IMPROVEMENTS IN ANNEALING OR SOFTENING WIRE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Robinson, of St. Helens, Lancashire, Iron-
founder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ANNEALING OR SOFTENING
WIRE."
Sealed the 23rd March 1860, and dated the 14th October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Robinson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th October 1859.
I, THOMAS ROBINSON, of St. Helens, Lancashire, Ironfounder, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ANNEALING OR
SOFTENING WIRE," to be as follows:-
. This Invention has for its object improvements in annealing or softening
wire. In annealing or softening wire, after the process of drawing, it is usual
to place the wire in a cast-iron pot, enclosed in brickwork, and surrounded with
fuel, which is burnt simply by means of the draft which naturally takes place
through it. Now according to my Invention, I employ for heating the pot a
furnace urged by means of a blast forced into it through a tuyere pipe or pipes.
I prefer that the fuel should not be placed around the pot, as is now usual, but
that it should be placed in a separate chamber, into which the blast is forced,
and that the flame and heat produced in this chamber should afterwards be led
around the pot to be heated.

page_text: A convenient way of effecting this is to cause the flame and heat from
the chamber to pass into a circular passage formed in a bed of brick-
work on which the pot stands. The pot is placed on the bed of brickwork
concentrically with the circular passage, the diameter of which is somewhat
greater than that of the pot. In the top of the circular passage a slit or slits
are left for the escape of the flame and heat all around the pot, and a casing
of brickwork is employed to confine the heat. This casing is built upon the
bed on which the pot stands and rises to the top of the pot, where a space is
left between the interior edge of the casing and the exterior of the pot suffi-
cient for the escape of the blast. The pot is, as heretofore, made of a
cylindrical form, and is closed with covers at the ends. These covers are each
formed with a hole at the centre, and a pipe is passed up through the interior
of the pot joints, being carefully made between the ends of the pipe and the
covers at the top and bottom of the pot. In the brickwork bed on which the
pot stands there is a slit corresponding with the opening in the lower cover of
the pot, and a passage in the brickwork conveys flame and heat from the com-
bustion chamber to this slit, and thence up the tube in the centre of the pot.
By these means the heating of the pot is more rapidly and uniformly effected.
The combustion chamber or furnace may be arranged to heat more than one
pot if desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Robinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ROBINSON, of St. Helens, Lancashire, Ironfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unito'
me, the said Thomas Robinson, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Robinson my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thomas Robinson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN ANNEALING OR SOPTENING WIRE," upon the condition (amongst

page_text: others) that I, the said Thomas Robinson, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
. NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Robinson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in annealing or softening
wire. In annealing or softening wire, after the process of drawing, it is usual
to place the wire in a cast-iron pot, enclosed in brickwork, and surrounded with
fuel, which is burnt simply by means of the draught which naturally takes place
through it. Now according to my Invention, I employ for heating the pot a
furnace urged by means of a blast forced into it through a tuyere pipe or pipės.
I prefer that the fuel should not be placed around the pot as is now usual; but
that it should be placed in a separate chamber into which the blast is forced,
and that the flame and heat produced in this chamber should afterwards be
led around the pot to be heated.
A convenient way of effecting this is to cause the flame and heat from the
chamber to pass into a circular passage formed in a bed of brickwork on which
the pot stands. The pot is placed on the bed of brickwork concentrically with
the circular passage, the diameter of which is somewhat greater than that of the
pot. In the top of the circular passage a slit or slits are left for the escape of the
flame and heat all around the pot, and a casing of brickwork is employed to
confine the heat. This casing is built upon the bed on which the pot stands,
and rises to the top of the pot, where a space is left between the interior edge
of the casing and the exterior of the pot, sufficient for the escape of the blast.
The pot is, as heretofore, made of a cylindrical form, and is closed with covers
at the ends..
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a furnace for annealing or softening
wire constructed in the manner above described. Figure 2 is a horizontāl
section of the same taken at the line 1, 1. Figure 1, A, A, is the cylindrical

page_text: pot, it rests on the bottom plate B, B, which is bedded on brickwork, and when
the coils of wire to be annealed or softened have been introduced into the pot
it is closed at the top by the cover C. D is a cylindrical casing of fire-brick
into which the cast-iron ring D₁ is built to strengthen it and keep it from
splitting. E is a space left between the casing D and the exterior of the
pot A. F is a casing of brickwork to protect the lower part of the pot from the
strong heat to which it would otherwise be exposed. Opposite the upper part
of this casing the exterior casing D is formed with a projecting internal ring,
which partitions off from the space E an annular passage G, the communi-
cation between which and the space E is by a narrow slit H passing all around
the pot. J, J, J, are openings into the passage G, through which any cinders
or ashes which lodge there may be raked out. These apertures are closed
when the furnace is at work. L is a combustion chamber, it is formed of a
wrought-iron cylinder, lined with fire-brick, it is closed at the top by an iron
cover, which is made to fit tightly by causing its edge to dip into a groove con-
taining sand. M is an opening into the chamber L, through which a tuyere
passes to supply blast to the chamber. N is a passage by which the flame from
the combustion chamber enters the passage G, and from this it escapes by the
annular slit H to the space E all around the pot A, which thus becomes
heated. The fuel I usually employ is coke, and for a pot 2 feet 10 inches in
diameter and 6 feet 6 inches high, I employ a tuyere pipe, with a nozzle about
five inches diameter, with a valve to regulate the blast, the pressure of the
blast being about half pound per square inch. The process of annealing wire
is in other respects conducted in the ordinary manner. The blast is continued
through the ignited fuel until the pot is brought to the desired temperature as
is well understood; the blast is then cut off, the hole M is stopped, and the
top of the casing D is covered over; the furnace is left in this state until the
pot has cooled down, the wire is then removed, and the process of annealing
is complete..
In some cases I make the covers B and C of the pot each with a hole at its
centre, and a pipe is passed up through the interior of the pot, joints being
carefully made between the ends of the pipe and the covers at the top and
bottom of the pot. In the brickwork bed on which the pot stands a slit is
then made corresponding with the opening in the lower cover of the pot, and
a passage in the brickwork conveys flame and heat from the combustion
chamber to this slit, and thence up the tube in the centre of the pot. The
diameter of the central tube should be as large as the space in the centre of
the coils of wire will admit. By these means the heating of the pot is more
rapidly and uniformly effected, but the use of a central tube is not by any

page_text: means essential to the success of the operation, neither do I make any claim
to its use. The combustion chamber or furnace may be arranged to heat more
than one pot, if desired.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described, but what I claim is the heating a pot containing
wire to be annealed or softened by means of a furnace urged by means of a
blast forced into it, and also the use when annealing or softening wire of
apparatus arranged in the manner herein described, and having a combustion
chamber separate from that which contains the pot.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Robinson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
THOMAS ROBINSON. (L.S.)