US2314983A

US2314983A - Carbonating apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2314983A
Application number: US353636A
Authority: US
Inventors: James L Hudson
Original assignee: CENTRAL DISCOUNT Co
Current assignee: CENTRAL DISCOUNT Co
Priority date: 1940-08-22
Filing date: 1940-08-22
Publication date: 1943-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 1960-03-30

Description

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J. L. HUDSON CARBONATING APPARATUS I Filed Aug. 22, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 30, 1943 2,314,983

CARBONATING APPARATUS James L. Hudson, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Gen tral Discount Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application August '22, 1940 ,"Serial No. 353,636

3 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for saturating liquids with gases, and more particularly to such devices used for charging water with car bon dioxide gas, commonly called carbonators.

on the section plane passing through the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the" distributingtank, the view being taken, on an enlarged scale, in the direction of thearrows on the section plane passing through the line 3-) of Fig. 1. I

Fig.4 is a top view of the impeller wheel provided in the mixing tank, the view being The present application is a continuation-in-part taken, on an enlarged scale, in the direction of of my copending application Serial No. 327,176, the arrows on the plane passing through the filed on April 1, 1940. line 44 of Fig. 1.

One of the objects of the present invention, is. Before explaining in detail the present invento provide an improved carbonator receiving tion it is to be understood that the invention is water from a supply line and CO2 gas from a In notlimited in its application to the details of tank and delivering carbonated water to a disconstruct on an a rangement o Parts illuspensing faucet, I trated in' the accompanying, drawings, since the Another object of the invention istggprovide invention is capable of other embodiments and an improved carbonator which deli rs and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. ejects carbonated water from a dispensi gffaucet 15 Also it IS [70 be understood that the phraseology in an even stream and without- 1' ting or of terminology emp oyed herein is for the pursquirting, I pose of description and not of limitation, and

A further object of the invention is to provide it is not intended to limit the invention claimed an improved bo t r i whi h m ns re herein beyond the requirements'of the prior art. provided to prevent wasteful escape of the C02 In the n s there is n, by W yof gas if water stops flowing into the device for example, an improved water carbonating device any reason, such as because of a frozen pipe m o y g the present invention. The invenline, insufiicient water pressure or the like. 'tlon is herein illustrated and described as em- A further object of the invention is'toprovide bodied in a device used for oarbo ter an improved water carbonating device which and d spensing the carbonated water. Howcharges a given-volume of water with-a greater ever, it will be understood that my invention quantity of gas and can operate successfully may be Successfully pp i d a d embodied in on unequal pressures of gas and water. devices used for saturating liquids with gases in A still further object of the invention is to neral. and is not limited to water and COzgas. provide an improved water carbofi&ting devi e 4' The structure illustrated in the drawings having an automatic relief valve operating in a comprises, gen rally. a mixin nk connected novel a with the sources of gas and water supply, in

It is an added object of the present invenwhich n mixing of the Water a gas takes tion to provide an improved device of the foreplace and a distributing tan from which the going character which is simple in construction, a o Water is delivered to a d p g dependable in operation, and is relatively infaucet While the two an are structurally expensive t f t separate and distinct the conduit which con- Other objects of this invention will appear in fleets them is always e y Open so that the following description and appended claims. they constitute a o a ne that is in a sense reference being had to the accompanying drawunitary and has in ct a unitary interior ings forming a part of this specification wherechamber Space in like reference characters designate corre- Referring to P drawings, the x ng tank sponding parts in the several views. comprises a cylmdfir closed at its y a Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in section, of an and at botmm by a member improved carbonating device embodying the which-1s provided w1th a port to which is present invention; connected a condmt l4 leading from a refri Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the g ga i g whlch'ljn g lgonnected to -i Wa Supp 3. c ec valve I6 is 2:32;? 5:52 i ig ail zg gg g fig' 53 interposed in the conduit 14 in order to prevent reverse flow of water. Adjacent the water port I3' there is operatively mounted a water'wheel or impeller I! which operates a mixer l8 mounted preferably but not necessarily on the same shaft with the impeller II, this latter being onerated by the incoming water. A conduit 19 connecting the mixing tank with the source of gas supply opens into the mixing tank with a port 20. A gas diffusing stone 2|, which may be made of .any suitable material such as carborundum or sandstone, is provided at the bottom of the mixing tank under the water wheel IT. A check valve 22 is operatively interposed in the conduit l9 to preventreverse flow of the gas.

