AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING AND MAINTAINING A CIRCULATION OF LIQUIDS IN CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Madge, of Swansea, in the County of
Glamorgan, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING AND MAINTAINING A CIRCULATION OF
LIQUIDS IN CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES."-A communication from abroad
by Edward Ffrench, of Coquimbo, in the Republic of Chili.
Scaled the 5th May 1871, and dated the 23rd January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Madge at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd January 1871.
a
I, EDWARD MADGE, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan,
Gentleman, do hereby declare: the nature of the said Invention - for "AN
IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING AND MAINTAINING A CIR-
CULATION OF LIQUIDS IN CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES," to be as follows:-
It is well known that in many chemical manufactures the liquids
employed for performing the operation of dissolving, washing out, or
saturating require to be kept in constant circulation, which motion is
effected either by the use of stirring apparatus or by means of pumps or
other like mechanical appliances.

page_text: Now the object of this Invention is to create and maintain circulation
of such liquids in a more simple and efficient manner than heretofore.
When for example it is intended to lixiviate a mass of ore or other
matter the ore is placed in a suitable vessel provided with a false
bottom or shield somewhat less in area than the bottom of the vessel.
This false bottom is surrounded with a rim, thus forming an enclosed
space or chamber, and is fixed with the rim down in the vessel, in such
a manner that the rim is brought near to the bottom of the vessel,
thus leaving a space for the flow of the liquor into the enclosed space
or chamber. Communicating with the enclosed space formed by the
shield or rimmed false bottom is a pipe leading from a steam boiler or
a hot air chamber as the case may be, and rising from this shield or
rimmed false bottom to a height through and somewhat above the ore
to be lixiviated and the lixiviating liquor is a tube or tubes (which I
call the eject tubes), terminating by preference in bent over and some-
what contracted ends. This tube or these tubes must terminate at
the lower end a little above the level of the lower edge of the rim,
and should preferably be cut off with a bevel, the bevelled opening
being placed in the direction of the steam pipe. If now steam or
hot air be forced through the steam or air pipe under the shield or
rimmed false bottom it will expel the liquor contained in the space
below the shield, and cause a part to rise through the eject tube or
tubes and discharge in an intermittent stream or streams above the mass
of ore, and thus a rapid circulation of the liquor through the mass of
ore will be ensured.
This principle of action is particularly applicable to the manufacture
of sulphuric acid. In adapting the circulating apparatus to this manu-
facture it is more conveniently placed outside the acid chamber, and
then consists of a closed chamber or cistern, which is fitted to the
acid chamber near the gas tunnel. This cistern. communicates with the
acid chamber at or near the floor level thereof by a narrow horizontal
opening. Connected with the cistern or chamber is a steam pipe
leading from a steam boiler, and a taper tube or tubes bevelled as before
described springing from just above the level of the narrow inlet, and
terminating within the acid chamber, and above the level of the acid
forms a second connection with the acid chamber. By the pressure
and partial condensation of the steam admitted by the steam pipe to
the cistern an intermittent shower of acid and steam is discharged

