Improved Apparatus for Carbonizing Bones and Turf, and for Coking and Distilling Brown-coal, Pit-coal, and other Carbonaceous Materials, by Means of Superheated Steam.
Year: 1884

page_text: Improved Apparatus for Carbonizing Bones and Turf, and
for Coking and Distilling Brown-coal, Pit-coal, and other
Carbonaceous Materials, by Means of Superheated Steam.
I BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS of the firm of Harris and Mills of
23 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVED APPARATUS for
CARBONIZING BONES AND TURF, AND FOR COKING AND DISTILLING BROWN-COAL
PIT-COAL AND OTHER CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS, BY MEANS OF SUPERHEATED
STEAM. A communication to me from abroad by Abraham Zwillinger of Vienna in
the Empire of Austria, Engineer to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object to provide means by which carbonaceous
materials can be carbonized, coked and distilled in a rapid and most economic
manner, and it consists in an apparatus by which steam is superheated and led
into retorts containing the material to be treated, the gases and vapours thereby
produced being carried through a suitable condenser and collected in a receiver.
Said apparatus is principally composed of a furnace for superheating steam,
several cast iron retorts communicating with a common condenser, and of a
gasometer of the usual form. The fire-place of the furnace is divided into two
chambers by a longitudinal wall made of bricks, and along both sides of the flue,
conduits are formed in the brickwork, these conduits communicating with the flue,
at certain intervals, by the medium of small apertures. Crosswise of the flue are
immured cast iron tubes, each tube being connected with the two adjacent tubes
by means of elbow-pipes, projecting into aforesaid conduits. The continuous
serpentine pipe thus formed communicates, by its end near the rear of the flue,
with the inlet-pipe of the steam to be superheated, whilst from the other end of
said serpentine pipe, a pipe conducts back the superheated steam to the rear end of
the flue, where the retorts are mounted. These retorts consist of cylindrical cast
iron vessels of rather small diameter and are provided with removable covers or
lids, at both ends. In the axis of each retort runs a perforated pipe, branched off

page_text: from the pipe conveying the superheated steam and from the end of each retort
opposite the end where the steam-pipe is inserted, a pipe conducts to the condenser;
this latter is provided with a syphon-pipe in order to maintain at the same level
the ammoniacal water therein contained and by another pipe the condenser com-
municates with a gasometer. Said retorts may be mounted in any desired position,
but in every case they are placed in a narrow hollow, formed by brickwork and
communicating with the flue of the furnace, in order to heat the retorts and the
materials therein contained, by the waste-heat of the furnace; a suitable conduit
finally conveys the products of combustion to a chimney. To prevent the cast
iron pipes and retorts from being corroded by the oxygen of the air that feeds the
combustion of the fuel, said pipes and retorts are coated with a layer of fire-proof
composition, consisting of refractory clay, common clay, bone-black dust and cow-
hair or barley-chaff.

