US883531A - Process of generating hydrogen. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED MAR. 31., 1.908. H. FOBRSTBBLING & H. PHILIPP. PROCESS OF GENERATING HYDROGEN.

APPLICATION TILED A151}. 16, 190'! b Lin wows UN TED sT-MEs THE ROESSLE for NEW YORK.

(a l F f No. 883,531. I

= a n fulProcess of Generatin Hydrogen, of which i the followingisa s eci cation. r H A 10. .Our'invention re ates to anew process of degenerating hydrogen from alkali metals and atsprincipal objects areto. provide vmeans whereby hydrogen may be quickly and acheaply. generated and wherein. the sub stances used andthe means for practicing the lam-process ma be readily transportable and movable; uoh processhas long been desired ,es ecially for ballooning purposes wherein the ,{a vantagesset forth are obvious. 2o 1, It'is wellknown hat hydrogen can be ob- ,tained by the reaction of water on alkali :;;;metals, but on account of the violent reaction which takes place when water reacts with the alkali metal as such process has heretoforebeen practiced, this reaction has not been'made use of in a commercial man ner. The hydrogen produced at the present time is mostly generated from water by elec-' trol sis, or from a metalin reaction with an 80 aci as for instance zinc and sulfuric acid, or

from calcium hydrid and water.

The electrolysis requires an electrol tic plant, which is not easily movable. he method of obtaining'hydrpgen from a metal and an acid, as for instance zinc and sulfuric acid, the disadvantage of bein a slow I one ,and besides the acidls noteasi y trans-' ported. Thehydrogen generated from calcium hydrid is very expensive on account of 40 the eostl raw material. Besides, ,the calcium hy rate formed'by'the reaction 'of water is a bulky material.

1 Knowing the explosive reaction between alkali metaland hydrogen, we prepared at first difierent alloys containin ,an. alkali metal and another metal. The a loys of lead and} sodium especially offered a means of gfinerating hydrogen quickl The water t e roportion of alkali meta in the alloy the quic 'er hydrogen is generated. An alloy containing 40% of sodium and 60% ,of leadgenerates 2.6 cubic feet of hydrogen per a ound of alloy. But such alloys have the' .[disadvantage that a dead weight has to be Specification of 1907. Serial mi. sasau'.

PATENT OFFICE;

, Hans FOERSTERLING AND HERBERT PHILIPP, or rnn'rn AMBOY, NEW JERSEY,-A,SSIGNQR$. n & HASSLACHER ,cnnmoan 00., on NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION rnocasslor onnnna'rme mrnnoenn.

Letters Patent. I Patented March 3 1,

.tionof drogen, and this feature is Objectiona'ble or ballooning purposes. We tried next. to react alkali metal with a strong sol u-' tion of caustic. Here the generationof hydrogen can be regulated provided the caustic solution can be cooled, butthe cooli ofthe caustic solution makes this methods. so undesirable. We then discovered an extremel simple method whereby water and alka metal can be used. We puta piece. of. so-' dium in aclosed vessel and letwaterruninto the vessel at the same rate that the hydrogen a. was generated. In other words, we never" worked with a surplus of water, so that no solution was formed. After the reaction we opened the vessel and found acake of solid caustic. The advantage this method has will be readil understood. Only, one mate-. rial, the alkai metal, need be carried along, water being almost universally present. Furthermore a large yield of hydrogen is ob tained,jone poun of sodium, for example, generatin over eight cubicfeet of hydrogen. We sha 1 describe, in connection withthe accompanying drawings, a very simple illustrative apparatus of one Way of practicing. our process.

In the drawings F igure, 1 is an elevation, artially in section of said apparatusand ig. 2 1s a cross-sectionalview of the container ortion of Fig. 1 along the line 2- -2.

Siml ar letters indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

21.. represents a drum or container for the alkali metal and is preferably that in which the alkali metal is s ip ed from the factory, the container cover, in icated at b by dotted lines, bein removed and replaced by another cover c a apted to make air ti htclosure with the container and equippe as hereinafter described. The rum or container at is preferably proyidedwith vertically arranged partitions separating the contents of. the container so that a reaction in one division of the container will not affect the alkalii ,0 metal in any other division. 3

0 represents a tank of' any convenient shape, suitably su ported above .the container a, and rovi ed with a gage f, an inlet port g for filing the tank with water and adapted to be made air tight, an outlet pipe h connecting the tank and the container and an outlet pi e 4; controlled by a valvej for the purpose ereinafter set forth. 1

55 carried'iwhich is unavailable for the genera Outlet pipe h is adapted to be I passed 11" through a suitable stufhng box in cover a and is provided at its lower end with a sprinkler section is,

lis a valve controlling pipe 72; m is a stuffing box within which the lower part of pipe h is adapted to turn and n is a gear in mesh with gear 0 on shaft 39, actuated by any suitable means (not shown) and adapted to give a rotary mp-vement to the lower part of pipe h carrying sprinkler k over each division of the container at any predetermined rate of speed. i

ris a pipe passing through cover 0 and connecting container a and tank e into which latter the pipe projects so that its outlet shall be below the surface of the water in the tank. 8 is a check valve vto prevent the water from fiowing'back from the tank when the water is under pressure. f

-The operation is follows: The container at being filled with sodium metal and tank e being filled nearly to its capacity witlrwater,

and valve opened, valve is opened very.

slightly. Pipe h is then slowly rotated by the means disclosed causing sprinkler t: to travel slowly over the various divisions of con tainer a, thereby allowing the small quantity of water coming in contact with the sodium metal-in any one division to complete its reaction before a further quantity of Water comes into contact therewith. In this manner a steady and quick generation .of hydrogen is effected. The hydrogen passes through pipe rlnto tank 6 where it is washed and cooled by being passed through the water in the tank and then passes out to any suitable receptacle through pipe 'i. During the first part of the operation the water supply should be slow so as to permit the air to be driven out the ap aratus, but as soon as this has been accomp i'shed the amount of water su plied regulated according, to the size of the container always provided that not more water is supplied than sufficient to cause a reaction with the alkali metal in proportion to the generation of hydrogen and to form substantially no solution. in tank-e is to be replenished from time to time as may be seen necessary from the reading of the gage.

It is obvious that other means than those illustrated may be utilized in practicing our process without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Whatwe claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A pr cess of generating hydrogen from sodium consisting in reacting the sodium with water in a finely divided state at such a rate that substantially no solution is formed.

2. A process of gm'ierating hydrogen from sodium consisting in serially reacting relatively small masses of sodium separated The water from each other in'tbe same container, with 1 water at such a rate that substantially no solution is formed, the reactions being such that the supply of hydrogen is continuous. in testimony whereof we have hereunto signed our ames in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HANS FOERSTERLING. H ERBERT PHI LIPP.

Wi tncsses a L. M. Ross], Fm'rz HOYLER.

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