page_text: therefrom through the taper tube or tubes into the acid chamber, thus
causing a thorough agitation of the acid in the chamber, while at the
same time the spray materially aids the usual chemical reaction in the
chamber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Madge in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, EDWARD
MADGE, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Madge, Her special licence
that I, the said Edward Madge, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Madge, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for ". AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR CREATING AND MAINTAINING A CIRCULATION OF LIQUIDS IN
CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES," being a communication from Edward Ffrench;
of Coquimbo, in the Republic of Chili, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Madge, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Madge, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
.
It is well known that in many chemical manufactures the liquids
employed for performing the operation of dissolving, washing out, or
saturating require to be kept in constant circulation, which motion is
effected either by the use of stirring apparatus or by means of pumps or
other like mechanical appliances.
Now the object of this Invention is to create and maintain a cir-
culation of such liquids in a more simple and efficient manner than
heretofore.
In the accompanying Drawing I have illustrated the application of
the Invention to chemical manufactures by shewing a form of apparatus
suitable for lixiviating a mass of ore or other matter and a form of
apparatus applicable to the manufacture of sulphuric acid.
Fig. 1 shews in vertical section, and Fig. 2 in plan view a vessel
containing ore to be lixiviated and fitted with the improved circulating
apparatus.
A is a vat on the bottom of which are placed risers to receive a hollow
shield or cover B and allow liquor to flow freely under it. This shield:
or cover is somewhat less in diameter than the vat, and its form will
correspond with that of the ground plan of that vessel. Connected with
this cover at or near the centre thereof is a pipe C for admitting steam
or air below or within the shield, which steam or air is used to propel
the liquor intended to be circulated in the vessel. Standing up from
the shield or cover B, equidistant from and at opposite sides of the pipe C,
are two taper tubes D, D, the upper ends of which stand somewhat
above the mass of ore and fluid placed in the vat and intended to be
lixiviated. The ore will rest on the shield B on the bottom of the vat
and will surround the tubes D and steam pipe C. The tubes D are bent
over at their upper ends and in opposite directions, their contracted
orifices being directed downwards. The lower ends of these tubes
extend down to or near the bottom edge of the shield B and they are
cut off at a bevil, the bevils of the two tubes facing each other and
directed towards the steam pipe entrance within the shield. Supposing
now ore to be placed in the vat to the level indicated at Fig. 1, and the
lixiviating liquor to be added thereto, on admitting steam or air at a

page_text: pressure to the pipe C, a discharge of the same will be effected below
the shield. This pressure of the steam or air will force out the liquor
from below the shield, and an escape for the liquor being open through
the tubes D, D, the liquor will rise to the upper ends thereof and..
discharge itself on to the mass of ore below. The liquor in escaping
from these tubes will, owing to the curved shape thereof as shewn .at-
Fig 2, be caused to move in a circular direction; and thus a tendency
will be given to the whole mass of liquor in the vat to circulate in the.
same direction. As the liquor is expelled from the shield and forced
up the tubes D, other liquor will flow in under the edges of the shield.
to take the place of that expelled, and thus an efficient circulation.
will be obtained throughout the whole mass of ore.
This principle of action will be found particularly applicable to the
manufacture of sulphuric and other acids; in adapting the circulating
apparatus to this manufacture it is more conveniently placed outside the
acid chamber, as shewn in the sectional elevation Fig. 3, and in plan
view at Fig. 4. The form of apparatus which I propose to employ for
this purpose consists of a closed chamber or cistern E, which is fitted to
the acid chamber F, near the gas tunnel G. This cistern communicates
with the acid chamber at or near the floor level thereof by a low
horizontal opening e (or the communication may be formed by means of
a syphon-shaped pipe attached to the chamber, the free end of which
dips into the acid chamber between the walls of the pan and the
chamber). Connected with the top of the cistern or chamber is a steam
pipe H leading from a steam boiler for the purpose of discharging steam
into the cistern, and leading from the top of the cistern is a taper tube I,
the upper and contracted end of which passes through the wall of the
acid chamber above the level of the acid and near to where the sulphur
fumes to be condensed enter. This tube C extends down to the bottom
of the cistern and is bevilled off, as in the case of the tubes D, Fig. 1.
By the pressure and partial condensation of the steam admitted by the
steam pipe to the cistern an intermittent shower of acid and steam is
discharged therefrom through the taper tube or tubes into the acid
chamber, thus causing a thorough agitation of the acid in the chamber
while at the same time the spray materially aids the usual chemical
reaction in the chamber.
It should be remarked that the materials of which the circulating

page_text: intended to be kept in circulation. Thus, for example, in applying the
Invention to the sulphuric acid manufacture the apparatus will require to
be made of lead or of stoneware, or of some material not liable to be
affected by the acid.
Having now described the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Mode of and Apparatus for Creating and Maintaining a Circulation of
Liquids in Chemical Manufactures, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same.
into effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim, creating and main-
taining the circulation of liquids by the pressure of steam or air applied
in the manner and for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Madge, have hereunto sct
my hand and seal, the
day of July, in the year
of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.