Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Calcium Carbide.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Dec., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 8th Sept., 1898-Accepted, 5th Nov., 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Calcium Carbide.
We, JOSEPH BASTICK, of 1, Carrill Grove, Levenshulme, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Electrical Engineer, and WILLIAM ARTHUR THORNTON, of
Belper House, Market Place, Wetherby, in the County of York, Manager, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of calcium carbide
which is intended to be employed in the generation of acetylene gas.
Hitherto great difficulty has been experienced in obtaining a complete fusion
of the coke and lime in the electric furnace owing to the said substances being
admitted to the hopper of the furnace in what may practically be said to be an
unmixed state, thereby causing a great and unnecessary expenditure of electricity
to effect their fusion.
Now the object of this invention is to overcome this difficulty and at the same
time to prepare the coke and lime in such a manner that the fusion will more
readily take place with a great saving of electricity.
According to this invention instead of grinding the coke and lime separately
to the required size or degree of fineness, and then mixing them together in the
hopper of the furnace we take the required quantities of coke and lime and if
desired roughly mix them together before passing them into a crusher somewhat
after the stone breaker type, so that they pass simultaneously into the hopper of a
grinding machine and from thence into the grinding machine where they are
reduced to the required size or degree of fineness and thoroughly mixed together
either during their passage through the machine or afterwards in the axit hopper
or trough, or other receptacle by any suitable mechanical means such as revolving
beaters or mixers. The grinding machine may also be provided with a fan and
collecting chambers of any convenient shape and construction placed in any
convenient position as regards the grinding machine, for collecting the dust
and small particles arising during the grinding operation.
The material after being ground and thoroughly mixed together may then be
raised by means say, of elevators, to a trough armed with a worm or an Archime-
dean screw by which it is conveyed to the spout or spouts with or without regu-
lating dampers in communication with the hopper or hoppers of the electric furnace
for the requisite treatment to convert it into calcium carbide.
By mixing the two substances together as herein described the fusion of the
two more readily takes place with a great saving of electricity and consequently
with less expense.

page_text: Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Calcium Carbide,
We, JOSEPH BASTICK, late of 1, Carrill Grove, Levenshulme, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, but now of 110, Golden Hillock Road, Small Heath, Bir-
mingham, in the County of Warwick, Electrical Engineer, and WILLIAM ARTHUR
THORNTON, of Belper House, Market Place, Wetherby, in the County of York,
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of this invention; and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of calcium carbide
which is intended to be employed in the generation of acetylene gas.
Hitherto great difficulty has been experienced in obtaining a complete fusion
of the coke and lime in the electric furnace owing to the said substances being
admitted to the hopper of the furnace in what may practically be said to be an
unmixed state, thereby causing a great and unnecessary expenditure of electricity
to effect their fusion.
Now the object of this invention is to overcome this difficulty and at the same
time to prepare the coke and lime in such a manner that the fusion will more
readily take place with a great saving of electricity.
In the drawings hereunto annexed we have shown an arrangement of plant
suitable for carrying our invention into practice in which
Fig. 1 is a side elevation,
Fig. 2 an end elevation, and
Fig. 3 a plan looking at the top.
Like parts in all the views are marked with similar letters of reference.
A is the crusher, somewhat similar to the stone breaker type of, machine, in
which the materials to be operated upon are placed prior to passing to the grind-
ing machine, and the crusher A may be actuated or. driven by a belt O from a
pulley P on driving shaft Q.
B the hopper of the grinding machine which may be provided with a worm
or other equivalent mechanism not shown in the drawings, for feeding the
material to the said machine.
Ca grinding machine and first mixer, which may be of any suitable and
ordinary construction for this class of work, and motion is conveyed to the
pulleys R and S, by belts T and U from pulleys V and W on the driving shaft Q.
Da second mixer interposed between the grinding machine and the elevator
through which the material passes after leaving the first mixer. to the elevator.
E the elevator consisting of an outer casing within which is pro-
vided an endless belt or chain d arranged to work over pulleys d¹¹
mounted and fixed upon shafts carried in suitable bearings respectively
near the top and bottom of the elevator casing, so as to be capable
of receiving motion from driving shaft Q through pulleys X and d and belting
d³. On the endless belt or chain d are mounted a number of elevator buckets do
of the usual and ordinary construction.
.
Fa spout through which the dust is drawn by a fan to a balloon .G.
G the dust balloon or collecting chamber provided with suitable valve or
valves (not shown in the drawings) or it or their equivalents at the exit end to
permit of the balloon being emptied as required.
His a spout connecting the elevator E with the conveyor or trough I.

