Improvements in Gas Generating Apparatus, and more particularly Means for Generating Acetylene Gas.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Nov., 1899-Accepted, 6th Jan., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas Generating Apparatus, and more particularly
Means for Generating Acetylene Gas.
I, THOMAS GILPIN TURNER, of 26, Cortlandt Street, New York City, State of
New York, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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:-
My invention relates to improvements in gas generating apparatus and more
particularly means for generating acetylene gas. Heretofore, much difliculty,
waste and annoyance have been occasioned in the manufacture of acetylene gas
on account of the premature decomposition of the calcium carbide employed
in the process of generation and the consequent escape of the gas. It has
been proposed to feed the carbide to the water through the medium of valved
hoppers, movable buckets or receptacles and other discharging means, but with
such constructions, the mounting of the movable discharging appliances cannot
be made sufficiently tight to prevent the escape of gas from the generator and
still allow the automatically operated devices by means of which the discharg
ing means are manipulated to accurately perform their functions with a neces-
sary degree of certainty. Furthermore, in handling the carbide to transfer it
from the original packages to the apparatus and depositing it into the hoppers
of the discharging devices, the carbide will be attacked by the moisture con-
tained in the atmosphere and be slacked to a greater or less extent, causing it
to set free the gas; to discomfort and injury of the manipulators and loss to
the operator of the plant. And, again, the handling, storage and shipment of
calcium carbide is attended with much danger on account of fire and for this
reason insurance companies have refused to permit the use of acetylene gas
apparatus on insured property and railroads have refrained from assuming the
great risk arising from the dangers incident to the handling of calcium carbide.
It is the object of my invention to obviate all of these dangers and annoy-
use of which the calcium
ing difficulties by providing appliances with the
carbide will be tightly enclosed from the time of packing for shipment until
it is subjected to the action of water in the generator.
A further object is to provide appliances for feeding carbide into a generator,
by means of which the premature and also the subsequent escape of gas will be
prevented.
A further object is to provide devices for feeding carbide to a receptacle
which shall be automatic in their operation and which shall avoid all possibility
of leakage of gas without depending upon closely fitting packing devices
between moving parts.
A further object is to so construct apparatus for the manufacture of acetylene
gas, that the carbide will be liberated from its container automatically and
entirely after it shall have been deposited into the generator.
A further object is to so construct appliances for making acetylene gas that

page_text: the carbide will be automatically liberated by the mutilation of its container
upon its arrival within the generator.
With these objects in view the invention consists in certain novel features
of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts of apparatus and
in certain steps in the process of making acetylene gas as hereinafter set forth
and pointed out in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view of an apparatus
embodying my improvements. Figure 2 is an enlarged view showing the feed
wheel, its casing and water seal. Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view.
Figure 4 is a detail sectional view of one of the fragile containers.
A represents a basin, preferably rectangular in form, and disposed upon a
base 1, composed of slats or boards a, b. A vertically disposed generator tank B
(preferably square in cross-section), is disposed at its lower open end within
the basin A. a short distance from one end thereof and rests upon a plate 2
secured in the bottom of the basin. The tank B thus forms within the basin,
a comparatively small chamber 3 and a larger chamber 4, the interior of the
tank communicating with the former through an opening 5 and with the latter
by means of an opening 6. The ends of the plate 2 are bent up alongside the
end walls of the basin and serve to support bearings 7 for the journals of a
screw conveyor 8 extending practically from end to end of the basin and
through the openings 5, 6, of the tank, by means of which ash and broken
particles of the carbide containers can be withdrawn into the chamber of the
basin, wherefrom they can be readily removed. To provide ready means
for operating the conveyor, the shaft thereof may be provided with a sprocket
wheel 9 to which motion may be imparted by a chain 10 from a larger sprocket
wheel 11 mounted in a standard e which projects upwardly from one end of
the basin and said last-mentioned wheel can be readily rotated by means of a
crank or key attached to the projecting end of the journal thereof.
Uprights 12 are secured to the bottom of the basin and project upwardly
within the lower end of the tank B, the upper ends of said uprights terminat-
ing a short distance above the normal water line 13. The uprights 12 are
spaced apart a distance about equal to the diameter of the tank and serve to
pivotally support a grate 14 upon which the fragile containers of carbide fall
and by means of which said containers are broken or mutilated in a manner
hereinafter more fully explained. The grate consists of a frame comprising a
series of parallel bars spaced apart and said grate or frame is pivotally sup-
ported to one side of its center by the uprights 12 so that the preponderance of
weight of the grate will be to one side of its pivotal support. The grate how-
ever, is normally supported in a horizontal position by means of a bar 15 dis-
posed under the heavier part thereof and secured at its ends to the uprights 12.
