AN APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING THE SMOKE, GASES, AND NOXIOUS VAPOURS ARISING FROM CERTAIN FIRES, STOVES, AND FURNACES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, THOMAS
HEDLEY, of the Town and Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gentleman, and
CUTHBERT RODHAM, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, Millwright, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventh day of March, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Thomas
Hedley and Cuthbert Rodham, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said Thomas Hedley and Cuthbert Rodham, our
exors, adiiors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Hedley and
Cuthbert Rodham, our exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, our Invention of
"AN APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING THE SMOKE, GASES, AND NOXIOUS VAPOURS ARISING
FROM CERTAIN FIRES, STOVES, AND FURNACES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that we, the said Thomas Hedley and Cuthbert Rodham,
or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, tho said
Thomas Hedley and Cuthbert Rodham, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thercon (that is to say):-
Our Invention relates to a mode of constructing an apparatus for purifying
by washing, the smoko, gases, and vapours of such fires, stoves, and furnaces as
during tho process of combustion emit smoke, gases, or vapours highly charged
with unconsumed carbon, or chemical, mineral, and metallic matters of a noxious
character. And in order that our Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, wo will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed, first remarking, that we are aware that many attempts have been made
to purify the smoke, gases, and vapours arising from the fires, stoves, or furnaces
of manufactories, works, and buildings, by means of water, particularly copper
and lead works and some chemical works, also steam engine boiler and other
furnaces, but we believe without success, owing to the mode of applying the
water having materially injured or destroyed the draft of the flues and chimney,
and the application of water for such purposes has in many cases been aban-
doned. Now, according to our Invention, the smoke, gases, and vapours arising
from fires, stoves, and furnaces, when of a highly impuro charactor, are effectually
purified, and the draft of the flues is improved, and the deposit of matters or
solid particles separated from the water will be of value.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The Drawing represents the section and, plan of an apparatus constructed
according to our Invention, and it will be seen to consist of a series of ascend-
ing and descending flues, connected with each other as hereafter explained.
The vapours, gases, and smoke arising from one or more fires, stoves, or furnaces,
are made to pass through these flues, and then the purified products evolve
from the chimney or other vent; and the apparatus is so arranged that streams
or showers of water are caused to descend and mix with the vapours, gases,
and smoke in the descending flues, by which means the vapours, gases, and
smoke are washed and forced downwards. In the ascending flues no water is
applied, consequently the vapours, gases, and smoko freely ascend without any
interruption, which they would not do if they were opposed by water falling
nuon them in their word course And it will be coom that sh
"

page_text: partitions which divide the ascending from the descending flues are rounded at
their lower ends, the effect of which will be found to be that the rush of water
down the descending flues will cause a quick and powerful draft in the ascend-
ing flues, and, that the vapours, gases, and smoke will be purified by mixing
with and being washed by the water in their downward course, and the draft
in the ascending flue will at the same time be so powerful that the partly purified
smoke, gases, and vapours will rush up the ascending flues. a, a, is the flue
which comes from the fire stove or furnace to which the apparatus is applied.
b, b, is, an ascending flue leading to and turning over into the descending flued,
by a flue &, sloping down from the spring of the arch at the top of the flue b, b.
Above the flue d is placed a water box, with a perforated plate at the bottom d³,
through which the water, in streams or showers, passes down the flue d, and
mixing with the vapours, gases, and smoke, force.them downwards and encrease
the draft in the ascending flue b, b., Ini consequence of the flue or passage d³,
connecting the ascending flue 6, 6, with the descending flue d, being sloped or
inclined downwards from the spring of the arch at an angle, as is shewn in the
Drawing, it should be observed, that round the inside of the descending flues
are ledges or projections n, n, of an inch to an inch and a half in breadth, of
brick, stone, slate, or other suitable material, which are placed at a distance of
from three to four feet from each other, with an edge slanting down, to prevent
the possibility of any gases, vapours, or sinoke escaping the water and passing
up by the sides of the flue. The gases, vapours, and smoke, in their downward
passage, become partly purified, and the matters carried thereby are separated
and mix with the water which passes into the tank or reservoir marked D, D, D,
in Figure 2, through the side apertures k, k, k, k, at the bottom of the flucs, and
are run off by a sluice at the end into other reservoirs, where the water is
gradually drained off, and the matters so separated from the gases, vapours, and
smoke removed. The water in the tank or reservoir D, D, D, is so regulated
by the sluice at the escape end as to stand as high above the aperture at the
bottom of the flue d as will leave the passage into the ascending flue e, e, to be
of the same dimensions as the ascending & descending flues. The surface of
the water being above the level of the aperture k, forms a bottom to the flue,
and offers such resistance to the current of gas, vapour, and smoke, then partly
purified in its progress down the fluc d, as to cause it to pass round into and
5 ascend up the flue e, e, which communicates with the flue d at the lower end.
The vapours, gases, and smoke then rise freely up the flue e, e, in consequence
of a strong draft being kept up in that flue by its opening into the descending
flue f, f, at its upper end, by a second inclined connecting flue e', sloping down-
wards from the spring of the arch, where the smoke, gases, and vapours are

