US1561101A - Liquid-oxygen container - Google Patents

Description

C. MOTT ET AL LIQUID OXYGEN CONTAINER Filed Jan. 28. 1924 jaw/. afn/J Patented Nov. l0, 1925.

UNITED STATES CHESTER MOTT AND WILLIAM H. MARSHALL, OF DENVER, COLORADO. ASSIGNORS, BYl

1,561,101 PATENT OFFICE.

MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 PUROX COMPANY, OF DENVER, COLORADO, A CORDOBA' TION 0F COLORADO.

LIQUID-OXYGEN CONTAINER.

Application led January 28, 1924. Serial No. 688,972.

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that we, CHESTER Morr and WILLIAM H. MARSHALL, citizens of the United States, residing at Denver, in the county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Liquid-Oxygen Containers; and we do declare the following to be a full,

c lear, and exact ldescription of the inven-4 tlon, such as will enable others skilled inA the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, -which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in containers for storing and transporting liquid oxygen.

In our co-pending application, Serial No. 667,297, filed October 8, 1922, we have described and claimed a container of the type above referred to. Ve have found, however, thatseveral minor changes in construction are necessary for the best results and this application is therefore in the nature of an improvement on the construction described and claimed in the application referred to.

Our invention can be best described and will be most readily understood when reference is had to the accompanying drawing in which the preferred embodiment thereof is shown, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical diametrical section ol" our improved container;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the upper end of the neck of the container;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing the lposition of the parts while pouring lthe liquid; and

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4 4, Fi 2.

ur container consists of an enclosing casing 1, preferably of cylindrical shape and reinforced by means of circumferential beads or corrugations 2. The top 3 of the casing is conical and has an upwardly extending central lneck portion 4. l The bottom 5 is preferably upwardly convex, as shown inthe drawing. Near the upper end of the c lindrical portion we provide handles 5". Nithin the casing, which .has been just described, the double walled evacuated container is suspended. This container fonsists of a spherical outer` container formed from two semispherical portions 6 and 7 secured together along an equatorial line 8. The upper portion of part 7 has an opening to which is soldered the ring 9. This ring has lits upper edge spun inwardly to form a flange 10, to the underside of which the corrugated flexible diaphragm 11 is secured. This diaphragm has a central opening for thev reception of the tubular member 12, which is soldered thereto and held in place by rings 13 and 14. A washerlike member 15 is secured to the inside of the tubular neck 4 near its junction with the conical top 3. A helical spring 16 has its lower end resting on the upper side of ring 15 and supports a ring 17 which, is slida-ble within member 4 and has -a spherically curved inclined portion 18, which supportsl and cooperates with a similarly curved member 19 that is threadedly connected to the upper end of tube 12. Since the cooperating surfaces of members 17 and 19 are spherical, they are adapted to move relative to each` other in any direction so that the outer spherical container may swing in any direction within the, casing 1. A conical coil spring 20 extends from the lower surface of ring 15 tothe upper surface of member 13. The function of spring 2O is to prevent the upward throw of the parts, which will sometimes happen if the weight of the suspended parts alone are depended upon to hold them down. We consider this is a distinct and valuable improvement over the structure shown in our prior application, where this spring is not present. Secured to the inside of member 12 is a smaller tubular member or pipe 21. This pipe is held in concentric parallel relation with pipe 12 by means of a ferru'le or spoollike member 22. The lower flange of this member is notched as indicated by numerals 23 in' Fig. 4, while the upper flange is soldered to pipe 12. This arrangement holds `the two mem- Attention is called to the facty the container. When the parts are assembled as shown and all joints are proper- 1y soldered or sweated, the space between container 24 and the outer container, can

5 be evacuated to a high degree of vacuum.

For the purpose of evacuating the space between the walls of the double contalner, we have provided then outer containerwith a nipple 27, to which the vacuum pump can be attached. Afterl the vacuum has been formed, the nipple is fused by a suitable flame yand forms a seal. is enclosed in a thimblelike protector 2S. It is evident that when the space between 15 the two containershas been evacuated, lthe pressure of the atmosphere will tend to'colapse the outer container and in order to make it as strong as possible to withstand this collapsing pressure, it is made as nearly spherical as possible, as this form olers the greatest resistance to collapsing. The fact that the upper side is cut away and has the vvring 9 secured thereto, does not weaken the structure. The inner spherical container is merely subjected to a disruptive strain which merely puts the material under tension and is only subjected to a pressure that tends to collapse it when for any reason the vacuum fails while the inner container contains liquid oxygen. In this case the liquid oxygen will soon evaporate and the air between the walls of the containers will increase in temperature from that of the liquid oxygen to that of the circumambient air. This increase in temperature will produce a corresponding change in volume and this change will take place so fast that the air will not have time to escape through the vsmall leak, with the result that a high pressure is set up between the walls of the'two containers. Unless this pressure is relieved, it will either burst the outer container or else collapse the inner one'and as the latter causes the smaller damage, the inner container has been so constructed that it will collapse before the outer one bursts.

