New or Improved Apparatus for the Production and Combustion of Acetylene for Illuminating Purposes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 6th July, 1896-Accepted, 15th Aug., 1896
New or Improved Apparatus for the Production and Combustion of
Acetylene for Illuminating Purposes.
I. AUGUST HEINRICH JULIUS SCHÜLKE, of 94 Leipziger Strasse, Berlin, in
the Empire of Germany, 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 :-
This invention relates to apparatus for the production and combustion of
acetylene for illuminating purposes; and the object of the invention is to provide
an economical, efficient and safe apparatus for those purposes. The apparatus
consists of three peculiarly constructed and partly independent devices, namely an
acetylene generator, a gas collector or receiver detachably connecte.l with the said
generator, and a special burner.
The accompanying drawing shows an arrangement of the apparatus in which the
generator, by means of which the acetylene is generated from calcium carbide by
the action of water, is combined directly with a lamp burner of novel construction,
in such manner that these two parts of the apparatus form together a portable
lamp which can be used independently of the gas collector or receiver. The said
gas collector or receiver is intended to be connected with the beforementioned
generator when the danger arises, during a lengthened use of the lamp, that the
space in the generator for the collection and storage of the acetylene, cannot be
further extended, and the surplus acetylene would increase in pressure so as to
cause an escape through parts of the apparatus not intended to allow of such
escape unless provision were made for the reception of such surplus.
The gas collector or receiver is so arranged that it receives the surplus acetylene
at a slightly higher pressure than that prevailing in the generator, and holds it
stored ready for subsequent use in the lamp, whereby an economical and safe
working of the apparatus is secured. The feeding of the acetylene to the lamp or
lamps is effected by means of a reducing valve or other pressure regulator of known
construction.
The burner made in accordance with this invention and intended to be used in
connection with the abovementioned generating apparatus, or with any other
acetylene-producing apparatus, consists in the combination of a number of small
open-ended capillary tubes which produce small highly illuminating flames exposed
to the free access of air, whereby the most economical and most advantageous use
of the acetylene for illuminating purposes is attained.
Referring to Figure 1, which is a sectional elevation of the apparatus for the
production of light from acetylene A is the generator, which forms at the same
time the body of the lamp, and B is the collector or receiver for storing the
acetylene gas.
The generator A consists of a water vessel a in which is placed a bell or gas-
holder closed at top, provided with a tap c, and free to move up and down in the
vessel a, the upward movement being limited however by stops d. Inside the
cover of the bell are fixed claws e which form supports for the removable basket
or open work box containing the calcium carbide and which basket or box can be
easily placed in position in, or removed from the bell b at pleasure, by bringing the
side flanges at the upper end of the pipe of the basket or box into or out of
gear with these claws e by a sort of bayonet-joint arrangement or otherwise.
Through the bottom and contents of the water vessel a passes a pipe g, open at

page_text: its upper end, which, when the bell b is wholly immersed in the water, reaches into
the part of the bell b through the pipe f of the basket or box f.
As the pipe g is intended to be connected detachably to the collector B, it
terminates outside the water vessel a in a tap m with a nozzle adapted to receive
one end of a flexible or other suitable tube o, the other end of which takes over
the nozzle of the tap a belonging to pipe g' of the collector or receiver B.
On the part of the generator bell is a connection provided with a tap e,
leading to a pressure-regulating apparatus C placed above (shown only in external
elevation) which acts in the well known manner by means of a diaphragm and
valve, so that the acetylene passing to the burner head P through the tap p may
be delivered to the burner at the lowest possible uniform pressure.
Instead of a single burner several may be arranged on the pressure-regulating
apparatus C, and, in some cases the arrangement may be such that the lamp
apparatus does not take part in the movement of generator hell 1, but remains
stationary, and is fed from the bell by means of a flexible tube or other suitable
device.
In the apparatus shown by way of example the holder a with the bell b, pressure-
regulating apparatus C, and lamp burner P form together a portable lamp, which
can be used independently of the collector or receiver when the flexible tube o is
removed from the closed tap m.
If, on the contrary, the flexible tube o is introduced between the opened taps m
and a corresponding to the normal stationary working of the apparatus, the interior
of the bell bis placed in communication with the pipe g' which leads through the
water space of the collector or receiver B to the cover of the bell . This latter
bell dips into the water contained in a holder i, the rods j of which form guides
for the rollers k on the bell h. The bell h is loaded with a weight 1.
The action of the above described apparatus is as follows:
The holders a and i are filled with water up to the level shown, so that the
bells and dip into it. The bell b is then taken out, and the basket or box f
removed therefrom, filled with calcium carbide and replaced in the bell, which is
then returned to the holder a, the taps m and n being previously closed.
On opening the taps e and p the air is let out of the bell b, so that the latter
falls until the calcium carbide in the basket dips into the water. At the moment
of immersion the generation of acetylene commences in the generator A in
consequence of the moistening of the calcium carbide by the water, and the
acetylene produced is conducted to the lamp burner P through the tap c, pressure
regulator C, and tap p.
As regards the action in combination with the collector or receiver B, which is
put into communication with the generator A by opening the taps ma a connected
together by the flexible tube o, the apparatus is so arranged that the bell & is
subjected to a somewhat higher pressure than that at the burner, as regulated by
the pressure regulating apparatus C, and the bell i of the collector or receiver B
to a still higher pressure in comparison with the maximum pressure of the bell b,
by means of the weight l.
By the generation of acetylene in the generator A the bell b is raised until the
basket with the calcium carbide is raised above the level of the water but without
the lower edge of the bell being raised out of the water, because the upward
movement of the bell b is limited by the stops d. By the continued generation of
acetylene by the water adhering to the calcium carbide, the pressure in the bell b
rises so that the acetylene passes through the pipe g, and through the open pipe g
into the bell h, which then also rises until the generation of acetylene ceases.
When in order to burn the acetylene all the taps c, p, m and n are opened the
heavier loaded bell A sinks first, in its holder i, until the lower edge of the bell
rests on the bottom of the said holder or is wholly immersed in the water.
The
pressure and volume of the acetylene in the apparatus decreases gradually and the
bell b sinks also until the basket or box with the calcium carbide again dips into
the water in the holder a, and the generation of acetylene is resumed. The eyele

