A NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MAKING LIME, AND FOR SIMILAR PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jacob Baynes Thompson, of Wraysbury, in the
County of Buckingham, Electro-metallurgist, and William Wykes
Ladelle, of the same Place, Paper Maker, for the Invention of
A
NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MAKING LIME, AND FOR SIMILAR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacob Baynes Thompson
and William Wykes Ladelle at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 12th October 1875.
We, JACOB BAYNES THOMPSON, of Wraysbury, in the County of
Buckingham, Electro-metallurgist, and WILLIAM WYKES LADELLE, of
the same Place, Paper Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MAKING LIME, AND
FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
Ordinarily lime is produced by placing the limestone or other raw
material in a kiln with fuel in such manner that air may pass with more
or less freedom through the mass, and by ignition of the fuel carbonic

page_text: anhydride may be driven off. It is a necessity of the process that the
limestone or other material should be in the form of lumps; therefore
material which is in the state of a fine powder, such for instance as the
spent lime which has been used for causticising soda ash, cannot by the
ordinary method be recalcined. Our Invention consists of an apparatus,
by use whereof such spent lime or any similar material, as well as the
ordinary material used, may be calcined, and the carbonic anhydride
being driven off be converted into caustic lime.
We construct a kind of retort, open at both ends, which we place in a
more or less upright position (preferably at an inclination of about 22
degrees (or one quarter of a right angle) from a vertical line) in a flue
immediately connected with a firc. The flue we convert into a kind of
reverberatory furnace by inserting reverberators or diaphragms to deflect
the incandescent gases proceeding from the fire, and cause them to pass
more closely round the retort. We place the bottom of the retort upon
the bottom of the flue; and provide a sliding door therein, by opening or
closing of which the contents of the retort may be retained or allowed
to fall by gravity into a receptacle beneath; and we provide holes or
slots in the sliding door to admit of a current of external air passing
through the retort. We provide a lid at the top of the retort to be
opened or closed as required for filling the retort from time to time, and
we provide a pipe or outlet at the upper end of the retort for the escape
of steam and of carbonic anhydride.
The fire may be made in any ordinary way, but we prefer to use one
constructed in the form shewn in Thompson's Patent, No. 3849, 1873.
The retort may be made either of cast or wrought iron, or any other
material capable of withstanding a full red heat, and may be of any
suitable shape; but we prefer rectangular retorts formed of plates of
cast iron, with sides about one foot and nine inches respectively, and
about five feet long. All that is absolutely necessary as to the shape,
size, and material of the retort is that it should be capable of being
heated with its contents throughout to a bright red heat, and as to the
fire that it should be capable of heating the retort to that degree.
The mode of working the apparatus is as follows:-The fire being
lighted, and the retort filled, the contents of the retort are heated
throughout to a bright red heat, when the carbonic anhydride will be
driven off, and the lime rendered caustic. The sliding door at the

page_text: bottom of the retort is then withdrawn, and the contents of the retort
discharged into the receptacle beneath it, which should be constructed
of such a size as to contain only so much of the caustic lime as is
perfected at each operation. The sliding door is then closed, the caustic
lime removed from the lower receptacle, a fresh charge inserted through
the top door of the retort, and the process repeated.
Two or more retorts may be inserted in the same flue or reverberatory
furnace, and the retorts may be used not only for lime making, but also
for calcining cements, roasting metallic ores, or any similar purpose.
We claim as of our Invention the construction and use of the retorts
above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jacob Baynes Thompson and William Wykes
Ladelle in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JACOB
BAYNES THOMPSON, of Wraysbury, in the County of Buckingham,
Electro-metallurgist, and WILLIAM WYKES LADELLE, of the same Place,
Paper Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Jacob Baynes Thompson and
William Wykes Ladelle, Her special licence that we, the said Jacob
Baynes Thompson and William Wykes Ladelle our executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Jacob Baynes
Thompson and William Wykes Ladelle, our 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 "A NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR MAKING LIME, AND FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst

page_text: others) that we, the said Jacob Baynes Thompson and William Wykes
Ladelle, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, 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 we, the said Jacob Baynes Thompson and
William Wykes Ladelle, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment:
-
Ordinarily lime is produced by placing the limestone or other raw
material in a kiln with fuel in such manner that air may pass with more
or less freedom through the mass, and by ignition of the fuel the
carbonic anhydride may be driven off. It is a necessity of the process.
that the limestone or other material should be in the form of lumps;
therefore, material which is in the state of a fine powder, such for instance
as the spent lime which has been used for causticizing soda ash cannot
by the ordinary method be recalcined. Our Invention consists of an
apparatus, by use whereof such spent lime or any similar material, as
well as the ordinary material used, may be recalcined, and the carbonic
anhydride being driven off be converted into caustic lime.
We construct a kind of retort, open at both ends, which we place in a
more or less upright position in a flue immediately connected with a
fire. The flue we convert into a kind of reverberatory furnace by
inserting reverberators or diaphragms to deflect the incandescent gases
proceding from the fire, and cause them to pass more closely round the
retort. We place the bottom of the retort upon the bottom of the flue,
and provide a sliding door therein, by opening or closing of which the
contents of the retort may be retained or allowed to fall by gravity into
a receptacle beneath; and we provide holes or slots in the sliding door
to admit of a current of external air passing through the retort. We
provide a lid at the top of the retort to be opened or closed as required
for filling the retort from time to time, and we provide a pipe or outlet
at the upper end of the retort for the escape of steam and of carbonic
anhydride.

