Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for the Production of Acetylene Gas.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 10th May, 1899.
Complete Specification Left, 8th Feb., 1900-Accepted, 7th Apr., 1900
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for the Production of
Acetylene Gas.
A communication from ALFRED MOLET, Engineer, of Buenos Ayres, Argentine
Republic, South America.
I. ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 111, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The present invention relates to a new automatic apparatus for the production
of acetylene gas.
An apparatus according to this invention will hereinafter be described by
way of example.
The apparatus works on the principle of allowing the carbide to drop into water,
and its main parts comprise: a water container or carbide holder, a level
indicator of the same a device for distributing the carbide, a pressure regulator
and a gas purifier.
The construction of each of these parts as well as their combination with each
other and their operation will now be described.
The water container open at the top is divided by means of a plate or plates,
into two parts communicating with each other by a passage before the lower
part of which is arranged a bent plate for the purpose of acting as a hydraulic
joint when the apparatus is emptied of its water. The bottom of the water
container is preferably inclined and is provided with an outlet tap. A tube
provided with a tap communicates at one end with the air whilst its other end
dips into the water in the container.
The carbide is contained in a holder closed at its upper end by a stopper while
the other end if formal into a funnel or cone opening above the distributor by
means of which the distribution of the carbide and its dropping into the water
is effected.
The distributor consists of a plate of which three sides are bent upwards so as
to form a kind of box, while the remaining side which had not been bent is
hollowed out or cut away at a certain point. This distributor is suspended on a
shaft and receives a reciprocating movement by a rod which connects it with
a float provided for in one of the partitions of the water container the said floar
connected by rigid rods to a shaft or pivot is able to move vertically.
A convex plate fixed in the interior of the coned part of the carbide holder is
intended, by receiving part of the weight of the carbide to prevent the carbide
from packing at the outlet of the said holder. A small shoot or guide arranged
below the cut away part of the plate of the distributor serves to direct towards the
middle of the water container the carbide as it falls.
The pressure regulator consists of a valve opening upwards and connected to a
float this mechanism is enclosed in a fixed bell open at the bottom and placed in

page_text: a water containing vessel open at the top and secured at the base to a plate in the
main vessel.
The communication between the main part of the holder and the valve is
effected by means of a dome and a serpentine tube provided with a- tap a tube
establishes communication between the purifier and the pressure regulator which
has just been described.
The purifier consists of a vessel closed at both ends and provided with two
stoppers the lower of which is provided with a tap a tube extending downwards
and bent and perforated at its lower part forms within the purifier, a continuation
of the communication tube between the purifier and the pressure regulator
described above.
From the purifier extends a tube, to which is connected the gas distributing
pipe.
The apparatus is used as follows:-
The water container being empty, the tap of the serpentine tube of the pressure
regulator is closed and the tap of the tube communicating at one end with the
air and with the water tank at the other, is opened.
The vessel of the pressure regulator is filled with water and the carbide holder
is charged with granulated carbide through the top orifice which is closed
immediately afterwards the main float exerts all its weight on the rod connected
with it and keeps the distributor at the extreme end of its track, its open part
being thus kept farthest away from the bottom of the funnel. The carbide
finding no outlet, collects on the surface of the distributor in a small heap, which
completely fills the outlet of the funnel and in combination with the convex
plate inside the holder is sufficient to keep back the whole of the contents of the
holder.
The main container is then charged with water which reaclies the part under-
neath the dividing plate, of the tank through the passage by which this part
communicates with the other part of the tank driving out the air contained in the
said part through the tube the tap which has been as described left open at
the beginning of the operation, until the level reaches the lower end of said tube
when the further filling ceases in this compartment of the tank. The water
however continues to rise in the other compartment and is allowed to do so until
the difference in the two levels produces the pressure within the apparatus which
is required. The tap of the air tube is then closed and the apparatus is now
ready to work as follows:-
-
If now the tap of the serpentine tube of the regulator is open the air enclosed
in the main compartment of the tank finds an outlet through it and the air thus
escaping from said chamber is immediately replaced by water coming from the
other compartment. The level in the former rises and with it the float causing
an oscillation of the distributor whereby the opening of the closing plate is
gradually brought into position to correspond with the outlet of the funnel result-
ing in the escape of a small quantity of carbide which in its fall is guided by the
shoot underneath.
