US1096765A - Method of collecting particles present in an ionized medium. - Google Patents

Description

W. W. STRONG. METHOD OF COLLECTING PARTIGLES PRESENT IN AN IONIZED MEDIUM.

' Patented May 12, 1914.

W TN E 8 8 E 8 ZZhzm/ z w zg ATTORNEYS WILLIAM WALKER STRONG, 0F MECHANIGSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD 01E COLLECTING PARTICLES PRESENT IN AN IONIZED MEDIUM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 12, 1914.

Application filed December 28, 1912. Serial No. 739,066.

To all whom it may concern.

-Be it known that 1, WILLIAM WALKER S'rnoNu, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Mechanicsburg, in the county of Cumberland and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Method of Collecting Particles Present in an 1onized Medium, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention is based upon the ionization of different media, and proceeds upon the fact that nurticlcs present in an ionized medium may be collected through the use of an electric field.

While the invention in its broader aspect may be said to include a method of coating, the particular application of the invention is directed to a method of indicating the presence oi solid liquid particles in an ionized medium, such as, for instance, the presence of smoke in the gases given off by a furnace. 'llhcre are various agencies which may eti'ect the ionization of the medium, such as, for instance, the heat of a furnace, or the rays of a Nernst lamp, of an electric bulb, or, in fact, any incandescent substance; such ionization is presumed in the performance of the invention to be described. Of course, as far as the performance of such invention is concerned, the particular means for effecting such ionization is imn'iatcrial, the method having more to do with the collection, or with the bringing together of some or all of the particles present in such ionized medium. The theory of ionization proceeds as follows: A medium within the influence of any ionizing agent is partly broken up into positive and negative ions, and particles or substances present in such ionized medium partake of the charges of such ions, some of the particles acquiring a positive charge and others acquiring a negative charge.

In my invention I employ an clectile field brought into the region of the ionized me dium to bring together certain of the par ticles oi the medium to places desired. The particles herein referred to consist of suspended liquid or solid matter and are therefore very large as compared with the size oi. gaseous molecules. in most kinds of smoke, fumes, etc., these particles are of sutiicient size to be seen by the naked eye.

As before mentioned, the application which 1 have made is utilized as a method of indicating the presence of smoke, dust, tumes, mists, or'other particles present in lines and pipes, as a means of checking the times when said smoke, dust, fumes, mists,

While any particular form of apparatus may be employed in the practice of the invention, the mechanism herein deseribedis one embodiment which has been found to possess decided etiiciency and adaptability. In the accompanying sheet of drawings I have shown, more or less diagrammatically, the arrangement of the different elements which, collectively, enable the method to be perfm-n'ied.

A chimney line 1 leads from a furnace 2, the flue being provided with openings 3-4: communicating with the interior thereof, the particles present within the flue when the furnace is working being frequently charged, the medium surrounding these particles at the same portions of the flue being in a state of ionization due to the fact that the material within the furnace is in an incaiulescent state.

vlt is convenient to make the line or pipe of conducting material, such as sheet iron or any other thin metallic substance. Under these conditions the metallic parts not as screens to the electric field, only lines of electric force passing through the opening such as 4. lt is obvious that the thinner the walls of the line or pipe, the greater will be the number of electric lines of force passing through the opening it, and therefore the greater (EilltftlVtlltiSH of the action of the electric ticld. The line or tube may be made of dielectric material however, in which case the action will be similar in nature to that taking place with a flue of eonducting material.

The mechanism which is termed the recordcr comprises a cylinder 5 of dielectric material, shown as mounted on a spindle U, which is screw-threaded and in engagement with a suitable clock-work or motor 7; the outside of the cylinder carries a covering 100 on which the record is taken, such covering being paper or similar material, It will be noted that the cylinder is closely adjacent the opening 4 in the flue 1 the particular purpose oftheeIloek-worl; eing to not only rotate the cylinder, but to cause thesame to advance longitudinally of the flue, whereby the projection of the said opening would develop a helix on the said cylinder.

Within the cylinder 5, and opposite the opening l, is an electrode 8, connected to one side of the secondary 10 of a suitable transformer by m'ea of any convenient wire 9, the terminals of said secondary including a spark ga 11. The primary 12' of the transformer is actuated from any suitable source, such as a generator lii, the circuit embodying a switch 14.

