Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Asphalt, and in Apparatus to be Employed therein.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Aug., 1898-Accepted, 29th Oct., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Asphalt, and in
Apparatus to be Employed therein.
I, GEORGE HERBERT GREY, of Ingleside, Chesnut Road, Kingston-on-Thames,
Commission Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been
communicated to me from abroad by John Willis Hayward, of 39, Lucerne Street,
in the City of Cleveland, State of Ohio, United States of America, Accountant),
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
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This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of artificial asphalt
from petroleum residue, and in apparatus to be employed therein.
According to this invention ground limestone, or like mineral, or equivalent,
substance, in the necessary proportion, say twenty to sixty per cent., according to
the condition, or quality, of the residue, or the product to be made, is added to
the petroleum residue, preferably before the oxidizing process, whereby the said
limestone or the like is very intimately mixed with the said residue and an in-
creased surface of the residue is presented to the action of the air and the oxidation
of the material is effected more rapidly than would otherwise be the case.
The retort containing the mixture of petroleum residue and limestone, or the
like, is heated to the required temperature, and, while the mixture is in a heated
condition, air, preferably under pressure, is admitted to the retort, and efficiently
diffused through the material so as to rapidly oxidize the material and bring it
to the required degree of consistency. In carrying out this process, the retort in
which the mixture of the petroleum residue and ground limestone, or the like,
is heated and oxidized, is caused to rotate on a stationary hollow shaft through
which the air is forced, or caused to pass, the said hollow shaft being provided
with hollow branches, or arms, through which the air passes from the said shaft
into the material, the said arms also serving as agitators and scrapers, to disintegrate,
or break up, the mass of material, and so facilitate the diffusion of the air there-
through. To further facilitate the oxidation of the material, ozone or ozonised air
or oxygen may be forced thereinto while in a heated condition.
When ozone or
ozonized air or oxygen is employed to effect the oxidation of the petroleum residue,
the ozone, ozonized air or oxygen may be introduced into the residue before adding
the ground limestone, or the like.
The accompanying drawing illustrates in longitudinal vertical section a con-
venient arrangement of apparatus for carrying out the process according to this
invention but I do not restrict myself to the use of this apparatus as any other
suitable apparatus may be employed, without departing from the nature of the
invention as far as the process is concerned.
A is a retort in which the treatment of the mixture of petroleum residue and
ground limestone, or the like, is effected, the said retort being provided with a
manhole B, through which the materials are fed into the same, and at one end
with an outlet 13 through which the product is discharged. The retort may be
n .
a

page_text: heated by any convenient means such for instance as an arrangement of gas jets,
or the like permanently placed, or capable of being brought into position, beneath
the retort, or by a furnace, or any other convenient means according to local
conditions, or circumstances. The retort is shewn in the drawing as being
mounted on a non-rotating horizontal hollow shaft, or tube C carried in standards I)
and and provided with stuffing boxes at c. Fixed to one of the ends c¹ of the
retort is a spur wheel E with which gears a pinion F fast on a shaft G mounted
in a bearing H in the standard D¹, and carrying a driving pulley I round which
passes a driving band from any suitable motor so that motion of rotation is
transmitted through the gearing F and E to the retort A.
Projecting downwards from the hollow shaft C are branch pipes or arms K
in communication with the interior of the said shaft and extending to within a
short distance of the interior surface of the retort, and having their ends k flattened,
or spread out, so as to form a fan-shaped outlet for the air from the hollow shaft C.
In the interior of the hollow shaft C just beyond the last branch pipe or arm K,
furthest from the end c' of the retort, is a plug, block or stop a to prevent the air
admitted to the hollow shaft C from passing direct through and out at the opposite
end thereof, and beyond this stop a is a branch pipe L, through which pipe L
air from the interior of the retort can escape into the hollow shaft C, behind the
stop a and pass away through the outlet end of the said shaft. The notched top
of the pipe L is covered by a hood (to prevent the material under treatment from
entering the pipe L).
The retort having been charged with the petroleum residue and ground limestone,
or the like, heat is applied to heat the retort, and the said retort is slowly rotated
by means of the gearing herein before described, air (or ozonised air or ozone, or
oxygen) is forced by any suitable forcing device into the end of the hollow shaft C
and being prevented by the plug a, from passing directly through the said hollow
shaft is caused to pass through the branches K into the material contained in the
retort as shewn by the arrows y, the said air (or ozonised air, or ozone, or oxygen)
being efficiently diffused through the mass of material by reason of the fan-like
shape of the ends of the branch pipes K which also serve to agitate and disintegrate
the material as the retort rotates, whereby the material is efficiently and rapidly.
oxidized. The air, or ozonised air, or ozone, or oxygen which percolates through
the heated material rises to the upper part of the retort and passes under the
hood and down the branch pipe or passage L and away through the hollow shaft C
as indicated by the arrows z.
When ozonised air or ozone or oxygen is used it can be passed through the
petroleum residue before the limestone, or the like is added and the limestone or
the like be added and thoroughly mixed with the petroleum residue which has
been so oxidised.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention. and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
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1. The manufacture of artificial asphalt by mixing petroleum residue and
ground limestone or the like and forcing air, or ozonised air or ozone or oxygen
into, through or over the mixture whilst it is in a heated condition substantially
as hereinbefore described.
2. The manufacture of artificial asphalt from petroleum residue by forcing
ozonized air or ozone or oxygen into through or over the said residue while in a
heated condition and then mixing powdered limestone or the like with the oxidized
petroleum residue substantially as herein before described.
3. In apparatus for the manufacture of artificial asphalt the combination of a
rotary retort in which petroleum residue, or the like is heated; means for heating
the retort, a hollow shaft on which the rotort rotates and branches from the
hollow shaft through which air or ozonized air or ozone or oxygen can be forced

page_text: into the material for the purpose of oxidizing it, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
4. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting the apparatus herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 25th day of August 1898.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.