Improvements in or relating to the Storage and Separation of Coal from Water.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 25th July, 1893-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1893
CITICATION
Improvements in or relating to the Storage and Separation of Coal
from Water.
1, WALLACE CORODON ANDREWS of 2 Cortlandt Street, New York, U.S.A.
President of the New York Steam Company 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 means for receiving a mixture of coal and water which
has been transported through suitable pipes, and allowing the coal to be separated
from the liquid, and be removed with ease and despatch for any desired uses.
The object of the invention is to produce means whereby a mixture of the kind
referred to may be received, the solid matter be allowed to settle, the liquid be
drawn off and the solid matter be stored and be readily removed for use as desired.
With this object in view, the invention consists essentially in a suitable number
of settling ponds or basins arranged in close proximity and communicating with
each other, each poud or basin being provided with an inlet and an outlet, and
having in it suitable railway tracks, it being designed to run cars on the track;
furthermore, the invention resides in a number of settling ponds or basins arranged
in close proximity, inlet pipes through which powdered coal mixed with water is
received, outlets near the tops of the ponds or basins, weirs placed in the walls
separating the ponds or basins and regulating the outlets, a pump for withdrawing
the mixture from the last pond or basin, and tracks laid in the ponds or basins.
In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated a settling or receiving station
constructed in accordance with my invention, and showing communications between
the settling or receiving ponds or basins and the places for utilizing or shipping the
coal deposited for storage or settling.
In these drawings A represents the ponds or basins which are formed in any
desired or convenient manner, as by digging openings of suitable size in the ground,
and where the nature of the soil requires, covering the bottom and sides with
cement or other suitable material which will present a suitable surface for retaining
the liquid. If desired, the ponds or basins may be formed by building suitable
bottoms ends and dividing walls of wood, masonry or the like on the top of the
ground or in an elevated position, the nature and construction of the ponds or
basins being regulated by the requirements and characteristics of the location and
the disposition to be made of their contents.
The pouds or basins are preferably arranged closely together so that a dividing
wall or partition A' may form a side of two basins.
In each dividing wall is an opening A³ which is regulated by a weir or gate A+
whereby the levels of the water in the different basins may be regulated and
governed. These gates or weirs are preferably placed near the ends of the
separating walls or partitions in order to render them readily accessible.
B represents an inlet pipe or conduit through which powdered or pulverized coal
mixed with water is conducted from a source of supply by pumping or otherwise.
Branch pipes B' having suitable cocks connect the inlet pipe with the settling
ponds or basins.
Through the centre or other desired part of the ponds or basins A extend
tracks C. These tracks enter the receptacles from the top and are depressed at a
short distance from the top and then extend along the bottoms of the ponds or
basins. By this arrangement, the removal of the coal from any level in the pouds
or basins by cars C² is permitted.
Branch tracks D, C are built to connect the tracks C with any suitable place of
deposit or use of the coal, as for instance, to a vessel, to cars, to gas-works, to coke
ovens, to blast furnaces, or to briquette factories, as desired.

page_text: On the bank or near the wall of the outer one of a series of ponds or basins is
placed a pump, F, by which the water in any one of the ponds or basins is conveyed
away, that is to say by which the water on the top is carried off.
Branch pipes F from a main pump-pipe F2 lead from each pond or basin for this
purpose.
Flexible pipes may be attached to the ends of the branch pipes, facilitating the
removal of water from any part of the tank.
The operation is as follows ;-—
At first the mixture is led into the first basin, whence there is overflow into the
second and thence in to the next, and so on; when the first basin is sufficiently filled
with coal, the feed to it is shut off, the feed to the second is opened and the pump
is started to draw off the supernatant water from the first after the coal has settled.
The coal is then taken from the first. When the second basin is full, the feed to it
is stopped, the weir between it and the next basin closed and the supply pipe
regulated to shut off the supply to the second and to turn it on to fill the third
basin or pond.
From the arrangement shown, it will be clear that the plant may be operated
continuously, for the reason that the contents of the first basin or pond can be
settled and removed by the time the last basin is filled with the mixture.
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 ;-
*
1. The means of providing for the storage and settling of pulverized coal
suspended in water which consists in a suitable number of settling ponds or basins
arranged in close proximity and connected, with each other each pond or basin
...being provided with an inlet and an outlet and having in it a railway truck
substantially as described.
2. The means of providing for the storage and settling of pulverized coal
suspended in water consisting of settling ponds or basins arranged in close
proximity inlet pipes through which the powdered coal mixed with water is
supplied outlets near the tops of the ponds or basins weirs placed in the walls
separating the ponds or basins and regulating the outlets a pump for drawing the
water from the ponds or basins and tracks leading along the bottoms of the ponds
or basins substantially as described.
Dated this 25th day of July 1893.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.