Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Destroying Town and other Refuse Material.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 9th Aug., 1889-Accepted, 5th Oct., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Destroying
Town and other Refuse Material.
I, JOHN BIRCH PADDON, of Drymma, Neath, in the County of Glamorgan, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to he as follows:-
My invention relates to the refuse and waste matters such as the contents of dust
bins vegetable and other refuse and other waste accumulating in Towns, and to other
waste matters and refuse, and it has for its object a novel method of and apparatus
for destroying such refuse by fire in such manner that the destruction is complete and
the process simple and easily carried out without annoyance from offensive smoke
or smell.
In order to put my invention in operation I take a chamber or series of chambers
of firebrick or other sufficiently refractory material and of suitable size and shape
for the purpose required, and l'arrange it so that it can be heated by gaseous com-
bustion. I provide the chamber or chambers with manhole and other openings through
which the refuse to be destroyed is introduced and the combustion regulated, the
openings being then closed by airtight doors.
The chamber or chambers being then sufficiently heated, the substances placed
therein are in a short time destroyed and rendered inoffonsive and innocuous.
Openings are provided in suitable parts of the chamber or chambers from which all
smoke, gases, vapour, and other products of combustion are withdrawn by means of a
fun or other equivalent exhausting apparatus and are forced into condensing vessels
wash vessels and purifiers containing water or other suitable chemical mediums in
which the soluble and insoluble parts are absorbed or precipitated, the remaining gases
which being cooled are largely reduced in volume, being forced preferably through a
pipe or conduit into any suitable furnace for the production of steam or for other
purposes, or being carried direct to a chimney.
The solid residues and ashes remaining in the chamber or chambers are removed
through some of the openings and doors already described situated near the
bottom.
•
In some cases the liquid in the condenser may be provided with chemical materials
by which the matters contained in the gaseous products of combustion may be more
readily precipitated and combined so as to form useful compounds and the ashes and
solid products removed from the chamber or chambers may themselves be used for
manure, road making material, or other useful purposes either alone or in combination
with other substances suitable for such purposes.
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Destroying
Town and other Refuse Material.
I JOHN BIRCH PADDON of Drymma Neath in the County of Glamorgan Civil
Engineer 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 and accompanying Drawings that is to say :—
My Invention relates to refuse and waste matters, such as the contents of dustbins,
vegetable refuse, and other waste produced in Towns, and to various other waste

page_text: matters and refuse, and it has for its object a novel method of and apparatus for
destroying such waste and refuse by firo, in such manner that the destruction is com-
plete and the process simple and easily carried out without annoyance from offensive
smoke or fumes or smell.
I am aware that furnaces, combustion chambers, and apparatus of the like kind, 5
have been used in which refuse and waste matters have been delivered into the
furnaces and have been more or less perfectly consumed by the direct action of the
fire upon them, in combination with a large quantity of air admitted through firebars
of the usual kind. By my Invention, however, the waste and refuse is destroyed
either by enclosing them in close chambers or retorts, heated by external heat, the
resulting gases being withdrawn cooled and purified, and utilized for heating boilers
for the production of steam or other purposes, and eventually discharged without the
production of offensive fumes or sinell, or by close kilns or furnaces into which the
waste and refuse is introduced and burned at a high temperature by means of air
drawn through it, the slag and clinker produced in the operation being discharged
through one or more openings at the lower part of the furnace, and the gases and
other products of combustion being withdrawn and utilized for heating one or more
boilers.
The accompanying Drawings are in illustration of my Invention. In Sheet 1
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through the close chambers or retorts in
the method of arrangement first above described. Figure 2 is a vertical cross section
through the line A, A, Figure 1. Figure 3 is a front elevation, Figure 4 a back
elevation, and Figure 5 a vertical cross section through the line B, B, Figure 1.
any
of
The close chambers or retorts are arranged in sets of two one above the other over
a furnace by which they are heated externally. The aqueous and gaseous products.
of distillation of the refuse are drawn from the lower retort (in which the refuse is
placed) through the upper one by means of suitable exhausting apparatus of
the well known kinds in use so as to produce a sufficiently pure gaseous fuel, from
which the other products are separated cooled and purified, and utilized if desired.
