We give herewith, from Le Genie Civil, illustrations and brief
descriptions of some of the more prominent apparatus used for the
manufacture of acetylene gas.
Trouvé Apparatus (Fig. 1).--The principle of the gas generator is that
of the hydrogen briquet already applied by Mr. Trouvé in his portable
lamp. It consists of two vessels, one entering the other. The internal
vessel is provided at the bottom with a discharge pipe communicating,
through a cock, with the gasometer. It carries a suspended open work
basket containing the carbide of calcium. The bottom of this vessel is
provided with an aperture through which it communicates with the
external vessel containing the water. The latter is brought to a level
in the two vessels and attacks the carbide. The acetylene formed is
disengaged and enters the gasometer. At the same time, the excess of
pressure forces back the water into the external vessel in suppressing
its contact with the carbide. The latter, nevertheless, continues to
be attacked slowly through the action of the aqueous vapor. If the
cock of the apparatus now be closed, the gas will accumulate in the
interior vessel and will soon escape through the aperture in the
bottom in raising the column of water. Mr. Trouvé has endeavored to
remedy this inconvenience by arranging the pieces of carbide in the
basket in distinct layers separated by disks of glass. He has,
besides, provided his apparatus with an electric alarm, designed to
give warning when the holder is too full or when it is on the point of
being empty.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--TROUVE'S ACETYLENE APPARATUS.]
Clauzolles Apparatus (Fig. 2).--This apparatus consists of a gas
generator, A, hermetically closed and containing the carbide, of a
water reservoir, B, communicating with A through a cock, H, and of a
gasometer, D, connected with A by the tube and cock, A. The cock, H,
is provided with a lever fixed by its extremity to a chain that
follows the motions of the holder. When the latter rises or descends,
it causes the cock, H, to close or open.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--CLAUZOLLES' ACETYLENE APPARATUS.]
The receptacle, A, is held by a cover fixed by means of four nuts
which are removed when it becomes necessary to renew the carbide. The
receptacle is removed and replaced by a duplicate one, after the cock,
K, has been closed so as to keep the gas in the gasometer.
Bon Apparatus (Figs. 3 and 4).--The acetylene is produced by the
reaction of the water falling in small quantity upon the carbide
contained in the gas generator, A. The latter is divided into
compartments, F, which, filled with carbide, are reached by the water
only successively and progressively. When the carbide of the first
compartment is exhausted, the water enters the second, and so on. The
dimensions and numbers of these departments vary with the size of the
apparatus. Each of them contains from ½ lb. to 4.5 lb. of carbide. The
box with compartments, F, is covered by a rectangular holder, H, which
enters a flat-bottomed receptacle, E, opened above and filled about
two-thirds full of water. The latter serves as a hydraulic joint, and,
at the same time, as a refrigerator. The holder, H, carries a lead
pipe, G', terminating in a funnel into which falls the water from the
reservoir, C, led by the pipe, G. This water flows through the
extremity, i, of the pipe, G', into the first compartment. Each of the
compartments carries, upon the top of the partition that separates it
from the following, an aperture through which the water enters the
adjoining compartment as soon as the gas in the preceding compartment
has made its exit from the gasometer, and so on until the last in the
order of the numbers of the compartments.
[Illustration: FIGS. 3 AND 4.--BON ACETYLENE APPARATUS]
The flow of the water through the pipe, G, is regulated automatically
by a cock, r', with counterpoise. The holder, in rising, closes this
cock and gradually cuts off the entrance of the water. The gas
produced, once consumed, the holder descends in opening the cock, and
the water begins to flow again.
The disengaged acetylene enters the gasometer, B, through the pipe, D.
The extremity of the latter is bent into the form of a swan's neck.
The gas is thus forced to bubble up through about 2 in. of water, in
which it is cooled and freed from all traces of the ammonia that it
may contain. The cock, R, in the pipe, D, is a three-way one. The
first opens and the second intercepts communication between the gas
generator and the gasometer, while the third puts these two parts of
the apparatus in communication with the atmosphere.
The total capacity of the gasometer is so calculated that the
acetylene produced by a single one of the compartments, F, may be
stored up therein upon its exit from the gasometer through the pipe,
K. The acetylene traverses a purifying column, I, filled with pumice
stone saturated with a solution of sulphate of copper and surmounted
by a thin layer of carbide of calcium. The object of the sulphate of
copper is to free the gas from phosphorus and arseniuret of hydrogen.
The layer of carbide serves to dry it.
It is well to use salt water for the gasometer, as acetylene is but
slightly soluble therein.
Lequeux-Wiesnegg Apparatus (Figs. 5, 6, and 7).--The apparatus
represented in Fig. 5 is capable of being used in lecture courses. It
consists of a tank, B, and a holder, A, which is provided at the top
with a wide aperture closed by a hydraulic plug, F. When the apparatus
is at the bottom of its travel and ready to be filled with acetylene,
the plug, F, as well as the basket, D, and the bucket, E, are removed.
The quantity of carbide necessary to fill the gasometer is introduced
into the basket. After care has been taken to put a certain quantity
of water into the gutter forming the hydraulic joint of the plug, F,
the parts, E, D, F, are introduced into the tube, C, in operating
rapidly enough to prevent the loss of gas. The holder immediately
rises as a consequence of the production of acetylene. The gas
redescends through a tube to the bottom of the tank and rises
laterally in a column by serving as a guide to the holder and as a
support to the cocks designed to send the gas to the points of
utilization. A cock, H, placed at the lower part of the apparatus,
permits of clearing the piping in case a condensation of water occurs.
[Illustration: FIGS. 5, 6, AND 7.--LEQUEUX-WIESNEGG ACETYLENE
APPARATUS.]