A chain 16 or similar flexible device is attached at one end to the shorter end
of the grate and extended downwardly to the bottom of the basin, where it
passes over a pulley 17; then through the opening 5 and then extended
upwardly through the chamber 3 and finally over a pulley 18 at the edge of the
basin and provided at its free end with a knob 19. By means of the chain 16,
the grate may be shaken to dislodge any fragments of the broken carbide con-
tainers or of carbide.
A standard d is located at the end of the basin opposite the standard e and
said standards are bent inwardly under the base and secured thereto. The
standards c, d, project upwardly slightly above the closed upper end of the
generator tank B and are provided at their upper ends with bearings for the
ends of a shaft 21, said shaft also having bearings in journal boxes 22 located
on the top of said tank. The shaft 21 serves to hold the tank B firmly down
upon its seat in the bottom of the basin and also serves for other purposes
which will be fully explained further on.
A feed receptacle 23 is secured to one side of the generator tank and pro-
vided with an inlet chute 24 for carbide containers, the body portion of said
5

page_text: feed receptacle having a circular periphery 25. A feed wheel 26 having an
inwardly inclining or beveled periphery 27 is mounted centrally within the feed
receptacle and provided with a series of radial arms 28 which project from the
periphery of the wheel and cooperate with each other and with the peripheral
wall of feed receptacle to form a series of pockets for the reception and con-
veyance of the carbide containers 29. At 30 the inner wall of the feed recep-
tacle and the wall of the generator tank are made with aligned inlet openings
through which the carbide containers are discharged into the generator. Each
carbide container 29 is made of glass or other fragile or frangible and prefer-
ably fireproof material, into which the calcium carbide is packed at the place
of manufacture, and hermetically scaled, so that the carbide can be transported
from the place where it is made to the place of consumption without possibility
of being deteriorated or in anywise affected by atmospheric moisture or fire
during transit or when being handled in charging a generator.
When one of the frangile containers arrives at the inlet 30, it will roll later-
ally off the inclined periphery of the feed wheel and drop into the generator
tank. The container will fall upon the grate near the bottom of the tank,
just over the water, and be broken or mutilated, thus immediately liberating
its entire contents of carbide and permit carbide to drop through the grate
and be discharged on to the water and result in the generation of acetylene gas
in a manner well understood. The gas thus generated will rise within the
tank Band will be conveyed by a suitable pipe 23 to a place of consumption.
In order to prevent possibility of escape of gas through the feed devices, the
feed receptacle is supplied with water so that the level thereof will be above
the lower end of the inlet chute, the level of the water being preferably located
as indicated at . A water seal is thus formed and through it the carbide con-
tainers pass on their way to the generator.
It is desirable to render the discharge of the carbide containers into the
tank Bautomatic and commensurate with the diminution of the gas pressure.
in said tank. For this purpose, the devices now to be described will be
employed.
The spindle 33 of the feed wheel is extended some distance beyond its bear-
ing and projects into a drum 34 so as to form one bearing for the latter. The
other bearing for the drum consists of a spindle 35 secured to the drum and
mounted in the standard c. The drum is grooved for the reception of a cord
or chain 36, one end of which is secured thereto. The card or chain 36 is
passed over pulleys 37 and provided at its free end with a weight 38 for driving
the drum. A gear wheel 39 is secured to the spindle 33 between the drum
and the feed receptacle and is provided in one face with a socket for the recep-
tion of a spring actuated dog 40 on the drum so that the gear wheel will be
propelled in one direction by drum but so that the drum can be turned (by the
application of a key to the spindle 35) in the other direction to wind the
weighted cord without turning said gear wheel. The gear wheel 39 meshes
with a pinion 41 on the shaft 21 and said shaft is provided near its oppo-
site end with a gear wheel 42 which transmits motion to a pinion 43 secured
to a short shaft 44. The shaft 44 is mounted in boxes secured to the standard d
and the generator tank B and has secured to it a friction wheel 45. Just
below the friction wheel, a brake arm 46 is pivotally attached to the standard d
and provided with a brake shoe 47. A rod 48 is attached to the free end of the
brake arm 46 and the lower end of said rod is connected with a float 48" dis-
posed on the water in the narrow chamber 3 of the basin. The gearing is pre-.
ferably so timed that the feed wheel will move the width of one pocket during
two revolutions of the friction brake wheel. The feed wheel may be conveni-
ently made with 8 pockets and when constructed of that size, it will make one
complete revolution to sixteen revolutions of the friction or brake wheel.
