IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Mactear, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Chemist, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
112
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Mactear at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th March 1881.
JAMES MACTEAR, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Chemist.
"JMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE ALKALI MANUFACTURE."
This Invention has for its object to economise labor and time, and to obtain
improved results in that part of the alkali manufacture in which the newly formed
blackash is dealt with.
When sufficiently cooled, the blackash is lixiviated for the extraction of the
alkali, but being in large masses as ordinarily treated, a comparatively long time is
required for cooling, and the masses have to be broken at the expense of considerable
labor. In practise, the broken pieces are of very various sizes, and as the larger
pieces require a longer time for their lixiviation, the smaller pieces are in con-
sequence subjected to the solvent action longer than is necessary for them with the
undesirable result that some sulphides are dissolved, which would not occur to the
same extent with a more rapid lixivation.
By the present Invention a travelling or moving bed or table is provided to
receive the molten blackash as it is being delivered or withdrawn from the furnace
in which it has been formed, and this bed is moved at such a rate relatively to the
delivery of the blackash, as that the blackash may be deposited in a comparatively
thin layer (say, of about two to three inches in thickness) so that it can cool
quickly and also be easily broken up if it does not of itself fall into sufficiently
small fragments.
In one modification of the improved apparatus, the travelling bed consists of
endless chains fitted with trays or plates of iron or other suitable material, and
moved and guided by means of sprocket or polygonal wheels and guide rollers. In

page_text: many cases it will be convenient to arrange the travelling bed with an upward
inclination towards its outer end in order that at its outer end the blackash may
be delivered into wagons or bogies for conveyance to the lixiviating tanks. Two
or more endless travelling beds may be arranged in connection with each blackash
furnace to carry the blackash in different directions.
In another modification a rotating disk-like table is employed, being placed so as
to receive the molten blackash at one part and to discharge it at another part by
the action of stationary inclined plates or of moving rakes, the blackash being
received from the table either into wagons or bogies or upon an endless travelling
bed like that constituting the first modification. The rotating table may be cooled
by currents of water passed through pipes or jacket spaces formed in it or in
connection with it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Mactear in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th September
1881.
JAMES MACTEAR, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Chemist.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE ALKALI MANUFACTURE."
My said Invention has for its object to economise labor and time, and to obtain
improved results in that part of the alkali manufacture in which the newly formed
blackash is dealt with.
When sufficiently cooled, the blackash is lixiviated for the extraction of the
alkali, but being in large masses as ordinarily treated, a comparatively long time is
required for cooling, and the masses have to be broken at the expense of considerable
labor. In practice, the broken pieces are of very various sizes, and as the larger
pieces require a longer time for their lixiviation, the smaller pieces are in con-
sequence subjected to the solvent action longer than is necessary for them with the
undesirable result that some sulphides are dissolved, which would not occur to the
same extent with a more rapid lixiviation.
By my present Invention a travelling or moving bed or table is provided to
receive the molten blackash as it is being delivered or withdrawn from the furnace
in which it has been formed, and this bed is moved at such a rate relatively to the
delivery of the blackash, as that the blackash may be deposited in a comparatively
thin layer (say, of about two to three inches in thickness) so that it can cool
quickly and also be easily broken up if it does not of itself fall into sufficiently
small fragments.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of explanatory
Drawings to be hereinafter referred to, and representing modifications of my
improved apparatus.
One modification of the apparatus is shown on Sheet 1 of the accompanying
Drawings, Figure 1 being a plan, Figure 2 a sectional end elevation, and Figure 3
a side elevation. A second modification is shown on Sheet 2, Figure 4 being a
sectional side elevation, and Figure 5 a plan. In these Drawings the same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
In the modification shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, the end 6 of a revolving cylindrical
blackash furnace is delineated in Figure 3 with the discharge valve or door 7
downwards in the position for discharging the molten blackash. The travelling bed
on which the blackash is received consists in this example of endless chains 8 fitted
with trays 9 or plates of iron or other suitable material, and moved or guided by
means of sprocket wheels 10, 11 (or it might be polygonal wheels), and guide
rollers 12. In many cases it will be convenient to arrange the travelling bed or
endless series of trays with an upward inclination towards its outer end, in order
that at its outer end the blackash may be delivered into wagons or bogies for
conveyance to the lixiviating tanks. It is such an arrangement which is shown in
Figures 1, 2, 3, but only the higher and lower ends of the travelling bed are given, the
middle part being supposed to be broken away in order to reduce the length of the
Drawing; moreover, the actual length of the travelling bed will vary in different
cases. The higher end of the travelling bed is supported on pillars 13, and
girders 14 are made to extend from these pillars to intermediate pillars which are not
shown, such girders and pillars forming a framework and carrying the sprocket
wheels 10 and the various guide rollers 13. Below the girders 14 angle-iron
guides 15 are fixed to guide and support the inverted trays as they return towards
the furnace 6. The curvature of the links of the endless chains 8 will in passing

page_text: •
over the guide rollers 13 cause a slight jigging or shaking motion to be imparted to the
trays 9, which will act beneficially upon the blackash, and break it up or prepare it
for easily breaking up when it reaches the higher end of the travelling bed. At
the higher end the blackash falls down through a guide shoot 16 into a wagon or
bogie 17 placed below to receive it. The trays 9, as shown in the Drawings,
consist of flat iron plates having angle-iron sides or side flanges fixed to their edges,
and with staples or eyes fixed on their under sides for attaching them by to the
links of the endless chains 8, there being by preference three such endless chains in
the width of the travelling bed. The length of the travelling bed and the rate at
which it is made to travel must be relatively adjusted in each case, so that the
blackash layer may be of a convenient thickness, and so that it may become
sufficiently cooled to break up or be easily broken up when it reaches the higher or
further end of the travelling bed.
Two or more of the endless travelling beds may be arranged in connection with
each blackash furnace to carry the blackash in different directions.
In the second modification shown on Sheet 2 of the Drawings, a rotating disk-
like table 18 is employed, being placed so as to receive the molten blackash from
the furnace 6 at one part where an incline guide shoot 19 is provided to lead it
upon the table. The blackash is discharged from the table 18 when carried round
to another part by the action of a stationary inclined or curved plate 20, or it might
be by means of moving rakes, the blackash being received from the table 18 either
into wagons or bogies or upon an endless travelling bed like that constituting my
first modification. The rotating table 18 may be cooled by currents of water
passed through pipes or jacket spaces formed in it or in connection with it.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and original
and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the hereinbefore in
part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The combination with the blackash furnace employed in the alkali manufacture
of one or more travelling beds for receiving the blackash when discharged from the
furnace, the apparatus being arranged substantially as and for the purposes herein-
before described.
. 2. The employment in connection with the blackash furnace used in the alkali
manufacture of a rotating table alone or combined with one or more travelling
beds, the apparatus being arranged substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Mactear, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-one
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JAMES MACTEAR. (L.S.)