IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF GLASS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATE GLASS
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clement Beatson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th January 1864.
I, WILLIAM CLEMENT BEATSON, of Rotherham, in the County of York, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF GLASS, AND
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATE GLASS," to be as follows:-
ALSO
The Invention has for its object improvements in furnaces employed in the
manufacture of bottle glass, crown glass, sheet and plate glass, and also.
improvements in the manufacture of plate glass. According to my Invention
instead of employing, as is usual, a furnace containing "pots" in which the
materials are placed for melting, the furnace being arranged in such a manner
as to cause the heat and products of combustion to circulate around and over
such pots, I dispense with the ordinary pots and construct in the furnace a
tank or chamber in fire-brick slabs or blocks; this tank or chamber is made
of a size to contain the quantity of materials required to be heated at one
operation. The fire-grate is arranged at the side of the tank or chamber in
such manner that the flame and heat do not circulate around the tank or
chamber, but the tank or chamber is arched over and the flame and heat pass
up one side of the tank or chamber (which however is protected from the
heat), and then over the top and very near to the surface of the glass material
in the tank or chamber. On the side of the tank or chamber opposite that on
which the fire is placed are the working holes, and by these the products of

page_text: combustion escape. By this arrangement I effect a great saving in the
expense of manufacture, as the pots now used require to be frequently renewed
as they soon leak and become useless. Tanks or chambers for containing the
molten "metal" constructed and heated according to my Invention, are not
liable to be soon injured, the heat being applied only to the surface of the
materials and not to the sides of the tank or chamber. In some cases I
construct a number of such chambers, the chambers being arranged in such
manner that they may be heated by one fire-grate, the products of combustion
from which are caused to pass over and very near to the surface of the molten
glass in such chambers and not around their sides. The number of working
holes will depend upon the size or number of such chambers employed.
In the manufacture of plate glass I employ two metal plates accurately
surfaced, these are placed in a vertical position underneath the tank or chamber
and parallel the one to the other; they are so carried that the distance between
them can be adjusted as may be required. Between them at the bottom and
two sides filling strips of iron are put, these strips correspond to the thickness
of the sheet of glass to be cast, and the plates being pressed together so as to
nip the filling strips between them a mould is made, into which melted glass
is run by tapping it out through a running hole in the bottom of the tank or
chamber. When the mould is full the flow of glass is stopped, and when
the quantity in the mould has set, the plates, are slacked, and the filling strips
(which are all fixed together) are drawn forward with the sheet of glass in
them; this motion carries the glass into an annealing chamber, and the
second set of filling strips is at the same time drawn into the mould.