This discharge of carbide ceases, however, in consequence of the effect of gas
pressure following this discharge causing the levels of water the float and the
distributor to return to the positions occupied at the start so that the production
is exactly regulated by the consumption.
When the tap at the outer end of the serpentine tube was open the pressure
within the hell has a tendency to equal that of the main compartment and the
water rising in the vessel enters the bell at the bottom but the valve of the
pressure regulator is subject on the one hand to the weight of the float connected
to it within the bell thus tending to keep the valve closed and on the other hand.
to the buoyancy of the float which tends to open it and it depends on the level
of the water within the bell whether the one or the other of the tendencies will
become effective. It is evident then that when the pressure in the main compart-
ment rises beyond what is desired in the bell a point of equilibrium between

page_text: these two tendencies will be established corresponding to the constant difference
of levels of the water within the bell and the water vessel outside it, and conse-
quently in the distributing conduit.
The dome, and the serpentine tube serve to condense any water vapours the gas
may have carried off, and to return it to the tank.
The purifier is charged with suitable substances or bodies alone or mixed with
others, for the purpose of obtaining a chemical purification either by filtration or
drying.
The discharge tap of the bottom stopper of the purifier serves to remove the
condensed water that may have settled in it.
The stopper of the carbide holder may be replaced either by a supplementary
storage vessel forming in case of necessity a kind of carbide reserve, this vessel
being provided at the upper end with a stopper and at its lower end with a tap.
Or by an indicator indicating the quantity of carbide contained in the carbide
holder, and consisting simply of a rod say of metal provided with a round disc
at the lower end by means of which it rests by its own weight on the carbide
contained within the said holder, keeping in contact with it, thus descending
with it in proportion as the carbide is gradually emptied into the water. The
rod moves freely in a glass tube hermetically closed at its upper end and
protected if desired by a metallic tube with longitudinal slits, through which
the position of the indicator may be observed.
To facilitate access to the interior of the apparatus the latter is arranged in
two separable parts, one consisting of only the water tank, and the other of the
dividing plate, carbide holder and water-vessel of the pressure regulator.
The purifier is separately fitted against the side of the main water tank.
In small generators, in order to render the arrangement more compact, the
purifier may be directly placed over the bell of the pressure-regulator. More-
over, in order to simplify the construction of the valve the latter may be formed
simply of a stopper actuated by a float, the gas jet being effected at the end of
the tube through which the gas arrives, and round which the float is arranged;
the gas outlet tap being then arranged at the top of the purifier.
Datal the 10th
مجم يمل
M 1900
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for the Production of
Acetylene Gas.
A communication from ALFRED MOLET, Engineer, of Buenos Ayres, Argentine
Republic, South America.
I, ALERED JULIUS BOULT, of 111, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
-
The present invention relates to a new automatic apparatus for the production
of acetylene gas.
An apparatus according to this invention is represented by way of example,
in the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure represents a vertical section of the whole apparatus.
Figure 2 a detail view, on a larger scale, of the pressure regulator.

page_text: Figure 3 a detail view on a larger scale of the distributor of the calcium
carbide.
Figure 4 a plan view of part of the said mechanism.
Figure 5 a vertical section of the supplementary carbide holder.
Figure 6 is a vertical section of a carbide-lever indicator, and
Figure 7 a modification of the purifying device.
The apparatus works on the principle of allowing the carbide to drop into
water, and its 'main parts comprise: a water container, a carbide holder, a level
indicator of the same, a device for distributing the carbide, a pressure regulator
and a gas purifier.
The construction of each of these parts, as well as their combination with
each other and their operation, will now be described.
The water container 8 open at the top is divided by means of a plate or plates
into two parts 10 and 11 communicating with each other by a passage 12 before
the lower part of which is arranged a bent plate 13 for the purpose of acting as a
hydraulic joint when the apparatus is emptied of its water. The bottom of the
water container 8 is preferably inclined at 14 and is provided with an outlet
tap 15. A tube 16 provided with a tap 17 communicates at one end with the
air whilst its other end dips into the water in the container 8.
