IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CHARRING AND PREPARING ANIMAL CHARCOAL 80 AS TO RENDER IT FIT FOR USE IN THE PROCESS OF PURIFYING SACCHARINE AND OTHER MATTERS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Gregory at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
June 1868.
I, JAMES GREGORY, of King's Wood Ironworks, near Bristol, in the
County of Gloucester, Engineer & Iron Founder, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CHARRING
AND PREPARING ANIMAL CHARCOAL 80 AS TO RENDER IT FIT FOR USE IN THE
PROCESS OF PURIFYING SACCHARINE AND OTHER MATTERS," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to an improved mode of constructing the
revolving retorts used in charring the substances made into animal
charcoal by inserting in suitable grooves fixed inside the retort a per-
forated plate or perforated plates. The perforations I make in an
elongated form, narrow in comparison with their length, and I place
them in such a position that one series of perforations may be inclined
to a corresponding series. I find that a plate or scries of plates dividing
the retort into two equal divisions may be used with advantage. The
plates may be made to slide in grooves attached inside the retort, or be
screwed to flanges, the surface of the retort in other parts being left
clear. The retorts are worked in pairs in the ordinary way, and the

page_text: pulverised substances intended to be charred, such as are ordinarily used
for animal charcoal, are fed into one end of the upper retort from the
ordinary hopper. As the retort revolves the animal charcoal falls
through the perforations made in the plates in small portions or thin
streams, and is scattered and diffused equably over the inner surface of
the retort, and is equably acted upon by the heat applied to it. The
inclined position of the elongated perforations used by me caused the
charred particles to pass on through the retort, and passes them out at
the further end, where they fall through a suitable pipe or channel and
are conducted into the lower retort. Perforated plates similar to those
used in the upper retort are placed in the lower retort, and the per-
forations being inclined in the opposite direction the charcoal is carried
through the lower retort as it revolves, and is equably acted upon by the
heat, and is passed out at the other end. In order to carry off the
ammoniacal or other gases evolved during the charring operation, and
also the fine dust that is found very inconvenient, I connect the retorts
with exhausting apparatus of suitable construction regulated by slips or
slides, and I thereby draw off the gases or dust and conduct them to
a chamber or into flues connected with the chimney. By using the
perforated plate such as I have described the retort will be found to act
with greater rapidity, certainty, and economy than the retorts hitherto
used. In the case of repairs being required to the retort they may be
conveniently done by applying pieces of wrought-iron plate inside the
retorts without removing any portion of the brickwork in which it is set.
When required the perforated plates used by me can be readily with-
drawn from the retorts, and replaced in the same or in a reversed
position, or they can be placed in other retorts of similar construction.