IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hugh Lee Pattinson Junior of Felling in the County
of Durham for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
LETTERS PATENT to Hugh Lee Pattinson Junior of Felling in the County
of Durham for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
DISTILLING COAL OR OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES IN ORDER TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hugh Lee Pattinson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd July 1883.
HUGH LEE PATTINSON Junior, of Felling in the County of Durham,
" IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING COAL OR OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES
IN ORDER TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS THEREFROM"
The object of my invention is to obtain or recover the valuable products such
as ammonia and tar which exist in coal or other like substances, and for this
purpose I construct apparatus as hereinafter described in such manner that the
process of converting the coal into gas is divided into two, in the one of which
the object is to make the coal yield its illuminating gas, while in the other the
gasification of the fixed carbon is effected.
My apparatus is constructed as follows:-Above a gas producer of any desirable
construction I superpose a chamber of cylindrical or other suitable form. Within
this chamber I place vertical retorts open at their lower ends and preferably
arranged in a circle.-They extend the whole vertical length of the chamber and
terminate at a suitable distance (say about 7 feet) from the bottom of the producer.
These retorts may either be hung from the top or as I prefer supported at their
lower ends or other parts by arches extending from the outer wall of the chamber
to a central support which extends to the bottom of the producer. This support
may be solid but I prefer to make it hollow, the producer being therefore of
annular form the air being introduced thereto by various ports situated around
the lower end of the annulus; this air may either be admitted from below or if
the central support be hollow it may pass down the same.
The heating of the retorts in the upper chamber may be effected in several
ways According to one way I allow the whole of the gas from the producer to
pass through holes in the arches which support the lower end of the retorts, thus

page_text: utilizing the heat before the gas escapes by any suitable exit at the top of the
chamber. The heat is supplemented if necessary by admitting air into the
retort chamber. According to another way none of the gas from the producer is
allowed to enter the retort chamber and this chamber is heated by waste gases
or other extraneous source of heat, the producer gas being conveyed away through
an exit below the retort chamber. According to a third way, some of the producer
gas is admitted by adjustable inlets to the retort chamber and therein completely
burnt while the rest of the producer. gas is conveyed away as in the second
arrangement.
The retorts are furnished with charging doors and with exit pipes at the upper
part and the pipes lead to an ordinary bydraulic. main or other apparatus for
treating the gas.
The working of the apparatus is as follows:-The producer is filled with fuel
up to the mouths or lower ends of the retorts. The retorts are also filled with
fuel which will therefore rest upon that in the producer. The fuel in the producer
is then ignited and air or steam and air are then injected into the bottom so that
the fuel therein is gasified in the ordinary manner. Distillation of the fuel in
the retorts is effected by any of the ways above described and the gas generated
therein is drawn off by the pipes' at 'the top and treated for its products in any
ordinary manner, being afterwards if necessary or desirable returned to the flue
leading from the retort chamber to be utilized in a furnace or otherwise. As the
fuel in the producer burns away, the coal or partially exhausted fuel in the retorts
gradually falls down to replace it and the retorts are themselves recharged from
time to time by the doors at the top. Thus the whole supply of fuel passes
through the retorts.
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page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Hugh Lee Pattinson in the Patent Office on the 23rd January
1884.
HUGH LEE PATTINSON Junior, of Felling in the County of Durham
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING COAL OR OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES
IN ORDER TO OBTAIN, PRODUCTS THEREFROM"
The object of my invention is to obtain or recover the valuable products such
as ammonia and tar which exist in coal or other like substances, and for this
purpose I construct apparatus as hereinafter described in such manner that the
process of converting the coal into gas is divided into two, in the one of which
the object is to make the coal yield its illuminating gas while in the other the
gasification of the fixed carbon is effected.
:
My apparatus is constructed as follows: Above a gas producer of any desirable
construction I superpose a chamber of cylindrical or other suitable form. Within
this chamber I place vertical retorts open at their lower ends and preferably
arranged in a circle. They extend the whole vertical length of the chamber
and terminate at a suitable distance (say about 7 feet) from the bottom of the
producer.
These retorts may either be hung from the top or as I prefer supported at
their lower ends or other parts by arches extending from outer wall to outer wall
across the producer or from the outer wall to a central support which may extend
to the bottom of the producer. This support may be solid but I prefer to make it
hollow the producer being therefore of annular form the air blast being introduced
thereto by various ports situated around the lower end of the annulus; this blast
may either be admitted from below or if the central support be hollow it may pass
down the same.
The heating of the retorts in the upper chamber may be effected in several
ways. According to one way I allow the whole of the gas from the producer to
pass through holes in the arches which support the lower end of the retorts
thus utilising the heat before the gas escapes by any suitable exit at the top of
the chamber. The heat is supplemented if necessary by admitting air into the
retort chamber. According to another way none of the gas from the producer is
allowed to enter the retort chamber and this chamber is heated by waste gases
or other extraneous source of heat, the producer gas being conveyed away through,
an exit below the retort chamber. According to a third way, some of the
producer gas is admitted by adjustable inlets to the retort chamber and therein
completely burnt while the rest of the producer gas is conveyed away as in the
second arrangement.
The retorts are furnished with charging doors and with exit pipes at the
upper part and the pipes lead to an ordinary hydraulic main or other apparatus
for treating the gas.
The accompanying drawings illustrate an apparatus constructed according to my
invention. Figure 1 is a vertical section Figure 2 a transverse section at right
angles to Figure 1, Figure 3 a plan and Figure 4 a horizontal section through the
line 1 - 1 of Figure 2. A A A is a gas producer which may be of any
desirable construction that shewn being what is known as a Wilson gas producer.
Above this producer is a chamber B within which are vertical retorts D D open at
their lower ends, 6 are shewn but there may be a greater or less number; they
extend the whole vertical length of the chamber B and terminate at a suitable.
distance (say about 7 feet) from the bottom of the producer A. They are supported

