IMPROVEMENTS IN CUPOLAS AND BLAST FURNACES, OR OTHER FURNACES USED FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lamb Scott, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, and William Edwin Heys, of the
same Place, Accountant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CUPOLAS AND BLAST FURNACES, OR OTHER FURNACES USED FOR SIMILAR
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 22nd May 1874, and dated the 29th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lamb Scott
and William Edwin Heys at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 29th November 1873.
We, GEORGE LAMB SCOTT, of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Engineer, and WILLIAM EDWIN HEYS, of the same Place,
Accountant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CUPOLAS AND BLAST FURNACES, OR OTHER FURNACES USED FOR
SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
-
According to our Invention we take a. cupola or other such furnace,
which as regards the upper part thereof is of the ordinary construction,
but at the bottom we form an opening leading to a chamber, in which

page_text: we place coke or other fuel required for the melting or smelting, but a
portion of such fuel may extend into the furnace. Extending into this
chamber is a blast pipe or pipes for supporting combustion, and a
portion of the air so supplied after having passed around the outside of
the said chamber enters the furnace at a higher position, which may be
considered as that of the ordinary tuyeres.
At the lower part of the furnace we also adapt pipes through which
air or steam may be blown.
The aforesaid chamber is provided with a suitable. door through
which fuel may be supplied.
The metal may be tapped in the usual manner, or allowed to flow in
the first instance into a chamber formed beneath the bottom of the
furnace, or into a chamber formed on one side, thereof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Scott Lamb and William Edwin Heys in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
LAMB SCOTT, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
and WILLIAM EDWIN HEYS, of the same Place, Accountant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of November,
One thousand eight. hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said George Lamb Scott and William Edwin Heys
Her special license that we, the said George Lamb Scott and William
Edwin Heys, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said George Lamb Scott and William Edwin Heys, our 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

page_text: FACTURE OF IRON," upon the condition, that we, the said George
Lamb Scott and William Edwin Heys, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hands and seals of one of
us, 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 William Edwin Heys, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to
say):
Fig. 1 represents the lower part of a cupola or blast furnace and parts
connected therewith in section, constructed according to our Invention;
and Fig. 2 is a detached view in section of the feeding apparatus.
The ordinary lower part of a cupola is shewn at a, the sole being at 6,
but according to our Invention there are no tuyeres applied thereto.
At c is a metal plate, supported by a pillar d, upon which is built fire-
brick work e, e*, constituting a chamber f. The part e* is formed with
perforations g, which may be slits or of the pigeon-hole form, open at
one end to the said chamber f, and at their other ends to a passage h,
formed by a plate of metal i, which is carried by that shewn at c, and
from this passage extends a pipe ; provided with a damper k, and com-
municating in any convenient manner with a fan or other source of
blast. At 7 is a plate above the top e of the chamber f, leaving a space
which is closed on each side, thus constituting a chamber m, which may
extend also down the sides of the chamber f, and between this and the
passage h a communication is established by means of a pipe.n. Upon
the plate / are mounted circular boxes o, o*, within the former of which
is another circular part p formed upon an axis q, which carries a toothed
wheel'r in gear with a pinion s mounted upon an axis which is carried
by the side framing of the chamber f, and provided with a lever handle t.
The second circular box o* carries a second circular part u through a
boss v, of which there passes loosely a pipe w, its inner end fitting
loosely into the said axis q, and its outward end extending to the

page_text: chamber m, to which it is open. The two circular parts p, u, are
connected together by a cylindrical part x, which has however two
spaces y¹, y³, separated by a diaphram z, which thus forms two chambers.
The diaphgram z surrounds the pipe w by a boss, within which are
slits 1, 2, capable when turned of communicating alternately with a
slit 3 formed in the said pipe w. At the bottom of the cupola is an
aperture 4 communicating with a chamber 5 of fire-brick enclosed by
metal plates, and supported at 6 by what may be the foundary wall.
The operation is as follows:-The cupola having been charged, not in
the usual manner, but with iron or iron ore, without coke or other such
fuel (or a small quantity of fuel may be added), a fire is lighted within
the chamber f, and this may be done through the door 7, and subse-
quently fed as hereafter to be described, say to about the position of the
dotted line A. A blast of air being now caused to pass along the pipe j,
becomes forced in divided streams through the apertures 9 into the
chamber so as to raise the heat, which is then driven through the
passage 10 into the cupola, but at the same time a portion of the blast
will be driven through the pipe n into the chamber m, and from thence
through the pipe w, from whence it passes through the slits 3, 2, into
the combustion chamber f, having in its passage abstracted heat from
those parts with which it flows in contact.
In order periodically to feed the chamber f, the fuel is alternately
supplied by the cylinder x. Thus in the position shewn the fuel will
be placed in the compartment x, and then by turning the pinion & the
axis q will be caused to revolve, carrying with it the parts p, u, and
cylinder, and when this has been done to the extent of a half circle the
fuel contained in the compartment x will have been delivered to the
chamber, and then the slit 1 will have arrived opposite the slit 3, so
that a passage for air is always maintained, excepting for the short time
the said turning is being effected. The compartment x 1 being now
uppermost will receive a charge of fuel to be in like manner delivered.
We do not confine ourselves to this mode of feeding, or make any claim
thereto, but simply describe it as a convenient method of protecting the
attendant from heat and injurious vapours, which may be done by the
employment of an ordinary hopper with two slides.
As the metal becomes melted it runs into the receptacle 5, from
whence it may be tapped at 11 in the ordinary manner. Instead however

page_text: of using this receptacle, the metal may be tapped at the bottom of the
cupola as now usually practiced.
At 12 is a hole for cleaning out the passage 4 when necessary.
Air, which is blown into the chamber m, may pass from thence direct
into the cupola at B, and by means of a ring casing at several places
around the same.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I
desire it to be understood that we claim as secured to us under the above
in part recited Letters Patent the general arrangement of the separate
combustion chamber f, with the air passages connected therewith, sub-
stantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edwin Heys, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.