Improvements in Compound Bodies or Substances for Producing Automatic Ignition of Combustible Gases.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 13th July, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 13th July, 1898-Accepted, 17th Sept., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Compound Bodies or Substances for Producing
Automatic Ignition of Combustible Gases.
I, LÉON PIERRON, of No. 104, Rue Marie Therese, Brussels, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Chemical Engineer, 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:-
The object of this invention is the production of compound bodies or substances
capable of effecting the automatic ignition of gases by producing a condensation
or a combination with the oxygen of the air, resulting in a high increase of tem-
perature the purpose in view being to produce an igniting body or substance not
requiring to be withdrawn from the flame by mechanical means immediately after
the ignition has been effected.
Endeavour has long been made to attain this object by purely chemical means
or by chemical and mechanical means combined by utilizing the well known pro-
perties of spongy platinum (or of the spongy product of metals of the same group)
or by use in conjunction therewith of mechanical devices having for their object
to render its action more efficient and lasting.
However up to the present time the production of igniting bodies or substances
sufficiently serviceable for practical purposes has not been attained owing to the
fact that the spongy substance obtained readily agglomerated and lost its properties
or was carried away by the current of gas or else required a preliminary heating
in order to ensure its action.
With the object of remedying these defects it has been proposed to divide the
igniting mass by means of inert matters but if experiments made in this direction
be examined it will be immediately noticed that matters of the most diverse nature
have been used without regard to any property but incombustibility and porosity
no consideration being given to their chemical composition. Moreover the
efficiency of the bodies or substances thus produced has always been destroyed by
secondary reactions in consequence of which they have been found unfit for prac-
tical use.
The researches which I have made in order to determine the exact cause of these
failures have led me to discover means whereby the secondary reactions may be
pravanted.

page_text: For this purpose the body serving to effect the ignition must be formed by the
intimate union of two elements or matters capable of producing the effects or
having the properties stated in the following.
A. A porous or finely divided matter or product (or mixture of matters or pro-
ducts) constituting in some manner a support serving to prevent agglomeration
of the second product. This matter or product or mixture of matters or products
I term the supporting element.
B. A matter (or mixture of matters) possessing the property of causing the gas
to unite with the air so as to produce ignition and combustion. This I term the
igniting element.
GROUP A SUPPORTING ELEMENT.
Proceeding from this principle that the igniting body must always remain in
the same conditions previous to and after the ignition and even after a long
exposure in the flame it is necessary that the compounds of this group be
1. Either a single infusible body or matter non-volatile unalterable in the
presence of air and not susceptible of reacting on the body or substance of the
group B in the presence of which it is used.
2. Or a mixture of several bodies or matters possessing these properties and
being non-susceptible of reacting upon each other or of reacting upon the bodies
or matters of the group B.
Up to the present time compounds have always been chosen which do not realize
these conditions and which contain either large quantities of matters capable of
reacting one on another or small quantities of matters which sooner or later give
rise to secondary reactions.
Numerous substances fulfil the conditions above indicated. Examples of such
substances are the oxides of silicium zirconium titanium niobium tungsten
molybdenum tantalum vanadium aluminium iron manganese etc.
In the preparation of them the natural products (a combination of the oxides
with alkalis alkaline earths etc.) may be taken and be subjected to the action of
acids and purified washed etc. as in the operations of analytical chemistry whereby
these matters are obtained in a pure state.
They then fulfil the desired conditions.
Another method of preparation is to take the products resulting from precipi-
tation and thorough washing of the said matters and make them into a paste with
an organic compound and afterwards to mould dry and calcine the whole.
GROUP B IGNITING ELEMENT.
The bodies or matters which I class in this group have been long known. They
are obtained by reducing according to known methods the metals of the platinum
group palladium ruthenium osmium rhodium iridium gold siver etc. use being
made of salts of these metals in which they play the part of a base as in chlorides
nitrates sulphates organic salts double salts of ammonia etc. or salts in which the
metal forms part of the acid-radical for example-platino-cyanide of ammonia etc.
The product or compound for effecting the ignition may receive various forms
for instance it may be in a solid form or in the form of powder or paste or liquid
or tissues or threads.
IGNITING SUBSTANCES.
I have herein before indicated the method of preparing what I term the support-
ing element.
The igniting substances are prepared
(a) By taking supporting elements obtained either by starting with natural
products in forms appropriate for their future use (such as cylindrical circular
cubic parallelopiped etc.) or obtained by starting with moulded and calcined
products.

page_text: These supporting elements are immersed in a solution or a mixture of
solutions of igniting elements. The time required for the imbibition may
be ascertained by occasionally taking a sample and reducing and assaying
the same in order to see whether it possesses the necessary igniting properties.
When the proper point is reached the product is reduced according to known
methods and the final substance is ready.
(b) Instead of proceeding in this way a paste may be made which is moulded
and subsequently redwood

page_text: (d) a mixture of an oxide of the group A with an oxide of the group B
and a salt of the group B.
(e) a mixture of an oxide of the group A with an oxide of the group B
and an entirely volatilizable liquid.
These igniting threads or tissues are applied after drying and are not calcined
until after they have been put in place."
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I claim:
First Compound bodies for effecting automatic ignition of gases consisting
of one or more known bodies with a base of platinum or of metals of the same
group (igniting element) capable of causing the gas to so combine with air as to
produce ignition and combustion such as spongy platinum and of a supporting
element or substance such as oxides of silicium zirconium titanium niobium tung-
sten molybdenum tantalum vanadium aluminium iron manganese etc. or other
bodies infusible under the conditions of use non-volatile unalterable in the presence
of air and incapable of reacting upon each other or upon the igniting element the
said bodies or substances being employed in a porous or finely divided state either
alone or in combination with each other.
Secondly-In a compound body or substance for effecting automatic ignition
of gases the use as a supporting element for preventing the igniting element
from agglomerating of oxides of silicium zirconium titanium niobium tungsten
molybdenum tantalum vanadium aluminium iron manganese etc, separate or mixed
the said oxides being obtained in an absolutely pure state either by starting with
the natural products to which the desired shape is given and subjecting them to the
requisite chemical operations or by precipitation and washing the pure oxides
being in the latter case mixed with an organic component in order to form a paste
which is subsequently moulded dried and calcined substantially as herein before
described.
:
Thirdly Compound bodies or substances for effecting automatic ignition of
gases comprising an igniting element formed of one or more known bodies capable
of effecting the ignition and a supporting element fulfilling the conditions stated
in the first and second claims in a solid or powdered state obtained by reduction
or calcination of a mixture of the said two elements taken in solid or liquid form
substantially as hereinbefore described.
Fourthly: Compound bodies or substances for effecting automatic ignition
of gases after having been subjected to the action of heat the said compound
bodies or substances comprising an igniting element formed of one or more known
bodies capable of effecting such ignition and a supporting element fulfilling the
conditions stated in the first and second claims in the state of a liquid a paste a
tissue or a thread and obtained by a mixture of the said two elements taken in
a solid or liquid form substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this Thirteenth day of July 1898.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.