US1082370A - Oil-heater. - Google Patents

Description

H. SWARTESLANDER.

OIL HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.21, 1912.

Patented Dec. 23, 1913.

HENRY SWARTESLANDER, OF OL CITY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec.. 23, 1.913.

Application led March 21, 1912. Serial No. 685,306.

To all 'whom it may concern Be it known that 1; :HENRY Swanrns- `LANDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oil City, in the county of` Venango and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Uil-Heaters; and 1 do declare the following 'to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others make and use the same.

rllhis invention relates to mineral oils, and more especially to the utilization of the gases arising therefrom; -and the object of the same is to make use of such gases to heat the crude oil and thereby both cause the oil to give off a gas and lighten the oil when itis cold or thick and cause the water therein to precipitate.

rlihese objects are accomplished by treating the raw'product in the manner and by the apparatus hereinafter described and claimed, and diagrammatically illustrated in the drawing which shows an elevation of the apparatus 1 have successfully employed for this purpose.

10 skilledin the art to which it appertains to 1n the drawing the numeral 1 designates a large tank for containing the crude petroleum as it comes from the well, when ordi 3o narily it includes `a mixture of oil and water, ln summer time or when the weather is not too cold this water, being heavier than the oil, immediately settles to the bottom of the tank andmay be drawn 0E from beneath the oil through one or more of the cocks 2 with which the tank is provided, the level of the water being visible through a sight gage 3, although any means for ascertaining such level and drawing oft the water and oil may be employed. 1n cold weather, however, the oil thickens and the water'remains in solution in it; and with some grades of oil the water and other extra-r neous matter remain in solution through all changes of the weather although it may be precipitated by heating the oil to a temperature of from 60 to 80 F., the exact point depending on the character of the oil, the foreign 'matters therein, and other conditions. It is necessary to free the oil of its most serious impurities before it is commercially fit for use, and my present invention is intended to perform this service by making use of the as which is generated when the crude oil 1s heated.

. 1n carrying out the process 1 provide a ASaid .erably within the pipe 4 which extends from a rather low point in the tank to a lcoil 6 located within an oven 7which may be of brick or stone and will have a suitable air inlet controlled by a damper 8 and a proper fine 9 for the escape of the products of combustion which, in fact, may be utilized for purposes not necessary to mention. To the other end of the coil is connected a pipe 10 which extends back into the tank at a point 12 somewhat remote from the inlet end A13 of the pipe 4.

pipes contain cocks 5 and 11 respectively, and these 'pipes should be substantially horizontal so that their entire length' as well as all of the coils within the burner' will stand below the lowest level of the oil within the tank. The construction is such that when a re is built in the oven beneath the coil, the crude oil therein is heated, and rises, and flows through the pipe 10 back into the tank 1 at the point l2 to replace the oil flowing out of the tank at the point 13, and a constant circulation is maintained in a manner which will be clear.

Let into the two pipes 4 and 10, and prefoven, are two 'IV-joints 14 and 15, from which upright pipes 16 and 17 respectively extend upward through the top of the oven and to a considerable height above it and above the highest possible level of the oil in the tank 1 as shown; there they are joined as at 18, and above this point a single pipe 167 extends into a reservoir 19 which is by preference disposed entirely above the top 0f the tank 1 so that by no possibility may oil gather within the reservoir. From the top of the reservoir leads a pipe 20 which is carried again downward (preferably passing through a regulator as indicated at 21) and to any suitable type of burner 22 which is located within the base of the oven beneath the coil 6. The initial heat-ing of the latter will doubtless be effected by means of a small fire built below the coil, and the heating of the coil, the adjacent ends of the pipes 4, 10, 16 and 17, and the two T-joints 14 and 15, will canse the crude oil therein to throw oft gas which naturally rises through the upright pipes 16 and 17 and accumulates within the reservoir 19. Furthermore the heat from the fire vheats the burner 22, and the gas iowing thereinto, so that very soon the burning gas takes the place of the temporary fire which latter burns out, and thereafter the vgas automatically thrown off by the heating of the oil is utilized to continue heating the oil and therefore to replenish the gas as fast as it is consumed. Meanwhile the operato-r will keep watch of the condition of the oil within the tank and decant the impurities from time to time until it is sufficiently purified or refined to no longer need the action of the process to which it has been subjected, and then one or both cocks -5 and 1l will be closed, the flow of gas to the burner cut olf as by means of a cock 25 with which its supply pipe is provided, and the apparatus connected with another tank or this tank emptied and ysupplied with another charge of crude petroleum so that the process. may

`be repeated.

. I emphasize the fact that the illustration herewith is not only diagrammatic but'also susceptible of considerable modification and variation without departing from the essential principle involved.

I have suggested above that a regulator 21 might be inserted in the pipe 2O between the reservoir 19 and the burner 22. In some cases this might be entirely omitted, and the type of reservoir employed is not important. Its purpose would be to regulate the pressure of the gas flowing to the burner, and possibly also to regulate its volume although this might be done by the cock 25. In any event the oil passes along one pipe, through the burner, and back in the other pipe, while the gas (either that thrown off naturally or that thrown olf by reason of the heat) rises through the pipes 16 and 17 which extend above the level of the oil in l the tank, and finally accumulates within the reservoir. From the latter it is drawn as needed and fed to the burner, where it is burned to heat the coil. Thus it will be seen' that this device burns gas generated naturally or by heat, but it does not burn the oil or the vapor therefrom, and therefore none of the oil is wasted.

That is claimed as new is:

The herein described apparatus for heating crude oil, the same consisting of a tank, a coil, pipes connecting the coil with the tank and standing throughout their length below the lowest level of the oil in the tank, an oven inclosin thepcoil, a burner therein beneath such coil, T-couplings within said pipes inside the oven and adjacent the coil, gas pipes leading upward from said couplings through the top of the oven, a gas reservoir located entirely above the level of the tank and with which these pipes are connected, and a gas feed .pipe leading from the reservoir to the burner.

In testimony whereof I havehereunto Set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY .SWARTESLANDER Witnesses:

H. D. BROWN, GEORGE W.`MoonE.

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