AN IMPROVED MODE OF DIRECTING THE PASSAGE OP AND OTHERWISE DEALING WITH NOXIOUS VAPOURS AND OTHER MATTERS ARISING PROM CHEMICAL WORKS IN CERTAIN CASES
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILTON
GEORGE TURNER, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, Doctor in Philosophy,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of August, in the eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Wilton George Turner, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Wilton
George Turner, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such other as I, the said
Wilton George Turner, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick
upon Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF DIRECTING THE PASSAGE
OP AND OTHERWISE DEALING WITH NOXIOUS VAPOURS AND OTHER MATTERS ARISING
PROM CHEMICAL WORKS IN CERTAIN CASES;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso obliging me, the said Wilton George Turner, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the

page_text: nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Wilton George Turner, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
consists in the application of a draft produced by certain mechanical con-
trivances to the manufacture of sulphuric acid, muriatic acid, and sulphate of
soda, and also to various metallurgic processes, such as the roasting and
smelting of metallic ores, in aid of or as a substitute for the ordinary draft
produced by a chimney; by which contrivances, together with certain improved
processes, I am enabled to condense that portion of the acid gases and metallic
fumes which in the processes now used escape into the air, and by which also
I not only increase the quantity of the products manufactured from a given
quantity of materials, but completely remove the causes of the injury to vege-
tation which is usually observed where such chemical processes are carried on.
I would remark that the condensation of the acid gases generated in the manu-
facture of sulphuric and muriatic acids and sulphate of soda is more readily
eflected than the condensation of the metallic fumes given off' in the roasting and
smelting of metallic ores, and in refining the metals. This arises from the use
in the condensation of the acid gases of substances for which they have a chemical
affinity, in consequence of which they are absorbed by merely being brought
in contact with such substances. In the case of metallic fumes, on the
contrary, where the only convenient condensing agent is water, no such affinity
exists, and the fumes are not absorbed but only made thoroughly wet, whereby
they become too heavy to be carried on by the gases which accompany them,
and therefore remain in the condenser. To effect the condensation of the acid
gases therefore it is sufficient to allow the air with which they are mixed to
pass into the condensing agent, whereas the air containing the metallic fumes
must be agitated with the condensing agent by mechanical means, so that
cach particle of fume may be thoroughly wetted, and thus obtain an increased
specific gravity.
And now in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Wilton
George Turner, do hereby describe the apparatus and process by which
metallic fumes are condensed, and my mode of directing the passage of the
said fumes for that purpose, reference being had to the Drawings annexed, and
to the Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and to the letters marked thereon, that is
to so

page_text: I use a horizontal vessel A, B, C, D, (Figure 1 being a side view, and
Figure 2, an end view,) which may be of sheet iron or fire brick or stone,
according to the corrosive or non-corrosive nature of the substances employed
therein, and constructed with great care so as to be perfectly sound work. In
this vessel I place a continuous screw, made of suitable materials, which
revolves upon the axis E, F, as shewn at Figure 3. I connect this axis E, F,
with a steam engine, water wheel, or other moving power in such manner as to
be able to cause it to revolve with such rapidity as to produce the requisite
draft. I place at intervals upon the shaft II, K, of the screw long arms
marked b, which are about the same length as the radius of the thread of the
screw. I now connect the vessel A, B, C, D, with the furnace, from which
the fumes are emitted by means of the flue P, and I allow a quantity of water
to flow into the vessel through the feed cock Q, Figures 1 and 2, so as to cover
the lower edge of the screw to the depth of three or four inches. I would
here remark that the lower part of the vessel A, B, C, D, should form a trough
for the water, being of the form represented by Figure 2; this trough should
be furnished with a convenient tap R, by which the water may be withdrawn
at pleasure.
The apparatus being thus arranged, the screw is set in motion up to the
speed at which it will be found that a good draft in a direction from the furnace
is produced. At the same time the water in the vessel A, B, C, D, is worked
by the action of the screw towards the extremity B, D, and violently dashed
and broken by the arms with which the shaft II, K, is furnished into ono mass
of foam and spray, which when the fumes are admitted completely wets them
by violently beating them about with the water in their passage through the
vessel, until being too heavy to pass on with the draft they fall to the bottom
of the trough.
It will be now understood why the lower part of the vessel A, B, C, D, must
be enlarged into the form stated. It is to allow the water which is forced by
the screw towards B, D, to flow back again, or it would accumulate at B, D),
and be forced through N to the chimney; it also serves as a reservoir for
holding a sufficient quantity of water.
If this apparatus be applied to the condensation of lead or other metallic
fumes, the water must be drawn off from time to time into proper receivers
or tanks, in which by standing the metals are deposited. The accompanying
Drawing, Figure 3, is a representation of a screw three feet in diameter, and
which when worked at the rate of four hundred revolutions in a minute was
found capable of working and condensing the fumes arising from an ordinary

