on of and with the cols
Year: 1886

page_text: We GEORGE HENRY NICHOLS, WILLIAM HENRY NICHOLS and JOHN BROWN
FRANCIS HERRESHOFF all of Brooklyn Kings County State of New York, United
States of America do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This Invention relates to a new construction of sulphuric acid tower, having for
its object the obviating of difficulties that are connected with the Glover tower now
generally used.
The Glover tower of which a complete description can be found in the book
entitled "A theoretical and practical treatise on the manufacture of sulphuric acid
and alkali with the collateral branches" by George Lunge, Ph.D, F.C.S. London
1879 Volume 1 page 426, is a brick lined structure containing blocks of flint and
coke, or other acid resisting material.
The hot gases from the kiln enter the tower near the bottom, and pass out near
the top being cooled on their way up by the blocks of flint with which they are
brought into contact. The tower is, however, also used for the purpose of
concentrating the product of chamber acid up to 60 degrees Baumé and above, said
acid being introduced at the top of the tower, and allowed to trickle through the
filling thereof. Water contained in the acid will be evaporated by the heat which
is brought into the tower through the introduction of the gas.
As a
The main difficulty connected with the use of the Glover tower is, however,
caused by the brick lining and by the lower brick arches which support the filling ;
for although the text books say that the bricks should be acid resisting bricks, the
fact is that no bricks have ever been made that can withstand the severe action of
the hot acid gases and of the hot acid which is introduced into such towers.
consequence the brick walls are gradually eaten away, which greatly shortens the
life of the tower, and which, moreover, renders the acid that is passed through
the tower impure, in that the bricks yield their own elements up to the acid that
corrodes them. Hence, the sulphuric acid passed through such a Glover tower can
only be used for a few purposes, because of its impurities.

page_text: Again, the acid absorbing iron and alumina from the brick of the glover tower
deposit a white scale of anhydrous sulphate of iron and alumina above the open
arch of the tower, and thereby gradually stop up the openings, check the draft,
and finally interfere effectually with the proper passage of the gas and acid through
the tower. It is costly and difficult to properly clean out these deposits. When
the bricks are more or less corroded by the acid, it happens at times that the tower
will tumble in, thus causing stoppage of the whole acid plant and a very serious
loss of time etc.
Our present invention seeks, as heretofore stated to obviate these difficulties,
and consists principally in lining the entire tower within its outer sheathing of
lead with quartz, glass or other perfect acid resisting material, in such manner as
to prevent the acid reaching said lead sheathing, which, if reached, would be
corroded. The invention also consists in constructing the lower part of the tower
entirely of quartz, or its equivalent as hereinafter more fully stated.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings wherein
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of our improved sulphuric acid tower.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the same, on the line c, c, figure 1.
Figure 3 is a horizontal section of the same, on the line k, kc, figure 1.
The improved tower has, like the towers now in use an outer sheathing or
casing A, of lead. The body of the tower is either of cylindrical form or of
prismatic form. Figures 2 and 3 represent it of the last mentioned form. This
casing or sheathing Å of lead in this improved tower should be so constructed as to
resist a heavy pressure from within, and yet at the same time it should not in the
least bulge outwardly. To prevent this bulging outwardly the whole outer surface
of the lead casing or sheathing is enclosed in a resisting wall B of iron, which is
constructed of a series of strong iron plates a a that are bolted at their ends to
the upright posts b, b, of the tower. These posts are by preference also made of
iron. In this improved tower the filling C, and also the lining walls D that are
intended to resist the corroding action of the hot gases and hot acid, are both
constructed of a perfect acid resisting material, such as glass or quartz, the latter
being preferred as the best and most suitable substance.
It would not be practicable to build the lining wall D of blocks of quartz, the
same as a brick wall is erected in the Glover tower for the reason that quartz
cannot be cut into suitable blocks. Hence we have abandoned the idea of using in
the tower a self sustaining wall as a protective lining to the lead. We substitute
for the brick wall in the Glover tower, not a true wall in the sense of a self
sustaining wall, but a loose lining of crushed or ground quartz, glass or analogous
substance, the same being reduced to so fine an extent that it will pack closely
enough to prevent the hot gases of the tower from reaching the lead wall A to
cause injury to said lead wall, by corrosion, or otherwise.
The filling proper C of the tower consists of blocks or pieces of quartz of about
five or six inches in diameter and is intended to press strongly against the lining D
of fine quartz preventing it from falling inwardly, and in turn the lining is
prevented from forcing the lead A outwards by the outer wall B of iron.
In erecting the tower we put in the lining D and filling C at about the same
time, that is, we first lay a stratum or layer of the filling C keeping it about twelve
or eighteen inches away from the lead A, according to the thickness of the lining
desired. The filling C is packed as loosely as possible, so as not to interfere with
the flow of the gases and the acid, but at its edge or face, which is to come next
the lining, the blocks are placed as compactly as possible and all the holes or
cavities along its edge or face are filled with spalls of quartz, so that no holes
remain along this outer edge of the filling C larger than, say, one half inch in
diameter. What we mean here is that all the holes that show in the outer
circumference of the filling C are plugged up from the outer side with the said
spalls of quartz,
'

