AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING GAS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edwin Stacey and James
Thomson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 22nd March 1869.
We, EDWIN STACEY, of No. 25, Princes Street, Cavendish Square, in
the County of Middlesex, and JAMES THOMSON, of No. 33, Arthur
Street, Clifton Road, Peckham, in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
AND APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING GAS," to be as follows:-
It is well known to those familiar with the manufacture of coal gas
that the formation or production of napthaline in the main and other
pipes has always been a source of great annoyance and inconvenience,
and that many methods, more or less expensive and all ineffectual, have
been from time to time adopted to get rid of it.
In the ordinary process of purifying gas the same leaves the condenser
carrying with it more or less napthaline, the greater portion of which

page_text: remains in suspension in the gas till the sulphur is removed therefrom,
when it commences to be deposited and chokes or clogs the main and
service pipes to such an extent that in a little time the same are no
longer capable of permitting the necessary quantity of gas to
pass
through them. In the said ordinary process the tar and ammoniacal
liquor are separated from the gas before the same enters the condenser.
In practising my Invention I allow the tar and ammoniacal liquor to
pass with the gas through the condenser, which I construct with a series
of horizontal pipes through which the gas passes above the tar and
ammoniacal liquor, the temperature of the said pipes being gradually
diminished from the entrance to the exit end of the condenser. The gas
as it passes through the pipes is gradually cooled, and the napthaline is
absorbed therefrom by the tar instead of condensing in the main and
service pipes.
My improved condenser, which must be arranged between the
hydraulic main and the exhauster, is constructed with a series of hori-
zontal rectangular flat pipes or tubes placed one above the other, and
opening at the ends into vertical chambers or boxes. The upper tube of
the series is connected to the pipe which leads from the hydraulic main
and the series of pipes is so arranged that there is a continuous passage
therefrom through the pipes and chambers to the end of the lower pipe,
which communicates with the exhauster. The series of pipes is placed
in a trough or vessel through which a stream of cold water is kept
continually flowing, the lower pipes of the series being immersed therein.
The pipes of the condenser should be constructed of such a sectional
area that the layer of tar and ammoniacal liquor is not deeper than
about one half inch. This layer of tar and ammoniacal liquor will flow
continuously through the condenser, and at the end of each pipe as it
falls therefrom to the next pipe below it will form a sheet through
which the gas will have to pass, so that the gas is not only kept in
contact with the tar and ammoniacal liquor from end to end of the
condenser, but is passed through a series of "washers" at the ends of
the pipes.
Although I prefer to construct my condenser with a series of hori-
zontal pipes arranged as above described, yet the said pipes may be
otherwise arranged in any convenient manner which will keep the gas

page_text: in contact with the tar for such a distance as will allow the whole of the
napthaline to be eliminated from the gas. If desired also the pipes
may be made round or of any other sectional area, but I find the flat
rectangular pipes most convenient.