page_text: I is a conveyor or trough hereafter termed the conveying trough arranged
at a right angle to the elevator and above the top or tops of the electric furnace
or furnaces.
In the conveying trough I is provided a worm or Archimedian screw J pro-
pelling the material,-as it leaves the spout H,-forward into position to be con-
ducted into the spout or hoppers K of the electric furnace or furnaces motion
is imparted to the worm J from pulley Y on the driving shaft Q to pulley Z
on counter shaft 1 by belting 2 and bevel or mitre gearing 3.
K K K K spout or hoppers hereafter termed the spouts K, through which the
material passes from the conveying trough I to the electric furnaces. Each of
the spouts K are provided with a suitable arrangement of dampers or valves L
for regulating the flow of material. The dampers or valves are operated by
any suitable arrangement of levers and connecting rods or links 78 such as
are shown at Fig. 1.
M a spout leading from the conveying trough I to a bag M¹ or other receptacle
which receives the surplus material from the conveying trough.
N the electric furnace of any suitable construction in which the carbon or
pencil may be raised or lowered to its work from the outside of the furnace, say,
by means of a hand wheel N¹ and screw N2 attached to a wire rope N³ passing
over pulleys N and suitable insulated carrier, or automatically by, say, the
solenoid action.
Instead of, as hitherto done, grinding the coke and lime separately to the
required size or degree of fineness, and then mixing them together in the hopper
of the furnace we take the required quantities of coke and lime, say for example
in the proportion of forty parts of coke to sixty parts of lime, and if desired
roughly mix them together before passing them into a crusher A so that they
pass simultaneously into the hopper B and from thence into the grinding.
machine C where they are reduced to the required size or degree of fineness and
thoroughly mixed together either during their passage through this machine or
afterwards in the exit hopper D one or both, but preferably both in the grinding
machine and hopper D. by any suitable mechanical means such as revolving
beaters fixed therein. The grinding machine C may also be provided with a
fan and collecting chambers such as the dust balloon of any convenient shape
and construction placed in any convenient position as regards the grinding
machine, for collecting the dust and small particles arising during the grinding
operation.
The material after being ground and thoroughly mixed together may then be
raised by means say, of elevators E to the conveying trough I in which works a
worm J by which it is conveyed to the spouts K (with or without regulating
dampers L) which are in communication with the electric furnace N for the
requisite treatment to convert it into calcium carbide.
By mixing the two substances together as herein described the fusion of the
two more readily takes place with a great saving of electricity and consequently
with less expense.
said
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our
invention, and how the same may be carried into practice we would have it under-
stood that we are aware that the electric furnace has been previously to the date
of this application for reducing coke, lime and other metals, as well as
for making calcium carbide, we therefore do not broadly claim the use of such,
except when used in the manner herein described, but what we do claim is:-
The improvements in or relating to the manufacture of calcium carbide sub-
stantially as herein described which consists in first passing the required quan-
tities of coke and lime either separately or roughly mixed to the crushing
so that they pass simultaneously to the grinding machine, then reduced the
material to the required size and thoroughly mixed together in the grinding
machine and its hopper prior to entering the elevator buckets, afterwards ele-

page_text: vating the ground and mixed material to a conveying trough by which it is
conducted to the electric furnace there to be acted upon by the electric current
for the fusion of the two materials and the production of calcium carbide.
Dated this Sixth day of September 1898.
JOSEPH BASTICK,
WILLIAM ARTHUR THORNTON,
By W. Fairburn-Hart, Agent.