Improvements in Manufacture of Gas.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Jan., 1892-Accepted, 13th Feb., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Manufacture of Gas.
I, GEORGE MILES STUART WILSON, of No. 8 Russell Street, City of Toronto,
Province of Ontario, Canada, Gentleman, 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 manufacturing gas, of the variety in
which hydrocarbon oil is vaporized and combined with steam or water and air
for the production of the gas.
The invention consists in the improved construction of retorts for such apparatus
as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus complete, the immediate front
being broken away at the left of the centre to show the parts in the rear thereof,
and left standing at the right of the centre to show the relation and construction
of the front.
Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the apparatus with the rear plate removed and.
disclosing the retorts and their supply tubes and the boiler above the same.
Fig. 3
a cross section of the apparatus complete on a line corresponding
substantially to the line, x, Fig. 5, and looking toward the front of the
apparatus.
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the rear portion of the retorts and their connected
pipes and tubes and the boiler over the retorts.
Fig. 5 is a horizontal view looking down and taken substantially on line x, x,
Fig. 1.
Fig. 6 represents a central longitudinal vertical section of an embodiment of
the invention.
In the manufacture of gas from hydrocarbon oils one of the main difficulties
encountered in the production of the gas is the perfect decomposition of the
vapor so as to convert it wholly into a fixed gas. Usually it occurs in apparatus
designed for this purpose that a large percentage of the oil escapes in one form
or another with the waste product, leaving in many instances only a comparatively
small percentage actually converted into gas. It is desirable that the largest
available percentage should be converted, and the present invention is so con-
structed as to make this larger product available by reason of the arrangement
and construction of the retorts, the method of heating the same, and the com-
bination which is formed with steam and air in the retorts.
In the drawings A represents the inclosing wall of the apparatus, made of brick,
as usual, and provided with longitudinal stay-rods, a, running through the inter-
vening air space a', between the outer and inner walls from end to end, and
serving to secure the detachable end plates b, b, at the respective ends of the
furnace. This means of holding the end plates enables said plates to be readily
removed to give access to the retorts at either end and to the inside of the
furnace when occasion requires.
The retorts consist of five several pipes or tubes arranged as shown, and an inside
return pipe within the central upper tube. The three upper tubes 1, 2, and 3
occupy the full width of the inside of the furnace, set substantially against one
another along their contiguous sides and against the walls at each side, so as to
furnish a bed for a fire to be built upon the same, especially for heating the retorts
upon their upper sides and serving at the same time to heat the boiler C. The
commingled oil, air, and steam are forced into these retorts as shown. Thus
I provide a steam supply pipe c, which enters a pipe c', projecting through the back

page_text: plate of the furnace and entering the rear extremity of the outer upper tubes
and 3. Suitable valves on the steam pipes serve to govern the flow of steam,
which is admitted under the necessary pressure in the form of a jet into the pipe c'.
Air likewise is admitted under valve control to the pipe c¹ through the small
pipes, and oil under suitable control is admitted through the extension of the
pipe c', and the pipe d', as shown, the air and the oil making their entrance into
the pipe c¹ in front of the jet of steam, so as to be carried by the force of said jet
forward through said pipe c¹ into the respective tubes 1 and 3. The steam will of
course contribute to the atomization and vaporization of the oil, immediately in
coming in contact therewith, and the oil, steam, and air issue together into the
tubes 1 and 3 through perforated or other suitably constructed nozzles c¹ within
said tube, said nozzles serving to break up and spray the oil, air, and steam or the
vapor of the oil, as it may be admixed with the air and steam at this point.
This compound or admixture is now in condition to be converted into a fixed
gas by a proper decomposition in the retort tubes, and said tubes are heated to
a sufficient degree to produce this result. To accomplish this result exposure
to the requisite degree of heat and a considerable distance of travel of the gas
is required to make the decomposition complete. Hence the gas travels first the
full length of the tubes 1 and 3 to the front ends thereof, whence it is conducted
through the elbows 4 to the lower tubes 5 and 6.