page_text: CUMIDELE DI BUITIVATION
I BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS of the firm of Harris and Mills of
23 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
CARBONIZING BONES AND TURF AND FOR COKING AND DISTILLING BROWN-COAL,
PIT COAL AND OTHER CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS BY MEANS OF SUPERHEATED
STEAM A communication to me from abroad by Abraham Zwillinger of Vienna
in the Empire of Austria, Engineer 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 drawings hereunto annexed and to the
figures and letters marked thereon:-
This invention has for its object to provide means by which carbonaceous
materials can be carbonized, coked and distilled in a rapid and most economic
manner by the employment for this purpose of super-heated steam having a
temperature of from 932° to 1472° Fahrenheit, instead of the hot products of com-
bustion hitherto used and it consists in a suitable apparatus by which steam is
super-heated and conveyed into retorts containing the material to be treated, the
gases and vapours thereby produced being carried through a suitable condenser and
collected in a receiver.
The employment of super-heated steam for this purpose offers special advantages
when used for preparing bone black or for revivifying spent bone-black.
In this case the bones are carbonized as thoroughly, but by far more uniformly
and the spent bone-black is revivified quite as perfectly as was done by the bone-
black furnaces hitherto in use, and furthermore this process is quite inodorous and
one and all bye products especially the lighting-gas can be collected in the safest
and easiest way without any danger of fire or explosion.
The important advantages of this process are owing to the fact, that steam is by
far, a better conveyer of caloric than products of combustion or atmospheric air;
thus for instance at the temperature of 932° Fahrenheit one volume of steam
contains nearly double the per centage of caloric than one volume of products of
combustion.
The apparatus which is employed to carry this invention into practice, is
principally composed of furnace for super heating steam, several cast iron retorts
communicating with a common condenser, and of a gasometer of the usual form.
The fire place of the furnace is divided into two chambers by a longitudinal wall
made of fire bricks, and along both sides of the Blue, conduits are formed in the
brickwork, these conduits communicating with the flue, at certain intervals, by the
medium of small apertures.
Cross wise of the flue are immured cast iron tubes, each tube being connected
with the two adjacent tubes by means of knee-pipes, projecting into the aforesaid
conduits formed at either side of the flue.

page_text: In this manner, all these tubes together form a continuous serpentine pipe,
which, by its end near the rear of the flue, communicates with the inlet of the
steam to be super heated, whilst from the other end of said serpentine pipe, a pipe
conveys back the super heated steam to the rear end of the flue, where the retorts
are mounted.
These retorts consist of rather high cylindrical cast iron vessels of comparatively
small diameter, and are provided, at both ends, with removable covers or lids. In
the axis of each retort runs a perforated pipe, branched off from the pipe which
conducts the super-heated steam to the rear end of the flue, and by the end of
each retort, opposite the end where the steam pipe is inserted, a pipe connects the
retort with the condenser, this latter is provided with a syphon pipe in order to
maintain at constant level the ammoniacal water therein contained, and by another
pipe the condenser communicates with a gasometer. Said retorts may be mounted
in any desired position, but in any case, they are placed in a narrow hollow,
formed by brickwork and communicating with the flue of the furnace, in order to
heat the retorts and the materials therein contained by the waste-heat of the
furnace a suitable conduit finally conveys the products of combustion to a
chimney.
To prevent the cast iron pipes and retorts from being corroded by the oxygen of
the air that feeds the combustion of the fuel in the furnace, said pipes and retorts
are coated with a layer of fire-proof composition, consisting of refractory clay,
common clay, bone-black dust and cow-hair or barley-chaff.
In the annexed drawings Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a carbonizing
apparatus embodying the invention; Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the same
on line A, B, Figure 1. Figure 3 shows a cross section of the fire place of the
steam super heating furnace, on line E, F, Figure 2.
In order to maintain a uniform temperature in the steain super heating furnace
and to facilitate complete combustion of the fuel, the sides a a a of the fire place
are sloped; the grate B is. arranged farther below, and by a vertical partition C,
made of fire bricks, the fire place is divided into two chambers having each its own
fire box door b. By varying at will the position of the doors c of the ash-pits E,
the draught inay be regulated as desired.
In the steam super heating chamber or flue A, cast iron pipes e connected with
each other by means of knee-pipes are so immured. in vertical brick-work
walls that the knee pipes & project at either side into the narrow con-
duits fif, which by the apertures' f communicate with the main-flue. The fire
box and flue are not vaulted but are covered with plates resting upon the walls ff.
The steam to be super heated is preferably caused to enter the series of pipes e e
at g and thence passes through said tubes which are maintained at dark red heat
during the whole operation; by the pipe h the super heated steam is conveyed to
the carbonizing retorts G, G, G.
These cylindrical retorts G, are made of cast iron, they can each receive from 300
to 400 pounds of the material to be carbonized and to admit of their being filled
and emptied, they are provided with top and bottom lids i i¹.
Along the axis of each cylindrical retort G runs a pipe branched off from
pipe and finely perforated, so that it gives passage to the super-heated steam
intended to effect the carbonization of the material contained in the retort.
The carbonizing retorts which preferably have a diameter of about 12 inches may
be mounted either in an upright or in an inclining position.
They are surrounded by brickwork in such a manner as to form around the same
a narrow hollow which by means of a conduit k communicates with the flue or
super-heating chamber A.
The hot gases arriving, from the fire box D pass through the steam super-heating
chamber A and the conduit into the hollow j heating the pipes d and e, the
retorts G, and the surrounding walls.
The products, of combustion are led out through the conduit 1. The'
surrounding walls must be thick enough to diminish as far as possible the wasto-
.