The apparatus represented in Figs. 6 and 7 is continuous. It consists
of an apparatus with two holders, that is to say, so arranged as to
put the least liquid possible in contact with the gas produced, and to
thus prevent absorptions and losses. This gasometer consists of a
tank, A, of a movable holder, C, and of a stationary holder, B. The
generator, E, is formed of a cylinder, at the bottom of which there is
a bucket, F, designed for the reception of the greater part of the
lime resulting from the reaction. It is closed by a cover, G, arranged
with a simple or multiple joint, according to the precision that it is
desired to obtain and that may reach 30 centimeters of water. The
figure represents the holder at the bottom of its travel.
Mr. Edward N. Dickerson's Apparatus (Figs. 8 to 13).--Mr. Dickerson,
of New York in June, 1895, patented several arrangements permitting of
automatically regulating the production of acetylene in measure as it
is consumed. In the apparatus represented in Fig. 8 the water is led
from a sufficiently high reservoir, A, through the pipe, B, into the
gas generator, D, and over the carbide, C, placed upon a grate, O. The
acetylene forms when the water reaches the carbide, and its
disengagement ceases when the pressure forces the water back. The gas
passes through the intermedium of a cock, e, into the pipe, W,
provided with a cock, Z, into the automatic regulator, G, and then
into the gasometer, P R. Between the regulator, G, and the gasometer,
Mr. Dickerson interposes an arrangement consisting of an engine, H,
actuating an air pump, K, through the pressure of the gas when it is
desired to introduce a mixture of acetylene and air into the
gasometer. This arrangement is evidently useless when it is desired to
collect the acetylene alone. The gas upon making its exit from the
gasometer flows through the pipe, T, to the burners, V.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--DICKERSON ACETYLENE APPARATUS, WITH AUTOMATIC
REGULATION]
When the holder, R, is filled, the cord or chain, a, passing over the
pulley, b, revolves the sector, c, until the pin, g, meets the
counterpoised lever, d, of the stopcock, e. In the return of the
chain, the other pin, o, carries the lever back to the position shown
in the figure.
The gas generator, D, is provided with a discharge cock, E, and a
charging aperture, m.
Figs. 9 to 13 show another of Mr. Dickerson's apparatus that permits
of an intermittent automatic distribution either of the water upon the
carbide or of the carbide in the water in regulating such distribution
through the displacement of the holder of a gasometer that collects
the excess of gas necessary for the consumption.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--DICKERSON ACETYLENE APPARATUS, PERMITTING OF
THE AUTOMATIC INTERMITTENT DISTRIBUTION OF WATER UPON CARBIDE OF
CALCIUM.]
Mr. Dickerson rightly remarks that it is disadvantageous to directly
control the distribution of the water upon the carbide by means of the
holder of the gasometer. In fact, the water cock may remain open
before the holder has moved, and there may thus fall upon the carbide
an excess of water, giving rise to a production of acetylene greater
than the capacity of the holder warrants.
The object of the Dickerson apparatus is to prevent such
overproduction and to furnish water or carbide to the gas generator
only as long as the gasometer will have been emptied of the desired
quantity of gas.
Fig. 10 shows a modification of the gas generator relative to the
introduction of the carbide into the water; but the same letters
designate the same parts. We shall describe the operations
corresponding to the figures.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--MODIFICATION OF THE GAS GENERATOR OF THE
DICKERSON APPARATUS.]
1 represents the gasometer; 4, the gas generator; 11, the funnel
through which the water is introduced into the generator through the
pipe, 13; 12, the pipe that connects the generator with the gasometer;
5, a stopcock with counterpoise that alternately opens and closes the
communication between the funnel and the generator; 10, a lever
connected with the cock, 5; 2, a chain that moves with the holder and
maneuvers the lever, 10.
The plug, 6, of the cock, 5, is provided with two conduits, 7 and 8,
at right angles. This plug turns 90 degrees, when it is maneuvered by
the chain of the gasometer. In the position shown in Fig. 13 the
holder is at the top of its travel, and the counterpoise, 9, of the
cock is in the position marked by dotted lines in Fig. 9.
[Illustration: FIGS. 11, 12, AND 13.--DETAILS OF THE DICKERSON
ACETYLENE APPARATUS]
In this case, a charge of water fills the chamber 7 and 8 of the cock.
This chamber may be oblong, as shown in Fig. 12, in order to increase
its capacity. On the contrary, in the position of the counterpoise, 9,
marked in continuous lines in Figs. 9 and 11, the channel, 8,
communicates with the pipe, 13; the charge of water of chamber, 7 and
8, has fallen upon the carbides, but another quantity of water has not
been able to enter, because the revolution of the cock has cut off all
communication between the funnel, 11, and the generator, 4.
The acetylene produced by the reaction of the water upon the carbide
raises the gasometer holder, which then actuates the plug, 6, of the
cock, 5, and allows a new charge of water to enter the chambers, 7, 8.
It is only when the holder descends anew to the position, 1, that the
water in the chamber, 7, 8, can fall upon the carbide. The quantity of
water that the cock is capable of containing is not sufficient to
produce a quantity of gas exceeding the capacity of the gasometer,
and, as it is impossible to introduce another quantity of water as
long as the gasometer has not been emptied anew, any overproduction of
gas is thus rendered impossible.
Fig. 10 applies to the introduction of the carbide into the water. It
is necessary in this case that the carbide shall have been previously
reduced to powder. The funnel, 11, is then closed by a cover, 21, in
order to prevent any accidental escape of the gas. The carbide falls
into the generator, the bottom of which is open. The latter enters a
tank into which flows a current of water, escaping through the waste
pipe, 19, in carrying along the lime formed. The height of the water
in the tank is sufficient to furnish the pressure necessary to allow
the gas to enter the gasometer through the pipe, 12.
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