USRE663E - Improvement in distillation of oils from coal - Google Patents

Description

ALTER & HILL.

on sun,

Reissued Feb. 8. 1859.

ma. 24a

' an article foreign to the object of the process,

. not readily condensiblc. Another objection,

'is that the process of distillation is carried on ampid generation of gas are very desirable,

' a rotary motion and exposed to a very high- PATENT Genres.

1.). AL'll-lll awn HiL-n. ()F I-lilil-IPORT, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIo-snns ".fi'fi tlHii-Msi-Linifis A N1) W. l". .TOl-INSTOK, G. SELDEX, JOHN L. RUSSELL. f-

iMPnoveMENT IN DISTILLATION OF OILS FROM COAL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DAVID ALTER and .BXMUEL A.-Hiu., of Freeport, in the county ofArmst-rong and State oflennsylvania, have invented snow and useful Improvement; in the-Manufacture of Oil from Coal and other Bituminous Substances by Destructive Distillation; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification.-

'lfhc great diflicult-y experienced in the man- 'ufacturc of oil from coal and other bituminous substances arises from the extreme liability to ,fliegcucmtion of permanent gas insi'cmlofthe extraction of olcaginous vapor susceptible of condensation into oil, and this result is not.- only attended with danger to works not constructcd for the manufacture of inflammable gas, but is a serious loss by the production of and by a proportionate diminution in the quantity of oil obtained from a given quantity of coal or other substance-under treatment. To overcome this difiieulty it has been found necessary to apply a low-degree of heat to the retorts containing the substance under treatformly to the heat all the particles of the substance or substances under treatment with a low red heat-say about. 850 Fahrenheit-we accomplish a result hitherto .unat-tained, by a combination or process never previously at tempthd-that isto say, we are enabled to extract from the coal another bituminous sub- :stances, by destructive distillation, a maxi- -\mnu .q.nantity n.coudensahle uleagiuone va= por with a minimum proportion of pcriua' ne'nt gas, and to hccoxnplish this result far more rapidly than it can be done by any other process or combinationlheretoiore practiced or known.

Our invention, then, consists not simply in the use of retorts having a rotary or other equivalent motion or otherwise so constructodes to agitate their contents during the pro cess of distillation, nor yet in the employment, per so, of a low degree of heat in the extraction of oil, but in the combination of a retort ment; and even this expedient has proved only also constructed, substantially as hereinafter partially successful, owing to the fact that the contents of a stationary retort are necessarily exposed to different degrees of heat, so. that if these port-ions of the coal, &e., which are -fart-hest from the tire be suflicient-ly heated to carry on the process of distillation, the remainingportious of the contents of the retort being nearer to the tire willgive out a greater or less volume of permanent gas and vapor in practice, to the application of a low heat,

so very slowly as to be a serious hinderance in the manufacture.

In the production of permanent gas for illnxninating purposes a high degree of heatand and-for this purpose the use of retorts having degree of heat has been suggested; but whether applied to-actuul' use in practice in this eoundescribed, with a low d we of heat in the procms of destructive dis illatiou of oil from coal or other bituminous substances, by means whereof a much larger proportion of condensable oleaginous v'apor is produced in a much shorter space of time than by any' other known method.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use our invention, we williproceed to describe the construction and mode of op-' oration of our retorts, and insoi doing. we shall particularize the peculiar shape ann l .1111

-oi1jrctort and arrangement of apparatus which we deem preferable, not confining ourselves. however, to the exact shape, construction, and arrangement of parts described.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a longitudjnsl sectional elevation of our retortand furnace through the center or axis of the retort, Fig. -2 is an elevation of the rear end of with the outer faceof the walls. end of the retort a is supported by two fricour.

the retort and furnace, showing the arrangement for cfiecting the rotation of the retort on its axis. Fig. 3 is an elevatiouof the front end of the retort? and furnace. In the several figures like letters of refereu'ce denote similar parts of our apparatus. i In the drawings, a is a cylindrical metallic retort set in a furnace, b, so constructed as that the frame passes all round the retort, as seen in Fig. l. Thefront end of the retort a is closed by a door, a, similar to those used for ordinary gas-retorts, which maybe removed,

when neeessary, to insert afresh charge or remove an exhausted one. The retort does not come in contact with the furnace itself at any ,point, a circular aperture being made'iu the front and back walls, through which the ends of the-retort are inserted, so as to be flush The front ltion-rollers, e a, which turn on bearings'mstiug on the front wall of the furnace, as seen in Figs. 1 and The rear end of the retort is supported by a tube, d, attached to the retort by a. flange. or othersuitable device,th'e

, orifice of the tubed coinciding with an aperture of similar diameter in the center ofthe retort. This tube .serves as a journal on which theretort turns and forms the only passage to the condensingworm for the-volatilc products of the charge in theretort. The

flextremily' h of the ,tube d is spherical a'nd' smooth, and 'being inserted intothe ooxiical mouth of the escape-pipe g, whichbonducts the products ofdistillation to the condensingworm, forms with it a b'alband-socket joint, thus permitting the tube d toiturn freely with the retort, while the conical mouth of the escape-pipe g inclining downward prevents any condensed vapor or oil returning into the retorts or obstructingthe tube d. The orifice ofthe tube d, opening into the retort a, is

covered but not closed by-a couvexperforated disk, 1 through the perforationsof which the olcaginous vapor passes into the-tube (Z, and thence through the escape-pipe g, the disk I; preventing the choking of the apcrturein the retprt (forming the orifice of flje. tube d) by the broken coal or other contou of thcretort.