The carbide is contained in a holder 18 closed at its upper end by a stopper 19
while the other end is formed into a funnel or cone 20 opening above the distri-
butor 21 by means of which the distribution of the carbide and its dropping into
the water is effected.
The distributor 21 consists of a plate of which three sides are bent upwards so
as to form a kind of box or tray while the remaining side which had not been
bent, is hollowed out or cut away at a certain point 52 as shown in Figures 3
and 4. This distributor 21 is suspended on a shaft 22 and receives a reciprocating
or swinging movement by a rod 23 which connects it with a float 24, provided in
the main portion of the water container 8, the said float being connected by rigid
rods 25 to a shaft or pivot 26 so as to be able to move substantially vertically.
A convex plate 27 fixed in the interior of the conical part 20 of the carbide
holder is intended, by receiving part of the weight of the carbide, to prevent the
carbide from packing at the outlet of the said holder. A small shoot or guide 28
arranged below the cut away part of the plate of the distributor 21 serves to
direct towards the middle of the water container 8 the carbide as it falls.
The pressure regulator consists of a valve 29 opening upwards and connected
to a float 30, this mechanism being enclosed in a fixed bell 31 open at the bottom
and placed in a water containing vessel 32 open at the top and secured at the
base to a plate 9 in the main vessel.
The communication between the main part 10 of the vessel and the valve 29
is effected by means of a dome 33 and a serpentine tube 34 provided with a
tap 35, while a tube 36 establishes communication between the purifier 37 and
the pressure regulator which has just been described.
The purifier 37 consists of a vessel closed at both ends and provided with
two stoppers 38 and 39, the lower of which is provided with a tap; a tube extend-
ing downwards and bent and perforated at its lower part forms within the
purifier a continuation of the communication tube between the purifier and the
pressure regulator described above.
From the purifier extends a tube 42 to which is connected the gas distributing
pipe.
The apparatus is used as follows:-
The water container 8 being empty, the tap 35 of the serpentine tube of the
pressure regulator is closed, and the tap 17 of the tube communicating at one end
with the air and with the water tank at the other, is opened.
The vessel 32 of the pressure regulator is filled with water, and the carbide
holder 18 is charged with granulated carbide through the top orifice 19 which
is closed immediately afterwards, the main float 24 exerts all its weight on the

page_text: rod 23 connected with it, and keeps the distributor 21 at the extreme end of its
track to the left, its open part 52 being thus kept farthest away from the bottom
of the funnel 20. The carbide finding no outlet, collects on the surface 21 of the
distributor in a small heap, which completely fills the outlet of the funnel, and,
in combination with the convex plate 27 inside the holder, is sufficient to keep
back the rest of the contents of the holder.
The main container 8 is then charged with water which enters the part 10
through the passage 12 by which this part communicates driving out the air
contained in the said part 10 through the tube 16, the tap 17 of which had been,
as described, left open at the beginning of the operation, until the level reaches
the lower end of the tube 16, when the further filling ceases in this compartment
of the tank. The water however continues to rise in the other compartment 11
and is allowed to do so until the difference in the two levels (in 10 and 11)
produces the required pressure within the apparatus. The tap 17 of the air
tube 16 is then closed, and the apparatus is now ready to work as follows:
If the tap 35 of the serpentine tube of the regulator is open, the air enclosed in
the main compartment 10 of the tank 8 finds an outlet through it, and the air
thus escaping from said chamber 10 is immediately replaced by water coming
from the other compartment 11. The level in the former rises and with it the
float 24 causing an oscillation of the distributor whereby the opening 52 of the
closing plate is gradually brought into position to correspond with the outlet
of the funnel 20 resulting in the escape of a small quantity of carbide, which, in
its fall, is guided by the shoot 28 underneath.
This discharge of carbide ceases, however, in consequence of the effect of gas
pressure following this discharge causing the water, the float 24 and the distri-
butor 21 to return to the positions they occupied at the start; so that the produc-
tion is exactly regulated by the consumption.
