IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING AND PURIFYING METALLIC AND OTHER FUMES, VAPOURS, GASES, AND SMOKE, AND IN OBTAINING OXIDE OF ZINC
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Capper Pass, of the Bedminster Smelting
Works, Bedminster, in the City and County of Bristol, Smelter,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS
FOR CONDENSING AND PURIFYING METALLIC AND OTHER FUMES, VAPOURS,
GASES, AND SMOKE, AND IN OBTAINING OXIDE OF ZINC."
Sealed the 23rd July 1869, and dated the 27th January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Capper Pass at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th January 1869.
I, ALFRED CAPPER PASS, of the Bedminster Smelting Works, Bed-
minster, in the City and County of Bristol, Smelter, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND
APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING AND PURIFYING METALLIC AND OTHER FUMES, VAPOURS,
GASES, AND SMOKE, AND IN OBTAINING OXIDE OF ZINC," to be as follows:-
This Invention is especially applicable to the condensing of lead fumes
from blast furnaces, and it is also applicable to the condensation and
purification of smoke, fumes, vapours, and gases emitted from smelting,

page_text: metallurgical, and chemical works; it is likewise adapted for the
collecting of fumes in the manufacture of oxide of zinc.
The smoke, fumes, vapours, or gases are drawn, forced, or driven by
suitable motive, ductive, or propelling power through the meshes,
interstices, or apertures of a series or arrangement of latticework, sieve-
work, bars, perforated or reticulated material, or other appliance or
contrivance, whereby the smoke, fumes, vapours, and gases are divided,
and which offer the largest possible surface in the smallest possible space
for the accomplishment of this object; and on or over this lattice-
work or other arrangement a continuous flow of water is projected or
applied, so that the smoke, fumes, vapours, or gases are brought for a
sufficiently protracted period into intimate contact with water, which
absorbs a large proportion of the noxious gases, and also cools the
vapours, smoke, gas, or fumes and charges them with moisture. The
cooled and damp smoke, fumes, vapours, or gases are led or pass into
a chamber or receptacle in which they deposit the metallic particles or
soot, and the now invisible gases are allowed to escape. These objects
are accomplished by means of my Invention without necessitating the
employment of either long flues or high chimneys.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Capper Pass in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
CAPPER PASS, of the Bedminster Smelting Works, Bedminster, in the
City and County of Bristol, Smelter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Capper Pass, Her
special licence that I, the said Alfred Capper Pass, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Capper
Pass, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDENSING AND PURI-
FYING METALLIC AND OTHER FUMES, VAPOURS, GASES, AND SMOKE, AND IN OBTAINING
OXIDE OF ZINC," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Capper Pass, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Capper Pass, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention is especially applicable to condensing lead fumes
from blast furnaces, it is also applicable to the condensation and purifi-
cation of smoke, fumes, vapours, and gases from smelting, metal-
lurgical, and chemical operations and works; it is likewise adapted
for collecting fumes in the manufacture of oxide of zinc.
According to my Invention the smoke, fumes, vapours, or gases to be
condensed or purified are drawn, forced, or driven by motive, ductive, or
propelling power through the meshes, interstices, or apertures of a series
or arrangement of latticework, sievework, bars, perforated or reticulated
material, or other like appliance or contrivance, whereby the smoke,
fumes, vapours, and gases are divided, and which offer the largest possible
wetted, damped, or moistened surface in the smallest possible space
for the accomplishment of this object; and on or over this latticework
or other above-described arrangement I project or apply a continuous
flow of water, so that the smoke, fumes, vapours, or gases are brought
for a sufficiently protracted period into intimate contact with water,
which absorbs a large portion of the noxious gases and also cools the
vapours, smoke, gas, or fumes and charges them with moisture. The
cooled and damped smoke, fumes, vapours, or gases are led or pass into
a chamber or receptacle in which they deposit the metal particles and
Boot, and the now invisible gases are allowed to escape. These objects

page_text: are accomplished by means of my Invention without necessitating the
employment of either long flues or high chimneys.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, I proceed to
explain, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, how the same
may be carried into practical effect.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a furnace constructed with necessary.
arrangements for accomplishing the Invention practically. A is a blast
furnace, which is of ordinary construction except as regards the additions
herein described for the purposes of my Invention; a are the grate bars;
a* is the hearth or bed; b, the tuyeres; c*, charge hole; d, exit for the
slag into a receiver e; B is a flue or passage leading from the furnace A
into an upright flue or passage C. Over this flue C is fixed a tank or
reservoir D containing water, which is pumped therein; it com-
municates with the passage G by a perforated bottom f. G is a down-
ward flue or passage into which the passage C leads. This passage G is
fitted with a number of frames M, each consisting of a number of bars
placed flatwise or horizontally or broadside upward, the bars of each
alternate frame being placed at right angles or transversely to the next,
as shewn at M*, x, in the transverse horizontal section of the flue G,
shewn in Figure 2. This forms a sort of latticework. The passage G
leads into a condensation chamber H. S is a steam jet projecting
through a passage T open at each end into the chamber H. The
chamber H communicates through a passage I with the chimney K.
Figure 2 is a plan of the frames M. In this Figure M* are the bars of
one frame, and m the cross pieces that hold them together; x, x, are the
bars of the next frame M, which is placed so that its bars x may be
transverse to the bars Mx, and so on. The smoke, fumes, vapours, or
gases charged with metallic or other solid particles, soot, and impurities
proceed from the furnace A through the flues B and C into the passage
G, being drawn therein and through the same by means of the steam
jet S, which produces a vacuum and draws the smoke, &c. into the
chamber T surrounding the steam jet, and thence into the chamber H,
and water which is forced in the tank D is let on into the passage G
through the perforated bottom f, and the said smoke, fumes, vapours, or
gases being thus saturated with water pass down this passage G (and
through the latticework M placed therein) into the chamber H. The
water absorbs a large portion of the noxious gases and cools the
vapours, smoke, gases, or fumes, and charges them with moisture, and

page_text: the vapours, smoke, fumes, and non-absorbed gases thus cooled and
damped pass through the passage T into the chamber H, where they
deposit the metallic or extraneous particles or soot, and being freed
therefrom pass in an invisible state through the exit I into the chimney,
the steam through the jet S driving them therein.
Although the Drawing shows the Invention applied to blast fur-
naces it may be applied in like manner to other furnaces than blast
furnaces, including furnaces for obtaining oxide of zinc. No further
description is necessary to explain its practical application.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First. The method of condensing and purifying metallic and other
fumes, vapours, gases, and smoke, by drawing, forcing, or driving the
same through latticework, sievework, bars, perforated or reticulated
material, or other like appliance or contrivance offering the largest
possible damped, wetted, or moistened surface in the smallest possible
space while being exposed to a continuous flow of water, substantially
in the manner and for the purpose explained.
Second. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting the
apparatus constructed substantially in the manner and for the purpose
described.
Third. The employment or application of the method or process and
of the arrangement and combination of apparatus above described for the
obtaining of oxide of zinc.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Capper Pass, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
0
Witness,
ERNEST DE PASS,
68, Fleet Street,
London.
ALFRED CAPPER PASS. (L.S.)