IMPROVEMENTS ABSORBING DILUTE CHLORINE, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Weldon, of Abbey Lodge, Merton, in
the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
ABSORBING DILUTE CHLORINE, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE."
IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Weldon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th July 1873.
I, WALTER WELDON, of Abbey Lodge, Merton, in the County of
3 Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN ABSORBING DILUTE CHLORINE, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT
PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
The said Invention relates to the absorption by means of any suitable
milk or solution of an oxide or of a salt of chlorine obtained by
processes which yield that gas in a state of mixture with other gases. I
employ for this purpose a series of two or more vessels each filled with

page_text: the milk or solution to only a portion of its depth. I provide each
vessel of the series with an agitator, by means of which I keep the milk
or solution in motion, and project a spray of it into the upper part of
the vessel. Supposing a series of five vessels, and calling them
A, B, C, D, and E, I arrange them at different levels, in regular suc-
cession, and so connect them that I can at will run off the contents of
D into E, those of C into D, those of B into C, and those of A into B,
and so, moreover, that the current of gases containing the chlorine to be
absorbed can pass continually through the whole series of vessels in the
opposite direction, or that from E to A. In passing successively through
E, D, C, B, and A, this current of gases, as it grows weaker in chlorine,
comes into contact with milk or solution continually less and less
saturated therewith. When the contents of the vessel E have absorbed
sufficient chlorine, they are run off, those of D being then run into E,
those of C into D, those of B into C, and those of A into B, and fresh
milk or solution into A.
I prefer that the agitators in the vessels to be employed as above
described should revolve on horizontal axes, but their axes may instead
be placed vertically.
I prefer also to provide each vessel with diaphragms to keep the gas
in contact with the spray, and to promote the absorption of the chlorine
by affording additional wet surface. The vessels may be arranged either
so that the current of gases shall travel in the direction of the axes of
the agitators in them, or so that it shall travel at right angles thereto.
Lastly, the agitators may be so driven as to act as an exhaust, drawing
the mixture of gases from the apparatus in which it is produced, and
sucking it into and through the vessels in which its chlorine is to be
absorbed as above described.

page_text: t
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Walter Weldon, Her special licence
that I, the said Walter Weldon, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter Weldon, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, 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
ABSORBING DILUTE CHLORINE, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Walter Weldon, 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 Walter Weldon, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
The said Invention relates to the absorption by means of any suitable
milk or solution of an oxide or of a salt of chlorine obtained by
processes which yield that gas in a state of mixture with other gases. I
employ for this purpose a series of two or more vessels, each filled with
the milk or solution to only a portion of its depth. I provide each
vessel of the series with an agitator, by means of which I keep the milk
or solution in motion, and project a spray of it into the upper part of
the vessel. Supposing a series of five vessels, and calling them
A, B, C, D, and E, I arrange them at different levels, in regular suc-
cession, and so connect them that I can at will run off the contents of
D into E, those of C into D, those of B into C, and those of A. into B,
and so, moreover, that the current of gases containing the chlorine to be
absorbed can pass continually through the whole series of vessels in the
opposite direction, or that from E to A. In passing successively through:

page_text: E, D, C, B, and A, this current of gases, as it grows weaker in chlorine,
comes into contact with milk or solution continually less and less
saturated therewith. When the contents of the vessel E have absorbed
sufficient chlorine, they are run off, those of D being then run into E,
those of C into D, those of B into C, and those of A into B, and fresh
milk or solution into A.
I prefer that the agitators in the vessels to be employed as above
described should revolve on horizontal axes.
I prefer also to provide each vessel with diaphragms to keep the gas
in contact with the spray, and to promote the absorption of the chlorine
by affording additional wet surface. The vessels may be arranged either
so that the current of gases shall travel in the direction of the axes of
the agitators in them, or so that it shall travel at right angles thereto.
The agitators may be so driven as to act as an exhaust, drawing the
mixture of gases from the apparatus in which it is produced, and sucking
it into and through the vessels in which the chlorine is to be absorbed as
above described.
The accompanying Drawing shows two modifications of my improved
apparatus. Fig. 1 is an elevation, and Fig. 2 is a plan, both partly in
section, of a form of the apparatus in which the current of gases travels 1
at right angles to the axes of the agitators.
Fig. 3 is an elevation, and Fig. 4 a plan, both partly in section, of
another form of the apparatus, in which the current of gases travels in
the direction of the axes of the agitators. The same letters apply to the
same parts in all the Figures.
In both cases a series of three vessels is shewn, but the numbers of
vessels may, and usually should, be greater, while in some cases only two
will suffice. The current of gases containing the chlorine first enters
the lowest vessel of the series C, being conveyed thereto by the pipe a.
In the vessel C, as afterwards successively in each of the other vessels of
the series, it comes into contact with the continually renewed surface of
the milk or solution contained in the lower part of the vessel, with the
spray thrown up by the agitator into the upper part of the vessel, and
with the continually freshly wetted surfaces alike of the upper part of
the vessel, of the agitator, and of the diaphragms if any. Having given
up in the vessel C a part of its chlorine the current of gases passes by

page_text: the pipe
into the vessel B, where it comes into contact with a solution
or milk which has as yet absorbed less chlorine than that contained in C.
In B it gives up a further portion of its chlorine, and then passes by the
pipe c into the vessel A, the milk or solution contained in which contains
still less chlorine than that in B. From A, or the highest vessel of the
series, whatever the number of vessels employed, the current of gases,
having had abstracted from it the whole of the chlorine which it originally
contained, passes by the pipe d to the chimney or into the open air.
The milk or solution of the oxide or salt employed to absorb the
chlorine passes through the series of vessels in the direction opposite to
that of the current of gases. It is introduced by the pipe e into the
vessel A; from A-it passes into B by the valve and pipe f; and from B
it passes into C by the valve and pipe g. When the milk or solution in
C has absorbed sufficient chlorine it is run off by the valve and pipe h.
The contents of B are then run into C, and those of A into B, and fresh
milk or solution into. A.
The agitators shown in Figures 1 and 2 each consist of arms j, j,
fastened on an axis r, with bars bolted or otherwise fastened between
them. These dip into the milk or solution and throw up a spray into
the upper part of the vessels through which the current of gases passes.
This form of agitator also serves to draw the gases through the vessels
and from the apparatus in which they are generated.
With this form of
agitator diaphragms may be used or not, as may be preferred, and, if
preferred, the gases may travel in the direction of the axes of the
agitators.
The agitators shown in Figs. 3 and 4 each consist of a series of discs
1, 1, 1, fastened on an axis k. These discs may either be plain or have
projections on their surfaces, and in revolving they carry up portions of
the milk or solution, and so present constantly freshly wetted surfaces to
the current of gases. The diaphragms m, m, m, in the upper part of
cach vessel keep the current of gases in contact with the discs, and afford
additional wet surfaces to promote the absorption of the chlorine. This
modification of agitator may also be used with the current of gases
travelling at right angles to the axes of the agitators.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that
what I claim is the absorption of chlorine obtained by processes which

page_text: yield that gas in a state of mixture with other gases by means of a series
of vessels, substantially as above described and as shown in the accom-
panying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Weldon, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-four.