IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Marie Joseph Chamblant, of 96, Rue de
Lanery, Paris, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF GLASS,"
Sealed the 16th January 1857, and dated the 31st July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Marie Joseph
Chamblant at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 31st July 1856.
I, PIERRE MARIE JOSEPHI CHAMBLANT, of 36, Rue de Lanery, Paris, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF GLASS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in passing a current of air, gas, or vapour through
glass when it is in a fluid state. For this purpose a platina pipe is caused
to descend to the bottom of the pot in which the glass is contained, and the
air, gas, or vapour is forced through the pipe by a pump, or other suitable
apparatus. By these means the glass is perfectly mixed, and in some cases
its color is improved: for example, in the case of glass made with sulphate of
soda and charcoal, if the charcoal is in excess it colors the glass, and this
coloring can be removed by forcing air through it. By forcing air, gases,
or vapours through colored glasses, the degree of oxydization of the coloring
metals can be altered, so as to produce the tint required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Marie Joseph Chamblant in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
MARIE JOSEPH CHAMBLANT, of 36, Rue de Lanery, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Pierre Marie Joseph Chamblant, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre
Marie Joseph Chamblant, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Pierre Marie Joseph Chamblant, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre Marie Joseph Cham-
blant, 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 Pierre Marie Joseph Chamblant, 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 consists in passing a current of air, gas, or vapour through
glass when it is in a fluid state. For this purpose a platina pipe is caused to
descend to the bottom of the pot in which the glass is contained, and the air,
gas, or vapour is forced through the pipe by a pump, or other suitable
apparatus. By these means the glass is perfectly mixed, and in some cases
its color is improved: for example, in the case of glass made with sulphate of
soda and charcoal, if the charcoal is in excess it colors the glass, and this
coloring can be removed by forcing air through it. By forcing air, gases, or
vapours through colored glasses, the degree of oxydization of the coloring
metals can be altered, so as to produce the tint required.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a section of a glass furnace, and of one of the pots or
crucibles in which the operation is performed. A, B, C, is a bent platina
pipe, which must be made without soldering; the bend B and the extremity
C are strengthened by an outside lining, as shewn in the Drawing. On the
end A of the tube is a rose or grating, which at its greatest diameter is pierced
horizontally with conical holes, the smallest ends of the conical holes being at
the exterior. Figure 2 shows a side view, and Figure 8 a horizontal section,
of the rose or grating separately. The end C of the tube is fixed to an iron
pipe; this pipe should be sufficiently long for the workman to be far enough
nway from the furnace, so as not to suffer from the heat. At the end D of
this iron pipe there is a small tube, over which is fitted a flexible tube; the end
E of this tube is fitted with a hollow plug, which fits into a socket connected
with an air pump, or with an apparatus for forming gas or vapour. The
flexibility of this tube permits the iron pipe to be moved about in any direction
without interrupting the current of air or gas. The speed of the current of
air or gas is regulated by the speed at which the pump is worked; or in those
cases where the gas or vapour is of such a nature that it could not be trans-
mitted by the pump, the speed of the current may be regulated by a tap, placed
between the generator and the flexible tube.
When the glass in the pot or crucible in the furnace is melted, the pump
or the generator is put in action, and the rose or grating on the platina tube
is plunged nearly to the bottom of the melted glass. The air or gas is dis-
engaged from the holes in the rose or grating in bubbles, which rise quickly
to the surface, drawing with them the particles of glass, which offer resistance
to them, and causing a double current, one ascending in the direction of the
bubbles and the other descending in the direction of the glass, which replaces
the particles of glass carried up by the bubbles. The rose or grating should
be moved about in the pot or crucible, and particularly around its sides,
so that the air or gas may act on the whole of the glass; a facticious
boiling movement is thus produced, which should be continued for 50 or 60
seconds, the surface of the glass will then be covered with a layer of froth.
The platina tube is then taken out, and passed into the next pot or crucible,
where the same operation is performed, and so on for all the crucibles. If the
furnace is well warmed the froth on the surface of the glass will disappear a

page_text: few minutes after the tube has been withdrawn. This operation is repeated
for about six times to each crucible.
If the operation has been well conducted it will produce an intimate mixture
of the parts, and produce a perfectly homogenous mass. Any chemical action
may be produced by means of any gaseous substance which does not act on
platina.
In passing a current of atmospheric air through the glass, all substances on
which oxigen acts at a higher temperature will be burnt or oxidized. By
passing a current of bydrogen gas, carbonic oxide, or any hydrogen vapours
whatever, the sulphates, phosphates, &c. will be reduced, and reduce the
metallic oxides to the lowest degree of oxidization, or even precipitate them in
their metallic state. A current of steam will decompose or volatilize the
chlorides which are sometimes contained in the glass in a hertful proportion.
In the same way, by forcing in other gases or vapours, different chemical
changes can be produced.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Marie Joseph Chamblant, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
T. BASSET,
PIERRE MARIE JOSEPH CHAMBLANT (LS.)
2, Rue Drouot.