Improvements in Apparatus for Purifying Smoke.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Feb., 1895-Accepted, 30th Mar., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Purifying Smoke.
We, AUGUSTE GÉRARDIN and MAXIMILIEN RINGELMANN, both of
42 Boulevarde Bonne Nouvelle, Paris, in the French Republic, 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:-
This invention relates to apparatus for the consumption of smoke emitted from
furnaces used in the various industries.
The improved apparatus herein described attains the desired object, by two
distinct operations.
1. Reducing the temperature of the smoke (as it leaves the furnace) below
100 degrees Centigrade, i.e. cooling the particles in suspension and consequently
the gases which contain them.
2. Moistening the said particles by means of a small quantity of steam expanded
without pressure, for the purpose of increasing the weight of the particles in
suspension, so as to cause them to be precipitated.
And in order that our invention may be more readily understood we append
hereunto an explanatory drawing which is a longitudinal section of an apparatus
constructed in accordance with our invention, and adapted for operation in
conjunction with a boiler of any type.
In furnaces such as are used in the various industries the particles of soot are in
suspension in a very hot gas, (from 250 to 350 degrees Centigrade) the temperature
of which should be first lowered below 100 degrees as stated above.
As any reduction of the temperature of the products of combustion has for its
necessary effect to retard the draught, the requisite draught of air may be restored
by means of a suction fan or by a blast or injector arranged either at B in front of
the cooler D or immediately behind such cooler.
A is the boiler, or it may be any ordinary furnace or heating apparatus as at
present used, and without modification. The products of combustion set in motion
by the fan B, or the injector just mentioned, are conducted into an expansion
chamber C which may be built either of brickwork or of galvanized sheet iron.
This chamber is preferably vertical so as to facilitate the extraction of the soot
which collects in the first instance; such removal of soot may be effected by
means of water forced through the apparatus or by means of a suitably arranged
siphon.
The smoke, as it leaves the chamber C, passes into a cooler D arranged in the
open air, and consists, for example, of slightly inclined pipes so that it may be
cleaned from time to time by water being forced through it.
Syphons arranged at the lower part of the pipes of the cooler act as hydraulic
closing devices. The same applies to the chamber C.
This cooler D may be of any suitable description and assume any shape or
dimensions which may be suited for the special purpose for which it is required.
Such cooler, being erected in the open air, but covered over by a shed or roof, is
capable of rapidly cooling the gases traversing through it. Its action may be
accelerated by spray supplied from a watering tube n and descending either
directly upon the pipes D or upon sheets of cloth placed round such pipes.
In the latter case the cooling is produced by the evaporation of the water thus
discharged on the cloth. The pipes D may be arranged either for external or
internal water circulation.

page_text: The products of combustion, as they issue from the cooler D arrive in the
precipitating chamber E, after having come in contact with the steam jet v fitted
to the pipe t, being a branch either from the main boiler A or from an auxiliary
boiler, or, if preferred, from an escape or exhaust pipe (say in case of a steam
engine). This pipe t is provided with an expansion device d, so that only expanded
steam, without pressure, is allowed to reach v.
The soot is thus impregnated with moisture at v owing to the condensation of the
steam, with the result that its density increases and that it falls by its own weight
into S, while the gases arising from the furnace being completely freed from soot,
finally escape into the open air through the chimney F.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is―
Smoke consuming apparatus in which the products of combustion are cooled
down below 100 degrees Centigrade, where the weight of the particles of soot
contained in such products is increased by the condensation of steam expanded
without pressure; the result being to cause such moistened soot to descend by its
own weight into a reservoir provided for the purpose while the escape of any
gases from the chimney unless they are thoroughly freed from soot, is effectively
prevented.
Dated this 5th dox of Fahrver 100%
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., and
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents for the Applicants.