IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN OBTAINING VOLATILE HYDRO-CARBONS FROM COAL GAS AND IN THE SEPARATION GENERALLY OF
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Drew of Pelham Crescent South Kensington
in the County of Middlesex Doctor of Medicine for an Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN OBTAINING VOLATILE
HYDRO-CARBONS FROM COAL GAS AND IN THE SEPARATION GENERALLY OF
(Void by reason of the Patentee having neglected to file a Specification
in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Drew at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd October 1883.
EDWIN DREW of Pelham Crescent, South Kensington in the County of
Middlesex IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN OBTAINING
VOLATILE HYDRO-CARBONS FROM COAL GAS, AND IN THE SEPARATION GENERALLY,
OF LIQUIDS FROM GASES, AND GASES OR VAPOURS FROM LIQUIDS.
The Invention has for its object primarily improvements in means or apparatus
employed in obtaining volatile hydro-carbons from coal gas.
Heretofore in the separation of volatile hydro-carbons from coal gas, the latter
has been passed through a heavy bydro-carbon oil contained in a series of vessels
in such manner that the gas has been caused first to pass through the heavy-
hydro-carbon oil contained in the first of the series of vessels and then in succession
through the hydro-carbon oil in each of the other vessels of the series; these
vessels have all been connected together by suitable pipes and cocks, and when the
oil in the first vessel of the series has become sufficiently enriched with the volatile
hydro-carbon the liquid has been drawn off therefrom and conducted to a still
where the volatile hydro-carbon has been driven off from the heavy-hydro-carbon
oil. In drawing off the liquid from the first vessel of the series the entire series
has for the time being been put out of operation as it was also necessary to run
the liquid contained in the second vessel of the series into the first, then that in
the third into the second and so on through the entire series, the gas was then
D

page_text: again turned on and then when the contents of the first vessel of the series had
again become sufficiently enriched, the contents thereof were emptied, and those of
the other vessels changed as above described. These operations involved a
considerable loss of timo in the process and consequently increased cost besides
other inconveniences.
Now according to my Invention I am enabled to overcome these inconveniences
and to keep the rest of the series of vessels constantly at work during the operation
of emptying any one of the series of vessels and if required for repairs or for other
purposes more than one of the vessels in the series may be out of work whilst the
others of the series are in full operation.
In carrying my Invention into effect I arrange the series of vessels containing
the heavy hydro-carbon oil preferably all on the same level and I connect all such
vessels together in a series and to a main gas supply pipe and to an exhaust pipe,
by suitable pipes and cocks in such manner that any one or more of the vessels in
the series may be cut off from the others whilst the latter can still be worked in a
Beries.
After the volatile hydro-carbon has been driven off from the heavy hydro-carbon
oil it has been customary to draw the latter off from the still into a vessel at a
lower level from which vessel it has been raised into a tank by manual labour or
by mechanical means; now according to my Invention, I am enabled to dispense
with the use of the intermediate vessel and to force the heavy hydro-carbon oil
directly from the still into the tank by the pressure of the steam used for the
distilling operation; this I effect by the addition to the still of a pipe which
reaches nearly to the bottom thereof and is connected at its upper end to the tank,
then by closing the exhaust passage of the still and at the same time permitting
steam to enter, the pressure of the latter is utilized to force the heavy hydro-carbon
oil from the still into the tank.
The apparatus herein before described is also applicable when separating ammonia
from liquid containing the same and for other analogous operations in which gases
or vapours are to be absorbed by fluids or separated from them.