US1130215A - Discharging-electrode and method of forming the same. - Google Patents

Description

F. w. STEERB. DISCHARGING ELECTRODE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME.

APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 10, 1914.

Patented Mar. 2, 1915.

IIIIIIIIIIEIIIIIJ STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK w. STEEBE; OI DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ABSIGNOR '10 SEHET-S OLVAY COIYANY, OF SOLVAY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 01' PENNSYLVANIL Specification at Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2, 1915.

Application filed June 10, 1914. Serial No. 844,226.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. STEERE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, m the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Discharging-Electrodes and Methods of Forming the Same, of which the following is a specification.

As is well known when one of the terminals of an electric current generator is connected to an electrode provided with fine points and located in operative relation to an electrode having a smooth surface connected to the other terminal of the generator and current of sufiiciently high voltage is generated a silent or brush discharge is given off from the points. Such a discharge is utilized in effecting the deposition of suspended matter from flue gases, in the manufacture of ozone, etc. Heretofore, a surface rovided with metallic points has been used or this purpose, and also filamentary substances suchas asbestos or the fibers of cotton or other threads. In the application of an electric discharge to theseparation of tar from those gases, such as coke oven gas, in which it is carried in suspension, certain difficulties are experienced in the use of such pointed surfaces as have heretofore been employed, such as metallic points or asbestos, cotton or other fibers, since the former are attacked and destroyed by the acids carried in the gas, while the latter lose their efliciency by becoming matted together by the tar adherin thereto.

The object o my improvement is to obviate these difficulties and provide an electrode of this class which shall have an etficient discharging surface, which shall be durable and not subject to change, nor affected by acids carried in the gas.

To this end my invention broadly stated consists in forming the operative body of the electrode of coke, having a surface studded with fine projecting points. Such an electrode I have found most efiicient in producing a brush discharge, while at the same time the dischargingv points retain their individuality and are not affected by gas contents of any nature. v

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate an electrode made in accordance therewith and also a preferred method of forming such an electrode.

Figure 1 of the drawings illustrates the method of construction, showing a cross section of a mufile, in which the electrode sheets are formed, containing powdered coal and sheets of woven wire. Fig. 2 shows a completed electrode sheet having a surface of coke, partially broken away to show the wire base. Fig. 3 shows a section of an electrode sheet, on the line 3-3, Fig. 2, and Fig. 1s a similar view on an enlarged scale showing the penetration of the woven wire base by the coke;Fig. 5 shows an elevation partly in section of a completed electrode having the electrode sheets mounted on a su portlng core.

.n carrying my invention into eflect, I preferably employ the following method for forming coke surfaces provided with fine dischargin points suitable for use as electrodes Re erring to the drawings, A, indicates a muflle having separably connected walls of. suitable material, as metal. The muflle, A, I fill with granulated coking coal, B, within which are embedded several sheets, C, of flexible perforated material such as woven wire, each of which is separated from those above and below it by a layer of the coal. The body of coal should consist of granules of substantially uniform size, preferably such as will pass through a screen of one-eighth inch mesh, but not through one-sixteenth inch mesh, 21. e.,somewhat larger than the mesh of the woven wire sheets. The filled and closed mufiie is then subjected to a coking heat in a closed furnace until the coal is converted into cellular coke. When the coking is completed the mufile, A, is removed from the furnace and opened and the sheets of woven wire are pulled apart. In the process of coking the coke is forced into and through the interstices in the wire as shown in Fig.4, so that, when the sheets are separated each is found covered with a coating of coke, D, securely adhering thereto and presenting innumerable fine points, (Z, of substantially uniform length. The sheets thus formed possess a considerable degree of flexibility and can be bent into a circular form without disruption of the coke. The coke electrode sheets are preferably mounted for use upon a cylindrical core, E, formed of wood or other suitable material to which they are secured, as by being nailed thereto. Preferably the core, E, is provided with circumferential ribs, eye, which assist in supporting the coke-sheets 'andat the same time form distance between all parts of the operative surface of the discharging electrode and the receiving electrode. In case the core, E, is made of non-conducting material, as wood, a conductor, F, is provided lying between the core, E, and the electrode sheets, D, and in contact with the latter whereby they are connected with the source of current. With such an electrode I am able to effect, a powerful and uniform brush discharge withoutthe formation of disruptive arcs and with efiicient utilization of the applied current. While for these reasons they are generally applicable in any case Where it is desired to utilize a brush electric discharge they are particularly desirable in the application of such a discharge to effect the separation of tar from tar carrying gases, since the coke is not affected by the destructive acids usually present in such gases nor do the discharging points lose their efficiency by reason of any deposit of tar thereon.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A discharging electrode having a body of coke provided with discharging points.

2. A discharging electrode of coke having"- forated metal base, and a body of coke secared to said base and having a surfacepresenting discharging points.

4. An electrode comprising a supportin core and a surface of coke secured to sai core and having superficial discharging points.

5. An electrode comprising a supporting core provided with circumferential ribs and a surface of coke secured to the core between said ribs and having superficial discharging points. 1

6. The process of forming electrode surfaces with discharging points which consists in embeddin flexible perforated sheets of non-combusti 1e material in powdered coal in a closed muffle, subjecting the same to a cokin temperature until the coal is coked and nally separating said sheets.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name, this 2d day of June A. D. 1914.

' FRANK W. STEERE. Witnesses:

PETER B. KOEBEL, JOHN M. HAs'rINGs, Jr.

Images