IMPROVE. MENTS IN THE GENERATION AND APPLICATION OF WATER GAS AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Peter Jensen at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 28th October 1881. A communication
from abroad by the European Water Gas Company Limited, Stockholm,
Sweden.
PETER JENSEN, of 33, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex. " IMPROVE.
MENTS IN THE GENERATION AND APPLICATION OF WATER GAS AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR." A communication from abroad by the European Water Gas
Company, Limited, Stockholm, Sweden.
In technical operations needing high temperature, for example, in open hearth,
cast steel, welding, puddling, and glass-furnaces, it cannot be avoided that the
products of combustion escape at a high temperature, which involves a considerable
loss of heat.
The aim of this Invention is not only to make use of this lost heat, but also in
the technical operations to produce a considerably higher temperature than has
heretofore been possible in other gas methods. The high temperature in the
furnace of combustion is obtained by the use of water gas, which by its combustion
gives about 570° F. (300° C.) higher temperature than common illuminating gas, and
about 1830° F. (1000° C.) higher than generator gas.
As is well known, steam is separated into its primary constituents hydrogen and
oxygen at a temperature of about 1830° F. (1000° C.). As in this present Invention
the dissolution of the steam is effected by the lost heat from the furnace of
combustion, the consumption of carbon is limited to the quantity needed to combine
the free oxygen with carbon so as to form carbonic oxide, wherefore also this
Invention aims at a considerable reduction in the consumption of coal in the
operations in question.
The principal parts of the apparatus used for the purposes of this Invention
consist in two systems of regenerators, filled with loose refractory bricks, and a
common generator above which is a hopper to receive and feed fuel in form of
dust or very small coal. By cause of the high inside pressure the whole apparatus
must be built into a tight case of sheet iron.
The apparatus may for instance be applied to an open hearth furnace placed
above it. The water gas is conducted to the furnace through a pipe which ought to
be provided with a heat non conducting cover for the purpose of maintaining the
temperature of the gas as much as possible. Before the entrance in the furnace the

page_text: gas is mixed with the air of combustion; the mixture emerges into the furnace
through a narrow slit extending over the whole width of it, when there results an
exceedingly vivid combustion. The products of combustion escape through the exit
flue and valve into the system of regenerators, and from this through a flue valve
and other flue to the boiler and chimney.
At the same time steam is introduced through a steam pipe into the system of
regenerators, where by means of the stored up heat it is dissolved in its primary
constituents and passes thence through flues and valve into the generator, where it
meets a rain of coal dust fed in by a special feeding apparatus from a hopper, at
which occasion the free oxygen unites with the coal dust so as to form carbonic
oxide, the hydrogen remaining unchanged. The temperature is now so high as to
prevent any considerable production of carbonic acid, but the small quantity that
may be generated is easily reduced to carbonic oxide at the passago of the gases
through the glowing pile of lump coal in the lower part of the generator from where
they ascend and pass off to the furnace of combustion. The lump coals are fed
down and preheated in their down passage before they arrive into the generator.
When the generators by the process of dissolution of steam are cooled down to a
certain degree the valves ought to be reversed, so that one set are closed and the
other set opened, then the products of combustion from the furnace of combustion
escape into the other system of regenerators and further through the flues to the
boiler and the chimney. The steam on the other hand is conducted through the
first named regenerators into the generators, and the generated gas from there to
the furnace.
In this way the valves are reversed from time to time, after the one or the other
system of regenerators has been cooled down to a certain degree. To facilitate the
-change-in-position.of.the valves two and two corresponding valves are combined
with a lever, so that when closing the one the other is opened. To avoid a frequent.
change of valves the regenerators have large dimensions, thus storing up a considerable
quantity of heat. In order to utilize the heat which radiates, in spite of the thick
walls, the air is conveyed through the space situated between the two systems of
regenerators where it takes up the radiating heat.
In order to regulate the flow of gas to the furnace of combustion there is a
small reservoir, which bowever in most cases is superfluous. There are doors for
cleaning and sliding doors or shutters for regulating the feeding of the fuel.
The valves to be used at such high temperatures must be specially constructed.
They are formed of fire brick or other refractory material round a strong cross of
wrought iron, the lower part of which is conically turned so as to fit in a ring
turned in the same way; in order better to effect the contact the stem of the valve
at its upper end is furnished with a wheel by means of which the body of the
valve can be turned in the ring. For the casy changing of a broken valve the
space above it is not filled up with brickwork, so that the valve after unscrewing
the cover plate is accessible. The valve must always be so high that when closed
its top is above the surrounding brickwork in order to prevent the stem from coming
in direct contact with the flame.
In operations where a lower heat is desired the gas can be diluted by introducing
gas at the top of the generator.
By these means the composition of the gas will be changed in such a way that
the amount of carbonic oxide is increased, and the gas diluted with an arbitrary
quantity of nitrogen depending upon the quantity of air introduced.