US1935888A - Double walled container - Google Patents

Description

w. J. PODBIELNIAK DOUBLE WALLED CONTAINER Filed June l2 Nov'. 21, 1933.

Patented Nov. 21, 1933 masses DOUBLE WALLED coNrAmEn 'walter J. romanian, Trim, om.- t appucaunnrm iz. 1931. serial ism-543,939 4cm. (ciauz-zza) The present invention relates to improvements 4 in-double walled containers, the inner and outer walls of which may be exposed to different temperatures, and more particularly to elongated,

5 evacuated containers or jackets employed as insulating jackets for fractional distillation columns or as the columns themselves. The invention will be more fully understood from the following description thereof, illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional view, partly broken away, through a distillation apparatus provided with a vacuum jacketed container embodying the present invention; and

Fig. .2 is a detail sectional view upon an enlarged scale, partially broken away, of portions of the inner wall of the evacuated container as seen at the left side of Fig. 1.

Referring morevparticularly tothe drawing, which shows a distillation apparatus of the type .more fully described in my prior applications 475,584 and 475,585, both filed August 15, 1930,

the numeral Sedesignates a distillation column, the lower end of which is enlargedy to form a distilling bulb 6, provided at its lower end with a constricted elongated portion 7 to which heat ,may be applied, for example,by the electrical heating element 8.

Surrounding the distilling tube 5 for substantially its entire length, there is an evacuated, double walled container or jacket 9,'constructed in accordance with the present invention as more fully hereinafter described, and serving as an insulating jacket for the distilling tube. At its lower end, the jacket member 9 is enlarged, as at 9', to surround the distiuing bulb s. at the lower' end of the jacket 9,' the distilling tube 5 may be held in position by a suitable cork or washer 10 and also, if desired, by' packing material 11 sur- 40 rounding the lower end of the.distilling bulb 6.

At the upper end of the double walled jacket 9,

it is'enlarged, as at 9b, and in the enlarged space l thus provided around the upper end of-thedistillation column 5, a container 12 of annular cross section-is provided, surrounding the column 5. In-

ing into and out of the chamber I2 for the supply and removal of a coolingI medium'. and suitable packing,'such as at 15, may be supplied within the annular cooling chamber 12 for distribution of the cooling medium when a vaporizable material, such as liquid air, is employed for the purpose. The column 5'may be supported in relative position in the upper portionr9b of the jacket 55, byxneans of a suitable perforated cork'or washer 16 and packing may beprovided within the enlarged upper portion 9b of the jacket surrounding kthe column 5 and the chamber 12, as shown at 17.

The double walled jacket 9, with its enlarged` end portions 9a and 9b has hitherto been con- 00 structed of glass, preferably a low-expansion,

Aheat resistant glassof the borosilicate or other readily available type, such as that commercially known as Pyrex, and provided with silver mirrors on one Aor both of the inner Walls, thus forming, on evacuation, an eilicient insulating jacket. In use, however, the innei` wall 18 of the jacket 9 is subjected to a wide range\of tempera-l ture variations, particularly the long, central straight portion thereof, while the outer wall is subjected to a relatively minor range of temperature variations, ordinarily but little above or be' flowthe -normal surrounding atmospheric temperatures. The variations in temperatures to which the inner wall of such an insulated con- "f5 tainer are subjected maybe even greater when the inner wall is itself employed as the distillation column.. The temperature variations may be from temperatures of -400 F. l(or lower) to -|-300 to 400 F. V(or higher) in the analytical dis- 80 tillation of natural gas hydrocarbons and natural gas gasoline, and temperatures very considerably higher, say to 500 to 600 F. may be reached in the distillation of kerosene, napthas, or other liquid petroleum products.

As a result of the greatl differences in the temperature variations to which the inner and outer walls of the double walled jacket 9 yare subjected, as hitherto constructed, there have been great dinerences in vthe expansion and contraction of the inner wall 18, and'particularly the elongated central portion thereof, with respect to the remaining portions of the jacket orcontainer, 9.

-To a certain extent these variations may be taken care of by a slight bowing of the inner wall 1B, the 95 curvature of the wall decreasing as the temperature of the inner wall drops relative to the outer wall and increasing as it rises. However, and particularly when vey great temperature varia- V ,tionsmay be present, such variations in curvature let and outlet pipes 13 and 14 are provided, leadof any bow or arch that maybe provided in the inner wall 18 may not be sufficient to avoid impairment or'breakage of the apparatus.

In accordance-with the present invention, the

inner wall 18 of thedouble-walled container or 105 l jacket 9 isformed of fused quartz, the,I transf parent fused quartz' being preferably employed. While the entire inner wall of the jacket 9 may be constructed. of quartz, itis preferred to use quartz in its construction only'from about the 11 point of the upper enlargement of the-container 9 at 9b, say the 'point 18' to the lower end ofthe inner wall, as at 18D, this being the portion of the apparatus subjected to the greatest variations in temperature. At these points, the inner quartz tube is joined to the low-expansion glass of which the remainder of the container is constructed by any suitable sealing means. for example, by what is known in the glass blowing art` as a graded joint built up by fusion oi. particles of quartz and the glass employed with gradually increasing proportions of glass. The points where these graded joints are provided are indicated in the drawing 'at 18n and 18h.

It is readily'apparent that the inner, quartz tube portion of the container or jacket 9 made in accordance with the present invention may be :slightly bowed,'iI desired, and that the walls of the jacket or container 9 may be provided with mirrors internally, if. desired. By constructing the inner wall, which is exposed to the widest range oi?v temperature variations, of quartz, the

variations in its length due to expansionA and contraction are markedly reduced and more nearly equalized with\those taking place in the outer wall of the container or jacket. It is readily apparent that if the container or jacket is to be used under circumstances wherein they outer wall of the container' or jacket are subjected to the greatest variations in temperature, the outer wall will be formed of quartz, joined or sealed to the low expansion glass' or-other glass forming the remainder of the device. Furthermore, itis readilyapparentthatinmanycaseaitwillnot be necessary-to use the vlow-expansion type of glassware in constructing those portions' of the jacket'not exposed to wide temperature variations. I claim: A 1. An elongated, double walled, insulating container adapted to have a wall portion thereof 3. In, distillation apparatus, adouble walled,

evacuated container' of elongated, cylindrical form, the inner wall of -said container being adapted to be subjected to marked variations in temperature, said inner wall being formed of fused quartz and the remainder of the container being formed of glass joined and sealed `to said quartz inner Wall.

4. In distillation apparatus, an elongated distillation column.for containing the material to be distilled, a double-walled, evacuated container surrounding said column, the inner wall of said container adjacent the column, being formed of fused quartz and the remainder of the container being formed of low-expansion glassjoined and sealed to said quartz inner wall. e

. 'f vWALTER J.

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