IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING GASES AND VAPOURS
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WALTER WELDON, of Rede Hall, Burstow, in the County of Surrey, Fellow
of the Royal Society, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING GASES AND VAPOURS" to be as
follows:-
"
This invention relates to an improved apparatus for cooling gases and vapours
which are capable of attacking metals. The said apparatus is especially adapted
for the cooling of free chlorine and vapour of hydrochloric acid, or of any mixture
of either one or both of those bodies with any other body or bodies in the state of
gas or vapour.
The said apparatus consists essentially of a stone tower, of square or rectangular
horizontal section, in the interior of which tower are arranged, either horizontally
or in an inclined position, glass tubes, through which cold water is kept flowing.
The said stone tower, in the interior of which the said glass tubes are placed, may
be constructed after the same manner as the towers in which the vapour of hydro-
chloric acid which is generated in the first stage of the manufacture of soda by the
Leblanc process is usually condensed. This tower is shown in vertical section in
Figure 1, and in horizontal section in Figure 2.
Two opposite sides of the said tower must each be pierced with holes. These
holes should preferably be arranged in horizontal rows, those of any one row except
the lowest being, not immediately above the holes in the row immediately beneath
it, but above the spaces between the holes in the row immediately beneath. In
Figures 1, 2, and 5, the two sides of the tower which are so pierced with holes are
marked A and B.
In Figures 1, 2, and 5, the glass tubes are marked c, c, c, c. One extremity of
each of these glass tubes protrudes through one of the holes in the A side of the
tower, and its other extremity protrudes through the corresponding holes in the
opposite or B side of the tower.
On the A side of the tower (which may of course be whichever of its four sides
is most convenient in each case) the protruding extremity of each glass tube is
connected by a piece of caoutchouc tubing, or other equivalent appliance, marked d,
d, d, in Figures 1, 2, and 5, with one of the tubes or pipes some of which, in Figures 1,
2, and 5, are marked T.
These tubes T may be of iron or other convenient material. Water passes into
these tubes T from the hollow column N, and then from the tubes T into the glass
tuhoa

page_text: On the B side of the tower, or the side of it which 18 opposite to its A side, the
protruding extremity of each glass tube is connected with a piece of caoutchouc
tubing, or other equivalent appliance, marked d in Figures 1, 2, and 5, by which,
in each case, water which has entered one of the glass tubes from the hollow
column N by one of the pipes T, and has traversed the glass tube, passes from that
glass tube and is discharged into one of the gutters or conduits m, m, m.
From the gutters m, m, m, the water discharged from the glass tubes passes away
by the hollow column M.
In order that the glass tubes c, c, c, c, may not be liable to break, it is necessary
that they should be kept always full of water.
This result may be secured either by slightly inclining the glass tubes, as in
Figure 1, placing that extremity of each of them by which water enters it a little
lower than that extremity of it by which water is discharged from it, or, if it be
preferred that the glass tubes should be placed horizontally, by elevating somewhat
above the level of each glass tube respectively the caoutchouc tube, or other
appliance, d¹, d, d', by which the water which has passed through the said glass
tube is discharged into the gutters m, m, m.
When the glass tubes are placed in an inclined position, and the mixture of
vapours and gases which the apparatus is employed to cool is one from which an
acid liquor condenses during the operation of cooling it, this acid liquor will
condense upon the glass tubes, and will run along each tube towards its lower
extremity, being the extremity of it which is at the A side of the tower, or at the
side of the tower at which the cooling water enters the glass tubes. It is therefore
necessary that, at that side of the tower, the joint between the glass tube and the
stone through which it passes should be perfectly tight. A convenient method of
making this joint quite tight is illustrated in Figures 3, 4, and 5.
The topmost compartment of Figure 3 represents a front view of a portion of
the A side of the tower, showing some of the holes for the passage of the glass
tubes.
The middle compartment of Figure 3 shows the same portion of the A side of
the tower, after the bar or band of iron, R, R, has been placed over the holes in it.
The bottom compartment of Figure 3 shows the same portion of the A side of
the tower after the glass tubes have been inserted and have been tightly jointed to
the stone side of the tower by means of the caoutchouc pieces, i, i, Figures 3, 4,
and 5, and the cast-iron glands, n, n, Figures 3, 4, and 5.
