coking process going on in the' remaining generating'- chambers releases the lighter hydro-carbons which rise and mingle with the products ot combustion from the first mentioned generating chamber. To prevent packing and expedite coking, l agitato the coal beds in all of the generating chambers during the coking process, vby means of polers, or other suitable devices. The products from the generating chambers meet and intermingle in the top of the furnace and' are, then le'd through a highly heated retort.

Whichis located above the generating chambers, passing thence' to |a Wash-box. The passage of the products through the retort is retarded by means of battles and said re- `tort is preferably of4 substantially U-shape Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May' i3, 'itl V.3.

Application filed September 7, 1312. Serial No. 719,049.

to give additional length of passage within the limited area oit the furnace. The eiiect ot passing the products et generation through the highly heated retort is to change the vapor-gasesinto a fixed gas, the particles being broken up and mingled in a permanently gaseous stat-e by prolonged contact with the highly heated walls and baftlesot the retort. As the operation proceeds the heavier hydro-carbons of the coal beds are released, gasitied and fixed in the same manner. lhen the temperature in the generating chamber first referred to falls below the degree required to decompose the steam, the steam is cut oil from said gener ating chamber and introduced into another of the generating chambers 'and the operation repeated as above described. When the temperature of the second generating chamber falls belenv that required to decompose steam, the steam is cut ot therefrom and.

introduced into a third generating charnber, until all the generating chambers have been so treated in turn. l am thus enabled to greatlv prolong the gasproduction from a. given amount oit coal over and above the period of production where steam int-roduced into all of the generating chan'ibers simultaneously and am also enabled to gasify and tix all the volatile elements ot the coal. After all the coal beds have been thoroughly colred and their gaseous vali 3 realized, l reopen the furnace stack and admit forced draft to restore the coin Treds to ineandescence nhereupon l recharge with coal and repeat the operation above described.

ln the case ot small plants, l may use but' one generating chamber using the icl-shaped and battled retort to nx the volatile products of the coal.

1n the accompanying is a longitudinal, vertical section ot "ny apparatus taken along the line lfd in .F Fig. 2 is a front` elevation of the saineghig. is a section of the same. along the line lll-Hl in Fig. l; Fig. i is a horizontal section ot the saine along the line 'lV-IV in `Fig. l; Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail of the .3; Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail illustrating -the method of introducing the steam into the combustion cl'iamber and separa-ting the,

Water therefrom.. and Fig. T is a vertical drawings, Figure l section along'the line- Vll-Vll in Fig, 2.

The following is a detailed description of the drawings: The apparatus is in the forni ot an inclosed furnace A containing a plurality oi? generating chambers, such as l, l, lb, separated by vertical partitions Q. Q, which extend up into the upper portion ot' the furnace and 'troni front to rear wall thereof, a large chamber l occupying the top et the tui-nace. The tops of the partitions are connected together and to the end u'alis ol' the iurnace by pairs of fiat-topped arches -q. spaced apart to torni central lines -l--l-'i and spaced from the Ifront and rear 'alla of the furnace to torni side Ylines 3l-5. i thus have two rows ot' arches in alincinent adjacent respectively to the t'ront aud rear valls ot' the furnace. forming` a table upon which rests a` retort C, iln'eferably uiade ot' tire-clay, and of sulistantially a iape. Said retort preteiably ot seuiicircular crosssection and toi-ined in two parts or legs ti and 6, removably connected together. as at 7. The free end of leg- 6 is open and located above the lirst generating chamber l While the free end of leg 6 connects with a chamber '8 :troni which rises a stach 9 provided 'with closing valve 9a. The outer end oll` chamber S communicates with a drum lOroin which a pipe 11 leads to the Wash-box lfi from which the pipe 1?, in

turn, connects with a condenser, not shown.

lit-lllrcprcsent doors in the end Wall of the furnace leading into chamber B and through which the legs (3 and 6 of the retort B may be introduced or Withdrawn, as required. 1:

The retort C is provided with internal batlles 15"-15 which retard the passage of the volatile eleinents through said retort thus holding them in the zone of extreme heat until tho-roughly gasilied.

A second stack 1G leads upward from the chamber B adjacent to the open end ot leg 6 ot retort C, -said stack being provided with a valve 16a to close the saine tightly when desired.

ijf-17 represent ash-doors in the front Wall ot the furnace below the level of the grate-bars l8-18 of the generating chambers.

l9-19 represent @linker doors in the front and rear Walls oit the furnace above the level of said grate-bars. and 20-20 represent charging doors a t ahigher le vel7 while Blf 2l represent charging platforms.