- It 1s necessary to provide a carbon pocket that communicates with the evacuated {spacein order to obtain the degree of vacuum desired. This pocket is filled with cocoanut charcoal which is heated when the space is evacuated so that the occluded gases will be driven oil'. When the inner container is flledfwith liquid oxygen, the low temperaturecauses the charcoal to become a very eilicient absorbent of gases, with .the result that the vacuum is maintained at a high de- "grec of efliciency.

In the present construction the carbon pocket is placed on the inside of the inner conta'ner and is formed by means of a member 2 which has a portion thereof concentric with the container. A flange 30 exi tends outwardly to the container walls andis soldered thereto along the` edge as indi- The sealed nipple transportation.

cated by numeral 31. This forms aJ pocket, between the outer surface of the patch 29 and the inner surface of the container and thls pocket is filled with charcoal 32. An opening 33 is provided in the bottom of the spherical container and this permits thc charcoal to be introduced thcreinto. This opening is covered with wire screen. Other openings may be provided it desired. It is evident that the placing of the carbon pocket on Athe inside ofthe inner container does vnot materially weaken it against internal pressure, as this very seldom exceeds atmospheric pressure, but it does materially weaken it against an outer pressure which tends to collapse it. As a result of this, if a leak should occur and a high pressure should be generated in what is normally the evacuated space, the lower semi-spherical portion of the inner container will collapse, thus preventing serious injury to the other parts.

.Vhen liquid oxygen is transported, the inner container 24 will be heavy and will cause the parts to swing about the bearing surface 18 to such an extent that the tubular neck 21 will always hang vertically. The outer container being comparatively light and held in a predetermined relation to the inner container by means of the spool 22- and diaphragm 9, will assume the same period of oscillation as the inner heavy container, with the result that they will never come into contact during shipment or when subjected to the vibrations of' ordinary Since the pipe 2l, which forms theY neckof the liquid container, is of small diameter, it is evident that liquid will flow out only very slowly, if atv all, unless some 4internal pressure is generated. When it is desired to pour liquid out of the container, the casing 1 is tilted in the manner shown in Fig. 3. When the outer container strikes the inner walls of the casing it will, of course, stop, but the inside container 24 will continue to move as the diaphragm 11 permits the outer container to move relative to the inner one. When the containers comev into contact, there will be a rapid transfer of heat and the liquid oxygen will start boiling, thereby producing a pressure that will force the llquid out through the'neck in a steady stream. It will be noted that I have provided member 17 with a number of holes 34 and that openings 35 have been provided in the bottom y 5, The purpose of these holes is that when the cap36, shown dotted in Fig. 1, is in place any evaporated oxygen will pass down through thejholes 34 and out through holes 35, thereby filling the space about the double container with low tem erature gas that increases the thermal e ciency of the container.

In the drawing the inner spherical container is shown suspended in a sli htly eccentric position with respectl to t e outer container. This is not an essential feature of the construction and the two spherical containers may be mounted so as to be con' centric.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new is:

1. A vessel for storing and shipping liquelied gases comprising, in combination, an 1nner container havlng a long, narrow neck rigidly attached thereto, an outer container surrounding said inner container, "said outer container having an opening, a liexible diaphragm secured in said opening, said diahragm having an opening, a tubular mem- Eer extending through said diaphragm and rigidly secured thereto, the neck of the' inner container extendin through the tubular member, a ferrule spacing the tubular member from the neck, said ferrule being connected to said member and neck by an airtight joint, a casing surrounding said contalners, said casing having a cylindrical neck portion for the reception of the tubular members secured to the outer containers, a universal joint between said cylindrical neck and the tubular member, resilient means for supporting said universal joint, and resilient means opposed to said resilient supporting means.

2. A vessel for storing and shipping lique- 4 fied gases comprising, in combination, an 1nner container having a long, narrow neck rigidly attached thereto, an outer container surrounding said inner container, said outer container havin an opening, a flexible diaphragm secure in said opening, said dia- Ehragm having an opening, a tubular mem er extending through said diaphragmv and rigidly secured thereto, the neck of the inner container extending through the tubular member; a ferrule spacing the tubular member from the neck, said ferrule being connected to said member and neck by an airtight joint, a casing surrounding said contamers, said casing having a cylindrical neck portion for the reception of the tubular members secured to the outer containers, a universal joint between saidcylindrical neck and the tubular member, resilient means for supportingsaid universal joint, said means comprising al helical spring, and resilient means comprising a conical shaped coil s ring for (producin a force tending to move t e parts ownwar ing spring.

3. A vessel for storing and shipping liquid oxygen, comprising a casing having an upwardly extending cylindrical neck portion, an inwardly projectingannular flange near the bottom of the neck, a helical coil spring resting on the upper surface of said ange, a doubled-Walled evacuated container within said casing, said container having a neck portion extending through the spring, a supporting member resting on the upper end of the sprin and slidable within the cylindrical neck o the Casin said supporting member having a spherica y curved surface, a ringlike member secured to the upper end of the neck of the container, said last-named member 4 having a spherical lsurface Aadapted to cooperate wlth the corresponding surface of the'supporting member to form a universal joint, and a spring surrounding the neck of the container, said last-named s ring abuttingfits upper end against the ower surface of said flange and its lower end against the container.

In testimony whereof we aiix our signaoHEsTER MoTT. WILLIAM H. MARSHALL.

\ tures.

ly against the support-

Images