US17830A - Improved apparatus for making acid sulphite of lime - Google Patents

Description

GAMOTIS & MARTIN.

MakingSulphuric Acid.

Patented July 21, 1857. 4

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PATE T OF-rrca LAURENT GAMOTIS AND SABIN MARTIN, OF N E\V ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

'IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MAKING ACID SULPHITE OF LIME.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No, 17,830, dated July 21, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LAURENT Gnnorrs and SABIN MAJa'rItv, both of New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana, have invented an Apparatus for the Manufacture of Bisulphite of Lime. by Means of. a Vacuum and Suction- Pump; andiwe do hereby declare that the following is a fulland exact description thereof, reference being, had to. the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference markedthereon... c

. The nature of our invention consistsin 0btaining' bisulphite of lime by means of an apparatus composed of a furnace with a chimney, of aseries of cisterns or vats, of a, reservoir or aspirating-vat, and of one or more pumps disposed and worked by combinations difierent from those hitherto employed,

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe its construction, and to render the description of the mode of operation clearer we will first describe ina few words the drawings representing the accompanying model, which drawings give an external View of the apparatus, a section of one of its parts, and a horizontal View.

In Figure l, a a is the furnace; I), retort; c c c, cranks for agitating the liquid; (1 d d, taps; h h h, cisterns; K,large cistern for aspirating, and 0 0 0 agitating-paddles.

In Fig. 2, a, 0, represent the furnace; J, furnace-door; e, chimney; ff'fffff, tubes; g g g, funnels d d cl, taps; h h h, cisterns; K, large aspirating-cistern l, tube with a tap, the length of the tube being equal to half the height of the cistern K; m, suction-pump, and at opening, with a plug, for the purpose of introducing the water.

In Fig. 3 e is the summit of the chimney; f f fitubes; (,funnel with a stop-cock; h h h, the cisterns on a larger scale, and t partition dividing the upper part of the cistern into two parts or lobes.

The apparatus is constructed in the following manner: furnace and chimney with refracting bricks cemented with a light mortar, covered on the inside by a concentrated solution of sub-borate of soda, which when exposed to a great heat forms with the silica of the bricks a bonsilicate, leaving on the surface of the bricks a protecting varnish or glaze; the retort in sheet-iron.;'cranks and paddles. in wood; cocks, tubes, and funnels in.

lead; partitionof oak and cisterns of oak also; the staves thick, hooped with iron, andcovered on the outside by three or four coatings of oil paint.

.Mode of proceed mgrdlavin g filled the cisterns h h h with water to within one-fifth. of the top of the cistern, the level of the Water being about four or five inches above the lower edge of the partition 6 'L c', We pour through the funnels g g g a certain quantity of milk of lime, (marble,) we fill the retortb with sulphur, we ignite the sulphur, regulating the supply of atmospheric air by the door of the furnace, so as to admit only sufficient to promote combustion. As soon as the sulphur is ignited the pump m is set in motion, and, the air dilating inthe cisterns, the pressure of the atmospheric air is able to overcome the resistance of the several columns of water contained in the immersed tubesffff'ff'f. The suction of the pump m causes the produce of combustion to go through the milk of lime contained in the cisterns h h h. Thus carried by the immersed tube f coming from the chimney to the bottom of the corresponding part of the first cistern,the gas rises vertically and, arrived in the first lobe, is received by the tube f and carried to the bottom of the second half of the same cistern, rises into the second lobe, whence it is carried successively through the second and third cisterns by the same mechanism and in the same manner. By thus passing through the milk of lime the gas combines with it, and the sulphurous acid and lime together form a sulphite of lime at first insoluble, but afterward soluble from an excess of sulphurous acid. The saturation takes place nearly exclusively in the first two cisterns, and the third receives but a minute quantity of sulphurous acid. In the course of the operation care must be taken to keep the milk of lime in motion by means of the agitating-paddles. Turning the crank once or twice now and then suffices.- Nothing reaches the cistern K but azote and a small quantity of undecomposed-air. When the apparatus has been working some time and the bisulphite of lime marks six or eight degrees, we cease pumping, fill with water the cistern K, open the cock Zof the escape-pipe,

nearly closing the furnacedoor to diminish the supply of air, and ceasing to move the cranks. As the water escapes the sulphurous acid, arriving slowly, gives the bisulphite one or two degrees more density. We take care during this operation to make use of very cold water, because the capacity of absorption is proportioned to the lowness of the temperature of the liquid to be saturated. At the same time it is most essential to avoid, first, introducing too much air into the furnace, because a large quantity of sulphuric acid would be formed, and an excess of air being introduced would convert the bisulphite into sulphate of lime; second, stirring too often the bisnlphite with the paddles, because their action being repeated too often is detrimental to the absorption of sulphurous acid.

The following disposition of the chimney contributes also materially to the success of the operation. The throat of the chimney is placed several inches below the retort. Theai r, then passing over the surface of the ignited sulphur, reaches the upper part of the furnace and enters the chimney, flowing downward. Thus the air is obliged to sweep over the surface of the sulphur, which takes hold of nearly all the oxygen. Therefore but little undecomposed air passes up the chimney.

The dimensions of this apparatus may be varied according to the requirements of the manufacturer. Any of the known powers may be adapted to it. The number of the cisterns may be increased and one or more pumps may be used. In a small apparatus they can even be dispensed with altogether; but then it is necessary to have two cisterns instead of the cistern K, their communication to be established or cut off at will by means of 'a stop-cock. In order to keep up a continuous action, these should be opened alternatively'i. 6., that when one cistern is empty the other is made use of, the first in the meanwhile being refilled. To produce the necessary suction, it suffices to let the water contained in one of the cisterns escape. The escape-tube, with a cock Z, Fig. 2, placed under the cistern K, is indispensable. The length of this tube is for the purpose of emptying the cistern, which were it shorter would remain partially or even half full.

To conclude we must add that we have endeavored to render our apparatus as economical as it is simple. One of its principal advantages consists in producing the suction by means of an aspirating-cistern. Bythis process we avoid the contact of the pump with the sulphurous acid, which contact has the great inconvenience not only of corrodin g the sides, but also the different pistons, and thus rendering it incapable of working.

It may readily be conceived that our pump (being adapted to a cistern which receives nothing but azote mixed with a slight quan tity of undecomposed air, and notin the least exposed to the action of the sulphurous acid, the whole of which has been absorbed during its passage through several cisterns containing milk of lime) can be greased at will. This circumstance causing it to be exempt from the changes and deteriorations which have proved the greatest obstacle to the success of the processes hitherto employed, added to the advantages above mentioned, gives to ourinvention a character of superiority over all the apparatus with which we are acquainted.

Vhat we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The process of making bisulphite oflime by means of furnace J and cisterns h h h K, operated as set forth in the specification.

L. GAMOTIS. S. MARTIN. \Vitnesses:

L. MERRILL, ll. DANIEL.

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