Patent GB-386314-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to apparatus for producing fuel from coking coal or the like
IPC: C10B3/00
Filed: 1931-06-11
Abstract: 386,314. Coking-apparatus. INTERNATIONAL BITUMENOIL CORPORATION, 75, West Street, New York, U.S.A.- (Assignees of Vandegrift, J. N.; Linn, C. V. ; and Postel, C. ; 75, West Street, New York, U.S.A.) June 11, 1931, No. 17040. Convention date, March 5. Addition to 386,343. [Classes 51 (ii) and 55 (i).] In the retort structure described in the parent Specification, in which a battery of vertical retort tubes is described, upper and lower removable closures are provided having vapour seals of molten metal. Improved means are also described for operating the charging, preheating and discharging devices. The tubular steel retorts 24 are formed with funnel-shaped tops, the edges of which are welded together, and are suspended from bars 26, Fig. 8, under the funnels, a plate 173 being welded to the tubes below the funnels. A trough 27 containing molten lead receives the flanges 31 of a hood 29 enclosing the tops of the retorts, and collecting the distillates which are led away from below the hood. The hood is raised by cranks 45 having rollers 46 which engage tracks 47 in channel bars, which support bars 48, from which rods 49 pass through the hood and are secured by bars 51. When the cranks 45 are raised to carry the hood free from the retorts, the tracks 47 can be rolled from rollers 46 on to rollers 52. Plungers 54 which are carried by the rods 55, fit loosely in the retorts, and keep the material in a compressed and closegrained form, and, during discharging of the retorts, they dislodge any adherent coke. The lower ends of the retorts are welded to a plate 61, Fig. 5, and the tubes are closed by a plate 62 supported on blocks of refractory material 63 carried on bars 64, the whole comprising a car mounted on wheels 68 running on rails 73. The plate 62 is provided with a trough 69 containing molten metal, into which dip flanges 71 on the plate 61, when the plate 62 is in position. To permit discharge of the retorts the plate 62 is lowered, and moved along the rails 73 to one side. A safety valve is provided in the hood, comprising a molten metal seal 75, Fig. 8, which is blown in case of sudden rise of pressure, and prevents vapour being blown through either of the troughs 27 or 69. The retorts are heated by air and gas pipes 80, 79 which extend between the retort tubes, the pipes being welded in pairs. A rectangular charging car 91 is mounted by wheels 92 on a track 93, and has a number of .doors 94 which discharge its contents into rows of preheating tubes below, the doors being operated simultaneously, and automatically closed upon rolling the car 91 away from the preheating tubes, the doors being locked in the closed position. The battery of preheating tubes is supported by wheels 115 on tracks 116, and the funnel-shaped lower ends 117 are closed by a sliding plate 118 having openings 119 registering with the retort ends. The hot gases from the furnace 25 pass by a pipe 120 to a chamber below the tubes, and through openings 119 to the spaces around the tubes, escaping by a stack 122. The heat of these gases is moderated by admitting air through a regulator 174. When moved over the retorts the contents of the preheater are discharged automatically by the sliding plate 118 contacting with a stop 131, after which the preheating device is returned to below the charging car 91, a stop 132 closing the sliding plate 118. The movements of the charging car 91, the preheater 90, the hood 29, and the discharging door 62, are operated from a single shaft 133, on which are mounted a series of clutches and drums on which ropes are wound, which move the various parts by suitable pulley systems. The material in the preheater tubes is kept at about 350‹ F. but below 400‹ F., and the retort tubes are heated to about 1400‹ F., the coking operations being accomplished in about 80 minutes.