It will be seen that in the iron bar or band, R, R, there are circular apertures,
which are larger than the apertures in the stone side of the tower, but the centre
of each of which coincides with the centre of one of the latter. There are as many
of these iron bars or bands, R, R, as there are rows of holes in the stone side of the
tower. These iron bars or bands, R, R, serve as part of the armature of the tower,
each of the iron bars or bands, R, R, being connected by one of its extremities with
a tie-rod which passes horizontally across one of the two faces of the tower which
are at right-angles to its A face, and by the other of its two extremities with a
tie-rod which passes horizontally across the other of the said two faces of the tower,
and these two tie-rods being connected with a third tie-rod which passes horizontally
across the B face of the tower.
Figure 4 represents a horizontal section of the iron bar or band, R, R, in the line
of the centres of the apertures in it. It shows the glass tubes, the caoutchouc
pieces, i, i, and the iron glands, n, n.
Figure 5 shows in vertical section a portion of the A side of the tower, a
portion of the B side of the tower, a portion of the hollow column N, a portion of
the hollow column M, one of the tubes T, the cock g, the piece of caoutchouc
tubing, d, by which water which has entered the tube T from the hollow column N
and has passed through the cock g passes into the glass tube c, the piece of
caoutchouc tubing, or other equivalent appliance, d', by which, after having
traversed the glass tube c, that water is discharged into the gutter m, and the

page_text: method of jointing the glass tube c, on the A side of the tower, to the stone
through which it passes.
It will be seen that upon that extremity of the glass tube c which protrudes
through the A side of the tower there is placed a short piece of caoutchouc tubing
upon which is a caoutchouc flange, which flange comes in contact with the face of
the tower through which the tube passes, and is pressed tightly against the face of
that stone by the tubular flange of the gland m, n, that tubular flange of the
gland n, n, being pressed tightly against the annular flange of the piece of flanged
caoutchouc tubing i, i, by means of screws passing through the annular flange of
the gland m, n, and working into the iron bar or band R, R.
The joint between the other extremity of each glass tube c and the stone
through which it passes on the B side of the tower may be made simply by means
of any cement unattackable by acids. If preferred, however, it may of course be
made in the same manner as the joints on the A side of the tower.
The gas or vapour, or mixture of gas or gases and vapour or vapours, to be
cooled by this apparatus, should preferably enter near the top of the tower, for
example at P, Figures 1 and 2, and the cooled gas or gases or vapour or vapours
should preferably pass off from near the bottom of the tower, on the opposite side
of it, as at P, Figure 2.
Any liquid condensing in the tower will pass out of it by the aperture S,
Figure 1.
It will be evident that if one of the glass tubes, c, c, c, happens to break, the
broken tube can be removed and a new one put in its place very rapidly, and
without stopping the working of the apparatus. The fact that a tube has broken.
will be perceived by an increase in the quantity of liquid discharged from S, and
which tube it is which has broken will be indicated by water ceasing to issue from
that extremity of the broken tube which protrudes through the B side of the
tower. The cock of that tube may then at once be closed, and the broken tube
be removed, and a new one substituted for it, without interrupting the working of
the apparatus.
An apparatus for the cooling of gases and vapours has been proposed and tried,
in which apparatus the glass tubes were arranged vertically, the gases or vapours
passing through the glass tubes, and the cooling water being applied to the exterior
of the glass tubes. This apparatus was not found to be practicable. The apparatus
which constitutes the present invention differs from the said previously proposed
apparatus in two very important particulars. Firstly, the gas or gases or vapour
or vapours which are to be cooled do not pass through the glass tubes, and the
glass tubes are not surrounded by water; but what passes through the tubes is the
cooling water, and the gas or gases or vapour or vapours are cooled by being
brought into contact with the exterior surfaces of a number of glass tubes through
which cold water is continually flowing. Secondly, the glass tubes are not disposed
vertically, but either in a horizontal position or in an inclined position, which
disposition of them permits that a broken tube can be replaced without stopping
the working of the apparatus.
What is new in this invention is the arrangement of apparatus for the cooling,
of gases or vapours, or mixtures of both, which consists of a stone tower having
glass tubes disposed in its interior, placed either horizontally or in an inclined
position, through which glass tubes cooling water continually passes, the gas or.
vapour, or mixture of a gas or gases and a vapour or vapours, which is to be
cooled, being brought into contact with the external surfaces of the glass tubes,.
substantially as is above described.

page_text: ! Improvements in Apparatus for Cooling Gases and Vapours.
