Apparatus for Generating Acetylene.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Feb., 1898-Accepted, 26th Mar., 1898
Apparatus for Generating Acetylene.
I, HERMANN OTTO MARCKS, of No. 10, Schöneberger Ufer, Berlin, Germany,
Merchant, 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 :-
My invention relates to apparatus for generating acetylene of that kind in which
the calcium carbide is caused to fall in definite quantities, proportionate to the desired
production of gas into a water receptacle.
The present improvements relate mainly to an arrangement whereby, according to
the gas production required, one or more rods or bars are drawn by a step by step
motion out of a gas generating chamber, so as to cause charges of carbide, preferably
in the form of cartridges, hanging on the said rods, to fall consecutively into water
situated below. Provision is made in this mode of operating for causing each carbide
charge or cartridge by a suitable guiding device, to fall accurately vertically into the
water, and each one at a different part of the latter.
On the accompanying drawing is shewn an arrangement for carrying out the said
invention; Figure 1 shews a side view of the apparatus partly in section, Figure 2 a
vertical section through the gas generator in combination with the device on the gas
holder for regulating the supply, Figure 3 is a plan of Figure 2 partly in section, and
Figure 4 a carbide cartridge to a larger scale.
Above the closed gas generating chamber a partly filled with water is a toothed
bar c carried on a support 6 and, as shewn at Figure 1, so guided that it can be moved
longitudinally but in no other direction.
With the toothed bar is engaged a ratchet pawl or catch & pivoted to a sliding rod e
which is guided in a straight line by a fixed guiding arm f, and carries a roller g
which is engaged in a slotted or looped bar h, which has its upper end formed with a
bend i.
This slotted or looped bar is carried by a bracket & fixed to the gas holder bell l.
If the gas holder contains sufficient gas, so that the bell is in the raised position, the
roller g will be situated in the straight portion of the slot h. When, however, owing
to the discharge of gas from the gas-holder, the bell has sunk to such an extent as
to cause the roller to pass into the curved portion i of the slot, the latter will cause
the rod e and its catch d to be drawn backward to an extent corresponding to the
curve of i, and the catch d will also draw the toothed bar c outward to a correspond-
ing extent. The toothed bar carries transverse arms m which are fixed to rods n that
pass through stuffing boxes n¹ into the gas generating chamber, so that when the
bar c is drawn one step outward, as described, on the sinking of the gas holder bell,
the rods n will be drawn to the same extent out of the generating chamber. On the
rods n are hung by means of loops, carbide cartridges o, so arranged that at each out.
ward movement of the rods, their ends will be drawn out of the loop of a cartridge o,
and this will consequently fall into the water below, and produce a fresh supply of
acetylene gas, which then passes through a pipe into the gas holder.
In order to cause the cartridges to fall vertically into the water, partitions o¹
Figure 3 are provided, which prevent them from moving in any other than the

page_text: vertical direction so that each one falls into the water at a different place. When
employing two rows of carbide cartridges as shewn, these are by preference so
. arranged that the cartridges of the one row are opposite the spaces between those of
the other row, so that on the withdrawal of the rods n as described, a cartridge will
fall alternately first from the one row and then from the other. On the rising of the
gas holder bell, the curved part of the groove will cause the rod e and catch a to be
moved forward again and the catch d will engage with another tooth of the bar c,
ready to draw this and the rods n outward another step when the bell sinks again.
It will be seen that by providing the bar h with a long slot, any desired quantity
of gas can be stored in the gas holder without affecting the carbide feeding device,
which is not possible with the arrangement of striking studs and tumbling levers
usually employed with feed devices of acetylene generating apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manuer the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In acetylene generating apparatus, supplying definite charges of calcium carbide
to the gas generating apparatus in proportion to the consumption of gas, by carrying
the said charges on rods or bars which receive a step by step motion from the bell of
the gas holder, so as to cause the charges to fall successively from the rods into the
water in the generator, at different parts thereof, substantially as described.
2. In acetylene gas generating apparatus such as is referred to in the first claim,
arranging the carbide charges or cartridges o in two rows, the charges of the one row
being shifted in position relatively to those of the other row so that cartridges will
fall alternately from each row into the water, substantially as described.
3. In acetylene gas generating apparatus such as is referred to in the first claim,
connecting to the bell of the gas holder a bar with cam-shaped groove or slot hi
which actuates a rod e and catch d, by means of which a toothed bar c and rods n
have the requisite step by step motion imparted to them for supplying successive
charges of calcium carbide to the water of the gas generator, substantially as
described.
Doted thin 1nt do
1000