Improvements in and Apparatus for the Dry Distillation of Wood Wood-waste, and the like.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Feb., 1896-Accepted, 4th Apr., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and Apparatus for the Dry Distillation of Wood
Wood-waste, and the like.
I, ADOLF SCHMIDT, of 49 Koelnische Strasse, Cassel, in the German Empire,
Director of the Aktiengesellschaft fur Trebertrocknung, 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,.
reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that to say :-
This invention relates to improvements in and apparatus for the dry distillation
of wood, wood-waste, and the like, such as produced in saw mills, in turnery, and
in chemical works.
In the different processes heretofore used for the dry distillation of wood, etc.,
an essential point has been overlooked, which is of great importance as regards the
yield of distillation products.
So long as these products, especially acetic acid, pyroxylic spirit and tar, are
exposed to the high temperature of the retort, they will be liable to decomposition.
This liability is the greater, and the yield consequently the less, the longer these
distillation products remain in the retort after their formation or nascency.
This explains the greater yield obtained if the process be carried out in small
retorts where the products have to pass only a short distance in order to escape
from the retort. Small retorts are, however, unsuitable for working on a large
scale, and are too expensive.
Now the present invention has for its object to remedy the aforesaid defect by
rapidly removing the products of distillation from the retort, so enabling a con-
siderably greater yield to be obtained, as compared with processes heretofore used
for working on a large scale.
The method employ for this purpose consists in blowing, through an injector,
heated air, at a suitable point, into the discharge pipe of the distilling retort, so as
to draw the products of distillation out of the retort immediately they are formed,
and to carry them at once into the condenser.
And in order that my invention may be readily understood, I will proceed to
describe the same by aid of the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 shows a distilling plant with the invention applied thereto, and
Fig. 2 shows, to a larger scale, the injector arranged in the discharge pipe.
A is the retort, L the discharge pipe for the products of distillation, I the
injector, B3 the condenser and s the pipe which conducts the incondensible gases to
the furnace.
The air is forced, by an air pump D, into the preliminary heating device E,.
and is blown into the discharge pipe L, through the injector nozzle I, thereby
setting up a suction action for rapidly discharging the products of distillation from
the retort.
The preliminary heating of the air to be injected is necessary, as otherwise it
would have a condensing effect upon the products in the discharge pipe and would
cause it to become clogged or stopped up.
The uncondensed gases are conducted back into the furnace in any well known
manner, and utilized as fuel.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion nud in what manner the samne is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1. In the dry distillation of wood, wood waste, and the like, the blowing of
heated air, at a suitable point, into the discharge pipe of the distilling retort, to
produce a suction action, for the purpose of more rapidly discharging the products
of distillation from the retort and obtaining a greater yield.
2. The means herein describel for carrying at the above method, substantially
as set forth and as shown in the drawings.
Dated this
h
ERNEST DE PASS,
Chartered Patent Agent,
78, Fleet Street, London, and 5 Market Street, Nottingham,
Agent for the Applicant.