US317423A

US317423A - Ments

Info

Publication number: US317423A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1885-05-05
Anticipated expiration: 1902-05-05

Description

L, b e e `kn. s S ...u e Dv h s 2 D.. P An. T S B R u d 0 M. o m

APPARATUS .FORV MANUFAGTURING GAS.

Patented May 5 1885.

T211 72.25. Sb/OP y (No Mmm.) 2 sheetssheen 2.

. R. B. STAP? APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS. N0. 317,423.- PatentedvMay 5, 1885,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT B. STAPP, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THE UNITED STATES CARBONOUS OXIDE GAS COMPANY, OF

SAME PLAGE.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,423, dated May 5, 1885.

Application led February 25, 1885. (N o model.)

To all whom it may concern,-

Be it known that I, ROBERT B. STAPP, of

' Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Improvem ent in Apparatus for Manufacturing Gas; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to the manufacture of illuminatinggas. The principal objects of my invention are to produce cheap illuminatinggas of excellent quality, to avoid the use of oxygen, whereby the gas is rendered explosive, and to provide an apparatus for producing this gas of simple and inexpensive construction, whereby small machines can be made for use in private families, and larger plants for public service, all of the'same construction.

AHeretofore gases have been made in many ways out of air, superheated steam, and the products of combustion combined with vapors of hydrocarbon taken up by these gases, the whole being converted into a iixed gas, and thereby rendered t for use or burned as a a vapor, either for heating or illumination.

My present invention consists of an improvedapparatus adapted to manufacture gas according to the process hereinafter described.

This apparatus I have shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents in section the generator and receiver and intermediate parts. Fig. 2 represents the generator detached and enlarged. Fig. 3 is a similar View of the pump and washer. Fig. 4 is a section of a modiiied form of generator.

In these drawings A represents a gas-generator. This gasgenerator consists of brick or iron containing-walls with a suitable covering and with a flue for the escape of the smoke. Within this wall is an iron casting, preferably cylindrical, forming the ash-pit, (indicated at 2.) Above this is a ilaring repot, 3, and between the two is an ordinary grate, 4. On the top of the iiie-pot-3 is supported a beveled ring, 5, the lower edge of which dips down into the cone ofthe firepct, an annular space being left between the ring and the upper edge of the tire-pot. The ring supports a series of vertical iron retorts, 9, arranged around near the walls of the furnace. lhe ring forms a partition, substantially air-tight, between the upper part of the furnace, in which the retorts are located, and the lower annular space, 7, between the outer walls and the casting 2, excepting the inner annular space between the outer edge of the fire-pot and the inner bevel-edge of the ring 5. Suitable provision is made for the introduction ot' air into the ash-pit within the casting 2. Vertical retorts in the chamber above the fire-pot are supported on the ring, and are connected alternately at top and bottom by short transverse pipes l0, and on one side the oil-pipe 11 is connected to the bottom of one of the retorts. A passage on the other side (marked 12) is provided from the bottom of the retort, connecting it with a three-way cock, B. The pipe 8 connects the annular chamber? also with the three-way cock. The pipe .11 leads to an elevated tank containing a light hydro-carbon, preferably of 1100. Within the retort 9 is placed coke or other suitable material adapted to be raised to a suicient degree of heat without decomposition to convert the hydrocarbon vapor into a gas. G represents a tar-trap adapted to contain water, and a pipe, 20, leads from the three-way cock B into the Lipper part of this trap, 'and extends down to near the bottom. The exit-pipe 21 enters the bottom of the trap and extends upward near the cover. This pipe extends to the pump and washer D, entering the bottom and passing up to or near the top of the tank, then bending over and extending down near to the bottom. The outer tank or case of the pump and washer is shown at 22. It is adapted to contain water, and is opened at the top. An inverted vessel, 23, iittedinto this tank 22, is caused to reciprocate vertically by means of a pitinan and guiding-rod connecting it to the driving wheel or crank. An open pipe, 24, extends from near the top of the tank down through the bottom and into the oil-trap E, which is similar to the tartrap. It is provided with a pipe, 25, extending down into a waterltank, into which extends also the drippipe 26. From the drip-water tank the waterpipe leads up into the holder F, which is of ordinary construction.

Instead of having the retorts in a vertical position, I mayhave them inclined, as shown in Fig. 4, in which corresponding parts are IOO through the pipe ll into these retorts.

the heat of the retorts itis converted into gas, 4

indicated by the same letters and figures. In this case the retorts 9 are made to extend through the walls of the furnace and to project on the outside thereof, and are provided with plugs. They are connected in the manner above described by the pipes 10, and have also the pipe-connections 11 and 12, the pipe S in this case extending into the furnace above the grate.

In operating the machine the re pot 3 is filled with coal and a suitable amount of air is permitted to iiowinto the ash-pit. The pump, which is nearly filled with water, is then operated, the three-way cock being turned in the position shown in Fig. l to open connection between the annular space 7 and the tar-trap. The operation of the pump creates a vacuum in the inlet-pipe and tar-trap and causes the air to be drawn from the space 7. By air passing through the coal in the fire pot carbonicoxide gas is generated, which is drawn and forced by the pump through traps into the holder. This operation is carried on as may be deemed advisable, and then the pump is stopped and the three-way cock is turned to shut off the pipe 8 and bring the pipe l2 in connection with the tar-trap. In the meantime the retorts have become heated and oil is passed Under and its own pressure forces it forward through the pump D (which now becomes a washer) and into the holder, where it mingleswith the carbonic-oxide gaspreviouslyintroduced. vBy this mixing the carbonio-oxide gas, which is nearly colorless when burning, is made an illuminating-gas. The operation can be repeated at intervals which may be found necessary or advisable, the retortsbeing heated during the production of the carbonio-oxide gas and the heat exhausted in the conversion of the hydrocarbon oil into gas. The proportion or mixture of the two gases may be varied at will by vary- K ing the relative length of operation of the two processes.

It will be apparent that the dimensions of the apparatus may be varied. without affecting the operation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The hereinbefore-describe-d apparatus, consisting of a closed chamber provided with a suitable flue and lire-pot, a partition at or near the top of the tire-pot dividing the said chamber into an upper and lower part, and provided with au opening from the upper to the lower chamber, openings into the ash-pit to admit air to the grate below the firepot, retorts in the upper chamber.l an oil-supply pipe connected with said retorts, and suitable pipes leading from the upper and lower chambers to a pipe connecting with suitable apparatus for purifying, moving, and receiving the gases, substantially as described.

2. In the described apparatus provided with a furnace and retorts, substantially as described, the combination of two chambers, one adapted to the generation of canbonic-oxide gas from the fuel, and the other to the generation of gas from hydrocarbon oil by means of the heat from the fuel, pipes leading from the two generating-chambers to a three-way cock, a pipe leading from the three-way cock to a pump consisting of an outer fixed and an inner movable part, and a pipe leading from the pump to a suitable receiver, all substantially as described.

3. In the described apparatus provided with a furnace and retorts, substantially as described, the combination of two chambers, one adapted to the generation of carbonio-oxide gas from the fuel, the other to the generation' of gas from hydrocarbon oil by means of the heat from the fuel, pipes leading from the two generating-chambers to a threeway cock, a pipe leading from the three-way cock to a pump consisting of an outer iixcd and inner movable part, a pipe leading from the pump to a receiver, and suitable washing apparatus, all substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

fitnessesz ROBERT B. STAPI.

R. E. WArsoN, HENRY A. Davis.