IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXPOSING POROUS MATERIALS AND CURRENTS OF GASES TO MUTUAL REACTIONS." CURRENTS OF GASES TO MUTUAL REACTIONS."
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Deacon, of Appleton House, Widnes, in
the County of Lancaster, Alkali Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXPOSING POROUS MATERIALS AND
CURRENTS OF GASES TO MUTUAL REACTIONS."
CURRENTS OF GASES TO MUTUAL REACTIONS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Deacon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th November 1875.
I, HENRY DEACON, of Appleton House, Widnes, in the County of
Lancaster, Alkali Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXPOSING POROUS
MATERIALS AND CURRENTS OF GASES TO MUTUAL REACTIONS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to that description of apparatus in respect of
which Letters Patent were granted to me, bearing date the 28 January
1875, No. 332, and it is applicable not only to the manufacture of.

page_text: chlorine by what is known as Deacon's process but also to other purposes
for which it is required to expose porous materials and currents of gases
to mutual reactions.
My former Invention consisted of an apparatus constructed and
arranged so that the porous materials were contained and supported in
such a manner that when charged or introduced into the apparatus they
formed on their upper and under surfaces angles equal to each other and
not materially differing from the angle of repose which is formed when
similar materials are heaped together. The layers of porous materials
were therefore maintained in a position nearly as horizontal as the angle
of repose, and the supports of such layers were on one side thereof
only.
Now according to my present Invention I employ a vessel of cast iron
or other suitable material containing the porous material supported or
retained in layers or walls between two or more gratings, or bars, or
perforated plates, which as a whole form either right angles with the
horizon or angles more perpendicular than the angle of repose of the
porous materials employed.
The gratings, or bars, or perforations in the plates are arranged either.
in width or inclination to the horizon, or in both ways, in such a manner
as that the porous material shall not run over the outside edge of the
grating, or bar, or perforation, and so that the base of the incline formed
by the porous material at its angle of repose in each of the interstices
between the bars or gratings or in the perforations shall fall within the
width of the bar, or grating, or thickness of the perforated plate, and be
retained thereby. A layer or wall of porous material in a suitable vessel
is thus retained between sets of bars, or gratings, or perforated plates in
a vertical position or as nearly vertical as may be desired, and the vessel
being provided with suitable inlet and outlet pipes a current of gases
may be passed through the porous materials of such wall from one side;
to the other and through the interstices of the retaining bars or grates or
by the perforations in the retaining plates. Suitable openings are also
provided for the introduction and withdrawal of the porous materials.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Deacon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DEACON, of Appleton House, Widnes, in the County of Lancaster,
Alkali Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
39th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Deacon, Her special license
that I, the said Henry Deacon, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Deacon, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR EXPOSING POROUS MATERIALS AND CURRENTS OF GASES TO MUTUAL
REACTIONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Deacon, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Deacon, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
My said Invention relates to that description of apparatus in respect
of which Letters Patent were granted to me bearing date the
Twenty-eighth January One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five,
No. 332, and it is applicable not only to the manufacture of chlorine by
what is known as Deacon's process, but also to other purposes for

page_text: which it is required to expose porous materials and currents of gases to
mutual reactions.
My former Invention consisted of an apparatus constructed and
arranged so that the porous materials were contained and supported in
such a manner that when charged or introduced into the apparatus they
formed on their upper and under surfaces angles equal to each other
and not materially differing from the angle of repose which is formed
when similar materials are heaped together. The layers of porous
materials are therefore maintained in a position nearly as horizontal as
the angle of repose, and the supports of such layers were on one side
thereof only.
Now according to my present Invention I employ a vessel of cast iron
or other suitable material containing the porous material supported or
retained in layers or walls between two or more gratings, or bars, or
perforated plates, which as a whole form either right angles with the
horizon or angles more perpendicular than the angle of repose of the
porous materials employed.
The gratings, or bars, or perforations in the plates are arranged either
in width or inclination to the horizon or in both ways, in such a manner
as that the porous material shall not run over the outside edge of the
grating, or bar, or perforation, and so that the base of the incline formed
by the porous material at its angle of repose in each of the interstices
between the bars or gratings or in the perforations shall fall within the
width of the bar, or grating, or thickness of the perforated plate, and be
retained thereby. A layer or wall of porous material in a suitable vessel
is thus retained between sets of bars, or gratings, or perforated plates in a
vertical position, or as nearly vertical as may be desired, and the vessel
being provided with suitable inlet and outlet pipes a current of gases
may be passed through the porous materials of such wall from one side
to the other and through the interstices of the retaining bars or grates or
by the perforations in the retaining plates. Suitable openings are also
provided for the introduction and withdrawal of the porous materials.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, similar letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in
all the Figures.

