USRE8908E - Improvement in apparatus for promoting combustion in furnaces - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheef1 I. KENDRIGK.

Apparatus for-Promoting Combustion in Furnaces No. 8,908.. ReissuedSept. 30,1879.

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. I. KBNDRIOK Apparatus for Promoting Combustion-in Furnaces. No. 8,908. Reissued' Sept. 30,1879.

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- by aifording a proper supplfy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC KENDRIOK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT lN APPARATUS FOR PROMOTING COMBUSTION lN FURNACES.

I Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 269,273, dated October 522, 1878; Reissue No. 8,908, dated I fi ptcmhcr :10, 1879 application filed m y I1',*1879"."

' To all whom it may concern:

naces, of which improvements the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to complete and perfect the combustion of fuel in furnaces of oxygen within the furnace to the gases iberated from the burning fuel, and thereby, as far as practicable, to utilize the combustible elements of the fuel by the consequent consumption of those pro ducts of combustion which would, under ordinary circumstances, pass unconsumed to and out of the chimney.

, To this end my improvements consist in a process of supplying oxygen to a furnace or combustion-chamber by 'commingling air and steam in a mixing-chamber exterior to the furnace, leading the mingled air andsteam to an expansion-chamber or retort within the furnace, highly heating the mingled air and steam within said expansion-chamber by the direct heat of the burning fuel, and finally discharging the mingled and highly-heated airand steam in a finely-divided state into the .or distributing-retort located within the furnace, all as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal central section through the setting of a horizontal stationary steamboiler with my improvements applied; Fig. 2, a horizontal section through the same at the line w w of Fig. 1, with. the heating and dis tributing retort-in elevation; Fig. 3, a vertical longitudinal central section through a portion of a locomotive-boiler; Fig. 4, a similar section through: an upright stationary boiler Fig. 5, a section through a brick-kiln, with my improvements applied in each instance; and

Fig. 6, a central section, on an enlarged scale,

through the 'mixing-chamber.

The process of consuming volatile products liberated from burning fuel by supplying heated air or air and steam to a furnace, it is to be understood, is notclaimed as my invention, such having been long since proposed and embodied in devices of di-fle rent descriptions, shown and described in'sundry Letters Patent of the United States and Great Britain, and in printed public works. Heretofore, however, in supplying steam and air to furnaces to promote combustion therein, due regard has not been paid to the proportions in which the same were provided; nor, so far as I are aware, have mingled air and steam been reheated in an expansion-chamber or retort'afterf their union has taken place and before'dischar ing them intothe furnaces. The resultof t iis neglect or absence of invention has been that,- the supply or proportions of such air and steam not having been duly regulated,

nor any reheating in such expansion-chamber or .retort having been e'ifected after the minglin g of the air and steam, and before their dis charge, the carbon in the inflannnable gases of the furnace did not unite with the air and steam, whence imperfect combustion resulted. "With my invention the air and steam are mingled in suchproportions, and reheated to such a degree after mingling, that when supplied to a furnace each atom of carbon in the gases of the latter is furnished with its equivalent of oxygen, the atoms instantlycombining and producing perfect and complete combastion of such gases and every part thereof. To carryout my invention 1 support in any convenient position upon or adjacent to the exterior of, a furnace, A, a mixing-chamber,-B, the same consisting of a hollow casting of' any suitable metal, having one or more side openings for the admission of air, and an opening in each of its ends, one of said end openings being connected, by a steam-supply'pipe, a,

provided with a cook or valve, a," with the steam space or dome of the boiler A, and the :other by a delivery-pipe, c, Witha heating and distributing retort, 0, located within the fur nace, and to be presently described.

Air-supply pipes I), each of which. has areg ulating cock 01? valve, 3), by which the quan tity of air supplied to the mixing-chamber can be. regulated as required, are connected totha side openings of the chamber B, through which pipes air (which has been, by preference, previously heated by passing through channels or conduits b in the setting, or otherwise) is drawn, by the jet'of steam which antersthe mixing-chamber through the steamsupply pipe 0., into the mixing-chamber with the steam.

The steam-Suppl y pipe a terminates in a contracted nozzle, a within the chamber, said nozzle having its opening slightly in advance of the side air-supply openings, and acting on the principle of an injector, todraw in air.

through said openings and the pipes connected thereto.

When, for'special purposes, a pure flame, free from sulphur, is required, and it is desired to make use of a hydrocarbon or other gas in lieu of coal as a fuel, I attach another pipe to one of said side openings, and connect the same with a gas retort, holder, or well.

The mixing-chamber B is connected, by the delivery-pipe c, which opens into the end opposite to that which carries the supply-pipe a and nozzle of, with an expansion-chamber or heating and distributing retort, 0, located at any-convenient point within the furnace, or

iipo'nthe bridge-wall thereof, so as to receive the'direct radiant heat of the fuel therein.

The retort G is a chamber, of iron-or other material capable of resisting a high heat,'perforated with numerous small holes, and may be of cylindrical, semi-cylindrical, rectangular, or other form, as may be preferred by the constructor or rendered advisable by the sh ape,

dimensions, or character of-the furnace in which it is to be used.