The exhausting apparatus may deliver the inflaminable gases, or gaseous fuel to the
furnace by which the retorts are heated, or to other places where it can be utilized,
the products of combustion being ultimately discharged into a chimney or any other
convenient place. The residual remaining in the retorts is principally a mixture of
coke and charcoal which may be used for fuel with the gaseous products, the residual
finally remaining being small quantities of effluent water and inodorous ashes which
are available for use in making mortar, concrete, or road foundations.
In the Drawings a. a. a' a¹ are two sets of chambers or retorts made preferably of
fireclay, and set in a brickwork oven b. A furnace c is arranged in the lower part of
the oven, the heat from which acts upon the outside of the rotorts a in the same way
as upon ordinary gas making retorts. The products of combustion from the furnace
are carried to an ordinary chimney.
Each chamber or retort is fitted with a close fitting door dat each end. The lower
retort is connected with the one above it by a pipe e at one end, and the upper retori
has a pipe fat the other end communicating with a receiver g, having a water seal
From the receiver g, one or more exit pipes h lead to the cooling apparatus and
thence to the exhausting machinery, neither of which are shewn in the Drawing
The upper retorts are filled with heated coke through which the gases and
other products of distillation from the lower retorts pass on their way to the
pipes f.
By means of the exhausting machinery the volatile contents of the retorts are with
drawn and the non condensible part of them forced into the furnace c as alread
described, or utilized for other purposes.
In Sheets 2 and 3 of the Drawings a modified form of the apparatus is shown
Figure 6 being a vertical section, Figure 7 a horizontal section through B, F
(Figure 6); Figure 8 an elevation; Figure a plan; Figure 10 a horizontal sectio
through the line CC (Figure 6); Figure 11 a horizontal section through the line D,I

page_text: (Figure 7); Figure 12 a horizontal section through the line A A (Figure 6), with
the tiles removed from the flues, and Figure 13 a horizontal section through the
line EE (Figure 6).
For this arrangement a kiln is employed in which the destruction of the refuse or
waste material, is effected by intense heat produced by the admission of air in regulated
quantities. This air is either forced in under pressure, or preferably it is drawn in
by means of suitable exhausting machinery in such manner that the refuse or waste
is converted into inflammable gas which may be utilized for heating boilers or other
purposes, the refuse being entirely destroyed with the exception of the residual slag
or clinker. The heat so generated is sufficient to reduce this slag or clinker to a
semi-fluid condition, but this process may be assisted if necessary by the addition of
other carbonaceous material or flux, so that the slag or clinker may run off from the
bottom of the kiln, and may be received into moulds of any desired shape and size
so as to form blocks which may be used for road making, concrete, building, or
other purposes.
The entire plant is built of brickwork and is so constructed that the refuse or waste
material may be conveyed to the level of the top of the kiln or kilns and be there con-
veniently deposited for charging the kiln.or kilns as required. The kiln consists of
an internal reducing chamber into which the refuse or waste is supplied from an
opening above which can be closed by a cover (figure 6). Round this chamber or
kiln is formed an outer surrounding inlet chamber from which heated air is admitted
to the chamber; and round this chamber is another outer outlet or chamber m into
which the expended gases pass from the Chamber i. The molten slag or clinker is
withdrawn from the bottom of the kiln or chamber i through one or more passages n,
four of which are shown in the figures.
From the outer outlet chamber in a passage o communicates with the pipe p which
may be arranged in any convenient position from the outlet chamber m and leads
to cooling and exhausting apparatus of the kind already hereinbefore described are
pipes for the admission of air which are arranged in the chamber m, where they
become heated and so heat the air passing through them.
