Apparatus for producing carbon black

Claim 1

In a furnace-type reactor for the production of abrasion-resistant grades of rubber-reinforcing carbon black, said furnace having a tubular combustion chamber for effecting the burning of gaseous fuel therein whose diameter is substantially larger than the length thereof and whose downstream end is in open communication with an elongated axially aligned tubular reaction zone having a diameter substantially smaller than that of said combustion chamber, and means for injecting a normally liquid carbon black producing feedstock, centrally positioned within said chamber and adapted to introduce the feedstock axially into said reaction zone; the improvement wherein said feedstock injection means comprises: a pipe shroud member fixedly and centrally positioned with respect to the upstream closure end of said combustion chamber and in axial alignment therewith, said shroud member having an upstream and downstream closure end, the latter freely accommodating the passage of the metallic feedstock supply tubes as hereinafter defined; a feedstock suppy pipe concentrically disposed within said shroud member adapted to be longitudinally extended in the downstream direction and retracted in the upstream direction and whose upstream end projects beyond the upstream closure end of the pipe shroud member; a cylindrical manifold rigidly attached to and in open communication with the downstream end of said feedstock suppy pipe and the header end of which is provided with a centrally located circular port and a plurality of like ports circumferentially disposed thereabout; a metallic feedstock supply tube rigidly connected to and in axial alignment with said centrally located circular port and whose discharge end is about flush with the face of the pipe shroud member downstream closure end upon retraction of said feed stock supply pipe to its upstream excursion limit; and a metallic feedstock supply tube of approximately the length of said centrally disposed feedstock supply tube rigidly connected to each of said circumferentially disposed header ports and permanently angularly preformed so that the discharg ends thereof assume an expanded circular pattern contiguous to and within the periphery of the opening of said reaction zone upon positioning same downstream of said pipe shroud member downstream closure end by extending said feed stock supply pipe beyond said upstream excursion limit thereof.