US611508A - Apparatus for manufacturing wood-alcohol - Google Patents

Description

No. 61!,508. Patented Sept. 27, I898.

' M. F. QUINN.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WOOD ALCDHUL.

(Application filed Dec. 27, 18 97.) (No ModeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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Patented Sept. 27, I898.

m. n uumu. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WOOD ALCOHOL.

(Applicaltiun filed iDc. 27, 1897.)

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MARTIN F. QUINN, OF STRAIGHT, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WOOD-ALCOHOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 611,508, dated September 27, 1898. Application filed December 2'7, 1897. Serial No. 663,648. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARTIN F. QUINN, of Straight, in the county of Elk and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for the Mannfacture of VVood-Alcohol and Acetate of Lime, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for the distillation of wood for the manufacture of alcohol and acetate of lime; and it has for its main object a novel arrangement of the retort inits housing, whereby provision is made for the expansion and contraction of the retort without danger and unnecessary wear to the surrounding brickwork.

A further object is to provide means where by large quantities of wood may be treated at one time, thereby considerably reducing the cost of manufacture.

WVith this end in View my invention consists in placing the retort in a housing which has a pier midway of its length and on which the middle of the retort rests and two or more other piers on each side of the first-named pier and on which the retort loosely rests at its ends, whereby the retort will contract toward each end from the middle, the dischargepipes leading the products of distillation from the retort to the condenser being passed through openings in the side of the housing of larger diameter than the said pipes, whereby the side walls of the housing, as well as the ends and top, have no connection with the retort and the housing is not injured by the expansion and contraction of the retort.

I will first describe the construction and arrangement of the parts, and then particularly point out the novel features in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the Views. Figure 1 is a side elevation of the housing for the retort, the discharge-pipes leading to the condenser, and the condenser. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the housing and the retort. Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section online 4 4, Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a detail view showing a portion of the brickwork at the side of the housing and the discharge-pipe protruding from designed to loosely rest.

I the elongated opening therein, the protectingplate being broken away.

The apparatus comprises a retort A, of suitable l sheet metal, such as boiler-irompreferably from three-eighths to one-half an inch in thickness. The retort A has doors'a at each end, which have suitable locking and sealing latchesa. The retort is surrounded bya housing B, consisting of masonry. Rising from the lower portion of the housing B is a central pier C, towhich the bottom of the retort at its middle portion is rigidly attached, and between the pier C and the end walls of the housing are intermediate piers O, which are at a distance from the said end walls and on which the ends of the retort are Each intermediate pier O is provided at its top with a metal plate a, between which and the bottom of the retort rollers c are placed. I have here shown but two of these intermediate piers; but it is to be understood that in practice a greater number is provided, according to the length of the retort, and they should be placed about eight feet apart. The'housing at its ends will be provided with swinging doors c ,which will be in alinement with the doors a of the retort.

Below the retort and between each pair of piers is a grate-bar c and below these gratebars are the ash-pits 0 The usual doors are provided for access to the furnace and ashpit. One side wall of the housing preferably that side which is opposite the furnace and ash-pit doors, or what might be properly called the rear side of the housing, is formed with horizontally-disposed elongated openings D, through which the discharge-pipes E protrude, and the number of these openings of course depends upon the number of dis charge-pipes, of which latter I preferably provide one for each furnace. is larger than the diameter of the pipe which it receives, and the pipes lead from the side of the retort directly through the side of the housing and down into the condenser F for a useful and advantageous purpose now to be explained. A

It will be seen that by my arrangement and construction of retort and housing the retort will expand and contract only from the middle toward each end, and as the retort Each opening D is connected with the housing only where it rests on the piers the expansion and contraction does not strain the brickwork, thereby enabling the latter to last for years. It is well known in this art that if the alcoholic vapor and other products of distillation pass for any length of time over a heated surface the alcohol will be deteriorated in quality and become milky or cloudy. Now in order to convey the vapor as rapidly as possible from the retort and prevent this deterioration I dispose the discharge-pipes at intervals along the side of the retort and turn them directly down into the condenser E, thereby shortening as much as practicable the passage of the vapor from the retort to the condenser. Heretofore it has been the custom to pass the vapor either out of the end of the retort, which arrangement is open to the above-noted objection, as some of it must pass the full length of the retort, or out of the top of the retort, horizontally over the housing, and then down into the condenser, which latter arrangement is not only defective, for the reason that it must travel over considerable heated surface, but for the reason that the vapor will sometimes condense in the discharge -pipe and eventually clog the same with tar. Having found that best results were obtained by my arrangement of discharge-pipes, I made the openings in the side wall of the housing larger than the diameter of the pipes, so that the pipes, which are rigidly connected to the retort and move along with it when it expands 1and contracts, would leave the side walls inact.

As shown in the drawings, the openings D are eccentric to the pipes E-, for the walls of the housing are of course built up around the retort when the latter is cool, and as my retort expands only from the middle toward the ends it is only necessary to space that side of the pipes adjacent the ends of the retort from the brickwork of the housing. However, I do not limit myself to this exact arrangement, as it is obvious that the pipes could be spaced from the housing on all sides.

A plate G, of asbestos or other similar noncombustible material, preferably fits over the branch pipes in order to prevent heat from escaping through the openings D, which is an appreciable saving in the cost of fuel when the retort is made very long, as is possible with my construction, and where there are numerous discharge-pipes.

Extending along the bottom of the retort are tracks H, which also extend outward through the door-openings a and c and which are designed to support the cars I, containing the Wood to be treated.

In operation a number of cars containing each about one cord of wood will be coupled together and drawn into the retort and then both the doors of the retort are closed and gases are taken from the wood nothing remains but charcoal. Power is then applied to the cars to draw them out of the retort, after which they are taken to a cooler and the charcoal cooled.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An apparatus for the manufacture of wood-alcohol and acetate of lime, provided with a retort, a housing for the retort and spaced therefrom upon all sides, a central pier rising from the bottom of said housing, and to which the bottom of the retort is rigidly secured, piers located between the central pier and the end walls of the housing and on which the retort loosely rests at its ends, one side wall of the housing being formed with openings, and discharge-pipes leading from the side of the retort adjacent said side wall, through-the openings and directly down into the condenser, each opening in the wall being larger than the diameter of the pipe it receives, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. An apparatus for the manufacture of wood-alcohol and acetate of lime, provided with a retort, a housing for the retort and spaced therefrom upon all of its sides, a central pier and intermediate piers rising from the bottom of the housing, and arranged to support the retort so that it will expand and contract from its middle toward each end, a discharge-pipe leading from the side of the retort, the adjacent side wall of the housing being formed with an opening larger than the diameter of the said discharge-pipe and through which said pipe is inserted, and a plate of non-combustible material surrounding said pipe and of a size sufficient to cover the opening in the wall, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. An apparatus for the manufacture of wood-alcohol and acetate of lime, provided with a housing, a retort in said housing and arranged to expand and contract only from its middle toward each end, and dischargepipes leading from the side of the retort, through the adjacent side wall of the housing and directly down into the condenser, the wall where each pipe goes through it being spaced from said pipe on the side of the latter nearest the adjacent end of the retort, as and for the purpose set forth.

MARTIN F. QUINN.

Witnesses:

E. O. ALDRICH, F. S. ODoNNEL.

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