US1426145A - Pressure-gas holder - Google Patents

Description

A. F. BRIDGE.

PRESSURE GAS HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED APR.21,1921.

' 1 42 1 5 Patentd Aug. 15, 1922..

I tribution system. Thisof courseentails the initial expenditure.necessary for such a Improvements in Pressure-Gas Holders, of

which the following is a specification.

' This invention has to do with holders for- ARTHUR BRIDGE, or Los'AnGELns, cnnrron nrm.

PRESSURE-G-A HOLDER.

essrs.

To all whom it may concern citizen of the United States, residing at Los An eles, in the county of Los Angeles, State aalifornia, have invented new and useful the storage of gasesunder pressure; any kind of gas in any kind of system. The in view offuel gas storage in connection with fuel gas distribution; and, as the invention.

and its advantages may perhaps-be most readily understood from a description of its specific adaptation and application to such uses, in thefollowing specification a specific.

form of the invention will be so described,

however without limiting the invention in; in its broader aspects. It will further be understood that one of the features of this invention is the provision of means for economically and effectively storing large quantities of gas under pressure; theinvention being applicable to large operations and large capacities .The invention is designed, in the specific application herein spoken of, to overcome certain difiicultieswhich inhere in the present known type of gas holders used for fuel gas distribution. These holdersare of two types, the well known telescoping tank type sealed with a water seal, and the ordinary plain pressure tank. The telescoping tank type has the disadvantage that it is not capable, as economically constructed, to store gas under a pressure of more than a few ounces I or so. Inmany gas distribution systems at present the distributing systenris operated at what is known as high pressure that is a pressure of a pound'or several pounds above- ,atmosphere; so that it 1s necessary w th these low pressure tanks to employ a compressor plant (a pressure booster system) to take the gas out of the tankand put it into the CllS- constant cost can of course be charged with gas under.

pressure to any pressure which the tank will stand, its distinct disadvantage is due to the fact that the tank can. never be entirely emptied of gas; the capacity of the tank at wherein: I I The figurev represents -a fverticalucentral section of the holder,'togetherwith such accompanying apparatus as mayb'eflused to fill serial No. 463,245.

I g eeificationof Letterslatent. 15, 1922.

Application filed April 21, 1921. i

one atmosphere pressure always remaining therein.

I It is a general object of this invention to provide a pressure gas holder which overcomes the difficulties hereinabove mentioned I and which, among other features, is part idularly adapted to large scale storage. Such objects and corresponding advantageous features Wlll be best understoodfrom a description of the specific and preferred formwhich this invention may take asapplied to'fuel gas distributing systems and for: that pur pose av specific form "of'thc holder 'is'illustrated in the accompanying i and discharge the-tank.

comprises mainly an upright steelcylindri real body 1O divided about midwayb-y, a hori zontal partition diaphragm ll, and'having a communicating pipe 12, preferably central, which extends frompartition l1 to the botdrawings, I

The holder according to this inventiontom of thetank and communicates Wltlrihe I chamber A above the partitionand 'lcommunicates at its lower end with thechamber 13 below the partition. For thepurpos'e of .tlllS last communication therrlower' end of pipe 12 may be perforatedas indicated at 13. The pipe 12 may notonly form the means of communication between. two chambers but 9O to assist in supporting the partition .11.. .Stay l bolts liniay also be used to :support the also form a. structural part of-the tank partition 11 against the internal. pressure;

these stay bolts extending vertically between I I partition 11 and bottom 15in the'tank, tying the bottom and the partition together. I

The gas inlet and outlet to the tank may be located at 16 near the top of thelower chamber 11- In the drawing this inlet isshown communicatingby suitable pipe systeniwith regulator atl? being the onev through which the gas is put intothe tank andthe one at 18 being that throughwhich the is taken out of the tank.

Gas isrthen forcedin under pressure, grade 'ually displacingthe water from the lower chamber, this water rising through the com- 1 a charging pressure regulator 17 and a disl ,chargingpres'sure regulator 18;the pressure municating pipe 12 into the upper chamber A. above diaphragm ll. lVhen. the. lower chamber lilled to capacity with gas, all, or substantially all, of the water has then been forced into the pipe 12 and the upper chainher; and the pressure on the gas isthen of ins; plant.

course equal to the hydrostatic head above it. In charging the -ta11lr,-pressurc regulator 17 may be set to pass gas only ,up to the pressure of that maximum hydrostatic head; so that no manual attendance is required "for Y filling the tanleonce the pressure regulator we been properly set.

