IMPROVEMENTS IN CARBONIZING AND DISTILLING BONES AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lloyd Wise, of 7, Whitehall Place, in the City
of Westminster, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARBONIZING AND
DISTILLING BONES AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by
Messieurs Pilon, Freres, et Cie., of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lloyd Wise at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd July 1881.
WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of 7, Whitehall Place, in the City of Westminster.
IMPROVEMENTS IN CARBONIZING AND DISTILLING BONES AND OTHER SUBSTANCES,
AND APPARATUS THEREFOR, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES." (A com-
munication from abroad by Messieurs Pilon, Frères, et Cie., of Paris, France.)
This Invention has for object improvements in carbonizing and distilling bones
and other substances, and apparatus therefor, applicable also to other purposes.
The carbonization and distillation of bones or other matters are according to this
Invention effected in apparatus which has an intermittent delivery, and is so
arranged that the two processes or operations are conducted under conditions such
that the substances are gradually and progressively subjected to the action of heat
and to cooling. By such gradual and regular heating products can be obtained of
high quality. The process is especially advantageous when the product is one
designed to act by its porosity. The molecules not having been suddenly con-
tracted under the influence of a sudden and intense heat, their absorbing power is
greater, and their cooling having been effected under similarly graduated conditions,
their molecules retain greater power of cohesion and offer more resistance to shocks
and friction.
The process for the recovery of the products of the distillation of substances
susceptible of furnishing utilisable residual products is based on the fact that
the lower the temperature of the distilling apparatus at the moment of intro-
duction of the substance to be distilled the greater is found to be the proportion
of products that are condensed.

page_text: In one form of apparatus according to this Invention a flattened retort of fire
clay or cast iron of a slightly conical or tapered form is provided at its upper
part with a truncated inverted flattened cone of metal, carrying a pipe by which
the gases find their outlet to pass into the collecting pipe, and thence into the
condensing tube, which conducts such of them as do not condense into a chamber
or furnaces where they are burnt.
The inverted cone is itself surmounted by a funnel opening into its truncated
end; this funnel is provided at its lower part with a valve controlled by a rod.
The capacity of the funnel is calculated so as to furnish a quantity of material
equivalent to that which may be withdrawn at one operation from the lower part
of the furnace.
The retort is supported by a cast iron plate resting on one side on the lower
part of the furnace chamber, on the other on a girder which also partly sustains
the furnace wall.
From this plate is suspended a metallic prolongation or extension of the retort,
which serves to extinguish and also to cool the matters descending from the retort;
this prolongation is terminated at its lower part by a box or a distributing
apparatus, the capacity of which should be sufficiently small to permit at each
operation of the withdrawal of but a small portion of the material contained in the
retort and its prolongation.
Under this distributing apparatus is placed a moveable sheet iron box of any
suitable capacity, into which the carbonised and cooled matters fall at each
operation or stroke of the distributor.
A series of retorts thus constructed is placed in a reverberatory furnace, the fire
spaces of which may be arranged either at the sides or in the direction of the
length of the furnace between two rows of retorts.
Each retort delivers its gases into a common collecting tube or into a special
conduit; in this latter case the gases instead of being conducted into the furnace
by one or two tubes are emitted from as many tubes as there are retorts. The
tubes in which the condensation is effected traverse a water tank, and may be
arranged either vertically or horizontally; they are provided each at its lower part
with a small emptying tube dipping into the reservoir of the condensed liquids, and
it is by this tube that the condensed products find their outlet.
In operation the retort having being previously filled and the furnace brought to
the desired temperature, a certain quantity of manufactured material is withdrawn
by means of the distributor, and the valve in the funnel is opened to allow the raw
material with which the funnel is filled to fall into the inverted cone, the gas pipe
being momentarily protected against the entrance of the solid matters by the valve,
which is then raised and the funnel again filled.
The material which fills the funnel forms a sufficient obstacle to prevent the
gases taking any other passage than that of the outlet tube.
The operation is repeated at intervals.
It will be evident that the apparatus is applicable to other purposes besides
carbonisation and distillation, such, for example, as the revivification of charcoal
and the drying of various substances.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Lloyd Wise in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd January 1882.
•
WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of 7, Whitehall Place, in the City of Westminster.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CARBONIZING AND DISTILLING BONES AND OTHER SUBSTANCES,
AND APPARATUS THEREFOR, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES." (A com-
munication from abroad by Messieurs Pilon, Frères, et Cie., of Paris, France.)
