other Products, and in Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Oct., 1887
Specification Accepted, 8th Nov., 1887
other Products, and in Apparatus therefor.
I HARTLEY KENYON of No. 70 Barrett Street, Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Manufacturing Chemist, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention relates principally to the production of illuminating gas and has for
its principal objects to increase the quantity of gas and of resulting ammonia and to
produce gas which can be more readily purified than gas as ordinarily produced.
In the ordinary production of coal gas only about 14.5 per cent. of the nitrogen is
collected as ammonia and 1.5 as cyanogen 36 per cent. being left in the gas and 48
in the coke. In former inventions for which Letters Patent number 1015 and 1016
of the year 1886 have been granted to me I heated steam and hydrocarbons in hot
chambers and discharged the vapours so produced into other chambers in which coal or
gas producing material was being distilled. In the prosecution of my experiments I have
found that better results can be obtained when the vapours are heated to a greater
extent than was possible in the said patented apparatus. According to my present
invention I employ nests of connected retorts one retort in each nest being used to
heat the steam and other matters. This retort which I will term the heating retort I
prefer to make of fire bricks and to build it immediately over the furnace. The wall
of this retort encloses a heating coil which can be placed in communication with any
gas producing retort in the nest. The gas producing retorts are heated to about
$50° to 1150 Centigrade. The retorts are coupled together and connected with the
hydraulic main by means of boxes which can be flooded or emptied so as to act as
valves to close and open the passages for the flow of gas as in the case of my said
former inventions. In my present apparatus I couple the retorts together so that the
gases from one retort in a couple can be passed into the other retort before being
passed into the main. Taking for example a nest of six retorts No. 1 may be coupled
with No. 4, No. 2 with No. 5 and No. 3 with No. 6 and the retorts be charged at
intervals of forty minutes but I do not confine myself to this number of retorts nor to
the stated intervals between the chargings. When commencing operations I charge

page_text: No. 1 retort and pass the gases evolved into No. 4 for the space of about one hour.
Steam is then passed into the heating coils in the aforesaid heating retort the steam
carrying forward such matters or products as paraffins hydrocarbons from Jenneson's
coke ovens or from blast furnaces, the spirit from shale and well oil the gas from oil
wells and hydrogen derived from any source. When desiring to produce gas which
can be readily purified I pass a polysulphide forward with the steam preferring to use
an ammonium polysulphide. In some cases air is carried forward by the steam. The
steam mingled with vapours or gases becomes highly heated in its passage through
the coils in the heating retort and is passed into No. 1 retort and mingles with the
evolved gases the mingled gases and vapours or gasified hydrocarbons passing into
No. 4 retort which is highly heated. The paraffins are "split up" into hydrocarbons
of the so termed "auromatic series" and into hydrogen a mixture of coal and oil gases
passing over into the main. When steam is employed in quantity sufficient or not
much more than sufficient to carry forward the hydro-carbons through the coils and
retorts gas of a high illuminating power is produced. By increasing the proportionate
quantity of steam a larger quantity of gas of less illuminating power is produced. At
about two hours after the charging of No. 1 retort No. 4 is charged and the evolved
gases and vapours are passed into No. 1 retort and are acted upon by the highly heated
retort and the remains of the charge which are becoming incandescent. The steam
paraffins and volatile bydrocarbons usually passing over in the form of tar are converted
into hydrogen carbon and the hydrocarbons of the said auromatic series—the hydrogen
being nascent. Owing to the high temperature nitrogen is produced in large quantity
and is taken up by the hydrogen. After an interval say of about one hour from the
charging of No. 4 retort the heated steam and gaseous vapours from the heating retort
are passed into the No. 4 retort and thence into No. 1 retort this being continued for
say another hour when about 75 per cent. of the nitrogen originally contained in the
charge in the last named retort will have been recovered. The spent coke is now
withdrawn from No. 1 retort which is recharged. The other pairs of retorts are worked
in the same manner. In practice I should charge No. 2 retort forty minutes after
No. 1 then in forty minutes 1 should charge No. 3 and so on so that in three hours