page_text: lead refining furnace. In this case the vessel and screw are composed of iron,
inasmuch as there are no corosive gases accompanying the fumes. In the
case of fumes arising from the roasting or smelting of ores where corrosive
gases are evolved, the vessel and trough should be built of brick or stone
cemented with fire clay, and the screw made of or covered with lead.
I shall now describe my Invention as far as the same relates to the manu-
facture of sulphuric acid, and the process by which I effect my draft, and a
perfect condensation of acid gases, and economise both sulphur and nitre in
such cases.
I here avail myself of condensing agents, for which the acid gases have a
chemical affinity, and for this purpose I make use of a series of air-tight vessels,
which I call condensers, and are marked I, J, O, in Figures 5 and 6, and bring
the draft pipe, marked Z, of what is called in ordinary practice the sulphuric
acid chamber marked X, X, in Figures 5 and 6, into the bottom of the first
of these condensers, as shown at I, Figure 5; which condensers should be made
of wood and lined with lead, and strong enough to resist a considerable
pressure. Into this condenser I, I admit a quantity of what is usually called
chamber acid, so as to cover the opening of the draft pipe Z from the sulphuric
acid chamber to the depth of two or three feet. I then connect the upper part
of this condenser with air pumps Y, Y, of sufficient power and capacity to draw
through one hundred and sixty-two thousand cubic feet of air to every one
hundred pounds of sulphur burnt, and cause a partial vacuum to be made
and maintained in the upper part of this condenser I. In consequence of this
arrangement, the gases from the sulphuric acid chamber force their way in a
continuous stream through the acid in this condenser I, thus causing a draft
from the sulphuric acid chamber. In order to complete my improved mode of
dealing with the noxious vapours, and for purposes I shall herein-after describe,
I cause the draft to take place and the gases from the sulphuric acid chamber
to be drawn through three of such condensers I, J, and O, as shewn in
Figures 5 and 6; and in order to increase the time that the gases take in
passing through the liquor contained in these condensers I cause them to move
diagonally through it by means of the plates of lead seen at d, e, and g, f,
Figure 5. The use of the condensers J and O will be more particularly
explained hereafter; but for the better understanding of my Invention, I would
first here remark that there are three causes in operation, which in the present
⚫ method of manufacturing sulphuric acid produce the loss of nitre; the first of
these is the complete decomposition of nitric acid, which accompanies the
formation of the crystalline compound of sulphuric and hyponitrous acids;

page_text: secondly, the absorption of a portion of nitric acid by the sulphuric acid of the
chamber; and, thirdly, the escape of nitrous acid from the chamber through
the draft pipe. All these causes of loss of nitre I entirely prevent, or at any
rate greatly diminish, by my improved draft and mode of dealing with the
noxious vapours. First, by avoiding the formation of the chrystaline compound
of sulphuric and hyponitrous acids in the sulphuric acid chamber, which I
accomplish by not throwing in steam, using nitric acid in the acid chamber
instead of nitre in the furnace, as herein-after described, thus limiting the action
which produces the sulphuric acid to the absorption of the sulphurous acid by
the chamber acid, whereby the great height adopted in the present sulphuric
acid chamber becomes unnecessary, and I make it of the form shewn at X, X,
Figure 5, and recommend a sulphuric acid chamber of such area as may be
requisite, but of not more than two feet in depth above the surface of the
chamber acid, the depth of the latter being about a foot; and, secondly, by the
application of the condensers and air pumps as follows, that is to say:-To
the sulphuric acid chamber X, X, as before stated, I attach three air-tight
condensers I, J, O, and two air pumps Y, Y, as before described. The con-
denser O being just one-half the cubic contents of each of the other two, a
section and the relative positions of which are represented in Figures 5 and G
aforesaid, which I will now more particularly describe.
The air-tight condensers I and J are supplied with a leaden pipe passing
once round the interior of the condenser, the one extremity of such pipe being
attached to and in communication with a steam boiler, the other extremity open
to the air, and by means of the steam passing from the boiler through this
pipe I am enabled to maintain the temperature of the acid in the condensers
I and J to about 140 of Farenheit. This is shown in dotted lines in
Figure 6.
The apparatus being thus arranged and the sulphuric acid chamber luted
with acid of about the specific gravity of 15 to 1-6, to which has been added
three or four per cent. of nitric acid, I charge the condensers I and J with the
same acid, but into condenser O, I place sulphuric acid of the specific gravity
of 17; the air pumps Y, Y, may now be set in motion and the sulphur burnt
as usual in the furnace, but without the usual addition of nitre. The fumes
entering as usual into the sulphuric acid chamber X, X, and passing over the
surface of the chamber acid, are absorbed and converted into sulphuric acid,
some portion, however, of the sulphurous acid escaping condensation, passes
through the draft pipe Z into condenser I, where it is at once, on coming in
contact with the nitric acid, converted into sulphuric acid. This change is

