RESERVE Soot and other similar Carbonaceous Products of Combustion.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Sept., 1886.
Complete Left, 14th June, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 15th July, 1887.
RESERVE
Soot and other similar Carbonaceous Products of Combustion.
I ROBERT PRINGLE of 2, Aberdeen Terrace, Blackheath, in the County of Kent,
Doctor of Medicine, Surgeon Major, Her Majesty's Bengal Army, (Retired), do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to a process of obtaining from soot and other carbonaceous
products of combustion, a pure carbon, free from grit, cinder, or other foreign matters,
and admirably adapted as a base for black pigments, for the manufacture of electric
light carbons, telephone transmitters, and for other purposes where a pure carbon is
required, and my invention consists in separating the carbon from the various
substances, which adhere to, or accompany it, by submitting the material to be purified
to impact under water.
A convenient form of apparatus consists of a separating and settling tank, having
at its lower part an inlet pipe through which the material to be purified is forced by a
head of water, and a shield which is supported at a short distance from the orifice of
the inlet pipe, and against which the material to be purified strikes.
The effect of this is to cause the cinder or other foreign matters to fall to the bottom
of the tank and the carbon to rise and float on the surface of the water. In practice
it will generally be found convenient to employ a cistern or container for the soot &c.
placed at a sufficient height above the separating and settling tank and connected by
a pipe with the latter, the container being provided with a water supply and furnished
with means for agitating the water and thereby facilitating the suspension of the
material to be purified in the water.
R. PRINGLE..
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.

page_text: A Process of and Apparatus for Obtaining Purified Carbon from
Soot and other similar Carbonaceous Products of Combustion.
I, ROBERT PRINGLE of 4, Granville Park Lewisham, and formerly of 2 Aberdeen
Terrace Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Doctor of Medicine, Surgeon Major Her
Majesty's Bengal Army (Retired) 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 :-
My Invention relates to a process for obtaining from soot and other carbonaceous
products of combustion, a pure carbon free from grit, cinder, or other foreign matters,
and admirably adapted as a base for black pigments, for the manufacture of electric
light carbons, telephone transmitters, and for other purposes where a pure carbon is
required; and my invention consists in separating the carbon from the various
substances which adhere to or accompany it in the action known as combustion, by
mechanically suspending in water the materials to be separated, and submitting the
suspended particles to impact under water, whereby the pure carbon is disengaged
from the accompanying impurities and, being lighter, rises to the surface whilst the
impurities, being, or by absorption becoming, heavier than water, sink to the bottom,
and thus the separation is effected.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specifica-
tion, wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, and figure 2 a transverse section, of
the mixing portion of the apparatus. Figure 3 is a vertical section, and Figure 4 a
part plan, of the separating and settling portion of the apparatus. The same letters
of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.
The soot or similar carbonaceous substances to be purified or separated, are held in
suspension in water preferably by being placed in a mixing cylinder A fitted with
internal blades and mounted to revolve in a tank B fitted with a strainer b of perforated
zinc or wire cloth. The mixing cylinder A is provided with a door, and the soot or
other carbonaceous products of combustion, and water, are placed therein and thoroughly
agitated until the mixture assumes a semi-liquid consistency. It must be thin enough
to flow readily through the strainer 6, but for economical reasons, should not be too
diluted. The contents of the cylinder are then emptied on to the strainer which retains
the large particles, and are thence conveyed to the settling, separating, or purifying
apparatus, through a pipe C.
The cylinder A might itself be perforated or reticulated, and revolve in water in the
tank B, in which case, the separate strainer might be dispensed with; but I do not
limit myself to any particular kind of mixing apparatus, as the same forms no essential
part of 'my invention.
The purifying or separating apparatus represented in figures 3 and 4, consists of a
tank D containing water about four feet in depth, and fitted with an inlet nozzle, rose,
or strainer E situated in the centre near the bottom of the tank and having directly
above or opposite to it, an impact plate or surface F against which the jet or jets of

page_text: mixed water and soot etc, are projected; the inlet nozzle E being connected with the
pipe C leading from the mixing apparatus. I find that separation of the impurities
from the pure carbon is effectually performed, if the semi-fluid mixture is admitted at
a pressure due to a head of ten feet, the impact surface F being at a distance of about
four inches from the nozzle or rose E. The jet or jets, of semi-fluid material on
issuing from the orifice or orifices of the nozzle or rose, become diluted by the
circumambient water, and by impact against the surface F the upward motion of the
jet or jets is arrested and the separation of the pure carbon from the impurities is
permitted or brought about, the former rising to and floating on the surface of the
water whilst the latter settle on the bottom of the tank in a "tranquil bed."
To prevent the pure carbon being carried off by the overflow from the tank while
fresh quantities of the substances to be purified are being admitted from below, a dip
curtain G is placed in front of the overflow outlet H. By this means, the automatic
purifying action may be continued without intermission.
The purified carbon as it floats on the surface of the water, is removed by suitable
scoops or collectors.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inventio
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is ;
The herein described method of separating the carbon from its accompanying
impurities, as contained in soot and other similar products of imperfect combustion;
which process consists in submitting the soot, etc, when mechanically suspended in
water, to impact under water, substantially as herein specified.
1007
ROBERT
PRINGLE.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.