page_text: of operations is repeated again and again until all the calcium carbide in the
basket or box f has been used up.
When the taps m and n are closed, and the flexible tube o is removed from one
or other of them, the generator A with the lamp becomes independent and can be
moved from place to place, and allowed to burn for a short time while so dis-
connected; but if the lamp is required to burn for a considerable time there is
danger that the acetylene may be produced quicker than it is consumed and in
that case it becomes important that the surplus acetylene should be conducted
away from the lamp as soon as formed. Whenever therefore the lamp is required
to be used for a considerable period or to be extinguishel, as for example at the
end of the usual burning time at night, the generator A should be connected with.
the collector or receiver B by means of the tube o, and the taps m and n opened,
so that all surplus acetylene generated in the bell b passes into the more capacious
bell h, and in this way a high pressure in the apparatus is avoided. The acetylene
going to the burner always preserves its normal burner pressure whatever may be
the pressure in the apparatus, by reason of the regulating action of the
apparatus C.
When the basket f requires to be refilled with calcium carbide, or to be
changed, the bell 6 must be taken out of the holder a after opening a suitable air
passage and closing the tap m or n, after which the basket can easily be taken
out and replaced.
The burner to be used in connection with the above described apparatus, or
otherwise, is shown in vertical section to a larger scale in Figure 2 of the drawings,
and, at Figure 3, in cross section, taken on line x-x of Figure 2, of very small
tubes q issuing from a gas chamber Q. The outlet end of each of these tubes is
tapered off to a slender cone, see Figure 2, when the tube itself is not of sufficiently
small diameter without such tapering. The number and arrangement of these
small tubes may be varied according to the size and shape of the burner; but they
must be placed at such a distance apart as will permit of the free access of air
between them to the long jets of burning acetylene at the end of the tubes. In
the above described novel construction of burner a full supply of air reaches each
separate flame thereby securing the most complete combustion of the acetylene, so
as to produce a dazzling white light, notwithstanding the relatively large outlet
openings in the burner tubes, and with very great economy of acetylene. The
supply of air to the burner may be facilitated, if desired, by means of a chimney
placed immediately above the top of the burner tubes as shown in Figures 1 and 2.
The sheaf or bundle of tubes may be surrounded with a perforated casing r.
(Figures 1, 2, 3) which may serve as a lamp shade carrier; but it is not absolutely
necessary.
It is of great importance for the proper action of the burner that it should be
formed of numerous capillary tubes 9 between which the air enters from the side,
and passes in divided streams along the said tubes following the same direction as
the flames, thereby producing complete combustion of the acetylene, and causing
the flame at the outlet of each tube to assume a long extended shape. It is
preferable to taper the outlet end of the tubes because the deposit of carbon scurf,
which tends to cause disturbing eddies of the air immediately below the burner
orifices, is thereby more or less prevented.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. Apparatus for the production of acetylene for illuminating purposes which
consists of a generator A having a bell b dipping into water, and carrying in its
interior a basket or perforated box f to contain calcium carbide, a collector or
receiver B for surplus acetylene, connected with the generator A, and a pressure
regulating apparatus C, combined and operating substantially as described.
Second. The modification of the apparatus forming the subject of the first

page_text: claiming clause hereof in which one or more burners is or are connected with the
generator A by means of the regulating apparatus C, the said generator being
connected detachably to a collector or receiver B substantially as described.
Third. A burner for the production of light by the combustion of acetylene
which consists of a sheaf or bundle of separate capillary tubes y connected with
the gas supply pipe, and so separated from one another, and from the chimney,
when the latter is employed, that the air to support combustion is free to enter
from all sides between and around the tubes, substantially as described.
Dated this 6th day of Lal 1806
A. H. J. SCHÜLKE,
Per W. H. Beck,
115 Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent.
A. H. J. SCHÜLKE,
Per W. H. Beck,
115 Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent.