IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CHLORINE
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Deacon, of Widnes, in the County of
Lancaster, Alkali Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CHLORINE.
"
Sealed the 15th November 1870, and dated the 13th September 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Deacon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th September 1870.
I, HENRY DEACON, of Widnes, in the County of Lancaster, Alkali
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CHLORINE," to be as
follows:-
According to this Invention I employ a column or tower or a number
of columns or towers connected together in a series, and made of iron
or brickwork, or of both, or of any other suitable material filled with some
active reagent, or with tiles, bricks, or pieces of burnt clay, or other
suitable material soaked with a solution of such reagent; and through
these columns or towers I cause to pass a heated mixture of hydrochloric

page_text: acid gas and atmospheric air or oxygen, whereby chlorine is produced
from the hydrochloric acid gas. The columns or towers may be surrounded
by suitable coverings, or air spaces, or flues for the purpose of preventing|
loss of heat or of imparting or regulating the heat as the circumstances
of the manufacture require.
The active reagent may be sulphate of copper, as described in Letters
Patent granted to me for improvements in the manufacture of chlorine,
and dated 29th April 1868, No. 1403, but this apparatus is not limited
in its use to sulphate of copper. Where the heated gases enter amongst
the materials filling these towers, and chlorine begins to be liberated
more or less deposit of iron oxide, or chloride of iron or dust usually
takes place, which by accumulation will fill up the interstices and
prevent the passage of the gases. I therefore pass the gases first through
-bricks-arranged-with-vertical-spaces_or_through_vertical_pipes_supported
over a vacant space, the bricks or pipes having been first saturated with
sulphate of copper or other active reagent; the dusty substances formed
or deposited from the gases will fall through the vertical openings and
descend into and remain in the vacant space below them, and from time
to time can be withdrawn therefrom and the free passage of the gases is
thus preserved. When the gases are overheated some of the active
reagent is liable to be sublimed, and when the gases are too cool the
action is retarded to avoid these irregularities as much as possible. I fill
a small separate column or tower with brick or other suitable material
not impregnated with any reagent. This filling, by absorbing or giving
out heat, according as it is cooler or hotter than the passing current
of gases, keeps the gases issuing from it more nearly at an average
temperature.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Deacon in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DEACON, of Widnes, in the County of Lancaster, Alkali Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy
, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Deacon, Her special license, that
I, the said Henry Deacon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Henry Deacon, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF CHLORINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Henry Deacon, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing, under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Deacon, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement
of apparatus to be employed in the manufacture of chlorine, and consists
essentially in the employment of a column or tower, or a number of
columns or towers connected together in a series, and made of iron or
brickwork, or of both, or of any other suitable material filled with some
active reagent or with tiles, bricks, or pieces of burnt clay or other
suitable material soaked with a solution of such reagent; and through
these columns or towers I cause to pass a heated mixture of hydrochloric
acid gas and atmospheric air or oxygen, whereby chlorine is produced
from the hydrochloric acid gas. The columns or towers may be sur-
rounded by suitable coverings or air spaces or flues for the purpose of
preventing loss of heat or of imparting or regulating the heat as the
circumstances of the manufacture require.
The active reagent may be sulphate of copper, as described in Letters
Patent granted to me for "Improvement in the Manufacture of Chlorine,
and dated Twenty-ninth of April One thousand eight hundred and sixty-

page_text: eight, No. 1403, but this apparatus is not limited in its use to sulphate
of copper. Where the heated gases enter amongst the materials filling
these towers, and chlorine begins to be liberated, more or less deposit of
iron oxide or chloride of iron or dust usually takes place, which by
accumulation will fill up the interstices, and prevent the passage of the
gases. I therefore pass the gases first through bricks arranged with
vertical spaces, or through vertical pipes supported on a grating or per-
forated plate over a vacant space, the bricks or pipes having been first
saturated with sulphate of copper or other active reagent the dust-like
substance formed or deposited from the gases will fall through the
vertical openings, and descend into and remain in the vacant space
below them, and from time to time can be withdrawn therefrom, and
the free passage of the gases is thus preserved. When the gases are
overheated some of the active-reagent-is-liable-to-be-sublimed,-and-when
the gases are too cool the action is retarded. To avoid these irregu-
larities as much as possible I fill a small separate column or tower with
brick or other suitable material not impregnated with any reagent. This
filling by absorbing or giving out heat, according as it is cooler or hotter
than the passing current of gases, keeps the gases issuing from it more
nearly at an average temperature.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in both
Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a sectional elevation of one
form of my apparatus taken along the line 1-2, in Figure 2, and
Figure 2 is a corresponding sectional plan taken along the line 3-4, in
Figure 1.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I are a series of towers constructed of
iron or other material through which the heated gases pass. The first
or lowest portion of the first tower or the whole of the first or more
towers are filled with the impregnated materials arranged with vertical
spaces, and I find the ordinary agricultural drain pipes of small bore
convenient for this purpose.
The other towers are filled with the impregnated materials in small
pieces, spherical, flat, or mere shreds of burnt clay. The object being
to obtain the largest possible surface over which the gases pass in the

page_text: smallest bulk consistent with sufficient passage room for the gases to
prevent the necessity for an inconveniently great draught or pressure to
propel the gases. P, P, are the vacant chambers or spaces into which
the dust-like substance from the interstices in the towers above descend
through the open grating or perforated plate Q, and are therein collected
and removed as required.
Preceding the towers may be used the apparatus O, which I call a
"heat regulator;" it is constructed of the same material as the towers,
and is filled with ordinary bricks set open or reticulated.
Its office is
to prevent sudden changes in the temperature of the gases reaching the
towers. The contents of this "heat regulator" either receive or impart
heat as the gases increase or decrease in temperature, and to this extent
"regulate" the temperature of the gases passing through it. I prefer
this regulator to be apart from the rest of the apparatus to avoid trans-
mission of heat by conduction.
In the examples shown the gases enter by the pipe K and leave by M,
following the course indicated by arrows, ascending one tower and
descending the next, and so on. The towers and "heat regulator" may
be surrounded with brickwork, in which are left the flues L, com-
municating with fire-places N, N. These fires and flues are not neces-
sarily to be used as sources of heat, but surround the towers with a
heated envelope, so that the loss of heat from the towers themselves.
may be regulated as desired or prevented altogether. The temperatures
of the various parts are ascertained by pyrometers, or in any convenient
manner.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The application and use of a vertical column or tower, or of
a number of vertical columns or towers connected together in a series
filled with some active reagent, or with tiles, bricks, or pieces of burnt
clay or other suitable material soaked with a solution of such reagent,
substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described.
Second. The surrounding the herein-described column or tower or
columns or towers with suitable coverings or air spaces or flues for the

page_text: purpose of preventing loss of heat or of imparting or regulating the
heat as the circumstances of the manufacture require.
Third. The use of the herein-before referred to saturated bricks or
pieces of burnt clay or other suitable material arranged with vertical
spaces, or the use of vertical pipes saturated as described supported over..
a vacant space or chamber below so that the dust-like substance formed
or deposited from the gases may fall through the vertical openings,
and descend into and remain in the vacant space below them until
withdrawn therefrom.
Fourth. The application and use of a "heat regulator" as and for
the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Deacon, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.