Improvements in Apparatus for Automatically Generating Acetylene Gas.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 1st May, 1897
[Communicated from abroad by FILIBERTO FERRACCIO, of Savona, in the
Kingdom of Italy, Commander in the Italian Navy.]
Improvements in Apparatus for Automatically Generating
Acetylene Gas.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 an automatic generator of acetylene, the simplicity and
practical arrangement of which will be seen from the accompanying drawing, in
which
Figure 1 is an elevation of the complete apparatus, that is to say of the
generator and gas holder.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same.
Figure 3 is a plan of the apparatus.
Figure 4 is a horizontal, section of the apparatus on the line M-N of
Figure 2.
Figure 5 is a vertical section of the lowest basket for holding the carbide.
Figure 6 is a vertical section of one of the other three baskets for holding
carbide.
Figure 7 is a section of the cock i for regulating the water, and
Figure 8 represents a modified form of the bottom of the gas holder adapted for
the continuous production of the gas and provided with a cock.
The gas holder and float are supported by a tripod U of cast iron or other metal
and are fixed thereto by means of screws.
The receptacle is also connected with the tripod, but it is movable as will herein-
after be set forth.
The bottom of the gas holder is provided with a hole. Against the latter by
means of the screw actuated by the hand wheel o, is pressed the receptacle in
which the acetylene gas is developed. This receptacle is of cast metal and
presents the form of a large vessel having a lateral handle. At the top it is
furnished with a projecting edge or flange having above it a slightly conical neck
or shoulder r.
The flange is provided with a tight washer serving to render perfect the union of
the receptacle with the bottom of the gas holder, effected by the pressure of the
screw hereinbefore referred to.
The receptacle or generator proper contains four small movable baskets made of
cast metal placed one on the top of the other in the manner illustrated in Figure 2
and designated by the letters a b c d. The first three baskets are perforated.
laterally and at their bottom, and furnished with a small conical pipe at their
centre (Figure 6); this pipe extends upwards to the level of the edge of each of
them. The last of these baskets is not perforated but is furnished with a central
cylindrical tube partly screw threaded in the interior in order that a handle serving
to remove the receptacle may be screwed into the same. The said tube is provided
with two small holes n at its bottom (Figure 5)..
Lii 14

page_text: Upon the uppermost basket is arranged a zinc funnel p into which falls the water
from the cock. On the outside of the gas holder X is fixed in a suitable position, a
basin I having a hinged cover x.
From the bottom of this basin extends a tube K
provided with a cock R. This tube traverses the two sides X and D of the gas
holder, bent in the interior almost to a right angle and parallel to the bottom of the
gas holder.
The float C consists of a cylindrical receptacle having the form of a seal with
double walls, of which C is the inner wall and F the outer wall (Figures 1 and 2).
To the bottom of C is secured a cock i connected with that of the basin' I by a
rubber tube. The said cock i is made so as to enable the introduction of the water
to be regulated. The object of the part C is to occupy the space of the gas holder
in such a manner that the latter will contain the smallest quantity of air compatible
with the regular play of the single parts of the apparatus.
Upon the top of the float two cocks E and H are secured (Figure 1).
At 90 degrees from the junction of these two cocks a metallic rod G is fixed,
which is bent laterally of the gas holder to the form of a stirrup. In the upper
part of the float it terminates in the form of a handle G'. The lateral parts which
extend downwards along the outer sides of the gas holder are fastened by four
perforated brackets P P' fixed to the said sides in a suitable position.
The upper brackets Pare provided with pressing screws, by means of which
I may fix the float to the gas holder, thus connecting it with the latter.
The lower extremities of the two lateral branches of the rod or guide are
screw-threaded and furnished with stop nuts.
In order to cause the apparatus to operate I proceed in' the following manner:
Supposing that the cylindrical receptacle or generator proper B (Figure 2),
which consists of cast metal and serves to contain the calcium carbide, is detached,
I loosen the pressing screw P₁ of the metallic branches of the stop and close all the
cocks, and connect one with the pipe which conducts the gas to the burners by
means of a rubber pipe not shown in the figures.
The 'apparatus being in this condition I fill the empty space Z of the gas holder
with water up to the guide line S marked upon the inner periphery.
When effecting this operation it will happen that the float, by the action of the
compression of the air determined by the introduction of water, will be raised a
little in order to be lowered again only just for the aforesaid operation to take place
if the cock H has been opened for causing the compressed air to escape, after which
the said cock will be closed again.
I might also open the cock H (Figure 1) before the introduction of the water and
close it again after having finished the operation; but the previously mentioned
process has the advantage, as compared with the latter process, of furnishing
absolute proof of the complete tightness of the float.
After having introduced the water, the four baskets a b c d are charged with
carbide and placed in the receptacle B, which takes place with the aid of a handle
(not shown in the figures) for the fourth; whilst the others are introduced by
hand, because the receptacle B is not very deep. Upon the uppermost baskets is
arranged a funnel p. Then the receptacle B is placed below the gas holder X,
being arranged in its guide y. The wheel o of the pressing screw is then operated
so that the flanger of the receptacle will be strongly pressed against the bottom t
of the gas holder; after which I fill the basin I with water to the guide line
marked upon its inner periphery, and finally I open the cock R. The water in the
basin will then flow through the small tube and cock i (Figures 2 and 7) to the
funnel arranged above the baskets holding the carbide, and from this funnel it
descends until it arrives in the last of the baskets d, passing through the central
tubes of the baskets until it moistens the carbide contained in the lowest basket, so
that the development of the acetylene gas will take place from the bottom upwards
in proportion as the water rises from the lower receptacle to the upper receptacles.
In consequence of this development of gas the float will be compelled to rise, and
with it the cock i connected therewith. When the cock has reached the upper

