IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN GAS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Wilhelm Erdmann Albert Hartmann, of Trafalgar Terrace,
Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN GAS."
Sealed the 23rd September 1879. and dated the 16th June 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Wilhelm Erdmann Albert
Hartmann at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th June
1879.
WILHELM ERDMANN ALBERT HARTMANN, of Trafalgar Terrace, Swansea, in the
County of Glamorgan. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION
OF SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN GAS."
This Invention has for its object the manufacture or production of sulphuretted
hydrogen gas for metallurgical and chemical purposes where admixture with the
sulphuretted bydrogen of other gases, such as nitrogen, hydrogen, carbonic oxide,
carbonic acid, common coal gas, etcetera, is not objectionable.
In making sulphuretted hydrogen gas by my improved methods or processes
hereinafter described, I employ either sulphurous acid gas (which may be dilute,
such as results from the calcining of iron pyrites or other sulphides, or may be
produced by any other method and may be pure); or in lieu of sulphurous acid I
employ the vapours of sulphur or of bisulphide of carbon, or the vapour of sul-
phuric acid, or a spray of the same, and these several substances may be employed
either alone or mixed with other gases, provided the latter are not of such a nature
as to decompose the sulphuretted hydrogen when formed.
And I wish it to be understood that where in the following description I speak
of sulphurous acid I mean either that substance, or, as a substitute therefor, either
sulphur or bilsulphide of carbon or sulphuric acid in the condition hereinbefore
mentioned, or any mixture of any two, three, or more of these substances.
My Invention comprises two methods or processes for the conversion of sulphurous
acid or its above mentioned substitutes into sulphuretted hydrogen, which methods
or processes I will for clearness call respectively "inethod A" and "method B."
According to "method A "I mix the sulphurous acid gas with steam, which
may be super-heated or not (the former I prefer), and I either force or draw this

page_text: mixture by means of suitable apparatus such as a gas pump, or a fan, or a steam
blower, or a steam exhaustor, through a vessel which is air tight, or nearly so, and
which is filled with pieces of incandescent coke or charcoal, or ordinary coal, or a
mixture of these.
When a steam blower is employed for forcing the sulphurous acid through the
coke, the steam of this mixes with the sulphurous acid, and an additional admixture
of steam is not required.
The mixture of gases which issues from the coke contains all its sulphur in the
form of sulphuretted hydrogen, provided it has been passing over the coke with
sufficient slowness. The vessel which contains the coke, or its substitute, may be
either a retort, horizontal or inclined at an angle, and fired from the outside
similarly to those employed in the manufacture of coal gas for lighting purposes, or,
and this I prefer, it may be a vertical shaft of circular or other horizontal section
lined with firebrick and cased with iron, and it may be either of equal section
throughout its height, or of larger diameter towards the top. There are provided
suitable openings which can be closed air tight at the top for charging the coke,
and at the bottom for drawing off the resulting ashes, and there is or are also a
pipe or pipes for conducting the mixture of sulphurous acid and steam into the
lower regions of the coke column, and a pipe near the top to conduct away the
resulting sulphuretted hydrogen gas. There are also sight holes in suitable places
to enable the temperature of the coke to be observed from time to time as the
temperature of the coke in the shaft may fall below red heat, when it would cease to
decompose the sulphurous acid mixture; the supply of such mixture is cut off for a
time, and a blast of air or steam and air is forced or sucked through the apparatus
instead, This air blast causes the coke to brighten up again; and as soon as this
has been accomplished, the air may be stopped and the sulphurous acid gas turned
on as before. Of course from time to time the coke has to be replenished in, and
the ashes have to be removed from the retort or the shaft as the case may be.
According to "inethod B" I mix the sulphurous acid gas with any liquid or
gaseous hydro-carbon, such as the vapour or spray of petroleum or common lighting
gas, with or without the addition of steam, and 1 raise this mixture to red heat by
either passing it through a system of pipes arranged in a furnace and kept red hot,
or through a retort filled with pieces of brick, pumice-stone, coke, or the like, and
which is kept at a red heat by an external fire, or I employ any other apparatus in
common use for raising the temperature of gases to a red heat.
The proportion of the different gases must of course depend on the concentration
and nature of the gases employed, and has to be ascertained by suitable tests in
each case.
The sulphuretted hydrogen gas produced by any of the foregoing methods
may be used either as it leaves the retort or shaft, or such other apparatus as may
have been employed in the conversion of the sulphurous acid gas; or it may first be
passed through a scrubber or surface cooler, or both, so as to free it previously to
being used, from most of the vapour of water and any other impurities which it
may hold suspended, mechanically. Whether the one course or the other be
followed will depend on the purpose for which the gas may be intended, but such
purifications is a thing well understood.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Wilhelm Erdmann Albert Hartmann in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th December 1879.
WILHELM ERDMANN ALBERT HARTMANN, of Trafalgar Terrace, Swansea, in the
County of Glamorgan. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION
OF SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN GAS."
This Invention has for its object the manufacture or production of sulphuretted
hydrogen gas for metallurgical and chemical purposes, where admixture with the
sulphuretted hydrogen of other gases, such as nitrogen, hydrogen, carbonic oxide,
carbonic acid, hydro-carbons, et cetera, is not objectionable.
In making sulphuretted hydrogen gas by my improved methods or processes
hereinafter described, I employ sulphurous acid gas (which may be dilute, such as
results from the calcining of iron pyrites or other sulphides, or may be produced by
any other method, and may be pure); or in lieu of sulphurous acid I employ the
3 vapours of sulphur or of sulphuric acid, or a spray of the latter, and these several
substances may be employed either alone or mixed with other gases, provided the
latter are not of such a nature as to decompose in the course of the process the
sulphuretted hydrogen formed, or interfere with its future application.
And I wish it to be understood that where in the following description I speak
of sulphurous acid, I mean either that substance or as a substitute therefor either
sulphur or sulphuric acid in the condition hereinbefore mentioned; or any mixture
of these substances may be used instead.
My Invention comprises two methods or processes for the conversion of sul-
phurous acid or its above mentioned substitutes into sulphuretted hydrogen, which
methods or processes I will for clearness call respectively "method A" and
" method B."
According to method A, I mix the sulphurous acid gas with steam, which may
be superheated or not (the former I prefer), and I either force or draw this mixture
by means of suitable apparatus, such as a gas pump, or a fan, or a steam blower, or
a steam exhauster, through a vessel which is air tight or nearly so, and which is
filled with pieces of incandescent coke, or charcoal, or ordinary coal, or a mixture
of these.
Obviously, instead of the steam, a fine spray of water may be employed,
especially when, as hereinafter described, the subsequent conversion of the mixture
is effected in an externally fired vessel, which would immediately convert the water
into steam.
When a steam blower is employed for forcing the sulphurous acid through the
coke the steam of this mixes with the sulphurous acid, and an additional admixture
of steam is not required.
The mixture of gases which issues from the coke contains all or nearly all its
sulphur in the form of sulphuretted hydrogen, provided it has been passing over
the coke with sufficient slowness. The vessel which contains the coke or its sub-
stitute may be either a retort, horizontal or inclined at an angle, and fired from the
outside, similarly to those employed in the manufacture of coal gas for lighting
purposes, and provided at its back with an opening for the entrance of the gases;
or, and this I prefer, it may be a vertical shaft of circular or other horizontal
section, lined with fire brick and cased with iron, and it may be either of equal
section throughout its heigth, or of larger diameter towards the top, and in this
vessel, which will I call a "converter," there are provided suitable openings, which can
be closed air tight at the top for charging the coke, and at the bottom for drawing
off the resulting ashes, and there is or are also a pipe or pipes for conducting the
mixture of sulphurous acid and steam into the lower regions of the coke column,
and a pipe near the top to conduct away the resulting sulphuretted hydrogen gas.

