US837604A - Hydrocarbon generator and burner. - Google Patents

Description

"No. 837,604. PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906.

T. BULL. HYDROGARBON GENERATOR AND BURNER. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 28, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Witnessea- I t I %ma w 4%? No. 837,604. PAIENTBD DEC. 4, 1906.

Q T. BULL. HYDROGARBON GENERATOR AND BURNER.

7 APPLICATION FILED JUNE 28, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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HYDROCARBON GENERATOR AND BURNER- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 4, 1906.

Application filed June 28, 1905. Serial No. 267,355.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS BULL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Santa Clara, in the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented new and useful Im provements in Hydrocarbon Generators and Burners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to oil-burners, and especially to burners for use in ordinary stoves, grates, and the like. Its object is to provide a safe, simple, cheap, and practical burner for crude or low-gravity oils which can be applied easily to any ordinary stove and which will not clog up or carbonize, but which will effect as near a perfect combustion as can be obtained in devices of this character.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation, in partial section, of a generator applied to a firebox of an ordinary cooking-stove. Fig. 2 is a side elevation and partial section of same. Figs. 3 and 4: are modifications and similar views as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

A represents the fire-box or combustion chamber of an ordinary stove provided with a bottom plate 2 and inclosed on all sides, except for the usual draft-passage 3 over the top of the oven.

In the preferred form of the invention, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the generator and burner are combined in a single solid casting having the two vertical air-trunks 4, the intermediate horizontal generator 5, and the downwardly-pro ecting and forwardly-curved vapor discharge or nozzle 6. This casting is set into the stove with the trunks inclined back toward the top of the fire-box. so that when the vapor issuing from nozzle 6 is ignited the flames will be swept by the draft back against and up over the generator to envelop the latter and heat it to a high degree of temperature.

The air-trunks have flanges 7, which support the device on the bottom plate 2 and allow it to be bolted thereto. The trunks project through and below the bottom plate and are open to the atmosphere outside the firebox. WVhen the burner is in operation, the air thus drawn in passes into the generator 5 to be commingled with the vaporized oil and water which is admitted as a liquid mixture through the pipe 8 at the back of the generator. The thoroughly-mixed and heated vapors and air are discharged from the nozzle toward the front of the fire-box and are readily ignited.

An important feature of this form of the invention is that the oil and water are mixed together before being admitted to the generator, while in the modified form (shown .in Figs. 3, 4 and hereinafter described) the oil and water are admitted separately to the generator.

Pipe 8 connects with any suitable source of oil-supply. Entering pipe 8 exterior to the generator and here shown exterior to the fire-box is a water-pipe 9. If desired, a second pipe 10 may tap pipe 8 and connect with a tank containing high-grade oil or distillate, to be used'only when a fire is first started and for the purpose of quickly heating up the burner, thereby avoiding the necessity of pouring some coal-oil into a pan in the stove or placing therein a rag saturated with oilor resorting to some such crude arrangement to light the fire.

Suitable valves 11 12 13 control the flow from the several sources of liquid-supply through the respective pipes 8 9 10.

The oil and water being admitted together in suitable proportions and quantity tend to flow down the curved spout 6, which is flat tened on the back and bottom, as shown at 14, so as to spread the liquid and permit it to be the more readily vaporized when the burner and generator become heated.

I have discovered that if the oil and water are admitted in a mixed condition into the generator and while both are in liquid state the inlet-pipe is thus kept clean and has little or no tendency to become incrusted with lime deposits from the water or with the baked oil residuum.

The lower inner side of the nozzle 6 has a broad flat plate extension or lip 15 projecting beyond its front open end, which serves when the oil is first turned in and the stove is cold to spread the oil and assist in its becoming quickly ignited. It also serves, which is important to note, to confine the gases after the generator is in full blast and by keeping them from spreading too much help to get a more solid flame. If the gas spreads out too much,

If deit is liable to make too thin a flame.

sired, the plate or lip 15 may be provided with the shallow lateral flanges or walls 16 and may be corrugated on its upper surface.

