AN APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR REMOVING DUST AND GASES FROM AIR, WHICH WE CALL A DRAFT AND SPRAY WHEEL."
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Davenport Whelpley and Jacob Jones Storer,
both of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, in
the United States of America, for the Invention of "AN APPARATUS AND
PROCESS FOR REMOVING DUST AND GASES FROM AIR, WHICH WE CALL A
DRAFT AND SPRAY WHEEL."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said James Davenport Whelpley
and Jacob Jones Storer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition and Declaration, on the 29th May 1866, pursuant
to the 9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
; TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
DAVENPORT WHELPLEY and JACOD JONES STORER, both of Boston, in the
County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, in the United States of
America, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS we are in possession of an Invention for "AN APPARATUS AND
PROCESS FOR REMOVING DUST AND GASES FROM AIR, WHICH WE CALL A DRAFT AND
SPRAY WHEEL," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto us, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the
same, and have made solemn Declaration that we are the first and true
Inventors thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Davenport Whelpley and
Jacob Jones Storer, do hereby declare that the following Complete Specifi-
cation under our hands and seals fully describes and ascertains the nature of
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and
by the following statement:-
Where large manufacturing establishments are carried on, or works for
refining ores erected, there is necessarily a great formation of gases and soot
Our
or dust, which at present is discharged into and contaminates the air.
Invention has for its object the removal of noxious or deleterious effluvia and
dust from the air in chimneys, flues, and escape pipes, so that, for instance,
desulphurising furnaces, or manufacturing establishments consuming large
quantities of coal, or bone-boiling establishments may be carried on without
becoming nuisances to the neighbourhood, and mills for dry grinding may be
run without wasting any of the material passed through them. Dust of any
kind if wetted will settle, and sulphurous or carbonic gas can be absorbed in
water to a considerable extent, and if the water convey chemicals of proper
character, such as lime, potash, soda, or others of analagous properties, the
gases can all be removed. In chemical laboratories this is done in a rude
way by passing the gas to be absorbed through tubes of chemical water,
among which it is allowed to bubble like the smoke in an East India pipe, or
through pipes containing absorbents in a state of fine mechanical division;
but this is too crude and cumbrous a contrivanco for use in a large way. Wo
propose to accomplish the same result more rapidly with less expenditure of
power in less space than we could by use of pipes containing detergents, and
in such a manner as to materially assist the draft of the furnace or fluc
through which the gases pass. We do this by drawing the products of com-
bustion by means of a fan blower though and among an atmosphere of spray
either of water or containing mechanically mingled or in solution chemicals
of a nature to absorb the gases and dust carried by the air to be purified
thus at once assisting ventilation and cleansing the air; and we consider
this employment of spray to cleanse air from the gases and to wet down
the dust with which it is contaminated as a novel and useful Invention

page_text: To provide the spray for this purpose it is not necessary to use any par-
ticular apparatus, a stream of water falling upon the blades of a fan wheel or
fed into the fan case through a rose will answer some purpose; hollowing the
shaft of the fan wheel, piercing it with holes, & throwing a stream of water
through it is also valuable. The introduction of saturated steam into the
case of the fan wheel will give good results, but the best method of which wo
know for carrying the Invention into effect is represented in the accompanying
Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a transverse section, and Figure 2 is a longi-
tudinal section of the "Combined Draft and Spray Wheel."
A is a revolving hollow shaft driven by pulley B, and carrying spray
wheel C and draft wheel D, which is an ordinary fan blower. In Fig. 2 a
spray wheel is represented on each side of the draft wheel, which in most
instances will be most convenient both to increase the amount of spray, to
equalise the draft, and to render more equable the revolution of the wheel.
The case of this macbine is so subdivided by centrally voided diaphragms that
the spray wheel C and draft wheel D revolve in separate but communicating
chambers and F. The bollow shaft is pierced within the chamber F of tho
draft wheel by numerous small holes 9, 9.. The chamber E of the spray wheel
is of somewhat greater depth than the chamber of the draft wheel, and water,
either fair or holding in solution or; suspension chemical reagents, is con-
stantly supplied, into which the arms of the spray wheel dip in their
revolution; these arms have ladle-like dashers shaped as drawn, and by
this construction the spray is thrown towards the shaft. An induction pipe H
conveys the air to be purified to the centre of the spray wheel, and it is dis-
charged through peripheral exhaust J. An economical addition would be a
settling chamber beyond the exhaust J, in which the spray saturated with
gases and dust might subside, but this not being of the essence of our Inven-
tion wo have not represented it in the Drawings. The chemicals employed
must be of such a character as to combine with the gases conveyed by or with
the dust suspended in the air, portions of which may and probably will consist
of metallic bases in a finely divided state. The character of the con-
taminations of the air will always govern the choice of chemicals to bo
introduced. For general use quicklime, soda, potassa, or ammonia will give
the best results, but metallic protoxides like those of copper or iron are very
useful when the air is heavily charged with fumes of sulphur, and occasional
use of alumina, magnesia, and of various soluble salts may give excellent
results, while for air giving predominant basic reactions we should choose an
acid, sulphuric, nitric, hydrochloric, or acetic. These chemicals may bo

page_text: introduced either dissolved in or mechanically mingled with the spray, or
forced by steam or driven in by air. The heat of the gases and the moisture
of the spray will give the conditions requisite for the chemical combinations
desired, however the reagents may be introduced.
Let us suppose the wheel in revolution. Air laden with gases and dust is
.drawn from conductor H through the central opening into the case of the
spray wheel, the path it follows around the shaft being profusely filled with
spray from the spray wheel; it then enters the central opening of the draft
wheel, where it may encounter a second supply of spray entering through the
hollow shaft and holes 9 either of the same quality as that furnished by the
dash arms of the spray wheel or different from it. The spray and air will be
thrown into violent centrifugal motion, and being thoroughly mingled together
the spray will absorb the noxious gases and wet down the dust, so that clear
air will be discharged by the peripheral exhaust J. In practiso better effects
are observed by employing one draft & spray wheel to furnish spray of fair
water, and at a distance sufficient to allow the settling of the spray and
contaminations wetted down by it, a second one of the same capacity and
velocity to furnish chemical spray for absorbing the gases.
Having thus described our Invention and the manner in which it is to
be performed, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent,-
First, the employment of a chamber supplied with spray, through which
lust and gas laden air shall be passed for the purpose of cleansing the
same.
Second, the combination of the spray wheel C and hollow shaft with holes g,
as described, or either, with draft wheel D, os and for the purpose described.
Third, the construction of the dash arms of the spray wheel with ladle-like
ends k, as described, for the purpose stated.
Fourth, the arrangement of spray wheel C and draft wheel D in separate but
communicating chambers E & F, as described, to secure the concentration of
the spray in the track of the air blast.
Fifth, the combination of the hollow shaft perforated with holes g in the
chamber F, with the spray wheel C in the chamber E, to increase the quantity
and comminution of the spray.
Sixth, the successive supply of the same or different qualities of spray to
the dust and gas laden air for the purpose of more perfectly cleansing
the same, whether effected in the same draft and spray wheel or by a
succession of draft and spray wheels, substantially as described.
Seventh, the employment of chemical reagents in company
with spray,

page_text: substantially as described for the purpose of more effectively removing the
impurities carried in the air.
In witness whereof we have hereunto 'set our hands and seals, this
Twenty-fourth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
six.
JAMES DAVENPORT WHELPLEY. (L.B.)
JACOB JONES STORER.
(L.B.)