Process and Apparatus for Extracting Oxygen from the Air.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Aug., 1896-Accepted, 28th Aug., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Process and Apparatus for Extracting Oxygen from the Air.
We AUGUSTB FLORAN DE VILLEPIGNE, of 90 Rue de la Victoire, Paris, Engineer,
and VICTOR FOURNIER, of 06 Rue Caumartin, Paris Engineer, both in the Republic
of France, and GEORGE SHENTON of Copthall House, Copthall Avenue, in the County
of London, Gentleman, 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:—
It is known when air is made to traverse a membrane treated lightly with
caoutchouc the oxygen and nitrogen do not traverse the membrane in the same
proportions, that is to say, when air is dialysed by obliging it, under a certain pressure
to traverse a membrane of this kind, the oxygen traverses it easier than the nitrogen
and the gas which can be collected from the other side of the membrane is richer in
oxygen than the atanospheric air. Consequently by obliging the air to traverse
successively a series of membranes lightly treated with caoutchous, the gas which
traverses successively the membranes becomes always richer after a certain number of
Successive operations and one obtains if not pure oxygen, at least oxygen containing
only a small proportion of nitrogen so that the oxygen may be applied practically to
several uses for which it is produced at large expense by chemical means.
For this purpose we construct an apparatus which allows the dialysis of the air to
operate in a continuous manner through membranes treated with caoutchouc by
obliging the air to traverse by pressure a series of membranes of this kind and by
means of which immediate and consecutive passages of the air through these
membranes are operated in order to suppress the use of puinps, tubes automatic
distributors etc.
In the annexed drawing Fig. I is a front view and Fig. 2 a side view, looking from
left to right in Fig. 1 and showing the arrangement of such an apparatus.
a is the framing of the machine which may have any convenient form and which
supports an arbor 6 the extremity 61 of which is tubular, this arbor carries at its other
extremity a pair of fixed and loose pulleys cc' which may be replaced by a crank
handle.
Upon the arbor 6 is keyed a wheel d of convenient diameter, the spokes of which are
also tubular; only one of these spokes d for instance is in connection with the
ubular extremity bl of the arbor b. Round this wheel are arranged bellows e ele of
caoutchouc leather or other suitable material having moveable walls ff'f' which are
rched as shown. These bellows are arranged at regular intervals upon the periphery
of the wheel d and one of them communicates with the said hollow spoke d' whilst
hat which follows in the direction of the arrow Fig. I cominunicates alone with the
tmosphere and is alone capable of drawing in directly the surrounding air. g h are
wo cylinders or drums conveniently supported to travel over the wheel din
ournals g h mounted upon the framing a in which the arbors of the drums ah are
гр.

page_text: pressed down by springs g' h which cause the druins g h to bear upon
rims of the wheel d.
outer
The fixed wall i of each bellows is situated in the interior of the rim of the wheel
and is provided upon the greater part of its surface with a very thin imembrane
preferably made of a tissue of silk trented lightly with caoutchoue.
From the space below the diaphragin í of each bellows e e e ele, a tubej provided
with any kind of anti-return valve leads to the outer part above or outside of the
diaphragm of the following bellows.
The bellows e ele are distended by the action of springa.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows.
5
If by means of a crank or of the pulley c the wheel a receives a rotatory movement
in the sense of the arrow and if we suppose that at the moment where this rotation
begins, the bellows e which we will suppose to be the one which communicates with
the atmosphere, is filled with air this bellows will be compressed during its passage
under the drum h and the air which it contains will be driven out and sifted through 1
the film of the fixed partition of the bellows, this film according to the before
mentioned principle will let pass proportionately more oxygen than nitrogen in such
a manner that after this first passage there will arrive through the tube j in the
second bellows e a volume of gas which will be richer in oxygen than the surrounding
air the second bellows e' by arriving under the drum h will send into the third bellows e 2
a volume of gas still richer in oxygen than that which it recoived from the bellows &
and so on until the last bellows of the series.
During the compression of each of the bellows by the drum h the preceding bellows
which will be compressed by the said drum, is maintained compressed by the drum g
and in this manner the volume of gas which has been driven from the bellows which 2
is compressed, cannot in any case return to the bellows from which it has been driven
away.
When the thus progressively enriched gas bas successively arrived at the last
bellows of the series which as herein before stated communicates by means of the
spoke d' with the tubular part b' of the arbor b it has lost'a notable part of its previous
volume but it is composed for the larger part of oxygen, if not pure at least sufficiently
from nitrogen for many practical purposes.
After each compression and before each bellows escapes the action of the drum g
the mixture proportionately richer in nitrogen which remains in the anterior part of
the bellows escapes through any kind of automatic valve of which one is fitted to each
bellows to be opened by the passage under the drum g or otherwise, for the purpose
of releasing the air richer in nitrogen from the outer part of the bellows.
As each of the bellows leaves the drum g it is distended by the action of its spring
and sucks through the membranes of the preceding bellows back to the first bellows
of the series, the surrounding air which as before stated has direct admission only to
this first bellows. The compressions recommence then as before.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. An apparatus for dialysing atmospheric air through a consecutive series of
membranes of tissue treated with enontchouc for the purpose of extracting the oxygen
by the consecutive pasanges of the air through the said membranes.
2. In an apparatus of the kind above described the combination of a spoked wheel
mounted upon a tubular arbor the centre of which communicates with one of the
hollow spokes of the said wheel; a series of bellows arranged round the periphery of
said wheel the fixed wall of said bellows constructed of a membrane of tissue treated
with caoutchouc and so arranged that one of the said bellows communicates with the
Baid hollow spoke and the following bellows having regard to the rotatory direction of
the wheel communicates with the atmosphere, the said bellows being connected one
with the other by convenient tubes; also the two drums mounted over the said whee
10

page_text: against the periphery of which they press in order to consecutively compress the
bellows as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 28th day of August 1896.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
18 Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C., Agents for Applicant.