I, WALTER FRANK RAPHAEL WELDON, of 14, Brookside, Cambridge, the sole
surviving Son and Administrator of Walter Weldon, late of Rede Hall, Burstow,
Surrey, the Applicant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to an improved apparatus for cooling gases and vapours
which are capable of attacking metals. The said apparatus is especially adapted
for the cooling of free chlorine and vapour of hydrochloric acid, or of any mixture
of either one or both of those bodies with any other body or bodies in the state of
gas or vapour.
The drawings filed with the provisional specification are equally applicable to
this the complete specification, the same letters referring to the same parts of the
drawings in each case.
The said apparatus consists essentially of a stone tower, of square or rectangular
horizontal section, in the interior of which tower are arranged, either horizontally
or in an inclined position, glass tubes, through which cold water is kept flowing.
The said stone tower, in the interior of which the said glass tubes are placed,
may be constructed after the same manner as the towers in which the vapour of
hydrochloric acid which is generated in the first stage of the manufacture of soda
by the Leblanc process is usually condensed. This tower is shown in vertical
section in Figure 1, and in horizontal section in Figure 2.
Two opposite sides of the said tower must each be pierced with holes. These
holes should preferably be arranged in horizontal rows, those of any one row except
the lowest being, not immediately above the holes in the row beneath it, but above
the spaces between the holes in the row immediately beneath. In Figures 1, 2,
and 5, the two sides of the tower which are so pierced with holes are marked
A and B.
In Figures 1, 2, and 5, the glass tubes are marked c, c, c, c. One extremity of
each of these glass tubes protrudes through one of the holes in the A side of the
tower, and its other extremity protrudes through the corresponding hole in the
opposite or B side of the tower.
On the A side of the tower (which may of course be whichever of its four sides
is most convenient in each case) the protruding extremity of each glass tube is
connected by a piece of caoutchouc tubing, or other equivalent appliance, marked d,
d, d, in Figures 1, 2, and 5, with one of the tubes or pipes some of which, in
Figures 1, 2, and 5, are marked T.
These tubes T may be of iron or other convenient material. Water passes into
these tubes T from the hollow column N, and then from the tubes T into the glass
tubes c, c, c, c.
On the B side of the tower, or the side of it which is opposite to its A side, the
protruding extremity of each glass tube is connected with a piece of caoutchouc
tubing, or other equivalent appliance, marked d¹ in Figures 1, 2, and 5, by which,
in each case, water which has entered one of the glass tubes from the hollow

page_text: column N by one of the pipes T, and has traversed the glass tube, passes from that
glass tube, and is discharged into one of the gutters or conduits m, m, m.
From the gutters m, m, m, the water discharged from the glass tubes passes
away by the hollow column M.
In order that the glass tubes c, c, c, c may not be liable to break, it is necessary
that they should be kept always full of water.
This result may be secured either by slightly inclining the glass tubes, as in.
Figure 1, placing that extremity of each of them by which water enters it a little
lower than that extremity of it by which water is discharged from it, or, if it be
preferred that the glass tubes should be placed horizontally, by elevating somewhat
above the level of each glass tube respectively the caoutchouc tube, or other
appliance, d¹, d', d, by which the water which has passed through the said glass
tube is discharged into the gutters m, m, m.
When the glass tubes are placed in an inclined position, and the mixture of
vapours and gases which the apparatus is employed to cool is one from which an
acid liquor condenses during the operation of cooling it, this acid liquor will
condense upon the glass tubes, and will run along each tube towards its lower
extremity, being the extremity of it which is at the A side of the tower, or at the
side of the tower at which the cooling water enters the glass tubes. It is therefore
necessary that, at that side of the tower, the joint between the glass tube and the
stone through which it passes should be perfectly tight. A convenient method of
making this joint quite tight is illustrated in Figures 3, 4, and 5.
The topmost compartment of Figure 3 represents a front view of a portion of
the A side of the tower, showing some of the holes for the passage of the glass
tubes..
The middle compartment of Figure 3 shows the same portion of the A side of the
tower, after the bar or band of iron, R, R, has been placed over the holes in it.
The bottom compartment of Figure 3 shows the same portion of the A side of
the tower after the glass tubes have been inserted and have been tightly jointed to
the stone side of the tower by means of the caoutchouc pieces i, i, Figures 3, 4,
and 5, and the cast-iron glands n, n, Figures 3, 4, and 5.
