US2315547A - Gas and oil burner - Google Patents

Description

April 6, 1943. J. M. RYAN GAS AND OIL BURNER Filed April 10, 1941 INVENTOR m amyam ea ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 6, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GAS AND 01L BURNER James M. Ryan, Pearsall, Tex.

Application April 10, 1941, Serial No. 387,347

1 Claim. (Cl. 158-75) This invention relates to gas and oil burners and more particularly to a structural combination for the burning, in the same apparatus, of either gas or oil, and, without absolute limitation thereto, an apparatus for the heating of steam boilers and other appliances or devices generally used in the natural gas and oil fields and alternatively burning such gas as there produced or such of the cheaper low grade and heavier fuel oils as may be locally available.

An object of the invention is to improve generally upon gas and oil burners of the character above noted.

Another object is to simplify the structure and yet increase the strength thereof so as to make it more durable and prolong the life thereof in the rough usage to which such devices are subjected.

A further object is to produce a structure in which the control of the supply of the different elements entering into the combustible mixtures is simplified and maximum emciency is attained in the operation of the apparatus.

Other objects and advantages to be attained will hereinafter more fully appear.

The invention consists in the novel general structure and in the particular parts and combinations and arrangements thereof, as hereinafter described and then defined in the appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawing illustrating a practical embodiment of the invention and in which- Figure l is a view of the apparatus, partially in top plan and partially in horizontal section;

Figure 2 is a section taken on the line 22 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Figure 1, but with the oil-lifting tubes removed from the manifold connector pipes.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the numeral l designates one each of a pair of main air conducting pipes which lead from a source of air supply under pressure, not shown, said pipes being cross-connected by auxiliary manifold pipes 2, said pipes I and 2 being in constant communication with each other through openings 3. The manifold pipes 2 are cross-connected at intervals throughout the length thereof by a plurality of additional manifold pipes 4, and, preferably as shown more clearly in Figure 3, constant communication is established between said pipes 2 and 4 by vertical nipples 5, said nipples being extended well up into the pipes 4 so that their upper ends terminate in a plane approximately at the axis of the pipes 4 and preferably a slight distance thereabove.

Extending upwardly from each of two adjacent pipes 4 are connector pipes B which are convergent and have their meeting end portions rigidly attached to and in communication with a ring member I which constitutes, in effect, a mixing and combustion chamber 8 which is open at its top. The structure thus far described being rigid, it is self-supportable when installed for use and it further constitutes a base frame for supporting the rest of the structure to be now described.

Supported from the mixing and combustion chamber ring members 7 and the connector pipes 6, of which there are several in the structure, is a gas or steam manifold pipe frame comprising parallel transverse pipe sections 9 which are welded or otherwise securely fastened to said elements 6 and 1 with a tight seal therebetween, said pipe sections 9 being rigidly attached at their opposite ends to and in constant communication with parallel side pipe sections H3, one of said pipe sections In having a supply pipe Ii connected thereto and provided with a conventional controlling valve or damper l2 and leading from a source of gas or steam supply, not shown. The main air supply pipes I are also provided with controlling valves or dampers 2 at convenient points in the length thereof, preferably in proximity to the first adjacent auxiliary manifold pipe 2 as shown in Figure l.

The respective gas or steam manifold pipes 9 are provided with jet nozzles l3 which are located axially at the bottoms of the respective mixing and combustion chambers 8, as shown more clearly in Figure 3 which illustrates the construction and arrangement of the parts when the apparatus is used only as a gas burner. In this connection, the operation of the apparatus will now be described.

At the outset, it is here noted that the apparatus of the present invention, for one particular use thereof, is designed for utilizing gas, more especially natural gas, in the combustible mixiure and under considerable pressure, that is to say, usually under a pressure of 150 to 750 pounds, which pressure may vary between the limits mentioned during the operation of the burner. For this reason, therefore, the respeciive manifold pipes which carry the gas and also the pipes carrying the air which is supplied at a proportionate pressure, are proportioned in ca pacity and valve-controlled in any approved and obvious manner (not shown) in addition to the provision of the hereinbefore described valve elements or dampers l2 and I2. Thus, the gas is discharged from the manifold pipes 9 in a jet through and upwardly from the restricted orifice of each nozzle l3 and oommingles with the convergent stream of air which is forced upwardly through the connector pipes 6 from the manifold pipes 4, thereby producing a combustible mixture in the chamber 8, which mixture is ignited and burns with a flame within or directly above the outlet opening of said chamber.