The top portion of the mixing tank is provided with a connecting conduit or pipe 23 leading 'to the lower portion of the distributing or dispensing tank into which it opens with a port 24 provided in the member 25 secured to a cylin leading into the atmosphere and adapted to be closed by operation of a tension spring 30 connected to a lever 3| carrying the valve member proper 28a of the valve 28.

In the distributing tank there is provided a well 32 open at its top and having a ported bottom 33 provided with a valve 34 made of cork and opening downwardly, The well 32 is secured to the cylinder 26, and has its top disposed near the upper permissible water level, while its bottom is disposed near the lower permissible water level. Thus, the height of the well 32 determines the general range of maximum fluctuations of the water level in the distributing tank, as herein'after explained.

In the well 32- there is operatively arranged a submerged chambered body 35 connected to the lever 3| by means of a rod 36. In this design I make the body 35 in the form of a hollow ball. It is provided with a draining orifice 31 preferably about one-quarter of an inch in diameter, a gas admitting orifice 38, preferably about'one sixty-fourth of an inch in diameter, and an additional gas admitting means in form of a tube 38 of about one-quarter of an inch in diameter, said tube being arranged within' the ball as shown. The weight of the ball and the resistance of the spring 38 are so selected that when the ball is empty, the spring 30 is capable of supporting the ball 35 and closing the valve 28. However, when the ball 35 contains a considerable amount of water, and the well 32 is empty, the spring 30 yields to the weight of the waterloaded ball and opens the valve 28. The spring 30 is also capable of supporting the ball 35 when the same is submerged in water, whether empty or filled, in both cases the loadon the spring being less than that produced by the empty ball when the well 32 is also empty.

The operation of my improved carbonizing device is as follows: The water from the pipe line or any other suitable source of water supply enters the conduit I 4 usually at a pressure of about forty pounds per square inch and passes through the refrigerator l wherein itis cooled to about 40 F. in order to increase its gas absorbing capacity. Passing through the check valve |5 the water issues from the port |3 in a stream capable of rotating the impeller l1 actuating the mixing wheel l8. At the same time C02 gas usually under pressure from 60 to 120 pounds per square inch is passing through the conduit i8, check valve 22, port 20, and enters .enclosed by the two tanks.

the mixing cylinder through the diffusing stone 2| which acts to separate the gas into a large number of minute streams. Passing up through the stirred water, the gas is absorbed thereby and carbonated water fills the entire tank and passes through the pipe 23 into the distributing tank. In starting operation of the device the draft faucet may be held open until water begins to issue, the vent valve 28 being. closed. Then if the faucet is closed pressurebegins to build up in the space With the pressure in the tanks approximately atmospheric when the inflow of water and gas begins, such inflow will continue in the case of the water until the tank pressure reaches the maximum water pressure in the supply line and after that the inflow of gas continuesuntil the tank pressure reaches approximately that of the maximum pressure in the gas supply line. The rate at which the stone 2| and check valve 22 can pass gas through it is low enough so that an ample amount of water can enter the tanks before the pressure therein rises to the water supply pressure.

The carbonated water enters the distributing tank through the port 24 and fills the tank until the pressure of the gas and air entrapped in the upper part of the distributing tank substantially reaches a maximum gas pressure. This occurs when the water reaches the level approximately at the line 40-48. i

It will be understood that when the water level reaches the cork valve 34, said valve will rise and close the opening in the bottom of the well 32, but that when the water rises above the top of the well, the well'will be filled and the body 35 will be submerged and filled.

If a quantity of carbonated water is now withdrawn from the dispensing faucet, the water will drop to a lower level, say level 4|4|. This will relieve the pressure in the distributing tank and will permit a small quantity of gas to escape from the carbonated water, this being replaced by additional gas seeping in through the porous stone 2|.

