Scientific American Supplement, No. 365, December 30, 1882

Excerpt

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GASEOUS OR AERATED BEVERAGES.

The apparatus employed at present for making gaseous beverages are divided into two classes—intermittent apparatus based on chemical compression, and continuous ones based on mechanical compression.

The first are simple in appearance and occupy small space, but their use is attended with too great inconveniences and losses to allow them to be employed in cases where the manufacture is of any extent, so the continuous apparatus are more and more preferred by those engaged in the industry.

Continuous apparatus, however, other than those that we now propose to occupy ourselves with, are not without some defects, for the gas is produced in them intermittingly and at intervals, and more rapidly than it is used, thus necessitating the use of a gasometer, numerous and large washers, complicated piping, and, besides, of an acid cock.

To get rid of such drawbacks, it became necessary to seek a means of rendering the production of the gas continuous, and of regulating it automatically without the aid of the operator. Mr. Mondollot has obtained such a result through a happy modification of the primitive system of the English engineer Bramah. He preserves the suction and force pump but, while applying it to the same uses, he likewise employs it, by the aid of a special arrangement, so as to distribute the sulphuric acid automatically over the chalk in the generator, and to thus obtain a regular and continuous disengagement of carbonic acid gas. The dangers and difficulties in the maneuver of an acid cock are obviated, the gasometer and its cumbersome accessories are dispensed with, and the purification is more certain, owing to the regularity with which the gas traverses the washers.

In the accompanying plate we have figured three types of these apparatus. The first that we shall describe is arranged for the use of bicarbonate of soda. This apparatus consists (1) of a generator, C D, (2) of a double washer G G, (3) of a suction pump, P, and (4) of a saturator, S (See Figs 1 to 9).

The Generator.—This consists of a cylindrical leaden receptacle, D, on the bottom of which rests a leaden bell containing apertures, c, at its base. A partition, c, into which is screwed a leaden tube, C, containing apertures divides the interior of the bell into two compartments. The upper of these latter is surmounted by a mouth, B, closed by a clamp, and through which the bicarbonate of soda is introduced. A definite quantity of water and sulphuric acid having been poured into the receptacle, D, a level tends to take place between the latter and the bell, C, the liquid passing through the apertures. But the acidulated water, coming in contact with the soda, sets free carbonic acid gas, which, having no exit, forces the water back and stops the production of gas until the apparatus is set in motion. At this moment, the suction of the pump causes a new inflow of acidulated water upon the soda, from whence another disengagement of gas, and then a momentary forcing of the water, whose level thus alternately rises and falls and causes a continuous production of gas proportionate with the suction of the pump.

The consumption of soda and acid is about 2 kilogrammes each for charging 100 siphons or 150 bottles. The bicarbonate is known to be used up when the liquid in the generator is seen to descend to the bottom of the water level, n, fixed to the vessel, D.

The Washer (Figs 1 and 4)—The gas, on leaving the generator, enters the washer through a bent copper pipe, R. The washer is formed of two ovoid glass flasks G G, mounted on a bronze piece, L, to which they are fixed by screw rings, l, of the same metal. The two flasks, G G, communicate with each other only through the tinned-copper tube q, which is held in the mounting q, of the same metal. This latter is screwed into the piece, L, and contains numerous apertures, through which the gas coming in from the pipe, R, passes to reach the upper flask, G. The gas is washed by bubbling up through water that has been introduced through the cock, R. After it has traversed both flasks, it escapes through the copper pipe, p, into which it is sucked by the pump, P.

The Pump (Figs 1, 5 and 6)—This consists of a cylindrical chamber, P, of bronze, bolted to a bracket on the frame, and cast in a piece, with the suction valve chamber, P, in which the valve, p, plays. It is surmounted by the distributing valve chamber P. This latter is held by means of two nuts screwed on to the extremity of the rods, p, connected with the shell, E, of the distributing-cock, E. In the shell, E, terminates, on one side, the pipe, p, through which enters the gas from the washer, and, on the other, the pipe i, that communicates with a feed-reservoir not shown in the cuts....