It is here further noted that in addition to providing for the control and regulation of the supply of gas and air to the several mixing and combustion chambers 8 in the manner just above stated, the several jet nozzles 13 may be made in different sizes, that is to say, with orifices of different capacities and fitted interchangeably to the respective outlet openings of the manifold pipes 9. So, too, in some instances where it is desired to change the heating capacity of an apparatus to a lesser degree than. that of the maximum capacity for which. the. apparatus is particularly designed, some of the jet nozzles l3 may be removed and the outlet openings of the manifold pipes 9 obviously plugged in place thereof, in which instances, also, the respective mixing and combustion chambers 8 where the jet nozzles are removed may be obviously capped or otherwise closed in any approved manner.

The same apparatus as hereinabove described may, with but slight modification or alteration thereof, be utilized for burning oil instead of gas, that is to say, it is only necessary to provide in either one or both of the two manifold connector pipes B which converge into each of the mixing and combustion chambers 8, lifter tubes I4 of restricted bore and smaller in outside diameter than the bore of the respective connector pipes S, the upper ends of each pair of said lifter tubes i4 being preferably mitered with a restricted space I therebetween, which space is alined above the orifice of the jet nozzle I3. The lower ends of said lifter tubes l4 terminate in proximity to the lower wall of the manifold pipes 4 and near the bottoms of said manifold pipes, as shown more clearly in Figure 2.

With the apparatus altered as just above described, oil is supplied to the air manifold pipes 4 in a body It to a level substantially in the plane of the axis of said pipes 4 (see Figure 2),, this body of oil in the pipes 4 being maintained from a source (not shown) through a manifold pipe I! having a supply pipe l8 connected. thereto and running from such source, and said pipe ll being located in a plane below said manifold pipes 4 and connected at intervals throughout its length to said pipes 4 by vertical connector pipes l9. In this connection, it is here noted that the level of the body of oil It in the air manifold pipes 4 must be maintained in a plane lower than that of the upper ends of the nipples 5 which afford the communicable connections between the auxiliary air manifold pipes 2 and said manifold pipes 4 which cross-connect said pipes 2.

In operation of the apparatus as modified and adapted for the burning of oil instead of gas. steam only is supplied under ample pressure to the manifold pipes 9 from the supply pipe H and the side pipe ll] of the manifold frame to which the supply pipe I i is connected, and, as the jets of steam from the respective nozzles 13 are directed upwardly through the restricted nozzles iii are directed upwardly through the restricted spaces [5 between the ends of the lifter tubes 14, oil is thereby drawn from the body thereof in the respective manifold pipes 4 upwardly through said lifter tubes and the oil so lifted is sprayed and commingled with the air which is brought into said manifold tubes 4 in the spaces above the body of oil therein and forced upwardly through the spaces in the manifold connector pipes 6 not occupied by the lifter tubes 14, the combustible mixture being thus created in the respective mixing and combustion chambers 8 and ignited as in the burning of gas as first herein described.

The combined gas and oil burning apparatus of the. present invention possesses not only the provisions for controlling the supply of constituent elements in the combustible mixture, whether it be in the burning of either gas or oil, and making for practicability in varying the heating capacity of the apparatus according to the utilitarian purposes for which. the apparatus is used, but the structure is further of such character that it is self-supportable in installation, that is to say, the necessity for providing a separate base or support therefor is obviated. So, too, the apparatus may be assembled at the place of use or it may be built into a boiler structure or other utility and transported therewith as an integral part thereof to the place of use.

While the apparatus as illustrated and herein described is a practical embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that considerable modification and alteration is permissible Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim. The invention, therefore, is not limited to the specific construction and arrangement shown.

What is claimed is:

A fuel burner, comprising a pair of spaced parallel hollow manifold pipes, means for supplying a liquid fuel thereto, convergent connector pipes attached at their lower ends to and in communication with the manifold pipes, a vertical hollow open-topped mixing and combustion chamber communicatin with the upper ends of the convergent connector pipes, lifter tubes of a bore smaller than that of the connector pipes arranged in the connector pipes with their upper ends terminating substantially at the center of the mixing and combustion chamber, a steam manifold arranged between and below the upper ends of the connector pipes, and steam jets communicating with the steam manifold and extending into the connector pipes and discharging steam between the ends of the lifter tubes.

JAMES M. RYAN.

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