These pipes communicate with the inlet chamber where the air is further heated, and
from whence it passes into the inner chamber or kiln through the different passages s
in the wall between the inner chamber i and the surrounding inlet chamber and into
the lower chamber l', which communicates with the upper chamber 1. Passages and
pipes are shewn at t through which the state of the inner kiln or chainber can be
observed, through which additional air may be admitted into the kiln.
These pipes are provided at their outer ends with moveable covers.
The gases and products of combustion are withdrawn into the outer outlet chamber m
from the inner chamber or kiln i, through the passages u.
A sufficient number of vertical passages (figures 7 and 12) communicate between
the upper part of the inlet chamber and its lower part .
The chambers
and m
Openings are made into the outlet chamber m by which it can be cleaned when
necessary the openings being closed by doors or covers 10.
are covered by tiles by which access can bo had to them when desired.
The following is the process used in the kiln described. The kiln i having been
charged with ordinary fuel, the exhausting machinery is set in operation and when the
kiln is sufficiently heated a charge of the refuse or waste material is supplied through
the opening at k, similar charges being repeated at intervals of time determined by
the rate at which the refuse is destroyed and disappears. Air is admitted through
the heated pipes r (or is forced in by suitable forcing apparatus) to the inlet
chamber 1, 1, and is thence forced or drawn in a heated state into the kilni through
the passages 8. In this way an intense heat is produced and the refuse or waste is
destroyed, with the exception of the molten slag or clinker already referred to, which
escapes through the passages n at the bottom of the kiln.
By an action of the exhausting machinery the gases and products of combustion
are withdrawn from the kiln through the passages u into the outer outlet
chamber m, and thence through the passage o to the pipe p. They may then be

page_text: utilized for heating boilers or other purposes and afterwards discharged into a
chimney or other place.
In the case of waste material of any special kind, the resulting guses may be
passed through a closed vessel containing suitable chemical substances by which
they are rendered inodorous and harmless before passing to the chimney.
i do not confine myself to any precise form, proportions, or method of con-
struction, all of which may be varied more or less according to the circumstances
and conditions under which the apparatus is to be used, but having now particu-
larly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The employment of externally heated closed chambers for the purpose of
destroying refuse or waste material, and for obtaining inflammable gases therefrom,
substantially as herein described and shewn in sheet 1 of the accompanying
drawings.
2. The combination of the lower retort or chamber, the upper retort or chamber
-both externally heated, the moveable doors to such retorts or chambers, and
the pipes connecting the 2 retorts for conveying the gases to and from the upper
retort substantially as described and shewn in sheet 1 of the accompanying
drawings.
3. In combination with the upper and lower retorts arranged and connected as
described and the pipe for carrying away the gases, the several receivers, cooling
apparatus, and exhausting apparatus, substantially as and for the purpose described.
waste
4. The employment of the closed kilns or chambers having a closed bottom and
without firegrate of any kind for the purpose of destroying refuse or
material, substantially as described and shewn in sheets 2 and 3 of the accom-
panying drawings.
5. The combination of the inner kiln or chamber having a closed bottom
without firegrate, the surrounding inlet chamber and the outer outlet chambor m,
the inlet air passages or pipes r, the inlet passages for air from the inlet
chamber to the kiln i, the passages from the kiln to the outer outlet chamber m,
the passage and pipo or passage p the suitable exhausting apparatus, and the
passage or passages for the escape of molten slag or clinker, substantially as
and for the purposes described and shewn in sheets 2 and 3 of the accompanying
drawings.
6. In the combination described in claim 5 the use of air forcing apparatus
instead of exhausting apparatus substantially as and for the purpose described.
7. In combination with the kiln i, air inlet openings s, and passages n for the
escape of molten slag or clinker, the passages or pipes for the admission of air and
for ascertaining the condition of the interior of the kiln substantially as described and
shewn in sheets 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.
8. In combination with the retorts for destroying refuse or waste material and with-
drawing inflammable gases therefrom, the method of ntilizing such inflammable gases
for the purpose of heating the retorts substantially as herein described.
Dated this th day of August 1889
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Patentee.