This disk is fastened by rivets firb'olt's to the inner side of the rear end of thoietort.

- The rotation of the retort ou-ns axis may be produced by communication otpower from some .p'hlme motor in any convenient way,

as by attaching a large cogwheel, 7, concern 'tric to vthe rear end of the retort, gearing with the teeth of a pinion, 11, on the simtt,which carries the pulley or drum' m to which the 1 power andmol-i on arecommunicated.

The ,motion which we have described as communicated to our retorts is revolution on their axes, which accomplishes the requisite purposes of agitating the contents of the retort, exposing them to a. uniform heat, keeping the retort itself at an even temperature, and expediting the process of distillation under a low heat better than any other'inethod,

. id' ention are substantially accomplished. I

We will now proceed to describe the mode of using our retorts, promising that it is desirable, in order to increase the rapidity of the process and the yield from (a given quantity of coal, &c., under treatment, the coal should be ground to powder or' broken up small before placing it in the retorte. The retorts being charged with a suflicientquantity of broken coal'or other substance to make them about half-full, the, door 0 isfas'teued' up and a fire kindled in the furnace, the flame and heat passing all round the retorts in pass-.

ing to the chimney t. The fire-is so regulated as to keep-up a low red heatsay about 850 Fahrenheit, or less, if permanent gas he too largely evolvedand the retorts are set in' -motion, revolving about once in every-twentyseconds, and, shouldthe heat'incrcase, the I rapidity of revolution of the retorts is accelerated, sons to prevent injury to the pro ducts of distillation and keep down the evo The motion of'the lution of permanent gas. retorts is continued dnringthe whole time thatthe process of distillation'is' in progress, and causes a continual mixing up and agitation of the contents of the retort, andthussubjects every portion toanuniformlyflow;

degree of heat. By this means the heat is much more rapidly abstracted from'the retort and communicated to its contents, than is possiblewitli the use of a stationary retort, andthereby, with a much lower degree of .heat than would be necessary to accomplish the resultwitha stationary retort, the process of distillation 'is carried 'on and'co npleted in much. shorter periodof time and without injnry'" -tothe, r'oduets of distillation, or the generation 0 any-considerable quantity of ermauent gas, which would neoessarily'result roni the use of stationary retorts-by reason of i the unavoidable exposure of portions of the coal,- &c.-,i1o a greater heat than-the residue,

and the-undue heating'of the lower or fire end of the; retort.

'- S0 grcatis the advantage from our oombinetion of the rotating retort with the e'mplo'y'ment'of alow degree of heat that, by our-process; a charge of coal can be worked ofl'and all its oleaginous vapor extraetodwithout injury to the oil, or the generation of much permanent gas, in from one-Half to. one-fourth of .thetime necessarily consumed in exhausting a charge of alike quantity of coal ina Sta tionary retort.

Whatever similarity there may appear'tobe. in the; mere apparatus employed, the process of extracting the gaseous products of coal and other bituminous substances varies, essential-' 1y, from that required to distill these substances or extract their liquid products, and-it is to the accomplishment of this latter result and I the avoidance of the former that ourinveut-ion is designed to apply.

\Ve do not claim originalityor novelty in the use of cylindrical metallic retorts so. con strueted as to rotate on their axis during the process of destructive distillation, excepting 1n the combination hereinafter. described, and

for the purpose of distilling- 01' extracting" the fluid products, especially oil, fro m coal and other bituminous substances. Neither do weelaim making the reto'r't to shift on its axis after each successive pfoeess oi distillation; 'so as to expose d iiferent p'a-rtsot tlie retort to the netion of theme; and thus prevent-its rapid oxidation, as seen in Gengembrefs patent; nor yet do claim, per se, or otherwise than ingthe eombinationhereinafter stated, thehseof;

low degree of heat in the 'proeess in di oil fron1 coalf, &c.; but A use of l'etorts so constructed to have a rotary or other equivalent motion for the purpose of, agitating their omitentssnhstantially vinthe mauner'and for the purposes hereinhefore s etforth.

1 DAVID ALTER. 2 SAMUEL A. l-LlLTl. 'Wit'nessels':

JM 1);: Snoo 1', J. W} Bow,

Images