A Process and Apparatus for
Year: 1886

page_text: A Process and Apparatus for
I, OLIVER IMRAY of N° 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents 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:-
According to this invention, steam superheated to about 1000° Fahr. is made to
pass through an injector and draw with it a quantity of oil, which becomes mixed
with it; the mixture is farther heated to about 1300° Fahr., and then receives in
admixture with it an additional quantity of oil; and finally this mixture is heated
to about 2400° Fahr. whereby it is converted into permanent gas suitable for
heating or illumination. The apparatus employed for effecting this process as
shewn in perspective by Fig. 1 and in vertical section by Fig. 2 of the accom-
panying drawings consists of three concentric cylindrical casings standing vertically
with their pipe connections as follows. The outermost casing is a cylindrical shell
of metal in two parts, the lower part or superheater having within it a helical
passage Y along which steam led from a boiler by a pipe A is made to pass in order
to be superheated, and the upper part or final retort having an internal hollow M
in which the gaseous mixture undergoes its final heating. This outermost casing
is enclosed in brickwork or other refractory material T which is a bad conductor
of heat. The second casing V is of metal not extending so high as the outermost
casing and separated from it by an annular flue space Z. It is also made with a
helical passage I formed in the body of its metal, and within this passage there is
a helical pipe H of smaller diameter than the passage itself. This passage and
pipe together constitute what may be termed the helical retort. Within the second
casing and separated from it by an annular flue space D is the primary retort which
is a vertical cylinder closed at its bottom S, and expanding at the top to give an
enlarged space O which is closed by a removeable cover K bolted on. This primary
retort hangs by a flange at its top from an arch X which springs from the top of
the outermost casing and covers the internal flue spaces D and Z. Below the
bottom S of the primary retort is a gas burner B consisting of a circle of jets which
directly heat the bottom S. The hot products of combustion ascend by the annular
space between the primary retort and the second casing, and then descend by
the annular space Z between the second and the outermost casings to a flue Z¹
provided with a damper whence they pass to a chimney thus heating on their way
the several parts of the apparatus. "Within the upper part of the primary retort

page_text: there is a spherical shell P divided by internal partitions 6 with perforations
through them, and from this shell P a helical pipe W extends down nearly to the
bottom of the primary retort where it terminates with an open mouth. Through
the cover of the primary retort a pipe, the supply pipe R¹, leads into the internal
spherical shell P, and from the same cover a pipe E leads to an external mixing
chamber E¹ and thence by a branch E' to the internal pipe H of the helical retort
in V. From the cavity above the helical channel I of the helical retort leads a
pipe L having a branch U to the final retort M and a branch L' to the burner B;
also from the final retort leads the gas pipe F a branch J from which leads to the
oil supply pipe R. There is also a pipe N from the retort O to the final retort M.
Steam supplied by the pipe A enters in quantity regulated by a valve or stop cock,
the lowest convolution of the helical superheater Y and flowing upwards along its
convolutions issues from the uppermost of them by the pipe Y' leading to the
injector Y to which is connected the pipe R supplying oil in quantity regulated
by a valve or stop cock. The superheated steam in passing through the injector Y
draws with it oil which passes with it by the pipe R¹ into the spherical shell P
within the primary retort. In this shell the oil and steam become thoroughly
mixed and the mixture passes down the helical pipe W within the primary retort
then up the body of the retort and out at the top by the pipe E leading to the
external mixing chamber E¹. As it enters this chamber an additional quantity of
oil is supplied to it by a branch R' from the oil pipe R. From the mixing
chamber E¹ the mixed fluid enters the inner pipe H of the helical retort, flows
along its convolutions, out at the lower open end of this pipe into the helical
passage I containing the pipe, back along the convolutions of this passage and
thence by the pipe L and wholly or partly by the branch U into the final retort M
whence it passes away by the pipe F as a permanent gas. The several compart-
ments of the apparatus or the pipes communicating with them are provided with
pyrometers shewing the temperatures of the fluid in them. By the pipe N
provided with a stop cock, the retort O can be made to communicate directly
with M, and by the pipe J a portion of the hot gas from M may be admitted to
the oil pipe R to mix with and heat the oil on its way to the injector. By the
pipe L gas can be led off without passing through the retort M, and the branch L'
to the burner B can be supplied either from L or by a branch L² from the
retort M.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I déclare that what
I claim is :-
1. The herein described process for manufacturing water oil gas, by mixing oil
with superheated steam, heating the mixture adding to it oil and finally highly
heating the mixture in retort compartments heated by combustion of part of the
gas produced.
2. The apparatus for manufacturing water oil gas, consisting of the burner B,
the steam superheater Y and injector Y', the retort OS with its internal shell
and pipe and mixing vessel E¹, the helical retort H I and the final retort M with
their connecting pipes and regulating cocks or valves, constructed and arranged
substantially as herein described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings,