IMPROVED FURNACES FOR MELTING AND PUDDLING IRON OR STEEL, AND FOR HEATING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Howatson, of Mauchline, in the County
of Ayr, North Britain, for the Invention of “IMPROVED FURNACES
FOR MELTING AND PUDDLING IRON OR STEEL, AND FOR HEATING IRON, STEEL,
AND OTHER METALS."
Sealed the 23rd May 1871, and dated the 21st December 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Howatson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st December 1870.
I, ANDREW HOWATSON, of Mauchline, in the County of Ayr, North
5 Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVED FURNACES FOR MELTING AND PUDDLING IRON OR STEEL, AND FOR HEATING
IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS," to be as follows:―
This Invention consists in improved arrangements and combination
of parts for forming furnaces in which the several operations of melting,

page_text: puddling, and heating are performed with less fuel and loss of time
than in any furnaces hitherto employed. In the furnace for melting and
puddling there is a chamber containing slack or small coal heated by
fire in a grate, and above the chamber there are perforated arches for
heating the gas evolved from the coal and taking off all the products of
combustion. Above the arches there is a passage leading to a puddling
chamber, beyond which there is a reverbatory chamber for holding the
pig iron to be melted, and in the flue from this chamber to the chimney
there are air tubes extending in zig-zag or other bent directions to a
flue leading to a receiver having perforations near the arches. The pig
iron to be melted and afterwards puddled is placed in the reverbatory
chamber, the slack or coal placed in the coal chamber, and the fire made
in the grate which heats the slack or coal, the perforated arches, the
flue, and air tubes, but when the operations are commenced for the first
As the heat
time pig iron is also placed in the puddling chamber.
increases the gases and products of combustion from the coal chamber
pass through the perforations in the heated arches, and the heated air
from the air tubes comes in contact with it so as to form by their com-
bination an intense heat, which passes through the puddling chamber
and puddles the metal, and as the heated gases and carbon pass onwards
they pass through the reverbatory chamber and melt the pig iron ready
to be afterwards passed into the puddling chamber, and also heat the
air tubes. When the metal in the puddling chamber is withdrawn the
contents of the reverbatory chamber are tapped into it and fresh pig iron
supplied to the reverbatory chamber, and so on continuously, and as the
air tubes take up the surplus heat to be afterwards returned near the
arches, there is scarcely any waste of heat, and both the operations of
melting and puddling are going on at the same time in one furnace.
For heating iron, steel, and other metals I employ a coal chamber,
grate, perforated arches, and air tubes similar to those before described,
but use only one chamber for the metal to be heated, the metal being
in plates, bars, or other forms required, and when the chambers are
charged and the fire ignited the metals are heated with great economy
of fuel and time.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Andrew Howatson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
HOWATSON, of Mauchline, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Andrew Howatson, Her special licence
that I, the said Andrew Howatson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew Howatson, 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 "IMPROVED FURNACES
FOR MELTING AND PUDDLING IRON OR STEEL, AND FOR HEATING IRON, STEEL, AND
OTHER METALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Andrew Howatson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Andrew Howatson, 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 :-
My Invention consists of the arrangements or combinations herein-
after described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings of the
parts of furnaces for melting and puddling iron or steel, and for heating
iron, steel, and other metals, the object of the said arrangements or
combinations being principally to effect the heating of the air used for
the combustion of the fuel in the said furnaces.

page_text: By constructing furnaces according to my Invention economy in the
consumption of fuel is secured together with rapidity in the heating of
the furnaces.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation, Figure 2 in longitudinal vertical
section, and Figure 3 in horizontal section a heating furnace constructed
according to my Invention; Figure 4 is a cross section of the furnace
taken on the line A, A, Figure 2; Figure 5 is an elevation of the fire-
place end of the furnace; and Figure 6 is an elevation of the stack end
of the said furnace. The same letters of reference indicate the same
parts in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
a is the fire-place of the furnace, and 6 is the ash-pit, the said ash-pit
being closed by the door c (see Figure 5). The slack or fuel supported
on the fire-bars d of the fire-place is supplied to the said fire-place by
the fire-door e at the side of the furnace, and the fire-bars d are cleaned
and clinkers removed therefrom by raising the sliding and counter-
balanced door fat the end of the furnace (see Figure 5). By means of
the doors c, e, f, cold air is completely cut off from the fire-place a and
ash-pit 6 during the use of the furnace excepting when fuel is supplied
to the fire-place and the fire-bars and ash-pit cleaned; g is the rever-
beratory chamber of the furnace in which the bars, plates, or other
forms of iron or steel or hollow brass ingots or masses of other metal
to be heated are placed; h is the stack connected with the reverberatory
chamber g by the passage i. Around the base of the stack h and the
passage of the chamber g is a chamber or air space h³ for heating the
air to be supplied to the fire-place a for the combustion of the fuel in
the said fire-place. The said air-heating chamber ² is in communication
with a series of horizontal flues k, k, under the bed of the chamber g,
the said flues k, k, opening into the ash-pit b. When the furnace is in
work the heated air and products of combustion from the fire-place a
after heating the iron, or steel, or other metals in the reverberatory
chamber g pass by the passage i to the stack h. The waste heat from
the furnace is thereby made to heat the base of the stack h, and the
chamber h³ surrounding the said stack, and the passage i. The hori-
zontal flues k, k, under the bed of the reverberatory chamber g are
also heated by the said bed. Cold air is admitted to the air-heating
chamber h² by the opening h³ and perforations h* in the back of the said
chamber h, the said air being heated by coming in contact with the

page_text: highly heated sides of the said chamber. The heated air descending in
the chamber h² passes along the heated horizontal flues k, k, where it
is further heated to the ash-pit 6, from whence it is supplied to the
fire-place a for the combustion of the fuel in the said fire-place. By
the passing of the air along the flues k, k, the bed of the furnace is kept
cool. By this arrangement the waste heat from the furnace is made
to heat the air prior to its entrance into the fire-place, where com-
bustion takes place, great economy in the consumption of fuel thereby
results.
In order to admit heated air above the fire-bars to mix with the gases
in the fire-place, and to ensure their perfect combustion and prevent
the formation of smoke, I adopt the arrangement of parts represented in
the horizontal section, Figure 2, and the longitudinal section, Figure 3,
that is to say, in the side wall of the fire-place a I make a horizontal
flue having perforations m opening into the fire-place above the fire-
bars. This horizontal flue leads into a vertical flue n, the said vertical
flue opening by the perforations p into the ash-pit b. A perforated
plate q is let into the back wall of the ash-pit, the perforations in the
said plate being coincident with the perforations p in the said back wall.
The perforations p are opened and closed by the slider passing through
the ash-pit b, the face of the said slide being provided with conical pegs
which take into the perforations in the plate q. The slider is supported
by a hanging bracket or otherwise. By withdrawing the slider by its
handle heated air from the ash-pit 6 enters the perforations p, and
rising up the vertical flue n enters the horizontal flue 1, and escapes
by the perforations m into the fire-place a, and mixing with the gaseous
products in the said fire-place ensures their perfect combustion, and
prevents the formation of smoke.
The arrangement of parts, Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 may be applied
to a puddling furnace or melting furnace.
Figure 7 represents in longitudinal vertical section, Figure 8 in
horizontal section, and Figure 9 in cross section taken on the line C, D,
Figure 7, a furnace provided with a combined melting chamber and
puddling chamber constructed according to my Invention. The same
letters indicate the same parts in Figures 7, 8, and 9.
In this arrangement instead of supplying the heated air from the air
heating chamber to the ash-pit by flues under the bed of the furnace I

page_text: supply the said heated air to the ash-pit by flues made in the side and
end walls of the furnace.
a is the fire-place; b, the ash-pit; c is the puddling chamber, and d
is the melting chamber, the said melting chamber opening into the
stack h. Around the base of the stack hand on one side of the melting
chamber d is an air-heating chamber ² similar to that hercin-before
described, the said air-heating chamber being heated by the waste heat
passing from the melting chamber d. In the side wall of the furnace
is a horizontal flue i, and in the end wall of the furnace is a vertical
flue k, the said vertical flue opening at top into the horizontal flue i
and at bottom into the ash-pit b. The heated air from the air-heating
chamber * traverses the flues i, k, and is further heated thereby before
it enters the ash-pit. In this arrangement the air to be heated by the
heating chamber ³ is not admitted directly into the said heating
chamber, but is passed under the beds of the two furnaces c, d, before
it enters the heating chamber, as indicated by the arrows. For this
purpose an open or air space is left under the said beds for the passage
of the air to the heating chamber, the said air being partially heated
as it passes under the said beds and the said beds thereby kept cool.
In addition to the heated air for combustion entering the ash-pit heated
air may also be made to enter the fire-place above the fire-bars by
making perforations across the end wall at *, the said perforations
opening into the vertical flue k. In using this furnace the pig iron to
be puddled is first melted in the melting chamber d. The melted iron
is afterwards allowed to run into the puddling chamber c by tapping 2
the hole at d². A fresh supply of pig iron being put in the melting
chamber it is melted by the waste heat from the puddling chamber, while
the puddling operation is performed in the said puddling chamber both
the operation of melting and puddling being carried on at the same
time in one furnace.
The arrangement of parts of the furnace Figures 7, 8, and 9 may also
be applied to a furnace provided with a single reverberatory chamber
as in the furnace first described.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do 3
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my

page_text: Invention; but I claim as my Invention of improved furnaces for
melting and puddling iron or steel and for heating iron, steel, and other
metals,―
Firstly. The arrangements or combinations of parts substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
of the accompanying Drawings for heating the air and supplying the
said heated air to the fire-places of the said furnaces.
Secondly. The arrangements or combinations of parts substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 7, 8, and 9, of the
accompanying Drawings for heating the air and supplying the said
heated air to the fire-places of the said furnaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Howatson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
ANDREW HOWATSON. (L.S.)
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.