Improvements in or relating to Gas Producers.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in or relating to Gas Producers.
I, CHARLES HUMFREY, of Winnington Park, Northwich, in the County of
Chester, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
In gas generators to which the fuel is supplied through a hopper, bell, or
receiver, at the top, the space below that hopper is usually practically dead and
useless for gasifying and whether that hopper be along the side or along the centre
The hopper
of a rectangular gas generator or in the centre of a cylindrical one.
acts to a certain extent as a retort, the gases and vapours passing downward under
the curb and out into the upper portion of the generator through the fuel where
they mingle with the other escaping gases, and are to a certain extent dis-
associated by coming in contact with the hot surface of the fuel through which
they pass.
Now my invention is designed to convert the present dead space below the
hopper into a gasifying one, and thus largely increase the yield of the furnace and
incidentally lessen the amount of tar and other vapours which escape without
being converted into permanent gas. The invention consists in placing a second
inverted bell or hopper of smaller diameter than the main one below the aforesaid
receiver or hopper and connecting it by a pipe or pipes with the upper portion
of the gas generator preferably through the main hopper. This lower bell can be
suspended from the upper part of the hopper by means of suspension bolts fastened
or hooked to the lowest points of such bell. The result is that the air-and-steam
entering the bottom of the gas generator pass nearly uniformly up through the
mass of fuel and are converted into gas, and this gas passes partly up through
the bell and partly up into the space between the sides of the main hopper or
receiver and the sides of the generator, (the bottom of the bell being so much
lower than the bottom of the hopper as to make the distance from the hearth of
the gas generator to the surface of the fuel below the bell less than the distance
from the hearth to the surface of the fuel between the walls of the gas generator
and the hopper or receiver). This is especially valuable with Dr. Mond's patent
gas generator.
1
1007
Improvements in or relating to Gas Producers.
I, CHARLES HUMFREY, of Winnington Park, Northwich, in the County of
Chester, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
In gas generators (to which the fuel is supplied through a hopper bell or
receiver at the top) there is usually a space immediately below the bell or receiver
that is practically dead and useless for gasifying. This is almost equally the
case whether the hopper be on the side or in the centre of a rectangular gas
generator or in the centre of a cylindrical one.
Now my invention is designed to convert this dead space below the hopper into
a gasifying one and thus increase the yield of the furnace and incidentally lessen
the amount of tarry matters which escape without being converted into permanent
gases.
My, invention is best described by aid of the accompanying drawings, in which,
Figure 1 shows a sectional elevation, and
Figure 2 a plan of my invention as applied to a Mond circular gas producer.
In these A is the ordinary inverted hopper below the bell B, C is a similar but
smaller sized bell or inverted hopper below the hopper A.
From the upper part
of this bell C one or more tubes or passages D lead the gases collecting in the
bell C to the space E in the upper portion of the gas generator above the fuel.
The bell C can be suspended from the upper part of the hopper by means of
suspension bolts fastened or hooked to the lowest points of such bell.
The action of my apparatus is as follows:-
The air and steam entering the bottom of the gas producer pass nearly uniformly
up through the mass of fuel and are converted into permanent gas. This gas
passes partly up through the bell C and partly into the space E between the sides
of the main hopper or receiver A and the sides of the producer. The bottom of
the bell C is placed so much lower than the bottom of the hopper A as to make
the distance from the hearth of the gas producer to the surface of the fuel below C
somewhat less than the distance from the hearth to the surface of the fuel between
the walls of the gas generator and the hopper or receiver as shown in the drawings.
Although I have described my invention only in connection with Dr. Mond's
patent cylindrical gas generator for which it is especially valuable, it is obvious
that a hopper preferably corresponding in shape but smaller than the main
hopper in a rectangular or other like gas producer can be united by pipes such
as 1 with the space such as E between the walls of the gas producer above the
fuel and the main hopper, the shape of the hopper and the pipe or pipes D being
altered to suit the varying shape of the producer.
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
1. The improvement in or relating to gas producers which consists in placing
in or below the main hopper a second inverted hopper connected by a conduit or
conduits with the gas space near the top of the generator, whereby the products
of partial combustion can rise up through the space below the hopper and enter
the main gas space of the generator and thus the space below the hopper becomes
an active gasifying space instead of being a dead one or nearly a dead one as at
present.
2. The device for converting the otherwise dead space below the hopper into
a gasifying space substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 10th day of August 1808