Improvements in or Appertaining to the Separating and Collecting of the Solid Materials from Fume, Smoke, or the like.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Sept., 1889-Accepted, 2nd Nov., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or Appertaining to the Separating and Collecting
of the Solid Materials from Fume, Smoke, or the like.
A communication from abroad by FREDERIC P. DEWEY, of Washington, in the
District of Columbia, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E. of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6 Bank Street, Manchester both in
the County of Lancaster, and 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, 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 :-
This invention relates to the separating and collecting, from fume, smoke or the
like, of the solid materials or particles which are carried off thereby, such fume or
smoko arising chiefly from the many and various industrial operations now in use.
In many industrial operations, a mixture consisting of solid material in a fine state
of subdivision and gases is given off, and this mixture is variously called "fume,"
"smoke," etcetera.
In metallurgical operations, the solid material of the fume carries off some of the
valuable metal or metals of the charge and occasions much loss if not collected and
utilised. Many methods have been proposed to catch and use this material, but they
have either been only partially successful in catching the material, or too expensive in
their application. After the solid material has been collected, it may be utilised in a
variety of ways, as in the manufacture of pigments from the fume from lead smelting,
but generally, it is smelted for the metal or metals it contains.
When bodies containing carbon, as wood, charcoal, coals, oils, and gases are
burned, the gaseous products of combustion are frequently mixed with solid carbon
and carbonaceous matter, and this mixture is generally called sinoke.
The amount of solid matter held in suspension generally depends upon the com-
pleteness of the combustion, and, while it possible to make the combustion so
complete as to convert all the solid carbonaceous matter into gas, yet it is not always
considered economical to do so, and, in some cases, as in the manufacture of lamp
black, the combustion is restricted in order to give the greatest possible amount of
solid matter in suspension in the gas.
In many cases, as where large volumes of thick black smoke are poured out of
chimneys upon thickly populated districts, and in the manufacture of lamp black, it
becomes desirable to separate the solid matter from the gases, before the latter aro
discharged into the air."
Many methods have been proposed for this purpose, but they are open to the same
objection as the fume collecting devices.
With the exception of a single method which proposed to use electricity to settle
and collect the solid material, all the methods heretofore used or proposed may be
divided into two classes, methods using water, and methods using purely mechanical
means in a dry state.
The method forming the present invention belongs in part to the first class, and
is, in part, entirely new and novel. It is well known that the failure of the wet méthod
to completely arrest the solid materials is due to the fact that the water alone does
not moisten the particles of solid matter in whatever form it may be applied. It
has been discovered by the inventor, that, by adding certain organic chemicals to
the water, the solid particles will be immediately moistened, and, consequently,
retained, also that certain related organic chemicals which are not soluble in or
miscible with water, have the same power of moistening and retaining the solid
particles.

page_text: The following classes of organic chemicals may be employed:-
Crude petroleum and the products of its refining (except the coke), organic acids
and salts of the same, alcohols and alcoholic derivatives, waxes, fats, resins, turpenes,
bisulphide of carbon, and fixed drying and essential oils.
The proper action may be obtained by passing the fumes or smoke over the
surface, or by passing them through, or by treating them to a shower bath of, the
chemicals, or by combinations of these methods or treatment.
In a few cases it may be necessary to melt the chemicals by external heat before
application, but in most cases, the ordinary heat of the fume or smoke will be
sufficient to maintain the fluidity of the bath.
One of the above chemicals is generally sufficient for the bath, but in some cases
it is better and cheaper to use a mixture of two or more.
Those of the chemicals
which are soluble in water are generally used in aqueous solution.
The drawing represents, in vertical section, a very simple apparatus for applying
the chemicals, but the details of the apparatus may vary greatly from those given
without exceeding the scope of the invention.
A, is a chamber for holding the chemicals in bulk:
B is a pipe for introducing the fume or smoke.
CC are roses for introducing the chemicals in spray where this is desirable.
Dis the outlet for the purified gases.
EE represents the level at which the chemicals may stand when it is necessary to
pass the fume or smoke through the chemicals.
E E represents the level at which the chemicals may stand when the fume or
smoke is simply to flow over the surface of the chemicals.
F is a door for the removal of the collected material.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is -
The improvement in the process of catching and collecting the solid materials in
fumes and smoke, which consists in subjecting such fumes or smoke to the action of
an organic chemical bath such as herein described.
Dated this 16th day of September 1889.
WAL. P. THOMPSON & CO.,
Agents for the Applicant.