Year: 1888

page_text: I, GUSTAF M. WESTMAN, Mining Engineer, of 31 Broad Street, New York, U.S.A.,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the saine is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The object of the invention is to manufacture illuminating gas and coke from coals
at a very low cost, and in a simple manner, producing a gas of superior quality.
The invention consists in passing through the coals superheated gases of the same
quality as those produced from the coals. In order to carry out this process of
manufacture prefer to construct a furnace such as shown in the accompanying
drawings, in which :
Figure 1 is a plan view of the furnace, partly in section.
Figure 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same on the line
of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a similar view of the same on the line y-y of Figure 1: and
Figures 4, 5 and 6, are sectional views of valves for connecting various pipes as
hereinafter more fully described.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.
In the manufacture of illuminating gas and coke as heretofore practised, the coals
were gasified in retorts. In my process presently to be described the coals are
treated in a shaft furnace which serves as a gas producer and in which the coals are
periodically charged at the top and from which the resultant coke is periodically
withdrawn at the bottom without interrupting the process. The principal advan-
tages derived are a great saving of labor and a considerable increase in the quantity
and improvement in the quality of the gas obtained from the coals.
The process consists in passing through the coals superheated gases of the same
quality as those produced from the coals. The process is preferably carried into
effect in the furnace presently to be described, by making part of the gas produced,
after being superheated in a regenerator, circulate back into the furnace containing
the coals and by leading the gas through glowing coke when leaving the producer.
The gas producer A, of any approved construction is preferably in the shape of a
shaft furnace and contains the coals from which the gas is to be produced. In the
! Price Red 1

page_text: upper end of the gas producer A are formed the apertures B, leading to the pipes C
and C, respectively provided with a valve C², and loading into the bottoms of shafts D
and E respectively, of any approved construction and filled with coke.
The
shafts D and E, are alternately connected by the respective pipes C and C and the
valves C² with the gas producer A, so that when one coke shaft is connected with
the gas producer the other is disconnected from the same.
From the top of the shafts D and E, lead the pipes F and F' respectively to a
valve G, illustrated in Figure 6, and arranged in such a manner that the two pipes F
and F can discharge in either of the pipes H or H³ connected with the said valve G.
The pipe. His connected by the branch pipes H2 with the coolers L and I', which
may be of any approved construction, preferably, however, provided with a cooling
chamber through which the water passes as illustrated in Figure 2.
passing through the coolers I and I¹ passes through the pipes surrounded by the cool
water.
The gas
The
Each of the coolers I and I¹ discharges into a receptacle I filled partly with tar
and connected by a pipe J, above the level of the said tar with a blasting engine K,
of any approved construction. The blasting engine K discharges into a pipe Ki
connected with the valve I shown in detail in Figure 4, and provided with the
pipes L' and L leading to the bottoms of the regenerators N and N¹ respectively.
The valve L is also provided with a pipe L³ leading to the chimney O.
pipes K, L, L2 and L³, are so arranged that the gases from the engine K, can pass
either to the regenerator N, by means of the pipe L' or to the regenerator N¹ by
means of the pipe L2, and while one of the regenerators is connected with the pipe K'
the other regenerator is connected by its respective pipe with the pipe L³ leading to
the chimney, to carry off the products of combustion as is plainly understood by
reference to Figure 4.
Each of the regenerators N and N¹ is.provided with a channel N2 connected with
the top of the interior of the regenerator and leading into the bottom of the gas
producer A. The valve N³ located in the channel N2 serves to connect the respective
regenerator with, or disconnect it from the gas producer A. The pipes H and H'are
surrounded by a jacket P having an opening in its rim or in one of its heads and
leading to the outside. The pipe P¹ leads downwards from the jacket P, and connects
with the valve Q, located near the valve L and provided with pipes R and R' leading
to the regenerator N, and also provided with the pipes R2 and R3 leading to the
regenerator N¹. A pipe H3 leads from the valve Q, to the pipe H, so as to draw
off the fuel gas from one of the, coke shafts, as hereinafter more fully described. The
valve Q, is so arranged that the air passing from the jacket P to the pipe P¹ and the
fuel gas from the pipe H can be discharged in either of the regenerators N or N¹ to
be burned.
As shown in Figure 5, the air from the pipe P¹ passes into the pipe R' leading to
the channel N2 of the regenerator N, and the fuel gas entering through the pipe H³
passes to the channel N2 of the same regenerator N by means of the pipe R. If the
valve Q is reversed the air entering the pipe P' passes through the pipe R² into the
channel N2 of the regenerator NI and the fuel gas entering through the pipe H³
passes by the pipe R³ into the channel N2 of the same regenerator N¹.
The operation is as follows:
The gases from the producer A pass through one of the pipes C or C₁ into the
respective coke shaft D or E; one of the valves C² being closed and the other being
open. Thus one coke shaft is in communication with the producer A, and the other
is disconnected from the same. If the coke shaft D is connected with the producer A,
then I force air through the coke in the coke shaft E, so as to produce a combustible
gas, which is used for heating the regenerators N and N₁ and which, for distinction
from the regular product in this process, I will term "fuel gas." It is understood
that when the coke shaft E is in communication with the producer A, and the other
coke shaft D, is disconnected, then this fuel gas is produced in the coke shaft D, in the
same manner as above described in reference to the coke shaft E.
The fuel gas from the respective coke shaft D or E, passes through the valve G,

