I- PROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR SMELTING IRON ORES, COMMONLY CALLED BLAST FURNACES, ALSO IN CUPOLAS USED IN FOUNDRIES FOR RENDERING DOWN OR MELTING IRON OR OTHER METALS." PRO
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Evan Leigh, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of “I-
PROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR SMELTING IRON ORES, COMMONLY CALLED BLAST
FURNACES, ALSO IN CUPOLAS USED IN FOUNDRIES FOR RENDERING DOWN OR
MELTING IRON OR OTHER METALS."
PROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR SMELTING IRON ORES, COMMONLY CALLED BLAST
FURNACES, ALSO IN CUPOLAS USED IN FOUNDRIES FOR RENDERING DOWN OR
MELTING IRON OR OTHER METALS."
Sealed the 4th August 1865, and dated the 10th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Evan Leigh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th February 1865.
I, EVAN LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR SMELTING IRON ORES, COMMONLY CALLED
BLAST FURNACES, ALSO IN CUPOLAS USED IN FOUNDRIES FOR RENDERING DOWN
OR MELTING IRON OR OTHER METALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention dispenses with the use of fans or other blowing apparatus in
the following manner, namely, I fix a mouth-piece to the charging aperture
with a sliding or hinged door so as to close it at pleasure. I then fix a
chimney to the top of the furnace of sufficient height and capacity to produce
a draft of any required strength to melt down the iron or ores without the use

page_text: of a fan or blowing apparatus; or I can produce the same effect by turning
the heated air and gases into an ordinary chimney from the top of the cupola
or furnace, or any number of them, so that the chimney be large enough. It
is not absolutely necessary that the chimney be close to the furnaces or cupolas,
but the heated gases may be received in a suitable vessel or flue erected over
or by the side of the said furnaces, and then conveyed underground to the
chimney. When a hot-air blast is required, I prefer to erect a vertical flue
by the side of the cupola or furnace for a down draught. Into this flue I
have a pipe or number of pipes which communicate with the outer atmosphere
at one end, and with the belt of the furnace or tuyere holes at the other, so
that the air which feeds the furnace may become heated in passing through
the pipes. The draught of the furnace I regulate by the charging door being
left more or less open, or by a suitable damper fixed in the flue; care only
need be taken to have power in the chimney by capacity and height in
proportion to the work it has to perform.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Evan Leigh in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EVAN
LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Evan Leigh, Her special license that I, the said Evan
Leigh, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Evan Leigh, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FURNACES FOR SMELTING IRON ORES, COMMONLY CALLED BLAST FURNACES,
ALSO IN CUPOLAS USED IN FOUNDRIES FOR RENDERING DOWN OR MELTING IRON OR
OTHER METALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Evan

page_text: Leigh, 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 Evan Leigb, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
..
This Invention has for its object the dispensing with the use of fans or other
blowing apparatus usually employed for furnaces, and will be clearly under-
stood by the following description thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying two Sheets of Drawings, and the figures and letters of reference
marked thereon.
Fig. 1 shews a front view of a smelting furnace constructed according to
this Invention, in which a, a, is the brickwork surrounding the furnace, and
carrying the double chimney 6 and 6', also clipping and sustaining the
smelting furnace c. Fig. 2 shews the same in section, in which a, a, is the
brickwork, as in Fig. 1; c, the brickwork of the furnace itself; and c' the bosh
of the furnace, which is of the ordinary construction. The tuyere holes are.
shewn at d, d, and the charging apertures at e, e.
The inner chimney b¹ is
constructed in preference of iron boiler plate, and the outer one 6 of brick-
work, leaving a space f between all round, down which the air rushes to tho
tuyere holes, being conveyed by iron pipes h from the upper cone or by.
hollow chambers in the brickwork, which must taper all the way to the
tuyeres from the bottom of the chimney, or be of larger capacity than at
the entrance at the tuyere pipes. The pipes and taps 9, 9, admit air from the
pipes h, h, to the upper part of the bosh in order to ensure combustion of the
gases more effectually. This combustion of the gases within the furnace
generate sufficient caloric to heat the air passing from above to the tuyeres to
a very high temperature, and at the same time, with the aid of the chimney b',
causes a draught sufficiently powerful to dispense with the expensive steam
engines and blowing apparatus usually employed. Any amount of power may
be obtained by the height and capacity of the inner chimney above that of
the external chimney b. The brickwork a, a, of the outer chimney is in
preference constructed hollow, as seen at i, i, which keeps the mass at a.
more equable temperature. Instead of the iron tube projecting out above the

page_text: brickwork as shewn, the latter may be continued to the top; forming a
single chimney from the point where the heated air descends, as shewn in
Figs. 3 and 4.
Figs. 3 and 4 shew a cupola furnace for melting iron on the same principle,
Fig. 3 being an elevation, and Fig. 4 a section. In this arrangement the air
is taken in at apertures j, j, j, placed at the bottom of the chimney on one side
just over the top of the furnace, the heated gases from which are made to
impinge against that part of the inner chimney where the cold air. enters.. In
this case the air space or chamber f has a midfeather, shewn in, dotted
lines k, which divides it in two until it gets near the top, where the mid-
feather is left off, and the air is passed over to the other side, forming an
The descending
ascending and descending current, as seen by the arrows.
current is distributed so as to enter the columns 7 which support the chimney,
and from them the tuyeres at the bottom of the furnace. These columns may be
of either cast or wrought iron sufficiently capacious to admit an internal lining
of fire-brick, so constructed that by preference the holes taper gradually
towards the tuyeres. These tuyeres m, m, are set tangential to the furnace,
as may be best seen in the sectional plan, Fig. 5, which gives a rotatory motion
to the blast, and causes the air to be distributed more equally amongst the
burning mass, thereby bringing down the metal sooner and improving the
quality. The mouth-piece or charging aperture n, Figs. 3 and 4, is fitted
with a shuttle or sliding door o, and another door at the end p, the space
between the two doors forming a pocket to hold a charge which is let down
into the furnace by opening the door o when the door p is shut. By this
arrangement cold air is prevented entering the furnace when charging. This
door o has a coating of road sand on the inner side or other non-conducting
substance, and may be raised by the handle q acting on the worm 2, which
takes into the wheel s, keyed on the lifting shaft t, which is connected by
chains or rack and pinion to the door o.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim,
First, the method shewn of so constructing blast furnaces or cupolas that
the ordinary blowing apparatus is dispensed with, as well as separate furnaces
for heating the blast air, the whole being self-contained.
Secondly, the method shewn of giving a rotary motion to the current of air
as it enters the furnace.
And, thirdly, the method shewn of charging without letting in cold air, as

page_text: all such improvements are herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
two Sheets of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Evan Leigb, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Evan Leigh, in the
presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
EVAN LEIGH. (L.S.)