page_text: Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings illustrate respectively
in vertical section and elevation one method of arranging gratings or
bars in accordance with my Invention.
Figures 3, 4, and 5, shew one method of applying my Invention to
the manufacture of chlorine by what is known as Deacon's process when
using small pieces of burnt clay and the like, Figure 3 representing a
horizontal section of an apparatus; Figure 4, a vertical section taken
along the line 1, 2; Figure 3 and Figure 5 a vertical section taken.
along the line 3, 4, Figure 3 of the lower portion of the apparatus.
"
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings in this example cach
grating somewhat resembles a "jalousie or Venetian shutter, the
laths a being so arranged in width of lath and space 6 between that
the dry porous material between them will not run over the outside
edge c.
In the Drawings the gratings or bars are assumed to be made of cast
iron, and the porous material between them is assumed to be pieces of
burnt clay, such as are employed in the manufacture of chlorine by
what is known as Deacon's process, but it is obvious that the gratings
or bars may be constructed of any suitable material, and that the
apparatus is equally applicable to the treatment of other porous
materials than burnt clay as assumed in the example illustrated. When
the porous materials are emptied from between the gratings or bars by
being removed at the bottom, as described in my said former Specifi-
cation, each time they are so removed some of the porous material will
be left on and will accumulate upon the gratings or bars unless they
form an angle with the horizon so perpendicular that the porous
material will slide off their surfaces. With burnt clay it is convenient
to make this angle about forty-five degrees, and the vertical distance
apart of each pair of bars may be made equal to the width of each bar.
In Figures 3, 4, and 5 which illustrate, as before mentioned, one
method of applying this Invention to Deacon's process for the manu-
facture of chlorine, when using small pieces of burnt clay and the like
A, A, is a cast-iron vessel, circular in plan, which is set up in a suitable
brick furnace, and is heated exteriorly; B, C, are two gratings or sets of
laths which in this example are arranged in a circular or polygonal form
in plan. The bottom of the vessel may be an inverted cone termi-
nating in a discharge tube D which can be opened or closed at pleasure.

page_text: A sheet iron cone E rests on the inner gratings C. The porous material is
supplied through the tube F which passes through the tube or man-
hole G which is closed when the apparatus is at work. The gases enter
and leave by the tubes H and I which communicate respectively with
the outside and inside of the gratings. The small pieces of burnt clay
or other material employed should be uniform in size, free from dust,
and when it is desired to fill the material into or discharge it from the
apparatus by its own gravity it should be quite dry and unmixed and
uncharged with any material which is calculated to make them in any
degree adhesive. The distance between the bottom of the tube F and
the upper surface of the cone E regulates the thickness of the layer of
the material upon the cone. A truncated cone K whose sides are
parallel to the sides of the cone E rests on the gratings B; this cone is
provided with a lip at L, and the tube F is raised so as to admit of the
layer of material on the cone E being thicker than the space between
the two cones K and E which is thus completely filled, and any short
cut for the gas is prevented. The height of the lowest lath of the
grating C above the conical bottom of the vessel A regulates the
thickness of the layer of material on this bottom. In filling the space M
between the gratings some pieces and dust pass between the bars and
rest on the bottom, but if the bottom forms a sufficiently steep angle all
is withdrawn when the space M is emptied.
The direction of the current of gas is indicated by arrows which are
double headed, because cither H or I may respectively be used as inlet
or outlet.
The operation of withdrawing the porous material through the tube D
may be performed in a manner similar to that described in my previous
Specification aforesaid with reference to my said former apparatus.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is, or may be used,
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do not
confine myself to the precise arrangements shewn and described, as the
same may be greatly varied in practice without departing from the
principle of my Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the application and use to and in the
exposing of porous materials and currents of gases to mutual reaction,

page_text: of an apparatus so constructed and arranged as that the porous material
shall be supported or retained in layers or walls between two、 or more
gratings, or bars, or perforated plates, which as a whole form either
right angles with the horizon or angles more perpendicular than the
angles of repose of the porous material itself, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Deacon, have to this my
shall be supported or retained in layers or walls between two, or more
gratings, or bars, or perforated plates, which as a whole form either
right angles with the horizon or angles more perpendicular than the
angles of repose of the porous material itself, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Deacon, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.