US249221A - Apparatus for reducing ores - Google Patents

Description

(No ModelJ V hem-sheen 1.

J. BUJAG.

APPARATUS FOR REDUCING ORES. No. 249.221. Patented Nov. 8,1881.

N. PETERS. PholuLiihognpher. Wnhington. 0.6.

I M el-) 4 Sheets--Sheet 2. J. BUJAG. APPARATUS FOR REDUGINGAORES. No. 249,221. Patented Nov. 8,1881.

N PETERS, Phnin ulhngnphlr. Wafllinglnn. D. C.

(No Model.) I 4 Sheets-Sheet s. 8

'J; BUJAC.

APPARATUS FOR REDUOING ORE'S. No 249,221. 8 Patented Nov. 8,1881,

(No Model.) Agnew-sheet 4.

J. BUJAO. A APPARATUS FOR REDUCING 01138.

Patented Nov. 8, 1881.

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ETERS. Pholv-hthogmphar. Wnhingiflm D, C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES BUJAC, OF CATONSVILLE, :MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM W. EATON, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

APPARATUS FOR REDUCING ORES.

SPECIFIQATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 249,221, dated NovemberS, 1881 Application filed February 21, 1881. (No model.)

To all uihom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES BUJAG, a citizen of the United States, residing atUatonsville,

in the county of Baltimoreand State of Mary land, have invented Improvements in Apparatus for Reducing Ores.

In Letters Patent No. 234,170, granted 9th November, 1880, to myself and William W. Eaton, assignee in part, I have described an ore furnace and 'reducer consisting of one or more hydrocarbon-retorts and a closed ore-cylinder with suitable valves, connections, doors, and heating appliances, so that ore placed in the cylinder may be kept from atmospheric contact and heated'toa high temperature, and hydrocarbon gases evolved within the retort or retorts may be taken in their nascent state directly into the said ore-cylinder and passed through the same for the purpose of reducing theyores contained therein. I have, however, found that, except with the most skillful manipulationiand under favorable atmospheric conditions, the hydrocarbon gases produced and applied as above set forth sometimes fail of their full effect or are only partially efficient in the reduction of ores byreason of their having been imperfectly evolved or having undergone some deleterious change in passing from the retort to the ore cylinder or from other causes. 1

The subject of my present invention is an apparatus which is so far automatic in its operation as to obviate the necessity for very greatskill in its manipulation, and effects a thorough and complete deoxidationand reduction of ores-on the same general principles as the apparatus described in the patent above referred to.

Myimproved apparatus consists, essentially, of one or more retorts for the distillation of hydrocarbons, a digester consisting of an oven or heated chamber containing carbon, through Whichthe gases areconducted from the retort or retorts, a superheater consisting of a furnace, and one or more coils or pipes through which the gases are then conducted, and a closed cylinder adapted to contain ore and exclude the atmosphere, and valve-guarded connections by means of which a continuous current of the digested and. superheated hydrocarbon gases may be passed through the closed cylinder and the contained ore.

In order that my improved apparatus may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe it with reference'to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front view of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a front View of the superheater with the doors open. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the supcrheater. Fig.4 is a vertical longitudinal section of the ore-cylinder and its furnace.

In Fig. 1, A A A represent a bank or set of retorts, which may beof usual construction, fitted with suitable doors and heated by a furnace, B.

C C are branch pipes leading from the retorts A to a common conducting-pipe,D,which is furnished with a cock,E,and communicates with the digesting-chamber F, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, which is itself in the form of a retort, and has connected with it a pipe, G, formed, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, with a large number of convolutions or coils, so disposed as to produce flues H H H at bottom, front, and top, so as to cause the products of combustion from the furnace I, by which the digester F and superheating-coil G are heated,to pass back and forth in contact with the said coil on their way to the discharge-stack J. From the end of the coil the pipe is extended outward, as shown at or construction is shown in the present illus-' tration, in which M represents a central'flue extending through the cylinder; N, a hopper communicating with the rear end of the cylinder by a vertical pipe, P, and closed by a cover, Q; R, an annular door adapted to close the front of the annular ore-space of the cylinder, while permitting the passage of the products of combustion, as indicated by the arrows; and S, an external bonnet, which covers the anmr lar doors R and connects the flue M with the upper flue, T, from which latter the products of combustion pass to the discharge-stack U,

I as shown.

V represents a pipe for conducting the gases from the interior of the ore-cylinder downward into a tank, W, which contains water at a sufficient height to maintain the required pressure of gas within the cylinder, and is provided with an exit-pipe, X, and cocks Y Y Y at differentheights,forregulatingthcheightot'water in the said tank.

In operation, the cylinder K is charged with ore through the hopper N, the pipe 1? is closed by the doors R and Q, and, together with its contained ore, thoroughly heated by its furnace L, The retorts A are charged with any suitable hydrocarbon material, which is distilled therein, and the resulting gas is conveyed off through the pipes G G and D into the digester, which latter has been charged with cokeor other carbon, and is heated toreduess by the furnace I. The effect of this is to'completely evolve the hydrogen and carbon from any aqueous or solid particles carried over from the retorts, the oxygen being seized by the incandescent carbon in the digester and the hydrogen set free. The pure and nascent hydrocarbon gases are then conducted from the digester through the convoluted pipes G G, where they are heated to a still greater degree, and, being now fully evolved and heated, and thus in their most effective condition, they are delivered, through the pipe G, into one end of the orecylinder K, so as to pass completely through and in intimate contact with the heated ore therein, after which it is conducted out through the submerged discharge-pipe V, tank W, and exit-pipe X. A continuous current of the nascent and thoroughly evolved and heated gas is thus passed through the heated ore in the closed cylinder, the passage of the gases being properly graduated by the cooks, and the pressure within the ore-cylinder regulated by the height of water in the tank W, as already explained. The pressure from the generator AB and the gases evolved from the ore in ust always exceed that in the discharge-tank-W, so that a constant current of gas will be maintained.

By means of this combined apparatus I am enabled to effect an entire and complete reduction of ores without the use of crushers or stamps, and the apparatus is so nearly automatic in its operation that it does not require the care of a highly-skilled operator, but may be successfully used and manipulated by any person of ordinary intelligence.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

The combination of the hydrocarbon retort or retorts, superheater G, digester F, and closed cylinder K, as and for the purposes set forth. I

JAMES BUJAC.

Witnesses ALFRED BUJAC, OcTAVIUs KNIGHT.

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