and twenty minutes all the retorts would be at work. When the charge contains 1.75
per cent. of nitrogen and upwards more ammonia is produced than is required to take
up the carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen. The gas passing over is washed
with water to remove the ammonia and ammoniacal salts and when polysulphide has
been used as aforesaid is passed to the holder without the necessity for the ordinary
purification with lime or oxide of iron a great saving in cost of production being
thereby effected. The production of ammonia is greatly increased. When desiring
to increase the production of ammonia carbonic acid and hydrocarbons of the auromatic
series I charge the retorts with slack rich in hydrogen nitrogen and oxygen along
with about an equal quantity of such matters as leather waste hair dried blood woollen
shoddy and the cuttings of hoofs and horses. In such cases the retorts are charged at
longer intervals. An increased quantity of steam and mingled hydrocarbons along
with air is passed through the retorts passing from one retort to the other in a pair as
hereinbefore described. Gas rich in benzene naphthalene phenols and other hydro-
carbons is evolved and an increased quantity of ammonia owing to the larger propor-
tion of nitrogen in the charge. The oxygen in the steam and air increases the
production of carbonic acid the latter combining with ammonia and being removed by
washing with water. The gas passing over I prefer to wash with heavy oil reduced to
the freezing point or thereabouts whereby benzene naphthalene phenol and other
hydrocarbons are absorbed the charged oil being afterwards distilled for the recovery
of the said matters. I do not claim this use of refrigerated oil as such use formed
the subject matter of Letters Patent No. 2801 of the year 1861. I do not confine
myself to the building of the heating coil within the wall of a brick retort so long as
a retort or a coil or arrangement of protected pipes capable of heating the steam and
mingled matters to a very high temperature is employed, my intention being that the
said mingled steam and matters shall pass into the gas producing retorts at a higher
temperature than the gases and volatilised matters being evolved from the charges and

page_text: this being so it is obvious that the heat of the products of combustion passing from the
furnace may be utilised to heat pipes or chambers through which the steam or steam
and hydro-carbons or matters may be passed before being admitted into the special
heating retort or heater which is in the hottest part of the furnace. As my object in
passing the polysulphide into the retorts is to produce gas which can be more readily
purified it is obvious that this part of my invention may be employed in cases wherein
the retorts are not coupled into pairs in the manner herein described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
(1) The process for the production of illuminating gas and other products in coupled
retorts worked in connection with a heating retort or heater the retorts in a pair being
charged alternately and the products from the last charged retort passed into the other
retort and the passing of steam and hydrocarbons or matters of the kind hereinbefore
indicated heated in the heating retort or heater into and through the last charged
retort into the other retort substantially as and for the purpose set forthi.
(2) In the production of illuminating gas passing a polysulphide along with highly
heated steam and with hydrocarbons and matters of the kind herein indicated into and
through the last charged retort in a pair into the first charged retort in the same pair
substantially as set forth.
(3) In the production of illuminating gas passing a polysulphide into the retort or
gas producer during the evolution of the gas for the purpose set forth.
(4) In the production of illuminating gas and other products the heating of steam
and hydrocarbons together to a high temperature and the passing of such heated
mixture through a pair of coupled retorts the mixture passing first into the retort last
charged substantially as set forth.
(5) In the production of gas and of benzene naphthaleno and other matters the
employment of steam mingled with hydrocarbons and in some cases with air the
mixture being highly heated and conveyed into a retort charged with coal slack and
with other matters of the indicated nature substantially as set forth.
(6) The apparatus for use in the manufacture of illuminating gas and other products
consisting of a nest of retorts connected together in couples in combination with a
heating retort coil or arrangement of pipes with connecting pipes and connections
whereby the apparatus may be worked substantially in the manner herein set forth.
Dated this 7th day of October 1887.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.