16 is a metal box or casing set into and fitting the fire-box snug and surrounding the burner. This box is here shown as open at the bottom and resting on plate 2, and partly open at the top, having a shallow front" wall extending about to or a little above the upper edge of the open mouth of the nozzle 6 said box having a back extending above the burner and provided with a horizontal ledge or shelf 17, projecting frontward and above and just a little beyond the generator. Obviously the box and the bottom plate 2 could be made integral, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

The essential feature about the box is the cover portion or extension 17, which causes all the flame after striking beneath the generator to pass around to the front and up over the generator, and so subject it to all the heat possible. Furthermore, I have found that the shelf serves to intercept and retain the unconsumed particles of carbon from the oil and vapor and prevent their being lost up the chimney. By means of some such a deflector and arrester as the shelf 17 the operator can tell by noting any accumulations of carbon under the shelf whether the proportions of oil and water are properly regulated. Where oil-burners are used for domestic'pur oses, it is ofted noted what a quantity of blac smoke pours from the chimney. This indicates not only imperfect combustion but a waste of oil and a consequent clogging of the flues in the stove and chimney.

Whatever solid combustible matter is lodged in the space beneath the shelf is consumed when the parts become highly heated. The operation of the burner is as follows: Assuming the burner and stoveto be cold, a small quantity of distillate is admitted from pipe 10 into the generator through pipe 8, the valves in pipes 9 and 8 remaining closed for the time being. The oil thus admitted flows down the nozzle and is ignited as it passes over the lip 15. The burner becomes quickly heated up and the valve in pipe 8 is gradually opened. When the generator has gotten hot enough to cause the heavier oil (whichmay be as low gravity as 14 Baum) to ignite, the valve in pipe 10 may be closed and the valve in the water-pipe 9 gradually opened. The mixed oil and water flows down and spreads over the flat surface 14 of the generator -to become both commingled in a vapor which mixes with the air induced through the trunks 4 to form aninflammable gas. The volume of vapor issuing from the nozzle is ignited, and when once the proper proportions of water and oil are adjusted a clean smokeless flame sweeps back under and over the front of the generator. It is the mingling of the air, oil, and water within the generator and the forming of the gas therein,

the direction of the flames downward to the front of the fire-box, and the disposition of the generator at the back and above and in the immediate path of all the flames that form the important features of this invention. The generator gets the full benefit of all the heat, and as long as the generator is maintained hot enough to make gas the fire will be kept up. The result is that this burner I rate oil-feed pipe 8 is passed up through one air-flue section 4 and discharges into the generator-section 5, while a water-pipe 9 passes up through the other flue and discharges into the other end of the generator. The upper ends of the pipes 8 9 terminate in return-bends 8 9, and cooks 11 12 control the flow through said pipes. The generator-section 5 consists of a T with nipples 18, connecting the ends of the T with elbows 19, into which fits the sections 4. An elbow 6 connects with the T and forms a discharge-nozzle directed downward to the front and near the bottom of the fire-box. This elbow-section 6 is preferably of special design, with a flat curved back and bottom 14 and a lip 15, similar to the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2 and previously described. The air-trunk sections 4 preferably screw up into the elbows 19 in such a way as to leave a suitable wall 20 at each end of the gener-- ator, over which the return-bends 8 9 may hook and be supported. At the same time these walls prevent any backflow into the pipes 4 of the liquid or liquids discharged from pipes 8 9. The air-pipes 4 extend below the fire-box and terminate in the ashchambers 21, their lower ends being open to the atmosphere and preferably flared to permit of a large intake of air.

The generator and burner arearranged in the fire-box and operate in all essential particulars just like the device of Figs. 1 and 2. The bottom plate 2 and the box 16 are here shown as integral.

It is possible that various modifications in my invention may be made without departing from the principle thereof, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the specific construction as herein shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An apparatus for burning liquid hydro- IIS carbon, comprising a tubular structure having approximately vertical air-trunks and an intermediate horizontal generator portion, said generator portion provided with a clown- Wardlyextending forwardlycurved contracted throat portion forming a vapor-outlet, and means for delivering oil and water directly into the generator at a point between the air-inlets and said vapor-outlet, whereby the generated vapor and the air combine in the chamber before discharging therefrom.

