IMPROVE- MENTS IN OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM COAL OR OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCE DISTILLATION AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN " BY
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Hugh Lee Pattinson Junior at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st February 1883.
HUGH LEE PATTINSON Junior of Felling in the County of Durham "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM COAL OR OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCE
DISTILLATION AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
"
BY
The object of my invention is to obtain or recover the valuable products such as
tar and ammonia which exist in coal or other like matters. For this purpose I
superpose above an ordinary gas producer a chamber of cylindrical or other suitable
form. Within this chamber I place vertical retorts open at their lower ends and
which are arranged in a circle or in single or double rows or otherwise according
to the shape of the chamber. They extend the whole vertical length of the chamber
and terminate at a suitable distance (say about 9 feet) from the bottom of the
producer. These retorts are furnished with charging doors and pipes at the upper
part and the pipes lead to an ordinary hydraulic main or to other apparatus for
treating the gas.
The working of the apparatus is as follows:-The producer or lower portion is
filled with fuel up to the mouths or lower ends of the retorts. The retorts are also
filled with fuel which will therefore rest upon that in the producer. The fuel in the
producer is then ignited and steam or air or both are then injected into the bottom
so that the fuel therein is gasified in the ordinary manner.
The hot gases pass
through the chamber containing the retorts to a flue at the upper part heating the
retorts in their passage. Distillation of the fuel in the retorts is thus effected and
the gas generated therein is drawn off by the pipes at the top and treated for its
products in any ordinary manner being afterwards if necessary or desirable
returned to the flue leading from the retort chamber to be utilized in a furnace or
otherwise. As the fuel in the producer burns away, the coal or partially exhausted
fuel in the retorts gradually falls down to replace it, and the retorts are themselves
refilled from time to time by the charging doors at the top. Thus the whole supply
of fuel passes through the retorts.
By my apparatus and mode of working, the heat due to the gasifying of the
partially spent fuel, consisting chiefly of carbon, in the producer is used to heat the
fresh fuel in the retorts, but in case the heat is not sufficient a little air may be
admitted into the retort chamber so as to burn a portion of the inflammable gases

page_text: therein and thereby maintain the heat of the retorts. The gas drawn off from the
retorts will practically contain all the true illuminating gas obtainable from the
coal; any other gases which may be mixed with it will be so deficient in oxygen
as not to destroy the products, such as tar and ammonia, which I wish to recover.
For the purpose of closing the exit pipe of the retort as soon as I commence to
open the charging door, I construct the top of the retort with movable segments
and fixed segments, the movable segments when in their normal position occupying
and closing the intervals between the fixed segments. To the movable segments I
fix a flange or depending plate which, when they are turned so as to pass under
the fixed segments and thereby allow fuel to be introduced, comes opposite the exit
pipe and closes it. I construct a hopper over the whole set of retorts and keep it
full of coal; as this coal will rest on the closed doors it partially lutes them, and it
is only necessary to move the movable segments to let some of it fall into the retorts.