IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING COMBUSTIBLE GAS FOR STEEL MAKING, GLASS MAKING AND OTHER PURPOSES AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR "
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Crossley, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
"
North Britain, Mechanical and Consulting Engineer, for an Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING COMBUSTIBLE GAS FOR STEEL MAKING, GLASS
MAKING AND OTHER PURPOSES AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Crossley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd February 1883.
WILLIAM CROSSLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Mechanical and Consulting Engineer, "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING COMBUSTIBLE
GAS FOR STEEL MAKING, GLASS MAKING, AND OTHER PURPOSES AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR
"
This Invention has for its object the production of combustible gas for steel
making, glass making, and other purposes in an improved manner and by means of
improved apparatus.
In carrying out the Invention a smaller supply of air is used than has been
hitherto employed in gas producers in effecting the conversion of the carbonaceous
fuel into gas, the air so supplied having steam combined with it and the gas
producing operation being conducted under pressure. Before the air and steam
are introduced into the cupola or gas producing furnace they are heated to a high
temperature and so that the steam may be wholly or partly decomposed and so
that its oxygen may combine with the fixed carbon of the fuel whilst its hydrogen
passes off free and mixed with the other gas or partly combined with carbon.
With this improved process not only will the combustible gas be produced very
economically but it will also be diluted with a very much smaller proportion of
nitrogen than "gas-producer" gas as hitherto made.
The apparatus to be employed in carrying out the Invention comprises a cupola
or cylindrical structure forming the gas producer with a double-valved hopper at

page_text: the top for introducing the coal or carbonaceous fuel and with one or more doors
at the bottom for withdrawing ashes. The air and steam are introduced through
tuyeres arranged round the cupola at a suitable height above the ashes doors, and
are forced in under pressure like the blast of a smelting furnace. The blast or
pressure is produced by a fan or other suitable blowing apparatus and heating
stoves such as are used for the blast of smelting furnaces and by preference
constructed of firebricks are employed for heating the air and steam on its way to
the cupola or gas producer.
The combustible gas passes off by a pipe, flue, or main connected to the upper
part of the gas producer, and may be led directly to the furnaces or kilns in which
it is to be employed; or it may be passed through condensers, and scrubbers or
other separating apparatus for separating from it the tar and ammonia so that they
may be separately utilised.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Crossley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st July
1883.
WILLIAM CROSSLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Mechanical and Consulting Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING COMBUSTIBLE
GAS FOR STEEL MAKING, GLASS MAKING, AND OTHER PURPOSES AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR
"
My said Invention has for its object the production of combustible gas for steel
making, glass making, and other purposes, in an improved manner and by means
of improved apparatus.
In carrying out my Invention a smaller supply of air is used than has been
hitherto employed in gas producers in effecting the conversion of the carbonaceous
fuel into gas, the air so supplied having steam mixed with it and the gas producing
operation being conducted under pressure. In most cases I prefer to use a larger
quantity of steam than of air; and in some cases steam may be used alone without
air. Thus when the principal object is to produce as much permanent gas as
possible air should be combined with the steam; but when it is wished to obtain
a better yield of tar, ammonia, and coke, little or no air should be combined with
the steam. Before the steam and air are introduced into the cupola or gas
producing furnace they are heated to a high temperature and so that the steam
may be wholly or partly decomposed and so that its oxygen may combine with the
carbon of the fuel whilst its hydrogen passes off free and mixed with the other
gas or partly combined with carbon. With this improved process not only will
the combustible gas be produced very economically, but it will also be diluted with
a very much smaller proportion of nitrogen than "gas-producer" gas as hitherto
made.
The apparatus to be employed in carrying out my Invention is shown upon two
sheets of explanatory drawings which are hereunto appended. Figures 1, and 2,
on sheet, 1, are sectional elevations as at right-angles to each other and figure, 3, on
sheet, 2, is a sectional plan of the combined apparatus. Figure, 4, is a horizontal
section of the gas producing cupola, and figure, 5, is an enlarged vertical section
of one of the valves employed for directing the gases as required. In these
drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repeated.
The apparatus comprises a cupola or vertical cylindrical structure, 11, forming
the gas producer, and constructed of firebrick with an external binding shell or
casing of iron or steel. At the top there is a hopper, 12, for feeding in the coal or
other gas producing fuel, and this hopper communicates with the interior of the
cupola through a double valve consisting of a box, 13, arranged to slide between
upper and lower horizontal plates. In the upper plate there is a port communi-
cating with the bottom of the hopper, and in the lower plate there are two ports
one at either side, whilst in the box or sliding valve, 13, there are two cells arranged
so that when one is receiving fuel from the hopper the other is discharging its
contents through one of the lower ports into the cupola. An endless-chain bucket
elevator, 14, is shown as provided for raising the fuel to the top of the cupola, 11.
At the bottom of the walls of the cupola, 11, doors, 15, are provided for removing
the coke, ashes, or earthy residues. The steain and air enter the cupola by a
passage, 16, at the bottom and through a central upwardly projecting jet piece, 17,
formed with lateral orifices which are inclined downwards at their outer parts to

