Apparatus for carbureting air

Dec. 18, 1934.

1,985,165

R. T. HAPGOOD

APPARATUS FOR CARBURETING AIR Filed April 10, 1933

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Patented Dec. 18, 1934

1,985,165:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

1,985,165

APPARATUS FOR CARBURETING AIR Roswell T. Hapgood, Charleston, W. Va.

Application April 10, 1933, Serial No. 665,440 3 Claims. (Cl. 261—123)

A common practice for. enriching or carbureting air,, in most gas tnachines; is to simply have a pipe with· small perforations in the same resting on; the bottom- of a tank· and allo wing the air to 5 bubble up through the body of the carburetant. The two carburetants in most general use are gasmachine- gasoline having a specific gravity of 86° Be. and commercial pentane having a specific gravity of 93° Be. A number of difficulties are 10. encountered by this method of carbureting. Firstly-, the air bubbles coming; up through the carburetant agitate the whole quantity of. carburetant in the tank. Of course the carburetants axe composed of.anumberof hydrocarbons-having 15 different degrees of volatility. The result of this method is that the more volatile hydrocarbons are blown out first, producing a gas of rich hydrocarbon content. As the process continues the more volatile constituents are removed, with· the 2ft result that the remaining carburetant is less volatile; consequently the air picks up less hydrocarbon vapor and is thinner or leaner. At the end of a period of time the tank is frequently found to contain nothing: but the non-volatile ?5 heavy parts of the: carburetant. This feature may appear either after one or more fillings of the tank, depending of course on the. quality of carburetant used.

Another objection to the bubble type gas ma30 chine is that the air, entering the tank through the small .perforations in the; pipe, promotes: intense evaporation at the small perforations. This evaporation produces, when a carburetant such as pentane, is used;, a refrigerating effect 35 sufficient tn cause any moisture in the air to precipitate first as water, and if the gas machine is used continuously for a sufficient time the refrigerating effect accumulates to such an extent that the moisture freezes at the perforations, with 40 the result that they are entirely closed. To overcome this trouble,it has been found that dumping a considerable amount of water in the storage tank will so distribute the refrigerating effect that the perforations do not freeze shut. It may 45 also be that as; the perforated pipe is submerged in the water thus added, the evaporation of the carburetant takes place in the carburetant several inches above the perforated, pipe, thereby overcoming the intense accumulation of cold at 50 the perforations. However, when the perforated pipes are under water the air passes in large bubbles through the carburetant with the result that a much leaner enrichment is obtained than when the air and carburetant are intimately mixed in 55 a finely divided state.

These objections are avoided by the present invention by confining a limited portion* of the, carburet ant in the large tank, in a cylinder or other receptacle. in, which- a plurality of * screens or. foraminous baffles, in vertical series, .are local- 5 ed, and through which screens or foraminous baffles air, in finely divided, streams passes upward so that the air streams or particles are at all times in intimate contact with .the. car bur etant and a richly carbureted gas, of a uniform char- 10 acter, is produced;, and freezing of water of condensation, and consequent stoppage of the air passages, cannot occur.

In the accompanying, drawing, Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a carburetant storage tank cm- 15 bodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a detail plan view, and Fig. 3 a detail section of one of the screens. Fig,4 is a detail plan view and Fig. 5 a detail section of an air distributer.

Referring to the drawing, 12 denotes a car- 20 buretant storage tank which may be of one hundred gallons or any other desired capacity. The. tank 12 is provided at the center of its top with' an upward, tubular extension 13 closed at its top by a screw cap 14, said extension being soldered 25 or otherwise fixed in place. The top of the tank is also provided with a fixed filling spout 15 and a fixed gas outlet 16, h .

