IMPROVEMENTS IN VESSELS FOR VAPOURIZING LIQUIDS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING THE EXPLOSION AND INCRUSTATION OF SUCH VESSELS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Joseph Kennelly, of 8, King's Bench Walk, in the
County of Middlesex, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VESSELS FOR VAPOURIZING LIQUIDS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING
THE EXPLOSION AND INCRUSTATION OF SUCH VESSELS."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said David Joseph Kennelly at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st April 1878.
DAVID JOSEPH KENNELLY, of 8, King's Bench Walk, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire. "IMPROVEMENTS IN VESSELS FOR VAPOURIZING LIQUIDS, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING THE EXPLOSION AND INCRUSTATION OF
VESSELS."
SUCH
My Invention consists in causing hydrocarbon, water, or other liquid intended 'to
be vapourized to be conveyed in a pipe through a vapour-tight metallic vessel,
which vessel I term a separator, by which the liquid is heated on its passage to
the vapourizing vessel or vessels, and is circulated in it or them on the principle of
the syphon through the separator, whereby the vapourizing power of the vessel
or vessels is increased, and their explosion and incrustation prevented.
In vapourizing the hydrocarbons it is customary to vapourize off to dryness the
charge of each "still," after which the "still" is allowed to cool down in order to
dig out and remove the bituminous residue or crust. This process of drying off,
cooling, and digging out is productive of loss in material, time, and labour.
By my method of circulating the hydrocarbon through the separator a pro-
longed feed can be maintained through one or many stills, while the heavier
hydrocarbons which go to form the residue or crust are by the action of the
separator led off into another receptacle to be further suitably dealt with.
In vapourizing water it is customary to deliver the feed in a cold state into the
boiler, each boiler having, when more than one, its own separate feed; the result is,

page_text: that when the feed is on, the pressure of steam becomes lowered in the boiler; and
in order to raise it again the furnace doors are opened so as to incite the furnaces to
greater energy, but with the further drawback of permitting an inrush of cold air
to impinge upon the boiler.
By my Invention the feed is warmed on its way to the boiler or boilers, and
when circulated in the manner I am about to describe will prevent their explosion,
while, by the action of the separator, combined with the cold feed contained in a
pipe passing through the separator, the impurities existing in the water arc
removed from the boiler or boilers, and their incrustation prevented, thus giving to
the boiler a longer life, and making it more effective and economical for raising
steam.
In a series of experiments in one, three, and five cylindrical boilers, fitted and
connected in accordance with my Invention herein described, the boilers being each
30 feet long by 3 feet in diametor, and loaded with a pressure of 60 pounds on the
square inch, the average quantity of water blown off from each boiler, whether
singly or in groups, was 20 gallons in 24 hours, as against 288 gallons in the like
period without my Invention applied, while at the same time the boilers were
found at the end of each periodical trial to be free from sediment and incrustation.
In order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now proceed
more particularly to describe the same by referring to the accompanying Drawings.
Figure I. of the Drawing is a plan of three stills or boilers having my improve-
ments applied to them.
Figure II is a longitudinal sectional elevation of one of the stills or boilers
having my improvements.
Figure III. is a transverse section of Figure I., over D, D, D.
Figure IV. is a transverse section of Figure I., over F, F.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
I place the separator C in any convenient position to the still or boiler B, and at
about the upper level of either. The capacity of C should be from about 20 to 30
gallons for boilers with an increased capacity for stills vapourizing hydrocarbons,
and capable of bearing the highest pressure of the still or boiler to which it is
attached, and where attached to one only C should have an alarm whistle fitted to
its upper part or cover.
The liquid to be vapourized is conveyed through the pipe A, which may be
straight, bent, or spiral-shaped, which pipe passes through C, heating the liquid:
thereby on its passage, and enters D a pipe leading from C, which pipe D circulates
the liquid received from A and from C by the pipe E, the long leg of the syphon
formed in B by the pipes G, F, D, E, and which pipe E descends into B at a
place behind the centre of B. The pipe A ends within the pipe D at about K,
where the feed mingles with the liquid circulating through C by the syphon
G, F, D, E, from B. The T pipe G, Figure IV., is situated at the front of the still
or boiler B at about the point of greatest ebullition in B, and is the shorter leg of
the syphon, and is furnished at each extremity of the horizontal with an enlarged
or bell-mouth N, the horizontal and bell mouths N, N, being situated a little below
the surface of the liquid undergoing vapourization in B, and the bell-mouths N, N,
should be of sufficient area to govern the ordinary rise and fall of the liquid within
B. The pipe G connects with the pipe F, F, which enters C at a point above the
position of the entry of A. The pipe A may also be passed through and out of C
so as not to enter D, but to run in a line with D, and enter it at a point between C
and the pipe E. The still or boiler B being at work vapourizing will by a well-
known law cause the liquid in ebullition to enter N, N, and ascend through G into
C, where, meeting the cold feed in A, the heavier particles of the circulating liquid,
whether of hydrocarbon or the impurities of water or other liquid, will become
separated and thrown down in the separator C, from which, at intervals, regulated
by the number of stills or boilers connected with C, such heavier particles and
impurities can be withdrawn through the pipe L situated in the lower part of C.
I have found when vapourizing water the interval sufficient for one boiler to be 24

page_text: The
hours, for two boilers at 12 hours, and for three to five boilers 8 to 6 hours.
hydrocarbon or water having in this manner become stripped of the heavy or
impure particles returns to the still or boiler B, by the pipes D and E, D having
an annular space for the distance within which A is carried through it. In this
manner, when more than one still or boiler B is connected with themselves and with
Cas in Figure I, equal volumes of liquid and equal pressures of vapour are main-
tained within the group of vapourizing vessels, whereby explosion is prevented in
any one still or boiler B, or all of them. Where there is one still or boiler B only
connected with C undue pressure of the vapour by the covering of the contained
liquid will be notified by the escape of vapour through N, N, and the T pipe G to
the aların in C.
When it becomes necessary to discharge from C the bituminous residue or
impurities collected within it the valves V, M, and K, should be closed, when it will
be found that sufficient pressure will be present within C to blow out its contents
through L, but, if necessary, further aid may be applied by slightly opening V
in F.
Where two or more stills or boilers connect with C, the pipe D, as in Figure III.,
is made to slope towards the farthest from C.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The method of heating the liquid to be vapourized by the part A, combined
with the parts C and D).
Second. The combination where applied to vapourizing vessel or vessels B,
whether for vapourizing hydrocarbon, water, or other liquid, as herein described by
me, as parts by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, K, L, M, N, and V.
Third. The vapour-tight metallic vessel C, called by me the separator, in its
application to liquid hydrocarbon and other liquid as herein by me described, but I
do not claim this vessel C for water.
In witness whereof, I the said David Joseph Kennelly, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this
day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
D. J. KENNELLY.
(L.S.)