New or Improved Apparatus for the Carbonising of Rags.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 14th Feb., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Apparatus for the Carbonising of Rags.
I, BERNHARD HEINRICH SCHEIBLER, of Monjai, near Aachen, Artificial Wool
Manufacturer, 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:-
In the manufacture of artificial wool (shoddy), the industry devoted to the pro-
duction of textile fibres from used fabrics, only the woollen residues can be worked
up. Now, as the rags contain cotton fibres throughout, it is necessary to destroy
these, for which purpose hydrochloric acid vapour is employed. In connection
with this it has been impossible hitherto to avoid a certain drawback, namely the
turning yellow" of the light coloured and the "turning red" of the darker
rags. The purer the colour originally used remains, and the lighter the carbonised
rags, the greater their value for wearing purposes and considerable progress would
be made in the art were the drawbacks to the methods hitherto known successfully
overcome. The present invention is based on the observation that the hydro-
chloric acid vapour acts in producing the "turning yellow" and "turning red
of the materials in a heightened degree according to the dampness of the latter,
and does not alter the colours at all if the rags be completely dry. This observa-
tion has led to the idea of effecting the drying and carbonising of the rags not
simultaneously as hitherto but the one after the other and with the result that
the colours of the rags so treated, whether the same be light or dark, remain
unchanged. A great industrial advance has thus been effected.
The apparatus which constitutes the object of the present invention is illustrated
in the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a vertical section through the furnace and oven.
Figure 2 is a plan of the same, and
Figure 3 a section through the carbonising drum.
The revolving polygonal drum a, is furnished with perforations 6 a charging
door c and partial partitions or vanes & which are formed of iron or other suitable
material. These project from the walls of the drum radially towards the centre,
and their function is the turning over of the materials during working. These
partitions or vanes are formed of strips of sheet iron or other suitable material
stiffened if necessary by corrugations or other stiffening devices running along
their length. They are secured to the walls of the drum by rivetting or otherwise
and as shown in Figure 1 they do not reach half way across the drum but leave a
free central space.
One end of the drum is fixed to a solid shaft e and the other end to a hollow
shaft f. The latter, as is now customary widens into a pear-shaped chamber g,
which is situated in the heating chamber h which is immediately above and is heated
by the furnace m. The chamber g serves for vaporising the hydrochloric acid,
which is contained in the reservoir i, from whence it drops into the feeding funnel
or hopper 7. Hot air from the furnace m is compressed in a pipe by means of the
injector n. This pipe has two branches, one of these branches p leads directly
into the oven g, which surrounds the drum a; the other p¹ leads round to g and

page_text: terminates in the shaft f. In the bend p is a stop valve r, which when shut causes
the heated gases coming from the blower n to be distributed over the material
contained in the drum or cylinder a by. means of the hollow shaft f from within.
When open the heated gases enter through the bend p from without. The bend p
leads to a fixed piece of pipe connected in a suitable manner with the rotary shaft f
In the pipe bend pl is a box t, which, allows of the closing of the cross-section of
the pipe p by the introduction of a round earthen plate and luting with clay. It
is obvious that this could be equally well effected by the application of a tightly
packed regulating valve. The mode of working of the apparatus is as follows:---
Proceeding according to the experience obtained in other drying processes (for
example, beet-sugar or pottery manufacture) the material introduced into the
cylinder or drum a is dried by the air introduced through the hollow shaft f, the
stop valve r being employed to direct the column of air which from time to time
is brought into contact with the material. The supply of air can be renewed as
rapidly as may be desired. The drawing off of the air containing the moisture
carried off from the dried material is effected by means of the flue u after its
passage from the cylinder or drum a through the perforations b. When the
material is thoroughly dried, the stop valve r is opened and the pipe p-closed at
the spot marked t. The heated gases now press into the oven from above and are
diffused around the cylinder a from the outside. The tap k is now opened and the
carbonising operation may be commenced, a further advantage of the present
apparatus being thus created, inasmuch as the supply of hydrochloric acid may be
increased or diminished according to the quantity of cotton fibres contained in
the material at any particular time.
The spring or valye s which is placed between the branch p¹ and the pear-shaped
chamber acts as a safety or blow-off valve, in cases when the pressure of the
heated and compressed air becomes too great. is the valve-guide-rod, w an arm
at the end of which is an eye. The guide-rod s' slides easily in this eye, and thus
cannot shift laterally. At its lower end the guide rod s is firmly fixed to the
valve-cone. It is best to make it and the latter of one piece. A spiral spring is
placed round the said rod and presses the valve-cone gently down on the valve-seat.
I desire it to be understood that I make no claim to the safety or blow-off valve S.
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:-
The new or improved apparatus for carbonising rags substantially as set forth.
Dated this 13th day of November 1896.