page_text: The fire may be made in any ordinary way, but we prefer to use one
constructed in the form shewn in Thompson's Patent, No. 3849, 1873.
The retort may be made either of cast or wrought iron, or any other
material capable of withstanding a full red heat, and may be of any
suitable shape. All that is absolutely necessary as to the shape and
material of the retort is that it should be capable of being heated with
its contents throughout to a bright red heat, and as to the fire, that it
should be capable of heating the retort with its contents to that degree.
The mode of working the apparatus is as follows:--The fire being
lighted, and the retort filled, the contents of the retort are heated
throughout to a bright red heat, when the carbonic anhydride will be
driven off, and the lime rendered caustic. The sliding door at the
bottom of the retort is then withdrawn, and the contents of the retort
discharged into the receptacle beneath it, which should be constructed
of such a size as to contain only so much of the caustic lime as is per-
fected at each operation. The sliding door is then closed, the caustic
lime removed from the lower receptacle, a fresh charge inserted through
the top door of the retort, and the process repeated.
Two or more retorts may be inserted in the same flue or reverberatory
furnace, and the retorts may be used not only for lime making, but also
for calcining cements, roasting metallic ores, or any similar purpose.
In order that our Invention may be more casily understood, and more
readily carried out, we proceed to describe the best means we have
found of performing the same, reference being made to the accompanying
Drawings.
Figs. 1 & 2 represent two arrangements of our apparatus, like letters
and figures referring to like parts in each respectively.
Fig. 1 represents a small apparatus, which may be made principally
of cast or wrought iron. A is the fire; B, the coal box (constructed
in accordance with Thompson's Patent, No. 3810, 1873); D, the
quasi retort which is open at both cuds; E is the receptacle for
the lime which is discharged from the retort; C is the outlet from
the retort for the steam and gas liberated inside; F, F, are the flues;
G is the working platform; 1 is the withdrawing door or lid; 3, 3,
are sights to keep the flues clear; 4 is the sliding door; 5, 5, are the
deflectors. The currents flow as indicated by the arrows. The mode

page_text: of working this arrangement is as follows:-The fire being lighted, and
the retort charged, and its contents brought to a bright red heat, and
kept at that heat for an hour, more or less, according to circumstances,
it is discharged by gravity, the sliding door 4 being withdrawn into a
receptacle E; and here we would remark that if on trial the lime is
found to be not perfectly caustic in all its parts it may remain in the
receptacle E to finish, which will be effected by the heat of the burning
gases as they pass to the upper parts of the apparatus, the lime being
turned over from time to time. Generally it will be found more
expeditious to finish the lime here, dividing the time equally between
receptacle E and retort D, that is to say, when the charge in E is finished
the charge in D is ready to be withdrawn into E.
Fig. 2 represents a larger apparatus, the retort of which it will be
expedient to make of fire-clay slabs and bricks, but this will involve a
variation in form and position, and also, in consequence of the much
greater amount of lime it will contain, it cannot conveniently be dis-
charged all at once by gravity; therefore it will have to be inclined to a
position of stability, that is, towards a horizontal position. This will
render the sliding door not only unnecessary, but a hindrance. The
sliding door being removed there will be a greater draught through the
retort than there could be through the slots or holes in it, so that it has
been found expedient that the burning gases should not only pass
round the retort but through it. As in the previous Figure A is the
fire; B, the coal box; D, the retort; E, the finishing receptacle;
C, the outlet from the retort for the burning gases to the flues F, F,
round the retort; G, the working platform; 1, the withdrawing door;
2, the charging door; 3, 31, 3, 3, sights to keep the flues clear;
311, the uptake front flue; 3, the uptake back flue. The currents flow
as indicated by the arrows. The mode of working this arrangement is
as follows: It is charged at door 2 (as in the preceding arrangement),
but will contain enough at one time for three draws. When the lime
in receptacle E or the finishing sole is perfectly calcined it is removed
through the withdrawing door 1; then the lower half of the lime
contained in the sloping part of the retort D is put down (with a rake
through the door 2) on to the finishing sole E, and that on the upper
half of the slope is put down to the lower half. A fresh charge is then
put on the upper half to replace what has been put down, and the work
so goes on continuously.

page_text: We claim as of our Invention, the construction and use of the retorts,
tilns, or apparatus above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Jacob Baynes Thompson and
William Wykes Ladelle, have hereunto set our hands and seals,
this Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-six.