IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
TIMMINS CHANCE, of Handsworth, in the County.of Stafford, Glass Manu-
facturer, and HENRY BADGER, of West Bromwich, in the said County, Glass
Stainer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of
April, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes
sors, give and grant unto us, the said James Timmins Chance and Henry
Badger, our exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said James Timmins Chance and Henry
Badger, our exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James
Timmins Chance and Henry Badger, our exors, admors, or assigns, should :at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the .said .James
Timmins Chance and Henry Badger, or one of us, should cause a particular
description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands or .seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part' recited' Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
James Timmins Chance and Henry Badger, do hereby declare that the naturo
of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that
is to say:
1st. The first part of our Invention relates to an improvement in the appli-
cation of heat to sheets, panes, or plates, or other articles of glass, when such
glass requires to be reheated for any purpose, such as the producing stained
or painted, or enamelled or other glass. This has been generally hitherto
eflected either by placing the glass upon metallic shelves within a muffle, and
applying the fire externally, or by placing the glass in a kind of reverberatory
kiln, as is well understood, upon a bed of stone or burned clay, and then
applying the fire internally and directly upon the glass. According to the
former method there is a difficulty in preventing plates of glass from becoming
bent or cockled, and in heating the glass uniformly; and by the latter plan tho
direct action of the fire upon the glass is injurious.
Now, the first part of our Invention consists in so applying heat that the
respective advantages of both the two methods above mentioned are united,
and at the same time their respective peculiar defects above mentioned are
avoided. In carrying out this part of our Invention we lay the glass upon a
suitable bed; we prefer to use stone, as is well understood, in making like
descriptions of kilns, and we cover the glass by suitable covers, preferring to
use sheet-iron pans (inverted) for such purpose, so as to enclose the glass in a
chamber, by which the direct action of the fire on the glass is provented, the
inverted pans for the time being producing, close chambers within the kiln.
In the top of each cover there is to be a small aperture, communicating by
means of a pipo with the outside of the front of the kiln, this contrivance being
intended to allow of the escape of any vapour. In order to facilitate the
practical operation of enclosing the glass in covers, we prefer to use moveable
beds, each placed upon an iron, carriage running upon rails, the kiln being.
properly constructed for receiving such carriages. The Drawing shows three
views of a kiln such as we employ, Figure 1 being a plan in section, Figure 2.
a longitudinal section, and Figuro 3 a transverso section. a, a, aro the fire-
places; b, b, carriages, each having a bed or beds thereon, c, c, being tho
inverted pans or covers. The carriages are introduced into the kiln at
the doors e, e; the doors are then closed, and the flame and heat will bo
reverberated within the arch, and then pass off up the chimney f, which is to

page_text: have a damper to regulate the draft. We prefer to have the carriages and
their beds heated before coming into the kiln, in order to save time. The
process of licating and cooling the glass is then conducted in the ordinary way.:
And for the purpose of still further securing the glass from being injured by
the fire or smoke, the edges of the covers are fitted into grooves cut into beds,
there being powdered chalk or other suitable substance to close the joints.
The second part of our Invention relates to an improved mode of applying
heat to sheets, pares, or plates of glass when it is desired to alter their shape,
whether to render them more flat or to give them any required curvature.
According to the methods generally adopted at present and hitherto for these
operations, the kiln in which such processes are performed has to be cooled
considerably before a second chargó of glass can be introduced into it. Now,
this part of our Invention' consists of so employing moveable beds and covers,
as already herein-before described, that the cooling down of the kiln is rendered
unnecessary, and the glass when enclosed in the chambers formed on the beds,
as above described, can be safely introduced into the flattening or bending kiln
without necessarily reducing the temperature of the kiln. The moveable boils
aforesaid, previously to their being charged with glass, are to be heated to a
temperature approximating to that of the kiln itself; this we do by means of
a small kilu similar to the main kiln. When the glass has remained-suffi-
ciently long in the flattening or bending kiln, which is similar to that above
explained, it is withdrawn along a lear or long arch opening into the kiln,
similar to that described in the Specification of a Patent granted to the said
James Timmins Chance, dated the Soventh day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-two. This lear or arch, however, is not an essential
appendage to our system, because the beds and the covers above mentioned'
may be of such a thickness as to allow the glass to be withdrawn from the kiln
without the intervention of a lear or long arch; but we believe it is better' to
avoid such a thickness in the covers or beds as would retard inconveniently the
main operations in view, whether of flattening or of bending.
Having, thus described the nature of our Invention, and the best means
we are acquainted with for performing the same, we would havo it under-
stood, that wo do not confine ourselves to the details herein-described, so
long as the peculiar. character. of either part of our Invention be retained; but
what we claim is,-.
First, the mode of reheating sheets, panes, or plates, or other articles of
glass, when for the purpose of making stained glass or otherwise, by
employing covers so as to produce closed chambers on suitable beds within
kilns, as herein described.

page_text: And, secondly, we claim the mode of applying heat to sheets, panes or plates
of glass, when for the purposes of flattening or bending the same, whereby
moveable beds with covers are employed, as herein described.
In witness whereof, the said James Timmins Chance has hereunto set
his hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of!
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
BLOXHAM, Extra.
Sol", Birmingham.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid James Timmins Chance came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, 2
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord Ouo
thonsand eight hundred and forty-six