page_text: forcibly driven down the descending flue f, f, by another strong shower or stream
of water rushing from another perforated box.placed at the top of the flucf,f
which mixcs with, further washes, aud purifies the gases, vapours, and smoke,
and passes into the tank or reservoir D, D, D, by the apertures & at the bottom
of the fluo; the surface of the water in the tank being also kept so far above
the apertures at the bottom of fluo f. f. as to leave a passage equal to the size
of the flues for the gasos, vapours, and smoke to pass round into and to ascend
up the flue g, g, (which communicates with fluo f, f, at the lower end). In
consequence of the draft being kept up in the flue g, g, by its opening into the
descending flue h, h, at its upper end by a third inclined connecting fine, sloping
downwards from the spring of the arch, where the gases, smoke, and vapours
aro forcibly driven down the descending flue h, h, by anothor strong shower from
a similar perforated box or cistern placed at the top of this flue, which mixos
with and further washes the gases, vapours, and smoke, in the same manner as
above described, and a further deposit is made, which flows through the opening
at the bottom of this fluc into the tank or reservoir D, D, D. The process
will bo repeated until the gasos, vapours, and smoke are perfectly purified, and
aro then evolved from the chimney or other outlet in an innoxious state, and the
<deposited matters are removed from the tanks or reservoirs. It should bo stated
that the apparatus hero shewn and described is intended to be applied to tho
flue of a furnaco used in the manufacture of sulphate of soda, but it is equally
applicablo to other work and manufactory where noxious vapours and smoke
evolve from the flues or chimneys, where a considerable quantity of smoke is
generated, or whero mineral or metallic or other noxious matters are evolved
into the atmosphere. In such cases, when the Invention is applied, the purified
vapours only are allowed to escape, the metallic and other matters previously
carried by the gases, smoke, or vapours, being separated by the washings with
water, and deposited. Although the apparatus is shewn to be constructed of
iron, brick, and stone, we do not confine ourselves thereto, as other suitablo
materials may be used. In some cases where the impurities are not easily
separated wo apply a series of jets, forming a sheet of water in an oblique
direction, within the first inclined or descending fluo a, a, as is shewn at i, i;
and we also apply jets of steam in some of the ascending flues, as is shewn at
m, m, such jets of steam mixing with the gases, vapours, and smoke, assists the
washing process and quickens the draft in those flues, but those are not ossen-
tial to our Invention. k, k, k, k, are the apertures from the flues into the
reservoir or tank D, D, D. o is a damper to regulate the draft. is a pipe
for supplying water to the water boxes, and the water is supplied by pipes from
a reservoir or by pumps. We would remark, that this apparatus is not intended

page_text: to be applied to small fires, stoves, or furnaces for domestic purposes, but is
intended for factories and extensive works, where the quantities of impurities
are very great.
Having thus described our Invention, and the manner in which the same is
to be performed, we would have it understood that what we claim as our In-
vention is, first, the mode of constructing an apparatus for purifying vapours,
gases, and smoke, arising from certain fires, stoves, and furnaces, by combining
two or more ascending flues with descending flues, by inclined or sloping flues
or passages at their upper ends with streams or showers of water to fall down
the descending flues into suitable reservoirs below, leaving a space above the
water in such reservoirs for the passage of the gases, smoke, and vapours, to
pass into the next ascending flue, as above described; and, secondly, we claim
the combining an ascending fluo and a descending flue by means of an inclined
passage or flue at the upper parts thereof, in such cases as have water descend-
ing down a descending flue, to purify gases, vapours, or smoke from certain
fires, stoves, and furnaces, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hedley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of September, in the year of our