Centrally arranged within the tank . 12 is a carbureting pipe or cylinder 17 resting on the hot- 30 tom of the tank 12 and extending upward nearly to the top-of the extension 13 within which it has a close fit. ' This pipe or cylinder 17 is constructed, near its lower end, with openings 18 for the entrance of the carburetant, and is also provided 35 at its upper part, above the level of the carburetant, with openings 19 for. the escape of. gas. The lower end of the said pipe or cylinder is preferably serrated or provided with openings 20 for the escape into the tank of any water of conden- 40 sation which may form within said pipe or cylinder. Owing to. the fact, that carburetants do not mix with water it is necessary to have both the openings 18 and the serrated edge in order that the levels of water, and carburetant in the tank 45 or cylinder, may- be equalized. If there were no openings 18 and; moisture from the air condensed enough to form water which would' stand at a level in the bottom of the tank higher than· the serrated openings, only water would enter the 59 cylinder 17-, thereby preventing the enrichment of the air.' 7

Closely fitting near its top in a central opening in the cap 14 is an air inlet pipe 21 the upper end _ of which extends above said cap and the lower 55

1,985,165 end of which is provided with an air outlet T 22. Resting on the T 22 is an air distributer consisting of a ring 23 and a disk 24 provided with inletopenings 25. Above the air distributor are a plu•5 rality of foraminous baffles or screens each of which consists preferably of a ring 27 and a fine mesh wire disk or diaphragm 28. To support the central parts of the wire mesh disks or diaphragms 28 spacing sleeves 29 are fitted on the pipe 21 be10 tween said wire mesh disks or diaphragms.

Above the topmost sleeve 29 a collar 30, fixed to the pipe 21 by a set screw 31, is preferably provided. In the drawing eight of these superposed wire mesh baffles or screens are shown, and for the 15 successful use of this apparatus not less than four or five of these baffles or screens will preferably be provided.

In the operation of this improved carbureting apparatus air under pressure passing down 20 through the pipe 21. is discharged at the T 22 and passes upward through the perforated air distributer and thence through the screens or foraminous baffles immersed in the carburetant in the pipe or .cylinder 21. The wire mesh screens 25 or foraminous baffles cause the air to be intimately mixed with the carburetant confined in said cylinder so that a rich uniform gas will at all times be formed and be discharged from the tank 12 and led to any desired gas burning appliances.

The only places that the carburetant can enter the cylinder. 17 are either at the holes 18 or serrations 20 near or at the bottom of the cylinder. No carburetant will flow out of the cylinder into _or as the fluid level will be, of course, equal ^3o throughout. As the incoming air is enriched by the carburetant, and is converted to vapor and carried on with the air, the volume of the carburetant in the cylinder would be reduced except for the quantity being maintained constant by the ⁴⁰ carburetant entering at the bottom. In this way the content of the cylinder is consumed without affecting the remainder of the carburetant in the tank. Consequently the gas is uniform from the - start to the end of the consumption of the car⁴⁵ buretant charged into the tank. Any less volatile hydrocarbons in the carburetant are evaporated continuously in small proportions instead of being left at the end of the charge.

_ In this carburetor there are no small perfora⁵⁰ tions to freeze shut. Should any moisture condense in the air inlet pipe it can drain downward and drop into the bottom of the tank where there is no refrigerating effect to cause it to become • ice.

⁵⁵ The effect of confining the carburetant being used to enrich the air, to within the cylinder, could of course be obtained by partitioning off a small sector of the tank itself. However, the cylirider as shown being completely surrounded by liquid in the tank, promotes the dissipation of any cooling effect within the cylinder due to evaporation of the carburetant within it, more effectively than if a sector of the tank were partitioned off to duplicate the effect of the cylinder.

⁶⁵ The diameter of the cylinder and the number of baffles used are entirely optional and depend on the amount of air per hour which it may be desired to pass through the carburetant.

~ The advantageous and novel features of this ‘^υ carburetor are:

1. It contains no parts that permit the accumulation of water.

2. It has no small perforations for admitting air into the carburetant and which might freeze shut.

3. The cylinder permits the enrichment of the air without agitating the liquid outside of the cylinder and within the tank. 5

4. The carburetor uses up the carburetant by consuming completely small quantities at a time in the cylinder, instead of using up the lightest or most volatile fraction first and finally having the heaviest aiid least volatile portion remaining 10 at the last.

5. The carbureted air is uniform in hydrocarbon enrichment throughout the time of consuming the whole quantity of carburetant charged into the tank. ₁₅

6. The horizontal screens, being placed one above the other, successively break up the streams of ascending air in passing through them thereby promoting a maximum of enrichment.