IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR MAKING GLASS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Job Henry Lyon and William
Lyon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 15th October 1869.
We, JOB HENRY LYON, of Sutton, in the County of Lancaster, and
WILLIAM LYON, of Runcorn, in the County of Chester, Glass and
Alkali Makers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR MAKING GLASS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of
furnaces for the manufacture of glass, and consists of methods of
combining the introduction of intensely heated air or of cold air, or
of partly heated and partly cold air, with the addition of steam into the
furnaces, and in causing the waste heat and spent gases, or partly spent
gases, to pass from the furnaces at or near the bottom or floor of the
furnaces, thereby causing a more perfect combustion of the fuel and
affording an intense and well sustained heat with great economy in the
consumption of fuel.
Instead of placing the grate in the middle of the furnace (as is usually
done) we place it at one end or at two opposite ends of the furnace.

page_text: We also form air flues underneath the floor of the furnace or through
the walls (preferably the former) and through the fender or bridge, or
the flues may be made so as to open above the fuel through the walls on
cach side of or in front of the grate instead of through the fender, the
flues being open to the external atmosphere by inlets near the grate or
other suitable position. These flues are extended longitudinally to any
suitable distance, returning towards the grate end, and ultimately
upwards through the fender or bridge, or through the walls on each side
of the grate, or in front of the grate and above the fuel, so that the air
entering the flues and traversing their heated surfaces becomes intensely
heated and in such condition mixes with the flame and gases passing
from the fuel on the grate.
We also form apertures through the walls in front of or at the sides
of the grate and above the fuel, making a direct communication between
the outer atmosphere and the inside of the furnace over the grate for
the purpose of supplying cold air, the supply of which may be regulated
by fire-clay slides or other suitable means.
We also form apertures at or near the bottom of the furnace at the
sides furthest from the grate when only one grate is used, or in other
suitable position when two grates are used, such apertures being con-
nected with up-draught flues opening into the glass works chimney, the
draught of which causes the atmospheric air to flow through the flucs
and apertures as described till it mixes with the gases passing from the
grate or grates (causing an intense and well sustained heat in the
chamber of the furnace), and also causes the waste heat and spent gases,
or partly spent gases, to leave the furnace at or near the floor or bottom
of the furnace through the apertures described, and partly through the
working tubes, the result being a great economy in the consumption of
fuel and also a less wear and tear of the materials of which the furnace
is built.
We also cause steam or the vapour of water to pass through the fuel
on the grate, the effect of which is to generate a greatly increased
quantity of inflammable gases, which in passing over the fender or
bridge unite with the intensely heated air or cold air, or partly heated
and partly cold air passing through the air flues and apertures, and give
a large volume of intensely heated flame in the chamber of the furnace.
This application of steam or vapour of water is effected by means of a
perforated iron pipe placed under the grate and connected with an

page_text: ordinary steam boiler, or by a similar pipe connected with an ordinary
steam boiler, or by a similar pipe connected with water at a pressure so
as to throw the water in the form of spray against the under side of the
grate and fuel, the draught through the grate drawing the spray into
the grate, where it evaporates and passes through the fuel as described,
or by means of channelled grate bars supplied with water, or by means
of narrow troughs along or around the grate and supplied with water or
by other suitable means.
Our Invention includes the novel combination of the following
features:-
1stly. The situation of the grate at one end or at two opposite ends of
the furnace, instead of in the middle as is customary.
2ndly. The introduction of hot air or cold air or of partly hot and
partly cold air into the furnace so as to pass into the main chamber of
the furnace with the gases passing from the fuel.
3rdly. The means or method of causing the waste heat and spent
gases or partly spent gases to leave the furnace at or near the bottom
or floor of the furnace instead of through the working holes as is usually
done, or to leave the furnace partly at or near the bottom or floor of thic
furnace and partly through the working holes.
4thly. The application of steam or water or the vapour of water to
the under side of the grate so that it may pass through the fuel on the
grate.
The combination of all these improvements of the first, third, and
fourth, of the second, third, and fourth, and of the third and fourth will
be found most advantageous and will constitute our Invention.