Apparatus for the Manufacture of Gas.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Sept., 1889-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1889
Apparatus for the Manufacture of Gas.
I, SYDNEY PITT, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, (a communication.
to me from abroad by Charles B. Harris, of 155 West 23rd Street, New York City,
in the United States of America, 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 :--
$6
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65
The object of the invention is to provide a gas apparatus adapted to economically
manufacture gas from soft or bituminous coal, and particularly from slack, culm or
breeze, with the aid of air and steam. To this end a special form and arrangement
of what, for convenience, may be styled a retort or retort-chamber "has been
devised in combination with a generator chamber, the construction being such that
gases from the gas generator may be compelled to pass through the body of coal in
the retort.
Heretofore vertical retort chambers have been located above a fuel or steam
decomposing chamber or generator, but such arrangement is to some extent defective
in operation, for the reason that the charge of soft coal when partially fused and
expanded by heat becomes packed and caked in the retort chamber, requiring con-
siderable mechanical force to break it up so that it can be forced down into the
generator, and further the gases ascending through this mass of caked coal from the
generator form for themselves irregular and fortuitous paths inconsistent with uniform
and satisfactory results. Horizontal retorts have also been employed in gas making
furnaces in combination with generating chambers. These afford more room for the
expansion of the hot and semi-fused mass of coal; but they do not provide for the
passage of gases through the coal, and they require an unnecessary amount of labour
to break up the caked coal and force it into the generator.
"
My invention consists in a construction and arrangement of a fuel magazine or
receptacle which may be called a coking chamber," that permits its contents to freely
expand, and which also provides for passing hot gases from the generator transversely.
through the coal in said chamber, and also provides for an easy and convenient transfer
of the coal to the generator, the packing of the coking coal in the coking chamber
being avoided by its freedom to expand upwardly and by the dividing effect of
numerous transverse gas currents.
In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a vertical section of the generator and
coking chamber, and Figure 2 is a view looking toward the outer end of the
chamber.
1 indicates the generator, made of brick, inclosed by metal or constructed in any
suitable manner and provided with a door 2 and grate 3 and having in the ash pit an
air inlet 4, a steam inlet 5 and a gas outlet 6. In the upper part of the generator is
a steam inlet 7. The charging hole 8 is sealed in any usual manner. Communicating
with the generator is an extension 9, styled for convenience a "coking chamber" into
which fresh coal is charged through a door 10 that can be closed gas tight when
desired. This extension may be made about three feet wide by two and a half feet in
depth and the generator about four feet in diameter and each about ten feet in length
though these dimensions may be varied. The coking chamber is provided preferably
below its central plane with a perforated diaphragm 11 dividing its interior into a coal
chamber 12 and a combustion chamber 13. The latter communicates with the
generator by means of an annular flue 14 having openings 15 into the same.
16 indicates an air inlet; 17 passages through the diaphragm; 18 a gas outlet
connecting through a water seal with a scrubber and holder; 19 an outlet for waste
or producer gas which may be made to communicate with a gas holder and which
is provided with a cover that can be made gas tight when necessary.

page_text: 20 indicates a modification of the retort in respect to the gas vuner anu.
which may be used in connection therewith.
22 is a damper or cut off which serves to prevent gases from the generator passing
directly into the retort and compel them to pass into the annular flue and thence into
the combustion chamber 13. This damper also serves to prevent the fresh coal from
sliding or rolling down into the generator particularly when the retort is much inclined.
The inclination illustrated of about one foot in three is a very suitable one.
The construction described is in operation not inconsistent with the use of
regenerators which might conveniently be arranged to support the retort though
their use is not essential to my improvement and the retort can be supported upon
masonry of suitable character.
The operation of the apparatus above described is as follows: The generator is at
first charged with coke or anthracite coal which being ignited is raised to incandes- .
cence by an air blast introduced beneath the grate. The products of combustion enter
the annular flue 14 and pass thence into the combustion chamber 13 where they may
be more completely burned by admission of air through inlet 16. The hot gases pass
through the perforated diaphragm and out of the exit 19. Fresh coal may be charged
into the retort either before or after the above described step. If charged previously
then the products of combustion which pass through 17, 17 and through the coal
are partly decomposed and the carbonic acid is converted into carbonic oxide and
somewhat enriched by the coal gases, particularly if the air supply in chamber 13 does
not exceed the amount required to convert the producer gas into carbonic acid and
vapor of water.