From the construction and arrangement of parts above described, it will be
seen that the pressure of gas within the generator tank, upon the water, will

page_text: F
cause a displacement of the water in the basin and thus cause the float to rise
and press the brake shoe against the friction wheel, so as to hold the feed
mechanism at rest. When the pressure of gas in the generator tank diminishes
the water level in the basin will descend, thus permitting the float to move
downwardly and, in consequence, remove the pressure of the brake shoe from
the friction wheel, thereby releasing the latter and permitting the motor devices
to turn the feed wheel and discharge a sealed charge of carbide into the gene-
rator tank, wherein, the carbide container will be promptly mutilated by con-
tact with the grate, and the carbide liberated as before described. The coopera-
tion of the fresh charge of carbide with the water will replenish the depleted
gas pressure in the generator and the feed mechanism will be stopped by the
application of the brake as previously explained.
Numerous slight changes might be made in the details of construction of my
invention without departing from the spirit thereof or limiting its scope and
hence I do not wish to limit myself to the precise details herein set forth.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. The herein described process consisting in hermetically sealing calcium
carbide in a water and fire proof breakable container, discharging the package
into a generator and automatically liberating the whole charge of carbide by
breaking said container within the generator.
2. The herein described process consisting in hermetically sealing calcium
carbide in a water and fire proof fragile container, discharging the package
into a generator and automatically liberating the carbide by fracturing said
container within the generator.
3. The herein described process consisting in hermetically sealing a charge
of calcium carbide in a container and subsequently destroying said container
to liberate the whole of said charge at once within an acetylene gas generator.
4. The herein described process consisting in sealing calcium carbide in a
fragile container and subsequently dropping the package onto a breaker in a
tank containing water.
5. The herein described process consisting in sealing calcium carbide in a
fragile water and fire proof container and subsequently breaking said container
within a tank and over a body of water therein.
C. The combination with a tank or receptacle and a fragile carbide container,
of means for automatically mutilating said container after it shall have entered
said tank or receptacle.
7. A gas apparatus comprising a tank or receptacle, a fragile container for
gas producing material and means within the tank or receptacle adapted to
receive said container after it shall have entered the tank or receptacle and
break it to liberate its contents.
8. The combination with a tank or receptacle and sealed fragile devices con-
taining carbide, of a feeding device for said fragile devices and means in the
tank for breaking said fragile devices when they are discharged into the tank.
9. The combination with a tank and sealed fragile devices containing car-
bide, of a feeding device for said fragile devices, means for automatically con-
trolling said feeding device and means within the tank for breaking the fragile
containers as they are fed into the tank.
10. The combination of a tank, fragile devices containing carbide, a feed
device for the fragile containers, means in the tank for breaking said fragile
containers and a liquid seal in the feed device, through which said containers
pass.
11. The combination in an acetylene gas apparatus of a tank, a breaker, and
impervious fragile devices containing carbide adapted to be discharged upon
the breaker in the tank.

page_text: 12. The combination in an acetylene gas apparatus, of a tank a breaker
therein, sealed impervious fragile devices containing carbide and means for
feeding said impervious devices to the upper part of the tank and permit them
to drop upon the breaker.
'
13. The combination in an acetylene gas apparatus, of a tank, a grate or
breaker therein, a feed device, a water seal in the feed device, and hermetically
sealed glass devices containing carbide adapted to be passed through said water
seal by the feed device and dropped upon the grate or breaker in the tank.
14. The combination in a gas apparatus, of a generator tank, a float chamber
communicating directly therewith, a feed device, a friction brake, a float in the
float chamber connected with said brake, a motor for the feed device and gearing
between the motor and brake.
15. The combination in a gas apparatus, of a generator tank, a feed device,
a motor for the feed device, a friction brake, gearing between the motor and
brake, and means actuated by gas pressure within the generator for applying
said brake.
16. In an acetylene gas apparatus, the combination with a generator tank,
of a feed wheel having pockets with bottoms beveled toward the generator, said
generator having an inlet opening for the passage of charges of carbide from
the pockets of the feed wheel.
17. In an acetylene gas apparatus, the combination with a generator tank,
fragile carbide containers and means for feeding said containers to the tank, of
a grate in the tank for breaking said containers as they are fed into the tank
and means for shaking said grate.
18. In an acetylene gas apparatus, the combination with a generator tank, of
a grate pivotally supported to one side of its centre in said tank, a support for
the heavier side of said grate, a flexible device attached to said grate for shaking
it and fragile carbide containers adapted to be discharged upon said grate.
19. In a gas apparatus, the combination of a basin, a generator tank having
its lower end open and seated in said basin, standards extending upwardly
from the ends of the basin and a shaft connecting the upper ends of said
standards and serving to hold the tank in place in the basin.
20. As a new article of manufacture, a package for use in making gas, con-
sisting of a water and fire proof hollow body of fragile material and gas pro-
ducing material sealed within said hollow body.
21. As a new article of manufacture, a package for use in the manufacture
of acetylene gas consisting of a hollow body of fragile material and calcium
carbide within said fragile body.
Dated this 21st day of November 1899.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to Applicant,
8, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C.