'
When the tap 35 at the outer end of the serpentine tube is open, the pressure
within the bell 31 has a tendency to equal that of the main compartment 10,
and the water rising in the vessel 32 descends in the bell 31, but the valve of the
pressure regulator is subject, on the one hand, to the weight of the float 30
connected to it within the bell, thus tending to keep the valve closed, and, on the
other hand, to the buoyancy of the float which tends to open it, and it depends
on the level of the water within the bell 31 whether the one or the other of the
tendencies will become effective. It is evident, then, that when the pressure in
the main compartment 10 rises beyond what is desired in the bell 31, a point of
equilibrium between these two tendencies will be established, corresponding to
the constant different of levels of the water within the bell 31 and the water in
the vessel 32, such difference being an exact measure of the pressure of gas in the
bell 31, and consequently in the distributing conduit.
The dome 33 and the serpentine tube 34 serve to condense any water vapours
the gas may have carried off, and to return it to the tank 10.
The purifier 37 is charged with suitable substances or bodies alone, or mixed
with others, for the purpose of obtaining a chemical purification, either by filtra-
tion or drying.
The discharge tap of the bottom stopper 39 of the purifier serves to remove the
condensed water that may have settled in it.
The stopper 19 of the carbide holder 18 may be replaced either: By a supple-
mentary storage vessel 44 as represented in Figure 5 forming in case of necessity
a kind of carbide reserve, this vessel being provided at the upper end with a
stopper 45 and at its lower end with a tap 46. Or, by an indicator 47 as repre-
sented in Figure 6, indicating the quantity of carbide contained in the carbide
holder 18 and consisting of a rod, 48, say of metal, provided with a round disc 49
at the lower end by means of which it rests by its own weight, on the carbide
contained within the said holder keeping in contact with it, thus descending with
it as the carbide is gradually emptied into the water. The rod moves freely in a
glass tube hermetically closed at its upper end and protected if desired by a

page_text: metallic tube with longitudinal slits through which the position of the indicator
may be observed.
To facilitate access to the interior of the apparatus, the latter is preferably
arranged in two separable parts; one consisting of only the water tank 8 and the
other of the dividing plate 9 carbide holder 18 and the water-vessel 32 of the
pressure regulator.
L
The purifier 37'is separately fitted against the side of the main water tank 8:
In small generators in order to render the arrangement more compact, the
purifier 37 as illustrated in the modifications represented in Figure 7, may be
directly placed over the bell 31 of the pressure regulator. Moreover, in order to
simplify the construction of the valve 29 the latter may be formed simply of a
stopper 51 actuated by a float 30 as also represented in Figure 7, the gas check
being effected at the end of the tube 34 through which the gas arrives and round
which the float is arranged, the gas following the course as indicated by the
arrow the gas outlet tap 35 being then arranged at the top of the purifier.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention,
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner the
same is to be performed; 1 declare that what I claim is:-
1. Apparatus for the production of acetylene gas, comprising a pivotted carbide
distributor mechanism as 21, adapted to swing. under the influence of a float
according to the fluctuations of the water level in the main vessel of the generator
-the closing plate of the distributor being arranged at a slight distance from the
discharge orifice of the carbide receptacle in such a manner as to allow part of the
carbide which has descended on to the distributor plate to hold back in com-
bination with a convex plate arranged inside the carbide reservoir, the rest of the
charge, the said distributor plate being cut away to permit the fall of the carbide,
when, in consequence of the oscillation of the distributor the slot or cut-away
portion coincides with the discharge orifice of the carbide holder.
2. In an acetylene gas generator an indicator of the level of the carbide con-
tained in the carbide holder, comprising a vertical rod working freely in a glass
tube on the top of the holder the end of the rod resting on the top surface of the
carbide and descending with it as the supply is used substantially as described.
3. In an acetylene gas generator of the kind described a pressure regulating
device comprising a valve in the gas circuit connected to a float as 30 which moves
under the effects of variations of pressure in the main water vessel of the generator
thereby regulating the flow of the gas to the purifier or gas conduit substantially
as described.
4. The complète acetylene gas generating apparatus substantially as described
or illustrated in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.
5. A swinging carbide distributor adapted to be employed below a carbide
holder substantially as described and illustrated in Figure 3 of the accompanying
drawings.
6. Means for regulating the flow of gas from the generator substantially as
described and illustrated in Figure 2 or in Figure of the accompanying
drawings.
-
it
Dated this 8th day of February 1900.
BOULT, WADE & KILBURN,"
Agents for the Applicant.