When the coke in the generator has been rendered incandescent the
air supply at 4 is cut off and steam is admitted through 5 and passed up through the
hot coal of the generator which decomposes it producing water gas. This gas passes.
into the lower chamber of the retort and through the perforated diaphragm. The air
supply to the lower chamber having been cut off the outlet 19 closed and the gas
outlet 18 opened the water gas is passed therethrough to its holder. If the retort be
charged with fresh coal after the air blast below the generator grate is cut off and
before the water gas is passed through the retort it serves to enrich the latter air of
course being excluded at every point. If the producer gas is burned in the retort and
the carbonic acid thus produced not reconverted into carbonic oxide as set forth above
the products are waste gases and may be discharged into the open air or used to heat
regenerators in the usual way. Otherwise they may be conducted to boiler or other
furnaces and burned while hot. Preferably the fresh coal is charged at a time when it
will operate to enrich the water gas rather than the producer gas.
The use of the diaphragm to support the fresh coal and the passing of
gases through
the perforations 17 is an important feature. By this contruction the gas is divided
and made to pass through the coal in numerous small currents and this has the effect
to thoroughly distil or expel the coal gas and also to perforate or cut the coked coal in
the line of each gas passage 17. The contents of the retort when coked are therefore
transversely honeycombed by the action of the gases, and are very readily broken up
when subsequently the damper or cut off 22 is raised and the coke is pushed down the
inclined diaphragm into the generator the retort door having been opened for the
purpose. The passages 17 are preferably constructed at the upper ends so that fine
coal may not fall through them in any considerable quantity and they are made wider
at the bottom to facilitate the entrance of gases.
If desired the damper 21 may be particularly or wholly opened and a part of the
producer gas passed therethrough and out at 20 said outlet being connected with a gas
holder in any usual way. It is preferred however always to compel a considerable
portion of the gases to pass transversely through the diaphragm and the coal resting
thereon and the gas may be taken out either at 18 or 20, waste or producer gas being
taken out at 19. If desired at suitable times steam can be admitted at 7 and passed
down through the incandescent coke and the water gas thus produced can be taken out
at 6 which may be found useful occasionally to avoid quenching the base of the fire by
the too continuous introduction of steam at that point.
The use of the above described apparatus which may be varied as stated is not

page_text: inconsistent with the employment of two beds of incandescent fuel through which
steam may be passed in succession, nor with the use of oil as an enriching agent, nor
with other well known features of gas making; but these are not of my invention, and
are not essential to the present improvement.
my said
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. In a gas making apparatus the combination of the generator provided with air
and steam pipes the inclined coking chamber connected to and communicating with
the generator and provided with a perforated diaphragm, a conduit communicating
with the generator chamber and with a space below the said diaphragm and adapted to
conduct products of combustion from the generator to the said space, and a cut off or
damper to prevent direct communication from the generator to the upper part of the
retort substantially as set forth.
2. In a gas making apparatus the combination of the generator provided with air
and steam pipes the inclined coking chamber connected to and communicating with
the generator and provided with a perforated diaphragm, a conduit communicating
with the generator chamber and with a space below the said diaphragm and adapted to
conduct products of combustion from the generator to the said space a cut off or
damper to prevent direct communication from the generator to the upper part of the
retort and an air inlet to the retort substantially as set forth.
3. In a gas making apparatus the combination of the generator provided with air
and steam pipes the inclined coking chamber connected to and communicating with
the generator and provided with a perforated diaphragm, a conduit communicating
with the generator chamber and with a space below the retort diaphragm and adapted
to conduct products of combustion from the generator to the said space, a cut off or
damper to prevent direct communication from the generator to the upper part of the
retort an air inlet to the retort and a damper or cut off in the diaphragm substantially
as set forth.
4. In a gas making apparatus the combination of the generator provided with air
and steam pipes the inclined coking chamber connected to and communicating with
the generator and provided with a perforated diaphragm a conduit communicating
with the generator chamber and with a space below the retort diaphragm and adapted
to conduct products of combustion from the generator to the said space a cut off or
damper to prevent direct communication from the generator to the upper part of the
retort an air inlet to the retort a damper or cut off in the diaphragm and an outlet for
gas from the retort located near the cut off which excludes direct communication from
the generator substantially as set forth.