Improvements in Apparatus for Producing Acetylene Gas.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 27th June, 1896-Accepted, 19th Sept., 1396
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Producing Acetylene Gas.
I FRANÇOIS PIERRE JOSEPH ACKERMANN of 2, Rue Grignan, Marseilles, in
the Republic of France, Engineer, 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 :-
The object of this invention is to produce an automatic apparatus for making
gaseous acetylene, based on the utilization of the oscillatory movement of water in
a fixed gas holder, this movement being determined by the difference between the
production and consumption, with a view to regulate automatically the quantity of
water necessary to produce the acetylene.
and
In the accompanying drawing,
Fig. 1 shows in vertical section, in diagram form, an apparatus for this purpose;
Fig. 2 is a complete elevation with certain parts, in section, of an example of
construction of a double apparatus.
Fig. 3 is a plan indicating a special arrangement of carburetting reservoir.
The apparatus consists of three vessels or receivers, A, B, C, which may be
separate or united together, or arranged one inside the other in any convenient
manner.
These receivers are placed at different levels, according to the pressure desired
at the outlet, the exigencies of the position, and whether the apparatus is to be
fixed or portable.
A is the generator of acetylene which contains the carburet, B is the fixed gas
holder, and C is the water reservoir.
The generator A is connected to the gas holder by two pipes a and e. The
pipe a connects the top of A with the top of B, and serves to conduct into the gas
holder B the gas produced in the generator A.
The pipe e connects the top of A with an intermediate point in the height
of the gas holder B, and serves as a passage for water intended to feed the
generator A.
The gas bolder B is connected, at its base, to a water cistern C by a pipe E,
and carries at its upper part a pipe D, provided with a cock d, and which serves
as outlet pipe for the gas.
The apparatus operates in the following manner :-
The cock d is opened, and the air and gas contained in B is driven out at the
pipe D by the pressure of the water coming from C.
When the water has risen to the level of the tube e, a small quantity runs into
the generator A, and causes a certain quantity of acetylene to be produced. The
gas thus produced arrests the upward movement of the water in B, and as the
pressure of gas increases, the water is forced down below the level of the pipe e.
As no water can then run into A, the production of gas is promptly stopped.
In this way, an oscillatory movement of rising and falling of the water, in
relation to the consumption of the gas, takes place in the gas holder B, and thus
an automatic regulation of the apparatus results with a production proportional to
the consumption..
Fig. 2 represents a construction of apparatus in which the gas holder B is
combined with two generators A₁ A³, the water connections being at different
levels, in order to obtain an uninterrupted working of the apparatus.

page_text: Suppose, now, that the tube el of the generator A¹ enters the gas holder B at a
lower level than the tube e² of the generator A, the generator A will work only
such time as it will take to exhaust the charge of carburet; then it will fill with
water, and the water level in the gas holder B will rise to the pipe e³, and the
generator A will then work.
The continuous production of acetylene can thus be assured, one generator being
recharged while the other is working.
It will be obvious that any number of generators may be combined with one
gas holder.
In order to prevent water being carried over with the gas, an apparatus F, of
any suitable construction, and capable of arresting the water, can be arranged on
the top of the gas holder B.
This apparatus may consist of a series of blades farranged to form a serpentine
path for the gas, and on which the water vapour will be condensed.
Any other arrangement of apparatus fulfilling the same end may be employed,
and the apparatus may, if desired, be situated intermediate of the inlet and outlet
of the tubes a a², or elsewhere, instead of on the top of the gas holder B.
Water gauges b and c will also be provided for the gas holder B and the
cistern C.
In order to regulate, in a precise manner, the automatic production of acetylene,
it is convenient to reduce as much as possible the quantity of carburet of calcium
to be acted on by the water, for the lime produced becomes hydrated at once, and
provides sufficient humidity to produce the gas without the addition of water.
With a view to obviate this inconvenience, I employ the arrangement of
generator represented at Fig. 3.
The generator or producer of acetylene is divided into a number of compart-
ments which communicate with one another only by small openings in the upper
part of the partitions.
Under these conditions, the water entering only one compartment, does not pass
to the next until it has exhausted the carburet in the first; consequently if the
carburet is distributed as equally as possible in all the compartments, the
production of one compartment may be limited, at will, in limiting its charge, and
in reducing or augmenting its capacity without, modifying, however, the total
capacity of the generator.
In a word, it is possible, without any danger, to employ generators containing
large charges of carburet, provided that the dimensions of the compartment and
its charge be proportioned to the capacity of the gas holder.
It may be noted that the arrangement shown at Fig. 3 is given only as au
example.
The partitions, instead of being radial, may be circular and concentric, or
rectilinear and parallel, or any other form that may be preferred.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
1 claim is
1st. An automatic apparatus for the production of acetylene, and consisting in
the combination of a fixed gas holder B, a water cistern C communicating with
the said gas holder, and of one or more gas generators A, each connected to the
gas holder by two tubes, one, a, serving to conduct, the gas produced to the gas
holder, and the other, b, connected to the holder at a lower level than the tube a;
and serving as the means whereby the water intended to decompose the carburet
flows into the generator, the whole operating as and for the purpose set forth.
2nd. In the apparatus forming the subject matter of Claim i, the use of one or
more generators divided up into compartments by suitable partitions, and communi-
cating with one another in such a manner that the water will pass to the next only
when the previous compartment is full, as herein set forth.

page_text: 3rd. As a practical realisation of the apparatus forming the subject matter of
Clain 1, the construction and combination of parts described with reference to
Fig. 2 of the drawing.
Deted thin 27th day of Tune 1000
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.