US1736673A - Acetylene-gas generator - Google Patents

Description

NOV. 19, 1929. sMlTH 1,736,673

ACETYLENE GAS GENERATOR Filed Oct. 18, 1923 IN yE/v TOR ELMER 6! JM/ 7-H 1 Patented Nov. 19,1929 I UNIT D STATES ELMER HI. SMITH, F MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA AICETYLENE-GAS GENERATOR Application filed October 1a, 1923. Serial No. 669,808.

This invention relates to improvements in acetylene gas generators and more particularly relates to improvements in such generators 'of the small, portable type, such as.

are commonly employed in manufacturing plants for generating gas for acetylene torches, etc., and are. therefore frequently moved from place 'to place.

The particular object of the invention is m to provide such an apparatus having means provided therein for preventing water fromentering the carbide hopper, should thegenerator be tilted at an angle .or inverted while being transferred from one placeto another.

A- further object is to provide a generator having means for re ulating and controlling thekfeed of the car ide into the generator tan The invention consists generally' in the constructions and combinations hereinafter set forth and particularly pointed out in the claim. v

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a side elevation partially in section, showing a generator embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a .view showing how the generatormay be placed upon its side without danger of the water entering the carbide chamber;

Figure 3 is a similar viewshowing the generator inverted; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view showing a modified construction. In the drawing,'2 represents thebase of the tank, having the usualwater chamber 3 and wall 4.; the top of the generator being provided with a suitable cover 5 through which access may be had to the interior. On the.

under side of this cover I prefer to mounta feed hopper 6 having a suitable filhng opening 7 and adischarge opening 8 at itslower end. In this hopper a quantity of carbide is placed. 9 is a cone-shaped feeding member depending within the hopper an mounted on a vertical shaft 10, which projectscentrally through the cover 5 and is operatively connected to a suitable spring-actuated motor ll, having a crank 12 provided thereon bide, in'fact, almost entirely closing the lower by means of which the motor may be wound. When the motor functions, the shaft 10 will be slowly revolved and the feeding member 9 willrota-te in the feed opening 8, thus agitatin the carbide and keeping itin motion suf- 5 ficlently so thatit wilLnot bridge or clog in a the hopper and check the normal feed. An annular space is provided between the feed-. ing member 9 and the hopper, as shown in Figure 1, through which the carbide may flow down through the discharge opening in the bottom of the hopper. l

A cone-shaped valve 13 is mounted on the upper endof a rod 14 that-is journaled on a crankshaft 15, having hearings in the wall 4 of the generator and provided withan operating crank 16. It will beobserved from the dotted lines in Fig. 1 that when the valve 13 is in'highest uppermost position it does not entirely close the discharge opening of the hopper so thatgas generated in chamber 3 may pass into the hopper aslater explained. This valve 13 is'for the purpose of partially shutting off the feed of the carend of the hopper, as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 1, narrow openings, however, bein provided around the valve through whic the gas from the tank beneath may flow upwardly through the hopper to the. 30 service pipe 17. A pipe 18 depends from the hopper and encircles its discharge opening 1 and has an open lower end through which a the carbide fallsinto the water beneath, this pipe forming a continuation of the walls of the hopper and preventing the water in the tank, when the generator is tilted,-in moving it from place to place, from entering. the hopper andcontacting with the carbide therein. Thus in effect, it forms a guard or shield for the open'lower end of the hopper, pre-' venting the water from flowing therein when the generator is tipped down to -a horizontal position or inverte as shown 1n Flgures 2 and 3. This pipe referably hasa cross bar 19 therein, which orms a guide for the rod 14, and wherein the said rod freely slides in the vertical movement of the valve 13. i

In Figure 4, I have shown a modified construction which consists inproviding an annular passage 20 around the hopper communioating with the 'de ending E1138 21 at the lover end and lea ing to t e service pipe.

In this case the gas is not passed through the hopper and the carbide, but

around it, and the valve 13 may be moved upward to an entirely closed position if dc sired, as shown. The pipe 21 has the same function as the pipe 18 in Figure 1, and provision is also made for rotating the coneshaped feeding member which agitates the carbide and causes it to flow downwardly through the lower end of the hopper, as previously described with reference to Figure 1.

I claim as my invention:

An acetylene generator comprising a closed casing, a carbide-hopper. enclosed in the upper portion of the casing and having a central discharge opening, a. water chamber in the lower portion of the casing, a rotatable cone-shaped feeding member located withinthe carbide hopper adjacent to its central' discharge opening, a manually operable reciprocable rod provided with a cone-shaped valve positioned to control the discharge of carbide from the hopper, and a; tubular 1 member extending from the carbide hopper into the'water chamber, said tubular mem er being of a diameter and length so proportioned with respect to the depth and diameter of the generating chamber as to have its lower end lie substantially midway of the length of the casing to prevent water in the chamber enterin the carbide-hopper ifwthe generator be su jected to various angular dis lacements. n witness whereof, I. have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of October 1923.

ELMER H. SMITH. l

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