page_text: accompanied with the evolution of deutoxide of nitrogen, which, as it rises
from the liquor and mixes with the air, passes on in the form of nitrous acid
vapour through the pipe W into the condenser J, where it is condensed. In
this manner the acid in condenser I soon loses all its nitric acid, which must
be replaced by allowing a small quantity, say, two or three per cent., to flow in
from time to time by. the stop cock at the top of the vessel. The process
before described may be continued until the sulphuric acid in I approaches the
specific gravity 17 when cold. As it approaches this high gravity the action
becomes imperfect for reasons hereafter stated, and some portion of the
sulphurous acid is in consequence not converted into sulphuric acid in con-
denser I, but passes on into condenser J, where the change is effected with the
liberation of deutoxide of nitrogen, which, forming nitrous fumes, passes on
through the pipe V into condenser O. The supply of nitric acid to condenser I
must at the same time be stopt, in order that a sulphuric acid may be obtained
which is perfectly free from nitric acid. The use of the condenser J will now
be understood. It is to perform the duties of condenser I during that period
of the process when condenser I, in consequence of its containing but little
nitric acid and strong sulphuric acid, is producing but a partial effect. As
soon as all the nitric acid is observed to have passed from condenser I, the acid
from condenser O, which has now become nitrous, is allowed to flow into the
sulphuric acid chamber through the pipe U, Figure 6, which is a plan of
Figure 5. A new charge is now taken from condenser I by opening the stop
cock T, when a portion of the acid in condenser I will be forced by atmospheric
pressure into condenser 0; the remainder of the acid in condenser I is now
drawn off through the stop-cock S for use, and condenser I recharged from
the chamber through the pipe r. The condensers J and O have pipes t, t,
Figure 6, furnished with stop-cocks, by means of which they may at pleasure
be emptied into the sulphuric acid chamber. As it is necessary to keep the
acid in condenser J in a good working condition the strength of the acid,
which of course has the same tendency to increase as in condenser I, must be
kept down by a supply of water admitted through a pipe from the top. The
chamber acid should also be kept of about the specific gravity of 1.6; nor
should the acid in condenser I be allowed to grow stronger than 17. The
reason of this limit is that at a higher strength there is no water in an uncom-
bined state to decompose the nitrous and hyponitrous acids into nitric acid and
deutoxide of nitrogen, and the two former do not react upon sulphurous acids.
It is only necessary to add that, when it is required to empty the contents of
the condensers into the sulphuric acid chamber, the pumps must cease to work,

page_text: and air must be admitted into the condensers J and O, to restore the
equilibrium, while the operator will be enabled to judge by the sulphurous or
nitrous smell, as the case may be, issuing from the pumps, in the first case
that the condenser J requires more nitric acid or more water, as the case may
be, and in the second case that the condenser must be replenished. For
the condensation of muriatic acid in the manufacture of sulphate of soda, a
similar series of air-tight vessels and air pumps to those before described may
be attached to the furnace in which the salt is decomposed, and the condensa-
tion effected by the agency of water in the condenser but as the great
volatility of the solution of muriatic acid, particularly under the diminished
atmospheric pressure created by the air pumps, renders their use in some
degree objectionable, I therefore prefer to apply the screw draft apparatus
herein-before described, and the vessel A, B, C, D, in this case should be built
of a. close-grained sandstone cemented with fire clay, and the screw must be
composed of or lined with fire-brick material, and may be made of about three
feet in diameter working upon a wooden shaft. It is better also in this case
that the gases should be made to pass through two such cylinders with screw
drafts.
Now whereas I claim as new and as my Invention,-
First, the application of a screw and arms working in water, the ono for
the purpose of creating and increasing the draft from, and the other for wetting
and thus condensing by increasing the specific gravity of, noxious vapours pro-
ceeding from furnaces in which the roasting and smelting of metallic ores and
other metallurgic processes are being carried on.
Secondly, the application of the said screw or of air pumps and condensers
herein-before described in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, muriatic acid, and
sulphate of soda.
Thirdly, in the substitution (in the manufacture of sulphuric acid) of nitric
acid to the sulphuric acid in the acid chamber for nitre in the furnace.
Fourthly, in the substitution of a shallow sulphuric acid chamber, as herein-
before explained, for the deeper one heretofore used for such manufacture, and
not introducing steam therein, and thereby preventing the formation of the
chrystaline compound of sulphuric and hyponitrous acids therein; and,
Lastly, the working the vapours in and escaping from the acid chamber
through the condensers with the condensing media, and in manner herein-
before described.
And such my Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief
entirely new, and never before used in that part of Her Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of

page_text: Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my
Specification of the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wilton George Turner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
ANT
DERED, I
uny
epruary, m
the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Wilton George Turner came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.