US1389978A - Oil-still - Google Patents

Description

J. PRIMROSE.

OIL STILL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5, 1920.

1,389,978. PatentedSept. 6,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

J. PRIMROSE.

OIL STILL. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Sept. 6, 1921.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN rmnmosn, oF'NEw YORK, N. Y.

OIL-STILL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 6, 1921.

Application filed June 5, 1920. Serial No. 386,733.

To all whom it may concern Be it known'that I, JOHN PRIMROSE, a citizen of'the United States of America, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oil-Stills, of which the following is} full, clear, and exact description.

In certain forms of oil stills by the use and operation of which what is known as fractional distillation is practised provision is made for subjecting the oil in successive banks of tubes or heating surface to a gradually increasing temperature and for taking off the vapor formed in each bank and passing the unvaporized oil on to the next bank.

I'm such stills, in order that the circulation of the oil may be effected by a single pump, it is important to control the pressure between each bank of heating surface but this is a problem by no means easy of practical solution.

I have, however, devised a means for accomplishing this which meets all practical requirements and this means is made the subject of my present application for Letters Patent. According to thismy invention I install a pressure control chamber between each bank of heating surface and provide in such chamber a float valveof special construction which controls the gas outlet of the chamber, closing it when the oil in the chamber backs upby reason of any obstruction in the next succeeding bank of heating surface and rises to or beyond a predetera mined level. By this means the pressure in the closed control chamber rises until it is suiiicient to overcome and remove the obstruction, whereupon the level of the oil falls, the gas outlet is, again opened and the gas released.

The apparatus which I have designed for this purpose is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a still embodying my improvements taken on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2, and x Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section and par elevation of the complete still.

The special character and construction of the still are not of the essence ofthis invention and may be greatly and widely varied provided it exhibit the essential characteristlcs hereinafter set forth. That shown comprises a furnace or fire box 1 in the top wall 2 of which composed of heatresisting material a single zig-zag line 4 of pipes conveys the cold oil from the source 3 to the banks of tubes or heating surfaces placed above the said to partition 2 and exposed to the current 0 hot gases from the fire box.

Primarily the oil receiving its initial heat in the pipes 4 is carried-to the first bank of heating surface 5 and after passing through this in series it passes successively to and through the succeeding banks 6, 7 and 8. The flow of oil iscounter to the flow of the hot gases, the last bank of the series 8 being in position to be swept by the hottest gases, and in practice the extent of the heat-absorbing surfaces will be in inverse proportion to the temperature of the gases impinging thereon.

In each stage of such a still vapors are driven ofi, and, it is desirable that they be collected and separately stored by reason of their different character. I therefore conduct the oil after passing through the series of pipes to a separator from which such vapor as is set free is taken off, while'the oil is then passed on to the first bank of heating surface 5 and then led to a second separator and so on throughout the whole series.

The. separators and the pressure control chambers are all of substantially the same construction, and only one need be described in detail. I have therefore shown in Fig. 1 the separator 9 connected between the banks 5' and 6 for purpose of illustration.

The oil from the first separator 10 is" led by a pipe 11 to the bottom of the bank 5 and from the top of the same bank b a pipe 12 to the top of the separator 9. he construction of this latter device is lar ely immaterial to thepresent invention. he hot oil' is delivered onto a spreader 13 and falls into a conical receiver 14 from which it gasses onto another spreader, and so on.

eneath the conical receivers are gas chambers from which lead gas outlets 15 which connect with a gas pipe 16, the upper end of which connects with the upper space of the separator. By this device the vapors disthe next bank 6, and theoil which finds its back up in the chamber 17 and its level Will rise, not only in the separator but in the chamber 17, and this rise of level ls' taken advantage of to shut off the gas outlet.

For this purpose a float valve 20 is 'used in chamber 17 which carries a perforated brass tube 22 constituting the gas outlet. As long as the level of oil in chamber 17 is below a certain line the gas entering the chamber the outlet and finds its way off through the perforators and the tube 21 into 'the' outlet tube 22, but should this level rise a certain and predetermined amount, the outlet is closed, and the pressure therefore accumulates in chamber 17 until it becomes suflicient to force on any impediment to its flow through the next bank. As soon as the passage is thus cleared the oil level falls, the valve 20 opens the operation proceeds as before.

It will be observed that such gas as forms in the pipes 4 is taken off by the separator 10,'that which formsin the first bank 5 is taken off from the separator '9 and so on,

there being a separator anda pressure control chamber associated therewith, for each of the groups of heating surfaces. Pressure from a single source, therefore, which drives the oil into the still sufiices to carry the unvolatilized oil completely through the entire still, and the operation is thereby greatly simplified and improved.

What I claim is I 1. In an oilstill comprising a plurality ofheating surfaces in which the oil is subj ected to varying effects of the furnace temperature, the combination of liquid and vapor separators with and intermediate to. adjacent heating surfaces, and a, control device connected with the vapor outlet of each perature, the combination of liquid and vapor separators with and intermediate each two adjacent heating surfaces, a chamber connected with each separator for receiving. the vapor therefrom and a controllingvalve for closing the outlets from said chambers adapted to be operated by'a stoppage of the flow of oil through the next succeeding heat- I ing surface and a predetermined rise of the level thereof. v 4 3. In an oil still comprising a'plurality of banks of heating surfaces for oil placed in different relations to the flow of hot gases from the furnace, the combination of liquid and vapor separators with and intermediate each two adjacent banks, chambers connected with said separators for receivin the gas therefrom, outlets for said cham ers, connections between the chambers and the separators and a fioat valve in each chamber which closes the outlet when by reason of a stoppage of flow the oil in said chamber rises to a predetermined level. In testimony whereof '1 hereto aifix my signature.

JOHN PRIMROSE.

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