page_text: level of the water contained in the basin I the introduction of the said water into
the receptacle containing the carbide will naturally be stopped, and therefore also
the development of the gas and the float will be stopped by itself at a certain
determined height without the necessity of using brakes.
In order that, in case of an excessive and too rapid production of gas, the float
may not be raised too high so as to allow the gas to escape at its bottom, I have
provided the nuts on the two branches G of the metallic guide rod placed above
the float, which nuts encounter the two lower brackets P' fixed to the outer
periphery of the gas holder. When the gas is developed and the float is raised to
its stopping point P, or less, the apparatus will be ready to operate and I may light
the gas burner by opening the cock E beforehand. The first time the apparatus
operates it will be well to allow the escape of the air contained in the pipes
conducting the gas by keeping open for a few seconds the corresponding discharge
cocks of the burner and of the float before lighting. After having lighted the
burner and in proportion as the gas is consumed the float will descend, causing by
its descent a fresh introduction of water into the receptacles or baskets containing
the calcium carbide, which gives rise to a fresh production of gas and a fresh
upward movement of the float, and so forth with an alternating upward and
downward movement until the whole carbide has been consumed and without any
attention after the opening of the sock R (Figure 1).
The apparatus can easily be transported from one place to another by means of
the handles M at the extremities of the diameter of the gas holder.
When the
charge is spent or if it may be desired to remove the water contained between the
sides of the gas holder it is only necessary to open the discharge cock g.
The arrangement of the before described apparatus is such that the latter can be
recharged only when the gas is completely consumed, because it is necessary to
leave it open by removing the receptacle, which may give rise to losses or other
inconveniences. In practice however it sometimes happens that the apparatus must
operate for a greater number of hours than may be compatible with the capacity
of the gas holder.
Thus in order to permit the continuous operation of the apparatus I replace the
open bottom of the gas holder X by another bottom whose central opening is much
smaller and provided with a cock 7° (Figure 8) in such a manner that when I wish
to recharge the apparatus with carbide it is only necessary to close the said cock,
thus interrupting the communication of the interior of the gas holder with the
receptacle B, and to remove the latter for recharging it in the described manner
and then replace it.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. An apparatus for the automatic production of acetylene gas at a constant
pressure, based upon the principle of communicating receptacles, by employing
either rubber tubes or flexible or fixed metallic tubes, sliding one in the other or
otherwise, substantially as described and illustrated.
Second. The system of construction, action and closing of the receptacle containing
the calcium carbide which is moistened from the bottom upwards, substantially as
described and illustrated.
Third. The system of cylindrical drum of the float absolutely impermeable to
the gases designed to occupy the empty space of the gas holder, substantially as
described and illustrated.
Fourth. The system of guide and brake of the float substantially as described
and illustrated.
Fifth. The system of regulating, by means of the cock i¹, the introduction of
water into the receptacle containing the calcium carbide, substantially as described
and illustrated.

page_text: Sixth. In the apparatus described in the first claim, the closed bottom of the gas
holder provided with a regulating cock.
The whole substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein before set forth
and as represented in the accompanying drawing.
Dated this anthid
1007
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.