It will be seen that in the iron bar or band, R, R, there are circular apertures,
which are larger than the apertures in the stone side of the tower, but the centre
of each of which coincides with the centre of one of the latter. There are as many
of these iron bars or bands R, R, as there are rows of holes in the stone side of the
tower. These iron bars or bands R, R, serve as part of the armature of the tower,
each of the iron bars or bands R, R, being connected by one of its extremities with.
a tie-rod which passes horizontally across one of the two faces of the tower which
are at right angles to its A face, and by the other of its two extremities with a
tie-rod which passes horizontally across the other of the said two faces of the tower,
and these two tie-rods being connected with a third tie-rod which passes horizontally
across the B face of the tower.
Figure 4 represents a horizontal section of the iron bar or band R, R, in the line
of the centres of the apertures in it. It shows the glass tubes, the caoutchouc
pieces i, i, and the iron glands n, n.
Figure 5 shows in vertical section a portion of the A side of the tower, a portion
of the B side of the tower, a portion of the hollow column N, a portion of the
hollow column M, one of the tubes T, the cock g, the piece of caoutchouc tubing d,
by which water which has entered the tube T from the hollow column N and has
passed through the cock g passes into the glass tube c, the piece of caoutchouc
tubing, or other equivalent appliance, d', by which, after having traversed the glass
tube c, that water is discharged into the gutter m, and the method of jointing the
glass tube c, on the A side of the tower, to the stone through which it passes.
It will be seen that upon that extremity of the glass tube c which protrudes
through the A side of the tower there is placed a short piece of caoutchouc tubing
upon which is a caoutchouc flange, which flange comes in contact with the face of
the stone through which the tube passes, and is pressed tightly against the face of

page_text: that stone by the tubular flange of the gland n, n, that tubular flange of the
gland m, n, being pressed tightly against the annular flange of the piece of flanged
caoutchouc tubing i, i, by means of screws passing through the annular flange of
the gland m, n, and working into the iron bar or band R, R.
The joint between the other extremity of each glass tube c and the stone
through which it passes on the B side of the tower may be made simply by means
of any cement unattackable by acids. If preferred, however, it may of course be
made in the same manner as the joints on the A side of the tower.
The gas or vapour, or mixture of gas or gases and vapour or vapours, to be
cooled by this apparatus, should preferably enter near the top of the tower, for
example at P, Figures 1 and 2, and the cooled gas or gases or vapour or vapours
should preferably pass off from near the bottom of the tower, on the opposite side
of it, as at P', Figure 2.
Any liquid condensing in the tower will pass out of it by the aperture S,
Figure 1.
It will be evident that if one of the glass tubes, c, c, c happens to break, the
broken tube can be removed and a new one put in its place very readily, and
without stopping the working of the apparatus. The fact that a tube has broken
will be perceived by an increase in the quantity of liquid discharged from S, and
which tube it is which has broken will be indicated by water ceasing to issue from
that extremity of the broken tube which protrudes through the B side of the tower.
The cock g of that tube may then at once be closed, and the broken tube be
removed, and a new one substituted for it, without interrupting the working of the
apparatus.
An apparatus for the cooling of gases and vapours has been proposed and tried,
in which apparatus the glass tubes were arranged vertically, the gases or vapours
passing through the glass tubes, and the cooling water being applied to the exterior
of the glass tubes. This apparatus was not found to be practicable. The apparatus
which constitutes the present invention differs from the said previously proposed
apparatus in two very important particulars. Firstly, the gas or gases or vapour
or vapours which are to be cooled do not pass through the glass tubes, and the
glass tubes are not surrounded by water; but what passes through the tubes is the
cooling water, and the gas or gases or vapour or vapours are cooled by being
brought into contact with the exterior surfaces of a number of glass tubes through
which cold water is continually flowing. Secondly, the glass tubes are not disposed
vertically, but either in a horizontal position or in an inclined position, which
disposition of them permits that a broken tube shall be replaced without stopping
the working of the apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
The arrangement of apparatus for the cooling of gases or vapours, or mixtures of
both, which consists of a stone tower having glass tubes disposed in its interior,
placed either horizontally or in an inclined position, through which glass tubes
cooling water continually passes, the gas or vapour, or mixture of a gas or gases
and a vapour or vapours, which is to be cooled, being brought into contact with the
external surfaces of the glass tubes, substantially as is above described.
Dated thin 15th L
1000