page_text: of heat caused by radiation; in this way the gases arriving from the flue are so far
exhausted of caloric that their temperature has fallen to about 320° Fahrenheit,
when they enter, the, chimney. The gases and vapours generated by the car-
bonizing process are conveyed through pipes m m into a condenser, H from which
the pipe n conducts the gases to a refrigerator.
By a syphon tube o connecting the condenser H with the washing basin the
ammoniacal water in the condenser H is maintained at a constant level.
To prevent the cast iron steam super-heating pipes and carbonizing retorts from
being oxidized by the atmospheric air which feeds combustion, said parts are coated
with a fire resisting composition, which withstands very high temperatures without
cracking or melting and which will adhere to iron.
"
The refractory clay, the ordinary clay and the bone-black dust are dried and
finely ground, and then, by addition of water, a uniform paste, having the
consistency of glaziers' putty is formed; into this paste the cow-hair or barley-
chaff are incorporated by well kneading the whole.
The coating of this mass shall be about half an inch thick around the steam
superheating pipes and one and a half inch on the retorts.
After having allowed the coating to dry in the air during 24 hours the
pipes or retorts may without danger of injury be exposed to a temperature of
1800° Fahrenheit.
The additional pressure in the steam boiler where the steam to be super-heated
is generated shall always be from 1 to 2 atmospheres, in order to effectually prevent
the reflux of gases and vapours. When the spent bone black of sugar mills is to be
revivified by means of the described process and apparatus, the same does not need
to be dried before, but it can be filled into the retorts in a wet state.
The described carbonizing apparatus may be used to advantage for the manu-
facture of lighting gas extracted from pit coal, when all bye-products may be
collected as well,
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In an apparatus for carbonizing, coking and distilling carbonaceous materials
by means of super-heated steam, a serpentine or zig-zag pipe, the knee pipes of
which are not imbedded in the sides of the furnace flue, but project into two lateral
conduits formed at either side of said flue and communicating with the same by
means of holes in the sides of the flue substantially as shown and described and for
the purpose specified.
2. In an apparatus for carbonizing, coking and distilling carbonaceous materials
by means of super-heated steam, a steam super-heating furnace, consisting of two
fire-boxes placed side by side and separated from each other by a vertical partition
made of refractory material and supporting the steam super-heating zig-zag pipe,
which by its knee parts rests upon longitudinal partitions of the flue in such a
manner that the portions of said pipe between the knees and the knee-pipes
themselves are freely exposed to the action of the hot gases, by nearly their whole
length, substantially as shown and described.
3. In an apparatus for carbonizing, coking and distilling carbonaceous materials
by means of super-heated steam, a narrow hollow formed by brickwork and con-
taining the retorts filled with the material to be treated, this hollow communicating
with the knee of the super-heating furnace in order to use the waste heat of said
furnace for heating the retorts with the materials therein contained and the
surrounding brickwork, whilst perforated pipes running along the axis of each

page_text: retort convey the super-heated steam into the material to be carbonized or
distilled, substantially as set forth.
4. In an apparatus for carbonizing, coking and distilling carbonaceous materials
by means of super-heated steam a fire resisting coating covering the steam super-
heating pipes and retorts, said coating being composed of refractory clay, common
clay, bone black dust and cow hair or barley chaff, substantially as described.
B. J. B. MILLS.
By Harris & Mills,
Patent Agents,
23, Southampton Buildings.