page_text: Having thus erected a part of the filling C there is a space left between the
filling and the leaden wall or casing A, and that space is now filled as follows,
to wit, first, next to the filling C a layer d of coarse quartz is erected, a suitable
sheet metal plate, or in case of a cylindrical tower, a suitable sheet metal tube
being put in position to prevent this layer falling outwards. The pieces that
constitute this layer d should measure from three sixteenths to five eighths of an
inch in diameter: secondly, the space between this layer d and the leaden wall A
is filled with the fine quartz, which should be ground so that its largest pieces
should not exceed three sixteenths of an inch in diameter. This latter lining e of
fine, but loose quartz constitutes the main and improved feature of the tower, for
gas, as we have proved by experience, can hardly pass through it, nor can it, the
lining e, be forced outwards because of the resisting wall of iron B.
Instead of this wall B being made of iron, it may be made of other suitable
strong substance.
Nor can the fine lining e be washed into the centre or filter portion of the tower,
because the coarser layer d prevents the fine particles passing through to the
filling proper C. We have tested this by pouring streams of water into a tower
thus constructed, and found that no particles of the fine layer e came out with the
water that escaped from the tower at the lower part thereof. We have thus far
described the body or upper part of the tower. We will now describe more
minutely the lower or arched part of the same, which in the Glover tower is
constructed of fire brick and so arranged as to leave proper passage for the gases
and acid. But any support of fire brick cannot last as long as desired, for the
reason already stated, that an absolutely acid resisting brick cannot practically be
produced. In lieu of this fire brick arch we erect two or more rough walls E of
quartz, their height being such as to reach to or above the top of the gas supply
pipe F. The outer walls E are placed about six inches from the lead sheathing or
casing A of the tower and the intervening space is filled with fine quartz and
coarser quartz, e d as shown in figure 1.
In case of a very small tower the central wall or post E can be dispensed with,
in which case only two such walls or posts will be used.
Upon the posts or walls E E are placed blocks G G of quartz, which span the
spaces between the poste, and between these blocks G spaces are left for the ascent
of the gas and descent of the acid. The pieces G should be about eight inches
thick and from 12 to 18 inches high, and the spaces between them should be about
ten inches wide. On the top of these cross pieces G and at right angles thereto
are placed smaller pieces H, of quartz, (see figure 3) between which holes about
eight inches square are left as shown.
Above this series of blocks H is built up the filling proper C, the lower course
of which should be composed of larger and more rounded blocks while the upper
courses should become gradually smaller, until the proper size of the filling C is
reached. All of the quartz pieces in the lower structure and also in the filling C
are so placed that the open spaces between them will be as large and evenly
distributed as possible.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
1. In a sulphuric acid tower the acid resisting filling C combined with a
surrounding lining D, of loose reduced acid resisting material, substantially as
described.
2. In a sulphuric acid tower, the combination of the inner acid resisting filling C
with the surrounding lining D, of loose reduced acid resisting material, and with
the lead sheathing A and outer wall B all arranged to maintain the loose lining D
in position as specified.

page_text: 3. The combination of the central filling C with the layer d of coarsely ground
quartz and the outer layer e of finely ground quartz, and with the sheathing A
substantially as herein shown and described.
4. In a sulphuric acid tower, the combination of the quartz posts E and upper
blocks G and H of quartz with the quartz filling C, all contained within the
sheathing A as specified.