Improvements in the Manufacture of Calcium Carbide and Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Feb., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 4th Dec., 1899-Accepted, 6th Jan., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Calcium Carbide and Apparatus
therefor.
We, RICHARD WARNER, of 5, Greville Road, Richmond, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, JAMES WADE, of 74, Coleman Street, Consulting Engineer,
and CHARLES TOWNSEND Fox, of 32, Great St. Helens, Secretary of Public
Company, both in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of calcium carbide and to that
method of manufacture wherein the materials are acted upon by incandescent
gases.
Hitherto this mode of manufacture has not been commercially successful and
chiefly it is believed for the reason that the contact of the incandescent gases
with the materials under treatment have a chemical effect upon the latter which
interferes with the desired reactions.
The object of this invention is to provide means whereby the materials can
be protected from the direct action of injurious gases and to this end it com-
prises the improvement hereinafter described.
According to the said invention we make use of what we term a compound
furnace having an upper portion or retort enclosed in a suitable chamber
(through which the incandescent gases at the required temperature flow to heat
the retort) and a lower portion or hearth into which the materials after under-
going a certain amount of preliminary heating in the retort are allowed to drop
or pass and wherein they are further heated by the direct action of flames or
jet of a gas the constitution of which is such that it has not an injurious effect
upon the material, such, for instance, as gas of the kind described in the Specifi-
cation of Woods and Byrom's Patent No. 14453 of 1898.
On this hearth the final reaction takes place, and in order to provide for
subjecting all parts of the material upon the hearth to the action of the flames
or jets the latter is made movable.
In practice we prefer that the waste gases from the lower or hearth portion
of the furnace should be directed into the chamber containing the retort on the
regenerative principle, the additional heat required, if any, being obtained by
the combustion of producer or other gas.
Dated the 3rd day of February 1899.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Calcium Carbide and Apparatus
therefor:
We, RICHARD WARNER, of 5, Greville Road, Richmond, in the County of
-Surrey, Gentleman, JAMES WADE, of 74, Coleman Street, Consulting Engineer,

page_text: and CHARLES TOWNSEND Fox, of 32, Great St. Helens, Secretary of Public
Company, both in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion 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 the manufacture of calcium carbide and to that
method of manufacture wherein the materials are acted upon by incandescent
gases.
Hitherto this mode of manufacture has not been commercially successful and
chiefly it is believed for the reason that the contact of the incandescent gases
with the materials under treatment have a chemical effect upon the latter which
interferes with the desired reactions.
The object of this invention is to provide means whereby the materials can
be protected from the direct action of injurious gases and to this end it com-
prises the improvement hereinafter described.
According to the said invention we make use of what we term a compound
furnace having an upper portion or retort enclosed in a suitable chamber (through
which the incandescent gases at the required temperature flow to heat the retort)
which constitutes a lower portion or hearth onto which the materials after under-
going a certain amount of preliminary heating in the retort are allowed to drop
or pass and wherein they are further heated by the direct action of flames or
jets of a gas the constitution of which is such that it has not an injurious effect
upon the material, such, for instance, as gas of the kind described in the Specifi-
cation of Woods and Byrom's Patent No. 14453 of 1898.
On this hearth the final reaction takes place.
'
In practice we prefer that the waste gases from the lower or hearth portion
of the furnace should be used on the regenerative principle, the additional heat
required, if any, being obtained by the combustion of producer or other gas.
To enable the invention to be fully understood we will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawing, in which :-
Figure 1 is a vertical section; and
**
Figure 2 a sectional plan of a furnace constructed according to our invention
and adapted to use gas of the kind described in the Specification of Woods and
Byrom's Patent No. 14453 of 185.
Figures 3 and 4 are respectively a vertical section and a plan of the retort
detached and provided with a modified arrangement for discharging the contents;
Figure 5 is a vertical section shewing a furnace adapted to be heated by
producer gas and arranged in conjunction with regenerative chambers.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.
a indicates the lower portion of the furnace which contains a chamber b,
and indicates the upper portion or retort of the furnace which projects into
the chamber, the said retort being adapted to receive the materials to be
treated and to be closed by lids d and e designed to be removed for the insertion
and examination respectively of the said materials.
At the lower end of the retorte is an aperture of through which the materials
contained in the retort can be discharged into the chamber b. As shewn in
Figure 1 this aperture is closed by a sliding damper g, whilst in Figure 3 it is
represented as being closed by a plug h of semicircular shape mounted on a
rod (of steel or other material which will not be injuriously affected by the heat
to which the contents of the retort are subjected and also which will not have
an injurious effect upon the materials being treated) and adapted to be turned
more or less in order to uncover the opening f.
jis a discharge opening near the bottom of the chamber b which is closed
during the operation of the furnace by any desired means; in Figure 1 the
opening is represented as being closed by a sliding damper k. If desired, the
discharge opening instead of being at the bottom of the furnace may be at one
side of the furnace, as indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1.
1, are openings formed through the sides of the furnace a and through which

page_text: burners m, m may be passed for heating the materials in the chamber band
also the retort c and the materials therein; n is a flue through which the products
of combustion escape.
In using our furnace for the manufacture of calcium carbide the raw materials
are introduced into the retort and when they have been raised to the required
temperature they are discharged through the opening f into the chamber b
wherein they are finally acted upon directly by the flames in order to bring
about the required change. The finished carbide is finally discharged through
the opening j.
An advantageous arrangement of regenerative chambers is shewn in Figure 5,
in which figure o, o indicate a pair of chambers either of which can be placed
in communication with a gas supply main or with a chimney by means of suit-
able dampers and p, are two similar chambers which by means of suitable
dampers can be placed either in communication with the atmosphere or with a
chimney.
In the operation of the apparatus the air and gas are caused to flow through
one pair of chambers, say, the chambers o, p, to the space q where they mix and
burn, the flame serving for heating the chamber 6 and retort c whilst the waste
gases pass through the space q' and through the pair of chambers o', ¹ to the
chimney. When the chambers ', ' are sufficiently heated the dampers are
reversed so that the air and gas will flow through the chambers o¹, 21 and be
heated in their passage, whilst the waste gas will flow through and heat the
chambers o, p, and so on.
, are the openings through which auxiliary heating flames of Woods and
Byrom's gas can be projected into the furnace for raising the heat thereof; if
necessary, these apertures 1, 1 can also serve for observing the action of the flame
within the said furnace.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
:-
1. The improvements in the 'manufacture of calcium carbide consisting in
heating the raw materials in a compound furnace in one part of which the
preliminary heating takes place and from which the materials are subsequently
discharged into the other part of the furnace for the final heating, substantially
as described.
2. In the manufacture of calcium carbide the use of a compound furnace in
one part of which the materials are preliminarily heated and in the other part
of which they are finally heated, means being provided whereby the materials
can be discharged from one part into the other part, substantially as described.
3. In the manufacture of calcium carbide the use of a compound furnace
arranged in combination with regenerative chambers, substantially as, and for
the purpose, described.
1
15
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.