After the transformer primary circuit is closed the flowof current therethrough will induce an electro-motive-force in the second ary, and an electric field will be set up inthe vicinity of the electrode 8; the clock-work or similar motor 7 being started after the sheet 100 is placed on the cylinder, the turn ing of the cylinder will bring successively fresh portions of the sheet opposite the opening t, and the said field will bring the movingparticles within the flue through the opening adjacent the sheet, where they will be deposited. If the cylinder 5 and the sheet thereon are brought into a similar position opposite the opening 3 in the due, and the same steps gone through, a deposit may not be obtained on the sheet 100 for the reason that such opening 3 may be beyond the ionized portion of themedium within the flue; that is, the positive and negative charges on the ions and particles. have been neutralized, and m'ovement'oi the particles, due to movement of the ions no longer occurs. As the cylinder continues to turn,t-he action of the field brings about the collectionof the particles in the ionized medium, so that as long as combustion is taking place in the furnace, and the products of such combustion ihclude solid or liquid particles,

such solid or liquid particles will be de-' posited upon the sheet 100, the resultingdeposit being an indication of the amount of solid or liquid matter givenout by the flue or chimney, which matter may be made up of unconsumed products.

Since the smoke and fume problem is something that cities have to contend with, and siiice it is desirable that some means be available for keeping check on the smoke and fumes being belched from chimneys, the method herein described lends itself particularly as a means for bringing about such a record the particular apparatus described may be conveniently contained in a suitable casing and placed in proper position within a boiler room, where the records may be removedat certain intervals. ilihe operation, then, as described, consists in subjecting an ionized medium, andthe particles therein, to the influence of an electric field, and in providingan element between the sburce such field and the ionized medium, so that the traveling ot the particles under the influence of the field to the electrode will cause. the particles to come into'contact with and be received upon said element. Since in order to provide a commercially successful apparatus for performing the invention more or less structure is necessary, and since such structure must support the record sheet, and I since this structure must be permeable tothe electric field, this support is of dielectric material, as stated, i

As previously noted, the method may be availed of in collecting particles which are present in an ionized medium, the'particular manner of bringing about such ionization being immaterial, as such state of aflairs may be efiected by means of a Nernst glower, an electric lamp, or, in fact, any incandes cent substance. In the performance of the method described, other apparatus than that illustrated may be availed of, the use of such apparatus, however, ,not departing from the spirit of the method disclosed.

Having thus described my invention, what t a I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1 The method of collecting particles present in an ionized medium, which consists in depositing the said particles on a member under the influence of an electric field.

2. The method of collecting particles pres ent in an ionized medium, which consists in depositing the said particles on a movable member adjacent the source of an electric field.

3. The method of collecting particles present in an ionized'medium, which consists in subjecting the medium andparticles to the action of an electric field, and collecting the particles on a member positioned between an electrode and the said medium.

4. The method of. collectin'gparticles present in an ionized medium, which consists in subjecting the medium and "particles to the 'infiuence'of an electric field, and" continuously collecting the particles on a suitable member positioned between the region" of greatest intensity in the said field and. {the said ionized medium.

5. The method of collecting particles present in an ionized medium, which consists in subjecting the medium and particles tothe action of an 7 electric field, and. placing a suitable member between the most intense part of thesaid field and the said medium,

"whereby the particles may be collected on the said member. v

6. The method of collecting particges suspended in any fluid medium, which onsists in subjectin the medium to the actio' of an 125 electric fiel and placing a suitable cielectrio element between thesource of the$ eleca tric field and' the said medium, whereby the .7 particles maybe collected on the said memer.

7 Ihe herein described method of colously moving said element to distribute the 10 lecting particles present in an ionized medeposit. dium, which consists in subjecting the me- In testimony whereof I have signed my dium and particles to the action of an elecname to this specification in the presence of 5 tric field, whereby the particles are caused two subscribing witnesses.

to move by the force of the electric field and WILLIAM WALKER STRONG. in interposing in the path of the moving Witnesses: particles a dielectric element upon which the G110. C. COOVER,

particles may be deposited, and in continu- D. E. KAST.

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