This Invention has for object improvements in carbonizing and distilling bones
and other substances, and apparatus therefor, applicable also to other purposes.
The carbonisation and distillation of bones or other matters are, according to this
Invention, effected in apparatus which has an intermittent delivery, and is so
arranged that the two processes or operations are conducted under conditions such
that the substances are gradually and progressively subjected to the action of heat and
to cooling. By such gradual and regular heating products can be obtained of high
quality. The process is especially advantageous when the product is one designed
to act by its porosity. The molecules not having been suddenly contracted under
the influence of a sudden and intense heat, their absorbing power is greater and
their cooling having been effected under similarly graduated conditions, their
molecules retain greater power of cobesion and offer more resistance to shocks and
friction.
The process for the recovery of the products of the distillation of substances
susceptible of furnishing utilisable residual products is based on the fact that the
lower the temperature of the distilling apparatus at the moment of introduction of
the substance to be distilled the greater is found to be the proportion of products
condensed.
Referring to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation
partly in section of an apparatus according to this Invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical
transverse section of the same in line a, b, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a plan partly in
section. A is a flattened retort of fire clay or cast iron of a slightly conical or
tapered form, provided at its upper part with a truncated inverted flattened cone B
of metal, carrying a pipe C, by which the gases find their outlet to pass into the
collecting pipe M, and thence into the condensing tube N, which conducts such
of them as do not condense into a chamber E or furnace, where they are burnt.
The inverted cone B is itself surmounted by a funnel F opening into its truncated
end; this funnel is provided at its lower part with a valve G controlled by a rod.
The capacity of the funnel is calculated so as to furnish a quantity of material
equivalent to that which may be withdrawn at one operation from the lower part
of the furnace.
The retort A is supported by a cast iron plate H resting at one side on the lower
part of the furnace chamber, at the other on a girder, which also partly sustains
the furnace wall. From this plate H is suspended a metallic prolongation or
extension I of the retort, which serves to extinguish and also to cool the matters
descending from the retort. This prolongation is terminated at its lower part by
a box or a distributing apparatus J, the capacity of which should be sufficiently
small to permit at each operation of the withdrawal of but a small portion of the
material contained in the retort and its prolongation.
Under this distributing apparatus is placed a moveable sheet iron box X of any
suitable capacity, into which the carbonised and cooled matters fall at each operation
or stroke of the distributor. A series of retorts thus constructed is placed in a
reverberatory furnace, the fire spaces K of which may be arranged either at the
sides, as in Fig. 3, or in the direction of the length of the furnace between two

page_text: rows of retorts. Each retort delivers its gases into a common collecting tube M
(as shewn in the Drawings) or into a special conduit; in this latter case the gases
instead of being conducted into the furnace by one or two tubes are emitted from
as many tubes as there are retorts. The tubes N, in which the condensation is
effected, traverse a water tank L, and may be arranged either vertically, as in the
Drawings, or horizontally; they are provided, each at its lower part, with a small
emptying tube Y dipping into the reservoir of the condensed liquids, and it is by
this tube that the condensed products find their outlet.
In operation, the retort having been previously filled and the furnace brought
to the desired temperature, a certain quantity of manufactured material is with-
drawn by means of the distributor, and the valve G in the funnel is opened to
allow the raw material with which the funnel is filled to fall into the inverted
cone, the gas pipe being momentarily protected against the entrance of the solid
matters by the valve, which is then raised, and the funnel again filled.
material which fills the funnel forms a sufficient obstacle to prevent the gases
taking any other passage than that of the outlet tube. The operation is repeated
at intervals.
The
It will be evident that the apparatus is applicable to other purposes besides
carbonisation and distillation, such, for example, as the revivification of charcoal
and the drying of various substances.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which it is to be performed as communicated to me as aforesaid, I would have it
understood that what is considered to be novel and original, and is therefore
claimed as secured to me by the Letters Patent hereinbefore in part recited is,―
1. Effecting the carbonisation and distillation of bones and other matters in
apparatus which has an intermittent delivery, and is so arranged that the two
processes or operations are conducted under conditions such that the substances are
gradually and progressively subjected to the action of heat and to cooling, sub-
stantially as described.
2. The improved apparatus, consisting of one or more vertical retorts charged at
the top and provided with a lower metallic prolongation or extension serving as
extinguisher and cooler, the whole constructed, arranged, and operating substantially
as described with reference to the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lloyd Wise, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twenty third day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.