page_text: There are also sight holes in suitable places to enable the temperature of the coke
to be observed.
From time to time, as the temperature of the coke in the shaft may fall below
red heat, when it would cease to decompose the sulphurous acid mixture, the supply
of such mixture is cut off for a time, and a blast of air, or steam and air, is forced
or sucked through the apparatus instead. This air blast causes the coke to brighten
up again, and as soon as this has been accomplished the air may be stopped, and
the sulphurous acid gas turned on as before. Of course from time to time the
coke has to be replenished in, and the ashes have to be removed from the retort or
the shaft, as the case may be.
According to method B, I mix the sulphurous acid gas with any liquid or gaseous
hydrocarbon, such as the vapour or spray of petroleum or common lighting gas,
with or without the addition of steam, and I raise this mixture to red heat by
either passing it through a system of pipes arranged in a furnace, and kept red hot,
or through a retort filled with pieces of brick, puinmice stone, coke, or the like, and
which is kept at a red heat by an external fire; or I employ a converter, as described
under incthod A, or any other apparatus in common use for raising the temperature
of gases to a red heat.
The proportion of the different gases must of course depend on the concentration
and nature of the gases employed, and has to be ascertained by suitable well known
tests in each case.
The sulphuretted hydrogen gas produced by any of the foregoing methods may
be used either as it leaves the retort, or shaft, or such other apparatus as may have
been employed in the conversion of the sulphurous acid gas; or it may first be
passed through a scrubber or surface cooler, or both, so as to free it previously to
being used from most of the vapour of water and any other impurities which it
may hold suspended mechanically. Whether the one course or the other be followed
will depend on the purpose for which the gas may be intended, but such purifica-
tion is a well understood thing.
To enable others skilled in the art to understand in what manner my Invention
may be advantageously carried into practical effect, I will describe with the aid of
the accompanying illustrative Drawings a suitable arrangement of converter, pre-
mising that this apparatus in not claimed as in itself novel, and that after the
explanations hereinafter contained it will be evident converters differing in arrange-
ment from the example I have selected in aid of my description may be employed
without departure from the essential characteristics of my Invention.

page_text: pipes G connected to a main pipe supplying the sulphurous acid, and similarly all
the pipes L would be connected to a main, to which then the exhauster would have
to be connected. To evenly distribute the sulphurous acid over all the retorts
suitable valves would have to be arranged either in each of the pipes L, or in each
of the pipes G, as most convenient.
Where the sulphurous acid is partly or wholly substituted by the vapour of
sulphur I invariably add steam to the mixture, either as such or by dropping water
into the heating apparatus, similar to the manner in which the hydro carbon is
introduced in Figure 3, or by using a spray of water.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I claim,-
First. The manufacture or production of sulphuretted hydrogen gas by bringing
into contact with carbon at a red heat a mixture of steam and sulphurous acid gas
(or a substitute for such gas), as hereinbefore described.
Second. The manufacture or production of sulphuretted hydrogen gas by exposing
to a red heat a mixture of sulphurous acid gas (or a substitute for such gas) with a
hydro-carbon, and with or without steam, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wilhelm Erdmann Albert Hartmann, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.