Manufacture of carbon black

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF CARBON BLACK WHICH COMPRISES BLASTING A COMBUSTIBLE MIXTURE OF A FUEL GAS AND AN OXYGEN-CONTAINING GAS INTO ONE END OF AN ELONGATED, UNOBSTRUCTED, HEAT-INSULATED CHAMBER OF SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM CROSS-SECTION, AS A PLURALITY OF STREAMS UNIFORMLY SPACED OVER THE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF THE CHAMBER, BURNING THE COMBUSTIBLE MIXTURE IN SAID CHAMBER TO FORM A HIGH VELOCITY, HIGHLY TURBULENT BLAST FLAME, SEPARATELY AND FORCEFULLY INJECTING A STREAM OF HYDROCARBON MAKE GAS INTO THE RESULTANT BLAST FLAME, ADJACENT THE SAID END OF THE CHAMBER, IN A DIRECTION CONCURRENT WITH, AND SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO, THE DIRECTION OF FLOW OF THE BLAST FLAME THROUGH THE CHAMBER AND SO AS TO AVOID CONTACT BETWEEN THE MAKE GAS AND THE WALLS OF THE CHAMBER UNTIL IT HAS BEEN INTIMATELY MIXED WITH THE BLAST FLAME GASES, THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF MAKE GAS AND FUEL GAS SUBSTANTIALLY EXCEEDING THAT REQUIRED TO CONSUME THE OXYGEN PRESENT IN THE COMBUSTIBLE MIXTURE, CONTINUING THE FLOW OF THE RESULTANT MIXTURE THROUGH THE CHAMBER IN A HIGHLY TURBULENT STATE AND AT A TEMPERATURE SUFFICIENTLY HIGH TO DECOMPOSE THE HYDROCARBON CONSTITUENTS THEREOF TO FORM CARBON PARTICLES IN SUSPENSION AND THEREAFTER COOLING THE RESULTANT SUSPENSION AND COLLECTING THE CARBON.