D is an air-blast main extending aiong the trout. of furnace baud connected with the ash-pits of the various generating chambers by means of branch-pipes 2:2 '2Q controlled by gates or valves 23-23.

it is a steam line extending along the front oi the furnace A and connected by branch-pipes 2li-24 With the ash-pit of each of the generating chambers. Said branchsteam-pipes discharge at the center of said ash-pits throughupturned reduced nozzles which discharge aga-inst an inverted cone shaped spreader 26 suspended from the cenhall-socket Q9 in which is mounted the ball 30 provided 'with a diametrical bore in which if', inset-ttul the packinggland 31. A poker or agitating tool 232 is slidingly mounted iu said gland 3l. It is evident that the tool is thus given an extended'zone of action whereby every portion of the coal beds may be conveniently reached and agi ated during the coking operation.

The operation ot' my apparatus in performing my process is as follows: The valve 9 in stack 9L 1s opened and `valve 16 in stack ll? is closed7 so that the products of combustion must pass about and through the retort C in escaping to atmosphere. Coke is charged in each of the generating chambers l. l and lb to a little below the level ot charging doors 20---20 and ignited. The valves fl-23 ot airblast pipes are now opened andthe coke beds brought to an incandescent The interior ot the furnace, the Walls ot' chamber -B' and the Walls and balllcs of retort C' are thus brought to a high heat. The. valve 9 is now closed cutting oilT egress to atmosphere and the valves 2-3---23 are closed cutting oitl the lentrance of air. Fine or nut coal is now charged through doors EOQO forming an evenly distributed bed over the surface of the colte beds to a thickness of about two,

inches. The charging doors are now tightly closed.

the operation proceedsl the heavier hydrocarbons rise from the coal beds and pass in the manner abov e described to the Washbox. lVhen the temperature of the coke-bed in generating chamber 1 falls below that The .lighter hydro-carbons new be@ gin to rise as coal-gas from the coal beds.

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required to decompose the steam, the steam is cut oft from said chamber and introduced in like manner into chamber la, whence it is cut oil' When the coke bed .in chamber l becomesl chilled below the point of the decompositioh of steam, whereupon the steam is cut oflgof. said chamber and-inthoroughly ga-sied, and fixed. `When the.

coal beds have v become thoroughly colred, I reopen the valve 9Zi of stack 9 and turn on the air-blast to bring the coke beds back tp incandescence. `Where there isl danger of overheat-ing the burn the gases, as indicated by the 'ormation of lamp-black, I do not open the valve 9 of stack 9 but open the valve 16a of: stack 16 permitting the heat to escape during the firing-up Without passing through the retort C. y i

By the introduction of steam successively into the Various generating chambers, I am enabled to prolong the gas making operation until the entire gaseous Value of the raw material is realized insomuch as only a fraction of the incandescent coke is chilled 'at a time, and the interior of the*l furnace and the retort are maintained atthe high temperature necessary to release the volatile elements ofthe raw material and rasiy and fix the saine. W'ere the `'steam adinitted simultaneously to all the geerating chambers, the coke beds would become chilled before the complete gasification and xing of the volatile elements, resulting in quantities of 4more com plete.

ying; process expedites and: renders thesame The form and character of retort used me isimportantfBy forming the same 11'.I the contour showif'and p'rovid-ingthe in-T Vteruel bellies, I prolong and intensify the treatmentof the gases and thoroughl break up and lX the volatile elements of t e raw material. 'In the case of a small plant, I may provide the furnace with but a. single generating' chamber to be used inconnection With my retort.,

What I desireto claim ist` A 1. The process` of fgnenufac'turing gas, which consistsin blasting a bed of coke to iucandescence; then cuttmg' .oit the blast; thenl .charging a layer' of coal upon the coke- :sev

bed; then turning `onsteam to make Waterff gas and simultaneously distilling the coal? bed by passing the steam upward there through; and simultaneously agita-ting the.

bed of coal duringtherun. y

2. The process of .manufacturing gas, which consists iin blasting to incandescence a plurality of'fadjacent, spaced coke-beds; then cutting ofi" the blast; then charging a layer of coal upon each coke-bed; then turning on steam to make Water-gas and distilling the coal-bedssuccessively by passing the steam 4upward through said coal-beds successively; and simultaneously agitating the beds of coal during the run.

Signed at Pittsburgh, Penna., this 10th .day of June, 1912.

COMMODORE u. MILLER..

Witnesses:

W. S. VALSH, E. A. LAWRENCE.

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