Improvements in Gas Holder Frames.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 20th June, 1895-Accepted, 7th Sept., 1895
Improvements in Gas Holder Frames.
to
I, HEINRICH HACKER, of 86 Potsdamerstrasse, Berlin, Germany, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Guide frames of gas holders at present generally consist, except in cases where
the latter are surrounded by walls, of vertical pillars or standards erected around
the holders. As these pillars are very expensive they have sometimes been replaced
by ropes and chains passed over rollers and arranged so as to surround the holder
in both a vertical and a horizontal plane. In some cases ropes and chains have
been used inside the holder such ropes and chains being connected to a ring
guided in its up and down movements by an internal pillar or hollow column.
Guide framings such as before recited have the following defects viz. :
(1) They are accessible only with considerable difficulty for inspection and
repairs.
(2) As the whole strain due to wind pressure, or weight of snow, is liable to be
thrown on one part of the structure it necessitates the whole being very strongly
built and so that any one part will be capable of resisting, when necessary, the
whole strain. Such construction is both laborious and expensive.
The ordinary guide framing erected above the water tank and consisting of a
large number of columns connected together by rings and tie bars has also the
defect that owing to expansion and contraction due to changes of temperature the
guide rollers are not always in contact with the sides of the bell. Moreover, in the
case of very large holders, they are apt to alter their shape slightly under changes
of temperature, and they have also a tendency to assume a slant position owing to
accumulations of snow, or pressure of wind on one side, or to friction in the
guides.
Experience teaches that when the guide rollers are accurately adjusted at first
they have to be subsequently loosened in order to prevent any possibility of the
holder, when raised, remaining suspended and to avoid too great frictional stress,
during the up and down movements of the holder.
As a consequence it usually happens that only two or three of the guide rollers
transmit the pressure to the columns. This is very dangerous as the roof of the
holder, when the latter is swayed about by shifting winds, exerts a powerful thrust
which requires to be received by the various parts of the columns, since the roof,
on account of its stiffening, cannot descend within the fixed columns. Therefore,
in order to prevent any possibility of an accident, all the columns have to be made
very strong as the wind pressure may be exerted in any direction.
This invention has for its object to overcome the before recited defects by an
improved construction of the guide framing.
And in order that my said invention may be properly understood I have herennto
appended two explanatory sheets of drawings whereon,
Fig. 1 is an elevation and Fig. 2 a plan of a gas holder having three stays or
supports.
Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan of a gas holder with two stays or supports.
Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views drawn to an enlarged scale.
Under this invention the gas holder A is surrounded by the rings a, b, c, consisting
of ropes, chains, rods or the like The rings 0 and are carried by brackets &

page_text: secured to the gas holder. These rings are provided with coupling straps e which
pass along inside of and partly round the standards ƒ in such manner as to be capable
of moving in a vertical direction only.
When the gas holder is moved laterally by wind pressure, the rings at the side
opposed to the wind are placed in tension and consequently bear against all the
brackets at that side so that contact between the holder and the rings is effected at
a great many points.
The rings are carried in the ends of the brackets d in the manner shown at Fig. 4
so that the latter are only subjected to horizontal strains in a radial direction and
receive apart from unavoidable frictional strains no other horizontal strains.
Moreover, between each pair of standards f, all the brackets d exert the same
pressure on the gas holder except in cases where frictional strains may make a
slight difference. The rings thus transmit the pressure exerted by the gas holder
to the front sides of the standards f where tangential. rollers g or bronze plates are
interposed for the purpose of reducing friction. Therefore according to this
invention a gas holder with three standards only requires 6 rollers or bronze plates
instead of, as in other cases, 18 or more.
Between the front or inner sides of the standards and the parts e of the rings
there is sufficient space left to prevent contact between them ever taking place.
The standards are therefore only acted upon in one direction, that is if the friction
of the rollers is left out of consideration, and as the rollers are at both sides a
state of equilibrium is produced in consequence of which these standards need not
be made so strong as similar guide frames. It is also not necessary to have 18 or
more of them as usual.
Instead of the standards iron columns f¹, as indicated at Fig. 3, can be used for
small gas holders and be fixed at their lower ends or be stayed by ropes or wires in
the same manner as high iron chimney stalks. Rings e' are so litted on the columns
as to be capable of sliding up and down and to these rings which replace the friction
plates the large rings a and b are fixed. Instead of rings such as a and ba
rope a¹ (Fig. 3) can be used which is passed right round the gas holder and fixed
thereto in such manner as to be raised and lowered therewith. The rings e¹ are
connected by the rope ends, i, or the like, to the rope a¹ passed round the
holder A.
The lower guide ring cis arranged just above or below the water level in the
tank so that either no water at all or a very little need be allowed to escape in
order to get at it. The ring e differs from the rings a and b in-as-much as it is not
raised along with the bolder lifts but maintains its position while the lower lift,
should there be one, passes through it. Fig. 5 shows such a ring and which can be
formed of chains, ropes, or rods held in place by bars and brackets d secured in the
wall of the water tank. The bars f which are fitted securely in the wall at
intervals, perform the same function as the standards f. (Figs. 1 and 2.) The
brackets, which have rectangular shanks d' aud carry on their ends bearing
rollers k, are capable of sliding in and out of rectangular guide sockets or liners
fitted in wall w. The rectangular shape of the liners and shanks d prevents the
brackets having any movement other than a radial and horizontal one. With this
arrangement should the holders move sideways that part of the ring c which faces
the wind is subject to tension so that all its rollers & bear against the gas
holder.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I consider novel and desire to claim is :-
1. Guide frames for gas holders in which the outside strains on the gas holder
are transmitted by rings such as a and b to standards (f) arranged at suitable
distances apart, substantially as herein before described with reference to the
drawings annexed.

page_text: 2. The transmission of the strains acting on the lower part of the gas holder to
separate parts of the wall of the water tank by means of rings c brackets d
and bars f, substantially as hereinbefore described and shown on the drawings
annexed.
Dated this 19th day of June 1895.
H. D. FITZPATRICK,
70 Wellington Street, Glasgow, Agent.