PATENT

3931.   ------.  [WILCOX, W. D.]  Converting Natural Gas or the Like Into a Mixture of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen in Controlled Proportions.  United States Patent 1,903,845, Apr. 18, 1933; appl. filed Aug. 29, 1928.  Chem. Abs., vol. 27, 1933, p. 3,321.

Interior of a conduit, having a filling of refractory material, is heated to >1,090° by burning combustible gas within the conduit, and there is then admitted to the conduit a mixture of hydrocarbon gases with a controlled volume of steam and it is passed through the conduit in a direction countercurrent to the travel of the combustion gases in the conduit, thence through a regenerator chamber having a filling of refractory material, and the gases are then withdrawn; in the reheating cycle, the air that supports combustion is passed through the regenerator in a direction countercurrent to the travel of the conserved gas.