US687709A - Production of caustic alkali and halogen gas. - Google Patents

Description

No. 687,709. Patented Dec. 3, "DUI.

C. E. ACKEB.

PRODUCTION OF CAUSTIC ALKAL! AND HALOGEN GAS.

(Application filed July 18, 1899.)

(No Model.)

WITNESSES IN VE N 70/? W a mwmw 1 [5A TTOBNEY m YHE nonrns wsrzns co morournou WASHINGTON. u c

Nirnn Erarns CHARLES ERNEST ACKER, OF

THE ACKER PROCESS COMPANY,

CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PRODUCTlON OF CAUSTIC ALKALI ATET rrrcn.

NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEW? YORK, A

AND HALOGEN GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part 72%226. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatLCHARLES ERNEST ACKER, of Niagara Falls, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Production of Caustic Alkali and Halogen Gas, of which the following is a specification.

The object of myinvention is to economize in the production of practically anhydrous 1o caustic alkali and halogen gas.

My invention consists in a novel process and also in an improved apparatus for the purpose.

The accompanying drawingis a longitudinal vertical section of an apparatus for the manufacture of caustic alkali in accordance with my improvement.

A designates an electrolytic furnace, which 7 may be of any suitable form. As here shown,

it has walls a, which may be made of basic material-as, for example, magnesia. These walls rest upon a hearth ct, which may be of iron or steel. The furnace is closed by a cover a which may be made of fire-clay. This cover rests upon the walls a. In the cover are openings a through which pass anodes B, preferably made of carbon, the openings a being, as here shown, considerably larger in diameter than the anodes. Preferably these open- 0 ings will be closed around the anodes by auxiliary covers a preferably made of two parts in the form of half-rings. Above the cover a and in the masonry a of the furnace a recess a is formed, and in this is a body of salt C.

Below the hearth a and communicating with the interior of the furnace A near one of the end Walls of the latter is a conduit D. Preferably this will be cast integral with the hearth a. It extends to the lower portion of a chamber E, and the latter may be a portion of a single casting comprising the conduit and the hearth. A removable cover e closes the top of the chamber E, tends down to such cover. A pipe H leads from the bottom of thechamber E and is provided with any suitable device for controlling the fiow of its contents from it. As here shown, a removable cap his employed for this and the recess a ex-' purpose. This pipe may form the negative terminalof the furnace.

From the hearth a is an extension a' forming the bottom of the chamber E. Itwill be seen that the chamber E extends down lower than the furnace A. A conduit F-establishes communication between the lower ends of these parts.

Below the chamber E is a well E, with which communicates that end of the conduitD which is not in communication with the furnace A. It will be observed that this well E is lower than the conduit D.

From the upper portion of the chamber E l a pipe 1 extends. As shown, it is approximately horizontal, but preferably will have a slight declinetoward its outer end. The pipe I may advantageously be connected with an orifice 0, formed in the upright wall of the chamber E in such a manner as to be lower at the inner surface of the wall than at the outer surface. Caustic alkali collected in the chamberE is intended to escape through the pipe I, and by the construction of the orifice O the latter forms a seal to prevent the escape of hydrogen,-which will rise to the top of said chamber.

A removable cap 1 may close the outer extremity of the pipe I to facilitate removal of obstructions. A branch pipe 1 extends from the pipe I into a drum U.

. Q designates a conduit of tubular form open at both ends and arranged vertically within the chamber E and well E at such a height as to be out of contact with the bottom of the well E and also out of contact with the top or cover of the chamber E. As here shown, this conduit is provided with a circumferential rib that rests upon the bottom of the chamber E.

R designates a circulator, here shown as made in the form of a screw or worm and arranged in the lower portion of the conduit Q. It is fixed to a shaft R, and the latter is provided with a step-bearing r upon the top of a tube r which is shown as screwed into the cover 2 of the chamber E. Any suitable means may be employed for rotating the shaft R for the purpose of actuating the circulator. shaft R tor to produce conduit Q.

an upward circulation in the G G designate steam-pipes provided with controlling cocks wardly through the g and extending downcoverofthechamberEand The steam-pipe G is shown as extending in an approximately the conduit Q, so that steam issuing therefrom will not have an important,if any,efI"ect in promoting circulation through the conduit Q.

The steam-pipe G is, however, caused to enter the conduit Q at an upward incline, so that the steam emitted from it will contribute to cause an upward ci duit Q.

Lead in a molten state may be introduced through one of the openings a in the cover of the main furnace A, through which the anodes B pass, and in quantities sufficientto fill the conduit D and cover the hearth a. One of the anodes will of course temporarily removed for this purpose. mediately afterward the example, sodium chlorid-may be introduced in a molten state. will be replaced turned on.

Through the conduit ber E caustic soda, impoverished alloy, and hydrogen. In the chamber E a separation will occur. return by the conduit F to the mai Where it will again act as a cathod up sodium.

Hydrogen passes from the chamber E through a K, whence it ascends to which also'leads an air-pipe K, the latter being controlled by a valve 70 terminating within the chamber is in a nozzle E The mixture of gases burns in the auxiliary furnace L, into which the salt which is to be decomposed in the main furnace A is fed through and the full n furnace, e and take pipe V into a pipe with its removable The direction of the rotation of the is to be such as to cause the circulahorizontal direction into rculation through the conhave to be salt employed-for Then the removed anode current Q flow-to the cham- Impoverished alloy or lead will the upper portion of a chamber 715, into be at any Ohlorin it P and portion of the main furnace A.

The contents of the well E may time removed through the pipe H. gas will escape through the condu pipe p.

The contents of the furnace A are to be maintained molten and fluid. he temperature necessary to secure this condition will preferably be maintained by a suitable electric-current density on the anode or anodes and cathode with a higher electromotive force than would ordinarily be required to decompose the molten salt.

It will be seen that there will be a circula tion continuously in the same direction through an endless circuit comprising two branches being the the electrolyte, and the other the conduit D and its connections; also, that steam is introduced into the circulation, so that alkali metal will be oxidized during transit and also that such circuit or circulation is past one or more anodes.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In the manufacture of fused caustic alkali the process which consists in electrolytically decomposing a molten salt of alkali metal while resting on a body of molten lead constituting a cathode, and thereby forming an alloy of lead and the alkali metal, circulating the molten body of cathode metal and alloy past an anode or anodes toward another molten body of lead or oflead and alloy, introducing steam into the last-named molten body below its surface, and regulating the circulation bymeansindependentof the steam.

I have signed my I name to this specification twosubscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES ERNEST ACKER.

lVitnesses:

W. LAIRD GOLDSBOROUGH, GEORGE HENRY RAYMOND.

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