The capacity of the distributing retort should be so large relatively to the diameter of the delivery-pipe c and the combined area of the series of discharge-openin gs with which the retort is perforated as to permit of the expansion and consequent temporary detention within the retort of the entering currentof mingled air and steam, so as to expose'tlie same while within the retort to the direct heat of the furnace,-for the purpose of highly heating it prior to its discharge through the exitopenings into the products of combustion arising fromthe burning fuel. 4

The purpose of the distributing-retortis, first, to receive and subject the mingled air and steam delivered to" it from the mixingchamber to the influence of a high heat-11 6.,

a red heat-whe'reby the air and steam are in a measure resolved into their constituent gases; and, second,.to break up, discharge, and distribute the same in a divided condition over thefurnace-bed, or into the inflammable products of combustion of the furnace, pref erably in a direction oblique to the line of the draft-current of the furnace, so that the elements of such highly-heated air and steam arev brought forcibly into collision with the com; bustible products of the furnace, thusfurnishing each atom ofcarbon in said products with its equivalent of oxygen, and thereby securing perfect and complete combustion,

The proportionate diameters of the steam and air pipes leading to the mixing-chamber must be governed, to some extent, by the character of the fuel burned in the furnace and the construction and uses of the latter. Un der ordinary ircumstance-s the higher the temperature of the air and stea'nibetore being admitted to the mixing-chamber the better the results. The temperature to which the mingled air and steam should be raised, or the temperature of the distributin g-retort, in which they expand and from whiehthey are discharged, is, as already stated, a red heat. The volume of air and steamadmitted to the furnace must be governed by the judgment cf the operator, according to the condition of the fire and the amount and character of the fuel being consumed.

I have produced verv thorough combustion of the gases of "anthracite coal-in aboilerfurnace with 'a steam jet of one-eighth of an inch, and two air-pipes, each one inch and a half in diameteu leading to a mixing-chamber of larger capacity than said pipes combined, the outlet therefrom to the distributing-retort being a pipe two and one-half inches in diam eter. I do not, however, restrict myself to these measurements or proportions, asthe same, may be greatly varied within myinvention.

The operation is substantially as' follows: Steam being provided'and the distributing-retort having been heated to a sufiiciently high temperature-t'. 0., a red heat-the supplyvalves are opened, ad mitting-air and steamto the imixing-cham'ber, where the air and steam mingle and proceed by the delivery-pipe to the distributing-retort, where theyexpand and are thereby detained until they are, in a measure, resolved. into their constituentgas'es; after which they are discharged through the outlets of the distributing-retort into the furna'ce or into the red-hot inflammable products of combustion of the furnaee,'furnishi ng each.atoin of carbon in said products with its highly-heated equivalent of oxygen, which results in the immediate union or combination of such car}, bon and oxygen equivalent, thereby insuring perfect and complete combustion.

The advantages ofmy invention are briefly .a-s'follows: Reliable devices are provided by which-an adequate and properly-prepared supply of oxygen may be fed to a furnace insultable'proportions, and in such condition that when discharged into the furnace an immediate union of the gases takes place, therebyinsuringperfeet and complete combustion, and, by the utiiization of all the elements of the fuel and the obtention of their relative and entirejcaloriiicefl'ect, great economy in fuelis secured, the gain being the additional heatfa'toms developedin burning the gases that usually I escape by way of the chimney or staek uncom sumed. x i

I am aware that the employment of air and steam forced or injected, either separately or together, into a furnace as a means of promotin g combustion therein, has been heretofore known, and do not, therefore, broadly claim a process or apparatus for feedingmingled air and steam to a steam-boiler or other furnace.

I claim as my inventiouand desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The improvement in the art of promoting combustion in furnaces, which consists in first commingling or mixing air and steam in regulated proportions in a mixing-chamber exte rior to the furnace then leading the mingled air and steam to an expansionchamber or retort within the furnace, said expansion-chamher being of enlarged capacity relatively toits supply-pipe; then highly heating the mingled air and steam in said expansion-chamber by the directheatof the burning fuel; and,'finally, discharging the mingled and hi ghly-heated air and steam in a finely-divided 'state over the bed of fuel, or into the combustion-chamber of I the furnace, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with afurnace for gencrating steam or other purposes, of an external mixing-chamber in which air and steam are mingled in regulated proportions, an expansion-chambcr or distributing-retort located within the furnace and exposed to the direct heat of the fuel, said chamber being of enlarged capacity relatively to its supply-pipe, being connected by a delivery-pipe with the external mixingchamber, and having numerous small discharge openings or perforations, and an injectmg device for feeding mingled air and steam from the mixing-chamberto the expausion-cliamber or distributing-retort, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with a furnace for generating steam or other purposes, of a mixingchamber for minglingairand steam in regulated proportions, fines or pipes in which air ISAAC? KENDRICK.

Witnesses: I

J. SNOWDEN. BELL, W. A. GHEYNEY'.

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