The gas then travels back the
full length of said tubes to the rear ends thereof, whence it passes through the
elbows 7 into the middle upper tube 2. Here it is required again to traverse
the whole length of the said upper middle tube to the front end thereof, where it
flows into the interior smaller pipe or tube 9, supported centrally within said tube 2
on suitable supports, 10, so constructed as to permit the gas to flow freely through
them. Through this inner pipe 9 the gas flows into the discharge tube 11, which
goes to the washer. In this way I get such perfect exposure of the gas to the heat
of the furnace and detain the same such length of time within the retorts as to
practically decompose all the hydrocarbon vapor and convert the same, with the
air and steam, into a fixed gas which is exceptionally clean and free from
condensation.
In operation, and by reason of the perfect exposure of the retorts to a practically
even heat upon all sides, the retorts become, uniformly red, even to the small
internal pipe 9, and there is no point at which the heating is not even and perfect
after the gas enters the rear ends of the pipes 1 and 3. It may be said that the gas
enters these pipes at the coolest place in the furnace, if there be one place cooler
than another, because these extremities lie just behind the side flues g, through
which the products of combustion from the fire-place beneath the retorts pass up
over the retorts and beneath the boiler, and thence forward under the boiler to the
front thereof and up and out of the flue, which is at the immediate front of the
apparatus, as seen in Fig. 1. Suitable cross-bars k, are fixed in the furnace at
intervals, upon which the retorts rest, and a sufficient space is left between the
upper surface of the three upper retorts and the concave bottom of the boiler to
maintain a fire therein to heat said retorts above and to heat the boiler, as before
described. Each retort is provided at its end with a removable plug l, projecting,
preferably, through corresponding openings in the front and rear plates of the
furnace so as to be accessible for removal in the event a retort is to be blown out.
I have not found that even in a long use of the apparatus there is any serious
accumulation of carbon or other deposit within the retorts which requires removal ;
but in case any such deposit or accumulation should occur it is particularly con-
venient to clean the same by removing the plugs and turning on a volume of steam
through the steam supply pipes c, the steam in this case being available to blow out
the retorts and thoroughly cleanse them of all objectionable deposits.
It will be observed that by my construction I am enabled to expose a large area
of the retorts to the heat of the furnace both from above and below, and that
I cause the gas to traverse the entire length of the furnace four different times
before it is permitted to escape. This exposure and detention of the gas is essential

page_text: to its perfect decomposition and admixture, and when it returns finally through the
inner tube 9, which, as before stated, becomes red hot, it passes through said tube
in a materially compressed form by reason of the small diameter of the tube, and
this gives such final exposure that the work of decomposition is successfully accom-
plished. A door m in the front plate gives access to the fire place or chamber
beneath the retorts, and a door n gives access to the fire chamber above the retorts
and beneath the boiler.
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 what I
claim is :
1. In a gas apparatus, a series of retorts 1, 2, 3, the retorts 1 and 3 arranged in
substantially the same direction within the furnace, being provided with supply
pipes at their rear ends, two separate retorts 5 and 6, also extending in substantially
the same direction as retorts 1, 2, 3, and each having one of their ends communi-
cating with the front ends of retorts 1 and 3, respectively, and their other ends
communicating with the rear end of retort 2, and an outlet pipe 9 within the
retort 2, leading from a point near the front end of said retort and extending
through to the rear end thereof, substantially as shown and described.
2. In a gas apparatus, a series of retorts 1, 2, 3, arranged side by side in a
horizontal plane, so as to form a fire-bed, the retorts 1 and 3 being provided with
suitable supply pipes at their rear ends, two separate retorts 5 and 6 beneath said
series and on opposite sides of the furnace, the retorts 5 and 6 having one of their
ends communicating with the front ends of retorts 1 and 3, respectively, and their
other ends communicating with the rear end of retort 2, and an outlet pipe 9 within
the retort 2, leading from a point near the front end of said retort and extending
through to the rear end thereof, substantially as shown and described.
Dated this 21st day of December 1891.
GEORGE MILES STUART WILSON.