Specification of Stephen White : apparatus for the manufacture of gases; furnaces and boilers of steam engines, &c.

  • White, Stephen.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Stephen White : apparatus for the manufacture of gases; furnaces and boilers of steam engines, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Whites Impts. in Appar, for the Manufacture of Gases; Furnaces, Boilers, ^c. 10 the horizontal retorts i, i, where it combines with the bi-carburetted hydro¬ gen gas which is produced in the retorts i, i, in the manner herein-after mentioned. The bi-carburetted hydrogen gas with which the compound gas produced by the decomposition of the water in the retorts a, h, is to be combined, is 5 produced in the horizontal retorts i, i, Sheets 1 and 2, in manner following, that is to say :—The vessels j, j. Sheets 1 and 2, contains resin, oil, fat, tallow, or common tar, or some other substance of a similar character, which decom¬ posed at a high temperature gives out bi-carburetted hydrogen gas in large quantities, and contains a large amount of olefiant gas. .1 shall describe the process as conducted with resin, tar, or fats, which are the three substances I propose principally to use. The Tesin, tar, or fats should be kept in the melting vessels Sheet 1, in a liquid state ; and for the purpose of keeping those vessels sufficiently heated they are placed on and partly let into the brickwork at the top of the oven. Note.—When resin is 15 used as the material for producing the bi-carburetted hydrogen, it should be melted with an equal weight of oil; and for that purpose the oil that is con¬ densed during the process in the cooling pipes or condensor from the resin itself, may be used. By thus'mixing oil with the resin it is always kept in a thin fluid state. The resin, tar, or fat, or other material used, is admitted from 20 the vessels j, j, in a small continued stream regulated by the service pipes k, k, and the cocks I, I, Sheets 1 and 2, through the syphon pipes m, m, Sheet 1, into the lower divisions of the retorts ^, i, where it falls on the bottom of such retorts. In order to regulate the stream of the resin, fat, oil, or other substance, the 25 pipes k, k, have caps screwed on at their lower ends, which caps are drilled each with a small hole or aperture, which may be from to -J- of an inch in di¬ ameter, according to the size of the retorts and quantity of resin or other material required to flow continuously. The pipes k, k, should also be enclosed in tubular casings of about twice their diameter (not shewn in the Drawing), SO the space surrounding each pipe k being filled with sand, water, or some similar non-conducting material, to preserve an uniform temperature in the pipes k, k. Each of the retorts ^, i, is divided in the centre by a horizontal par¬ tition, as shewn at s, Sheets 1 and 2, which partition is continued to within about six inches of the extreme ends of the retort. The mouth or aperture S5 of the retorts i, i, are made gas-tight by means of doors, bolts, screws, and luting, as shewn at “ e. Sheets 1 and 2 ; the doors of these retorts are, as it will be seen at o. Sheet 2, made with a groove running across the centre longitudinally, to receive the end of the division or plate s, which is cemented