page_text: at their lower ends by an arch CC extending from the outer wall of the chamber
to a centre piece K. The retorts may either be built up of brick or be cylinders like
gas retorts or be built up of quarls or be of iron for part of their length and of fire
brick or quarls for the remainder or they may be fire clay retorts for part of their
length and bricks for the remainder. Their sides may either be perpendicular as
shewn, or one or more of their sides may taper outwards with the object of
preventing the coal sticking in the retorts. G is a chamber into which every retort
has an opening at its top, and this chamber is connected with a pipe H leading to
a gas washing apparatus which forms no part of my invention. II are doors in the
sides of the retorts' to give access to their interior in case of need. F F are gas
flues.extending the whole length of the chamber B, open at their lower end and
supported by the arch CC, these flues join at the top in a single flue M. In order
to allow this flue to pass the retorts and charging hoppers it is built in a space
made by sloping outwards the vertical side of the apparatus as shewn at SS. EE
are chambers or spaces between the retorts DD; these chambers are supported by
the arch C C and have holes e e (Figure 3) at their lower ends which can be closed
or adjusted at will and this may conveniently be done. by putting bricks on them
and removing such bricks; these bricks can be reached through holes made in the
sides of the chamber B just above the arch CC for the purpose of admitting air to
the chambers E E. These chambers cominunicate at their upper end with flues O
(one flue to 2 chambers) leading to chimneys P P which may either be connected
with flues leading to the main chimney of the works or preferably with a Siemens'
regenerator for warming the air used in the chambers E E, or under a boiler for
supplying steam to work the producer.
The working of the apparatus is as follows:-The retorts D D are filled with
coal which will rest upon the fuel in the producer A this being supposed to be full
of incandescent fuel. The gas from this fuel is partly carried away by the flues F F
while another portion of it is admitted into the chambers EE through the holes e c.
The coal in the retorts D D is heated not only by the combustion in the
chambers E E but also by the hot gas passing through the flues. F F. Consequently
the coal is distilled and the gas which is given off passes into the chamber G and is
carried away by the pipe H to be treated for its products. As the fuel in the
producer A burns away, the coal or partially exhausted fuel in the retorts gradually
falls down to replace it and the retorts are themselves recharged from time to time
at the top. Thus the whole supply of fuel passes through the retorts, the process of
converting the coal into gas being divided into two but being at the same time
continuous that is to say all the illuminating gas or so much gas as is eliminated
simply by the heat in the retorts is obtained from the retorts separate from the gas
which is produced by the oxidation of the fixed carbon in the producer A.
The holes marked R R leading into the gas flues F F are for the purpose of
admitting air to these flues to burn out any carbon that may collect therein when
the apparatus is working; the air for this purpose should only be admitted when
the apparatus is not at work
The centre piece K of the apparatus is shewn as solid and hexagonal the walls of
the retorts resting on it and supporting it. But when I apply my invention to a
gas producer which is not of the Wilson type I make the centre piece K hollow
and carry it down to the bottom of the producer through the arch C. The producer
thus becomes of annular form and the centre piece supports the arch C and the
retorts. This form of producer is preferable to that shewn because the span of the
archies is less. It is also better because the centre piece can be pierced with as
many holes as there are retorts for the admission of blast and thus the consumption
of coal in each retort will be so regulated as to be the same for each which is not
easily secured in a Wilson producer because the blast is admitted only on two sides
of the tuyere 'L.
+
The producer can then be made larger in diameter than the retort chamber B
thus giving space for a large mass of fuel and preventing clinkers hanging between
the centre piece and the sides of the producer."

page_text: The same result that is to say equal consumption of coal in all the retorts can be
obtained without using the centre piece by making the tuyere or pipe in the centre
of the producer fed from below and pierced with holes all round it.
Having now described the nature of my said invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed I declare that I claim :—
1-Constructing apparatus for distilling coal or other like substances in such
manner that in one continuous double process the illuminating gas or so much gas
as can be eliminated from the coal or other substances simply by the heat of the
retorts is obtained in the retorts while the gas obtainable by oxidation of the
carbon is formed in a producer or chamber below the retorts substantially as here-
in-before described.
2-Constructing apparatus for distilling coal or other like substances with two
or more vertical retorts open at their lower ends and arranged in a chamber above
a gas producer the fuel in the retorts resting on and falling with the fuel in the gas
producer substantially as herein-before described.
3. The general arrangements or combinations of parts hereinbefore described
and forming improved apparatus for distilling coal or other like substances in order
to obtain products therefrom.
In witness whereof I the said Hugh Lee Pattinson, Junior have hereunto set my
hand and seal this twentyfirst day of January One thousand eight hundred and
eighty four.
HL PATTINSON JUN³. (L.S.)