2. The combination with a combustionchamber, of a generator comprising a tubular structure having a horizontal generator portion and air-trunks at the ends of said portion extending below the combustion-chamber and open to the atmosphere, said generator having a downwardly-extending vaporoutlet within the combustion-chamber and directed toward the front of the latter, means for delivering oil and water directly into the generator-chamber, whereby the generated vapor and the air combine in the chamber before discharging into the combustionchamber, and a hood or casing at the back and extending over the top of the generator and operating to arrest the unconsumed particles of combustion and to direct the flames around the front of the generator.

3. A generator for liquid hydrocarbon, comprising a tubular structure having end air-trunks open to the atmosphere and an intermediate horizontal generator portion connected with and in continuation of said airtrunks, said generator portion having a downwardly and forwardly extending vapor-discharge nozzle said nozzle being of curved form and decreasing in diameter toward its outlet, and a liquid-fuel pipe discharging directly into the generator between said airtrunks and the outlet of said nozzle, said nozzle having a projecting lip on its under side.

4. A generator for liquid hydrocarbon, comprising a tubular structure having end air-trunks open to the atmosphere and an intermediate horizontal generator portion connected with and in continuation of said airtrunks, said generator portion having a downwardly and forwardly extending vapor-dis charge nozzle and a liquid-fuel pipe discharging directly into the generator between said air-trunks and the outlet of said nozzle, said nozzle having a flattened back and bottom whereby the liquid fuel has a chance to spread in the nozzle, said nozzle having a projecting lip on its under side and in continuation of said flattened bottom portion.

5. A burner for hydrocarbon comprising a tubular structure having vertical end portions and an intermediate horizontal portion, said end portions open to permit the free entry of air and said intermediate portion having a centrally-located downwardly-extending and forwardly-curved outlet, and oil and water pipes entering the horizontal portion of the tubular structure and discharging therein one at one side of the said outlet-and the other at the opposite side thereof.

6. A hydrocarbon-burner comprising interchangeable pipe sections and connections, said sections including portions open for the free admission of air and a horizontal section connecting the sections and provided with a centrally-located downwardly-extending and forwardly-curved vapor-outlet, means for heating the horizontal portion of the structure by the vapor escaping from the outlet thereof, and means for delivering a vaporizable fluid upon the wall of the horizontal portion at the side of the outlet whereby vapor is generated in said horizontal portion and mixes with the air therein prior to delivery from said portion, said outlet being contracted at the delivery end.

7 A generator for liquid hydrocarbon consisting of horizontally-arranged interchangeable pipe sections and connections open at the ends with downwardly-extending sections inclosing air-flues, said generator having a downwardly-extending vapor-outlet intermediate of said flues, said outlet curving forwardly toward the front of the combustion-chamber, and an oil-pipe discharging into the generator on one side of the vaporoutlet and a water-pipe discharging into the generator on the other side of the vaporoutlet.

8. A generator for liquid hydrocarbon consisting of horizontally-arranged interchangeable pipe sections and connections open at the ends with downwardly-extending sections inclosing air-flues, said generator having a downwardly-extending curved vaporoutlet intermediate of said flues, an oil-pipe discharging into the generator on one side of the vapor-outlet and a water-pipe discharging into the generator on the other side of the vapor-outlet, said oil and water pipes passing up through the said air-flues, and means to 1plrevent the backflow of the fluid into the airues.

9. Thecombination with a combustionchamber, of an oil-burner comprising airtrunks connected across their upper ends to provide a generator-space, the generatorspace in said connections between said trunks having a downwardly-extending and forwardlycurved vapor-outlet adapted to project the flame toward the front of the combustion-chamber, an oil-feed pipe discharging into the-generator on one side of the vapor-outlet and a water-feed pipe discharging thereinto on the other side of said outlet.

10. The combination with a combustionchamber of a generator located therein having downwardly-extending portions at its ends passing beyond the combustion-chamber and inclosing air-passages, said generator having'a downwardly-extending and curved my hand in presence of two subscribing Witvapor-outlet Within the combustion-chamnesses.

ber and directed toward the front of the latter, and respective oil and Water pipes passing THOMAS BULL 5- up through the end extensions of the genera- Witnesses:

tor and discharging into the latter. CHAS. A. BUL In testimony whereof I have hereunto set EMMA LYNAM.

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