page_text: prevent the entrance of ashes. The gases and vapors formed in the cupola pass
off by a pipe or main, 18, at or near the top, to condensers and separating
apparatus of any known suitable kind.
For the purpose of heating the steam or steam and air two heaters, 19, 20, are
provided, being both alike and one of them being shown in section in figures 1
and 3. Each heater, 19, 20, is a vertical cylindrical structure of firebrick having
an external binding shell or casing of iron or steel, and is made with two principal
ports provided with valved passages, 21, 22, at its lower part. A vertical flue, 23,
which is open at the top is at its bottom in communication with one, 21, of the
valved passages, and the rest of the interior is filled with firebrick checkerwork or
openly arranged pieces of refractory material presenting an extensive surface (but
which is not shown in the drawings) The bottom of each flue, 23, has also leading
into it a pipe, 24, for supplying combustible gas (which has been produced in the
apparatus itself or otherwise) and a port and valve, 25, for admitting air to burn
the gas in order to heat the interior of the heater. The valved passage, 21, at the
bottom of the flue, 23, communicates with the gas-producing cupola, 11, but
the corresponding valve is closed whilst gas is being burned inside either of the
heaters. The ignited gases pass up the flue, 23, and then descend through the
checkerwork in the heater and finally pass off by the outer valved passage, 22,
into a flue, 26, leading to a chimney. Each of these outer valved passages, 22, has
connected to it a valved inlet pipe, 27, for steam which may be generated in any
convenient boiler and which should have sufficient pressure for carrying it through
the apparatus at a convenient speed. There is also connected to each valved
passage, 22, a valve inlet pipe, 28, for air which when it is used is supplied under
pressure by means of a fan or blower; or the air may be injected by the action of
a jet of the steam. When one, 19, of the heaters has become sufficiently heated
internally by the combustion of gas in it, the supply of gas by the pipe, 24, and
the admission of air by the valve, 25, are shut off, and the valve in the outer
passage, 22, is closed so as to stop communication with the chimney flue, 26,
whilst the valve in the inner passage, 21, is opened so as to put the heater in com-
munication with the gas-producing cupola, 11. Steam is then turned on by the
pipe, 27, and also if wished air by the pipe, 28; and the steam (with or without
air) entering the lower part of the heater, passes up through the checkerwork to
the top of the heater and thence descends down the flue, 23, to the inner valved
passage through which it passes into the gas-producing cupola.. Whilst one
heater, 19, is heating the steam, the other heater, 20, is being heated by burning
combustible gas in it as described with reference to the heating of the first
heater, 19; and when the heating action of one heater, 19, is more or less
exhausted and the other heater has become sufficiently heated, then the various
communications are changed by suitably opening and closing the proper valves,
so that the steam (with or without air) may pass through the freshly heated
heater, 20, whilst the other heater, 19, is being heated up again. In this way
highly heated steam (with or without air) can be passed almost without inter-
mission into the gas-producing cupola, 11, being supplied from each heater
alternately. The valved passages, 21; 22, are lined with firebrick as indicated in
figure, 5; and the space above the valve seat, 29, is extended higher than the
outlet port, 30, to form a recess up into which the valve, 31, can be raised so as
to be out of the current of hot steam or gas passing through.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated but that what I believe to be novel and
original and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the herein-*
before in part recited Letters Patent is :-
1. The production of combustible gas for steel making, glass making, and other
purposes, by passing steam alone or with a small proportion of air through the coal
or gas-producing fuel in a cupola or other suitable vessel lined with firebrick, such
steam having been highly heated by passing through a heater containing firebrick

page_text: checkerwork in which combustible gas has been previously burned substantially
as hereinbefore described.
2. The combination of two heaters with a gas-producing cupola, such heaters
being constructed and fitted with valved connecting passages, inlet pipes and
valves for steam and air, and otherwise arranged and made to operate substantially
as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
In Witness whereof I, the said William Crossley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twenty-sixth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-three.
WILLIAM CROSSLEY
(L.S.)