page_text: the
into the pipe H, and from there to the valve Q. The latter is so arranged that air
passes in through the pipe P¹ by means of the jacket P. As shown in Figure 5, the
air from the pipe Pi passes into the pipe R¹ leading to the channel N2
regenerator N and the fuel gases entering the valve Q, through the pipe H³ pass
through the pipe R, into the same channel N2 of the said regenerator N, in which
they are burned. When the valve Q is reversed the air and fuel gases pass into the
other regenerator N' through their respective pipes R2 and R³ to be similarly
treated.
When the blast engine K is set in motion, the illuminating gases are driven through
the pipe K' into the valve L and then pass through the pipes L' and L² respectively
into the regenerators N or N¹ respectively at their bottoms. The illuminating gas, in
passing through the regenerators N or N¹ respectively becomes very highly heated
and passes through the respective channels N2 into the bottom of the producer A.
The highly heated gases pass through the coals in the gas producer A, and give and
leave coke as a product in the bottom of the producer. This coke is raked out with-
out allowing atmospheric air to come in contact with the interior of the producer A.
The resultant gases in the producer pass through the respective pipes C or C¹ into
the corresponding coke shaft D or E containing the coke in a glowing condition.
The gases by passing through the glowing coke have their carbonic acid and
steam converted into carbonic oxide and hydrogen, and a part of the hydrogen forms
marsh gases. The gases, after passing through the coke shaft D or E, respectively,
pass into the pipes For F', respectively, and are led by means of the valve G, into
the pipe H', from which the gases pass, by the branch pipes H2 into the coolers I
and I, in which the temperature of the gases is considerably reduced.
illuminating gases, on passing through the coolers I and II pass into the tar
receptacle I, from which part of the gases, corresponding to new formed gas,
passes away to be purified in the usual manner, so as to be ready for the consumer.
The rest of the gases is drawn through the pipe J, into the blast engine K, thus
completing the circuit.
The
When the gas producer A.is worked in connection with one of the regenerators N
or N', one of the coke shafts D or E, both of the coolers I and I', and the blast
engine K, then the other coke shaft is used for producing fuel gas, and the other
regenerator is heated by burning the fuel gas as before described.
It will be seen that the valves L, Q and N³ have to be reversed simultaneously but
Independently of the other valves and it may be so arranged that the valves L
and Q, are worked in connection with each other by one simple device.
In a similar
manner the valves N³ in the channel N2 may also be operated by a single move-
nent, so as to open one and close the other. The valves G and (in the pipes C
and respectively are also reversed simultaneously but independently of the other
valves L, Qand N³ before described.
The coals in the producer A, and the coke in the coke shafts D and E are evidently
consumed, and consequently new supplies must be periodically introduced into the
roducer A and the said coke shafts D and E from the top. Mechanical arrange-
ments are made so as to practically exclude the air when making the charges.
In producing illuminating gas from coals two things are necessary: that is, the
xclusion of air and the employment of a heat of at least 1000° C. This has hereto-
ore been accomplished by enclosing the coals in retorts and applying the heat from
without. This operations require a great deal of labor and a considerable con-
umption of fuel. By my continuous process the charging and discharging are
omparatively easy matters, and the cost of labor and the consumption of coals will
e reduced materially.
As before mentioned, the gases from the producers are passed through glowing
oke, whereby carbonic acid and steam are changed into carbonic oxide and hydrogen
ad marsh gases. About double the quantity of illuminating gas of excellent quality
thus obtained in comparison with the old method heretofore practised. The gases
e free from carbonic acid, and hence the cost of purifying them will be very much
ss than for ordinary illuminating gases.

page_text: If the manufacture of coke is the principal object, the coke shafts and the valves
appertening thereto may be omitted from the process, but in such case the resulting
gases will be of inferior quality.
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 herein described process for the manufacture of illuminating gas and coke,
consisting in forcing through a charge of coals superheated gases, thereafter passing
the resulting gases through glowing coke, finally superheating part of the gases
and passing the same through the coals, substantially as described.
2. The herein described process for the manufacture of illuminating gas and coke,
consisting in foreing through a charge of coals superheated gases, thereafter again
superheating part of the resulting gases and passing the same through the. coals,
substantially as described.