Pressure regulator 18 is set to deliver gas at the pressure required in the distributing system; a pressure of one pound per square inch. its the discharges fromthe tank the water passes from the upper to the lower chamber, displacing the gas, until all or substantially all of the gas has been driven out under the hydrostatic head. 'Upper chamber A above diaphragm 11 may be made somewhat larger than the lower chamber B, so that, when practically all of the gas has been driven out, there will still remain in the upper chamber a. sufficient llQiLClOf water to create the desired pressure, for instance,

one pound per square inch, to force out substantially all of the gas; and, as will be readily seen, the amount of pressure upon the gas .as the last portion of it is being displaced from the tank, may be regulated and controlled by varying the total amount of water placed in the tank, thereby varying the amount of water which remains 1n the upper chamberwhen the gas is practically entirely displaced from the lower chamber. This amount or water may of course be so regulated, in consonance with the adjust- 4O ment of outlet pressure regulator 18, to not quite raise the water level in the lower chamber to outlet 16, to prevent water from being formed in that outlet. This can also be taken care of by a trap at 30.

rations 13 and flow up throughpipe 12 and through the body of water above.

Practically all of the gas may be discharged, as has been described; and may be discharged at a comparatively high pressure .thatserves to feed directly distribution systems without the necessity o'l any compress- The construction, and the relative placement of thebody of water, reduces the net outward pressure on. the top and bottom of the gas chamber; and the "fact that the top and. bottom of the gas chamber itself are fixed in relation to each other (1n contradis 'inction to the relatively movable top and b ttomot a telescoping tank) makes it possible to connect the top and bottom by staybolts, as. described. it will be noted that the weight of water on top diaphragm 11 conntc balances a great part oi the interiorgas pressure; on the average, eounterbalances about h alt of the interior gas pressure. This will be readily seen, without the necessity of :turther specific illustration, when it is noted that the hydrostatic head between upper water level. L and lower water level L, (which is the hydrostatic head upon the gas in the lower chamber, and therefore .the hydrostatic head pressing upwardly'on diaphragm 11) is, at all times about twice the hydrostatic head betweenv level L, and the diaphragm 11 Consequently the .hydrostatic head above diaphragm 11 opposes about hali of the internal, gas pressure. This circumstance materially reduces the required weight of metal and simplifies and chea-pens the construction.

l l hile the foregoing description is. specific as applied to a typical form of this invention, it will be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited in its broader aspects to the specific preferred detail herein set out; and that the invention is not limited except as expressly. so limited by the following claims which. are to be read in their broad as well as their more specific inter- .pretation.

Having described apreterred form ofmy invention, 1 claim:

1. ll. gas holder, embodying an upright shell, a horizontal partition across itslcentral portion formingan' upper water chamber and lower gas chamber, means to admit to the lower chamber, and to withdraw from the upper part or the lower chamber under suitable pressures, an upright pipe in the lower chamber connected with the bottom and with the partition to form a stay connection. between them and to form a support for the partition, and other stays extendin between the bottom and partition to stay them substantially over their entire surfaces; the pipe having communication at its upper end with the upper water chamher and having communication at its lower end with the lower part or the lowergas chamber.

2. A gas holder, embodying an upright shell, a horizontalpartition across itscentral portion forming an upper water chamber and a lower gas chamber, means to admit to the lower chamber, at a pressure substantially equalto the maximum hydrostatic head on the gas in said chamber when substantially all the water is displaced int-0 the upper chamber, and to withdraw gas from the upper part of the lower chamber under a pressuresubstantially equal to the hydrostatichead when water in the lower chamber rises to substantially the level of l the upper Water chainber and having comthe outlet, an upright pipe in the lower munication at its lower end with the lower'lo phamber connected with the bottom and the part of the lower as chamber. partition to form a stay connection between In Witness that claim the foregoing I them, and other stays extending between the have hereunto'subs'cribed my name this 16th bottom and partition to stay them substanday of April, 1921. tially over their entire surfaces the pipe having conimiinication at its upper end With i ARTHUR F. BRIDGE. Y i I

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