IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING GAS RETORTS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William John Warner at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th October 1877.
WILLIAM JOHN WARNER, Engineer of the Gas Works, South Shields, in the
County of Durham. " IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR
CHARGING AND DISCHARGING GAS RETORTS."
This Invention has for its object the construction of apparatus whereby gas
retorts may be charged and discharged with greater facility and with less manual
labour than that ordinarily employed.
The apparatus consists of a strong vertical quadrilateral frame mounted on wheels,
and made to run on a longitudinal rail or tramway in front of the retort benches,
but below the floor line, the floor itself having a longitudinal opening to allow the
frame to travel to and fro in front of the beds. . The frame may be constructed
independently of two steam or other lifts which it has to carry, or they may form
a portion of the frame. The stroke or travel of the lifts have to be not less than
the distance from centre to centre. of the highest and lowest retorts. The top of
the framing therefore will be about the floor level (to allow the lowest retorts
to be worked, and the scoop and rake to move freely over the floor), and the bottom
of the frame about the distance the lift has to descend below the floor.
Attached to the frame is a horizontal engine driving a vertical shaft for giving
motion to the several portions of the machine; first, for propelling it to and fro in
front of the beds; secondly, for actuating the scoop and rake attached severally to
the two lifts; thirdly, for lifting the coal (from a trough in front of the store and
parallel to the opening for frame to travel in) and throwing it along a spout by
means of a shovel arrangement to the back of the scoop, along which it is thrown
by another shovel. The engine is also used to lift the coke in buckets from another
parallel trough immediately in front of the beds and pass the same along elevated.
gantries through openings in the side of the retort house, this part of the arrange-
ment and operation being similar to that described in the Specification of Letters
Patent, No. 2610, granted to me and bearing date July 22, 1875, with this exception,'
that the frame of the machine, which is entirely above the floor line, formes a tram-
way for the coke buckets to travel over; but in the present plan girders are fixed

page_text: separately for each bed both inside and outside the house. To the vertical frame is
attached another frame for carrying the gearing for actuating the shovels, and for
carrying a platform (also guided and supported by wheels on a rail or rails) just
clear of the retort house floor. This frame also supports the winding gear for lifting
and carrying the coke, and an arrangement for adjusting the spout shovel to the
depth of coal as well as the spout through which it is thrown.
From the vertical shaft of the engine two hollow shafts are driven, square or
slotted. These shafts are the length of the lifts, and are parallel to them, and are
used for the purpose of actuating the rake and scoop at whatever elevation they
may be by means of interior shafts, the two forming a telescopic or an expanding
arrangement for conveying motion to the gearing.
The lift preferred to be used is a steam cylinder and piston with suitable actuating
gear. At the top of the piston rod is fixed an arm for carrying one end of the
shaft working in the socketted or hollow shaft; on this end is a pulley for conveying
motion to a loose pulley on the piston rod, and thence to a pulley fastened to the
cradle for holding the scoop or rake, the object being to allow the cradle on the
top of the piston rod to move freely about it, that the scoop and rake may be the
better adjusted to the irregularities in retorts caused by the heat, and that too
without affecting the independent action of the scoop and rake. "The cradle of the
scoop is a cylinder, and may be made of sheet iron, or it may be made of rod or bar
iron framed together. To this cradle is attached the gearing for communicating
motion to the scoop. The scoop is much in the usual form, but it has no closed end.
The back end or head is cylindrical, and round the outside edge is the periphery or
teeth of a bevil wheel, the centre being removed to allow the coal to pass through.
Geared to this bevil wheel is another, on the axis of which is a slotted arm forming
a crank by taking hold of a pin fastened to an endless chain or band, which passes
over a sheave or pulley at each end of the cradle, driven through the intervention of
the hollow shaft and pulley. Thus it will be seen that a to-and-fro motion will be
given to the scoop, thrusting it into, and then, through the intervention of the bevil
wheels by the crank pin passing over or round the pulley, an axial movement to
the scoop will be given, the coals delivered into the retort, and the scoop with-
drawn.
The action of the rake for drawing is in principle the same, being sent into the
retort over the coke, and receiving an axial motion thrust into the coke, which by a
return movement is withdrawn. There is this difference, however, between the two;
the axial motion is independent of the reciprocating motion and under the control of
the workman so as to draw any portion of the charge at will, but the whole
charge may be drawn at once by the same means, or by the same arrangement as
for charging.
The rake and its shaft may be kept cool by a current of water being made to
circulate through the same while in action by connecting them with a small reser-
voir of water for simple circulation through a concentric or double tubular shaft;
or water may be forced through the same by a small pump; or the rake and rod may
be cooled as withdrawn by forcing a stream of water over the same. The exhaust
steam may be used for this purpose.
5
The machine may be worked by any kind of motive power, but steam is preferred,
and it is also preferred to convey the steam to the machine from a fixed boiler by
means of flexible tubes attached to valvular connections, such as my stand-pipe
valve described by me in my Specification of Letters Patent, No. 751, dated
February 23rd, 1876, or the steam connextion may be made by means of a flexible
tube wound round a horizontal drum attached to the machine, or the drum may be
placed at one end of the building and the loose end of the tube attached to the
machine. The tube may be placed in the longitudinal opening in the retort house
floor along which the machine travels. This opening may be closed by gratings or
hinged flaps to be opened and closed by the machine as it travels along in front of
the beds of retorts.
The openings from the coal store into the trough for feeding it with coal are to

page_text: be regulated by gates or adjustable doors. Instead of feeding the scoop through the
rear end of it, a supplementary scoop or charger may be employed for filling the
scoop, being swung round over it for discharging the contents into the scoop.
The coal may be raised by shovel pans attached to an endless chain or band, or
by the ordinary buckets of a "Jacob's ladder." When the scoops are charged by
shovels, as first described, the coal may be made to take its proper position in the
scoop to suit the varying requirements of the retorts by stops or guides.
The lifts may be placed on rails above the retorts, with their pistons working
downwards instead of upwards, when placed under the floor.