It is an important advantage of the present invention that in most withdrawals of carbonated water from the faucet the resulting fluctuations of the water level in the distributing tank do not afiect the relief valve 28, since the well 32 remains filled. Therefore, sudden drops of pressure during withdrawals rarely occur and the carbonated water usually comes out of the faucet in an even stream and without spurting.

When, however, the water level in the distributing tank drops to an undesirably low level,such as 42- -42, and continues to fall, the weight of the water in the well 32 opens the valve 34 and permits discharge of water through the bottom of the well. When the well 32 is emptied to about level-43-43, the weight of the filled body 35 becomes sufficient to overcome the fesistance of the spring 30 and to open the relief valve 28, thereby venting excess gas and decreasing the pressure in the distributing tank and in the'mixing tank to substantially atmospheric pressure, This drop in pressure is made possible by the fact that the gas discharge capacity of valve 28 is much larger than the effective inlet capacity of check valve 22 and. diffusing stone 2|. Water from the supply line then rushes into the mixing tank, and carbonated water contained in the mixing tank rushes into the distributing tank filling the same again to the level" 4ll40.

By suitably proportioning the relative effective capacities of vent valve 28, the check valve 22 and difiusing stone 2| and also the relative effective capacities of openings 31 and 38 and of the valve 34 and tube 39, it is possible to insure that the vent valve 28 will be held open long enough to insure admission of the requisite amount of water from the supply line and yet that the action of the system is rapid enough so that the water will not fall substantially below the level 4444 in the distributing tank at any time under normal operating conditions.

In Fig. 1 there is shown in full lines the respective positions of the parts in the distributing tank with valve 28 closed and well 32 filled. In dotted lines there are shown positions of the parts when thevalve 28 opens.

It is also an important advantage of th present invention that should the water supply fail for any reason no appreciable waste of gas occurs. In my improved device, should the distributing tank'be emptied, the water from the body 35 will drain through the orifice 31, and the spring 30 will then close the valve 28 preventing wasteful escape of gas. When the distributing tank is being emptied rapidly, draining of water from the body 35 is increased in rate bythe action of the gas admitting tube 39 which comes into action to aid orifice 38 when the water level in the well 32 falls below the mouth of said tube 39.

There is thus provided an improved water carbonating device in which the action of the vent valve is not dependent directly on the water level in the distributing tank, and therefore fluctuations of said water level do not affectthe operation of the dispensing faucet; The device is automatic in its action. In addition, should the water supply completely fail, the device automatically shuts off the escaping gas preventing undesirable waste thereof.

In practice about 700, gallons of charged water will contain "about 150# C: of which approximately one-third will escape to the atmosphere during the periods when the valve 28-is open.

I claim:

1. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with a container having a unitary interior chamber space and constructed to hold liquid and gas'under superatmospheric pressure; valve-controlled conduit means for conducting liquid and gas into said space; and a valve-controlled outlet conduit for liquid leading iromthe lower part of said space; or a vent conduit for gasleading from the upper part of said container space to the atmosphere; a vent valve for controlling said conduit; and means for actuating 7 V the vent valve comprising a well disposed with in the container inopen communication at its top with the interior space of the container and uid level in the container to maintain said aperture closed while the liquid in the container is above a predetermined level adjacentthe lower part of the well and to open said passage when the liquid in the container falls below that level, and a body disposed in the well and operatively connected to the vent valve and having an effective weight variable with change of the liquid level in the well to open the vent valve when the liquid level in the container falls below a predetermined level.

2. In apparatus of combination with a container having a unitary interior chamber space and constructed to hold liquid and gas under superatmospheric pressure; 7

- the atmosphere; a vent valve for controlling said conduit; and means for actuatin the vent valve comprising a well disposed within the container in open communication at its top with the interior space of the container and having an outlet aperture at its bottom, a valve device 'for the 7 outlet aperture having a part buoyant in liquid and sensitive to change of the liquid level in the container to maintain said aperture closed while the liquid-in the container is above a predetermined level adjacent the lower part of the well and to open said passage when the liquid in the container falls below that level, and an open drainable chambered body disposed in the well .and operatively connected with the ventvalve to JAMES L. HUDSON.

the character described, the v