IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BLAST FURNACES AND FURNACE CHIMNEYS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firin of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BLAST FURNACES AND FURNACE
CHIMNEYS." A communication from abroad by Armand Sépulchre, of Paris,
France
Sealed the 6th November 1877, and dated the 17th May 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th May 1877.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
BLAST FURNACES AND FURNACE CHIMNEYS." A communication from abroad by
Armand Sépulchre, of Paris, France.
The construction of high blast furnaces is one of the most costly, because it
requires a great number of different models of bricks, that is to say, every row of
bricks of each course of the boshes and of the casing requires a special model
of brick. Moreover these bricks require a particularly careful cutting in order
that the joints may not allow the matters in fusion or the gases to pass through
them.
This Invention has for its object to provide means for obviating these practical
inconveniences, and consequently for enabling the said furnace to be erected with
greater facility and at less cost.
By practising this Invention all the courses of a furnace may be constructed with
a small number of models of bricks, at the same time doing away entirely with
cutting; this constitutes the most important industrial result of the said Invention.
In carrying the said Invention into practice the series of models of bricks
necessary for the construction of a blast furnace consists of 20, and the following
rules should be observed, that is to say,-
1st. The length of the interior arc of the bricks should be a divisor of the
number designated in mathematics by the sign (314159), so as to allow all the
circumferences to be made with a whole (non-fractional) number of bricks.
2nd. The length of the bricks should be a multiple of the difference of the radii
of two consecutive courses.

page_text: 3rd. The angles of the bricks should be multiples of each other, in order to effect
the crossing of the joints of two successive rows of the same course.
The length of the arc of the bricks is 0m 157 or and 0.1256 or
and the
angles at the centre which I adopt are 9 degrees, 6 degrees, 41, degrees, and
3 degrees, which are multiples of each other. The thickness of the bricks is
uniformly 0m 12 centimetres.
The above mentioned dimensions may be somewhat varied for different kinds of
furnaces so long as the same rules are adopted, and for large blast furnaces I
adopt two supplementary bricks of 0m 157 and of 0m 1256, the angles of which
correspond with the angle at the centre of 2 degrees, and which allow larger
diameters to be obtained.
The series of models of bricks which I have just indicated enable me to construct
(without having to cut a single brick, and at the same time effecting the crossing of
all the joints in every direction, and in the succession of all the courses) all the
inost usual types of high-blast furnaces, whatever may be the diameters adopted,
and in which the differences of radius of two consecutive courses vary between four
and five centimetres.
For furnaces in which the inclination is very different it will be sufficient
while preserving the other dimensions pointed out for the bricks to cause their
heights to be varied.
It will moreover be understood that I may make other series of models of
bricks fulfilling the same conditions, all that is necessary for that purpose being
that the dimensions adopted shall satisfy the three above stated conditions.
To construct a high-blast furnace with the series of models of bricks above
described, the different bricks will be combined so as to cross the joints, and the
combination employed for each course is reproduced periodically.
Furnace chimneys may be constructed in the same manner with great advantage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th November 1877.
(1
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BLAST
A communication from abroad by Armand
FURNACES AND FURNACE CHIMNEYS."
Sépulchre, of Paris, France.
The ordinary construction of high-blast furnaces is very costly, because it
requires a great number of different patterns of bricks, that is to say, every row of
bricks of each course of the boshes and of the casing requires a special pattern of
brick. Moreover these bricks require particularly careful cutting in order that the
joints may not allow the matters in fusion or the gases to escape.
It has been sought by these improvements to make all the courses of a furnace
with a small number of patterns of bricks, at the same time obviating the necessity
for cutting them; these results are most important in the practise of the said
Invention.
The series of patterns or models of bricks necessary for the construction of a blast
furnace, according to this Invention, consists of twenty.

page_text: I have represented in the accompanying Drawings the series of patterns which
are the best adapted for the purpose, and I will hereafter point out the conditions
which enable me to form other series of patterns or models suitable for particular
cases.
Figure 1 is a plan, shewing this series of patterns of bricks.
:
Figure 2 is a vertical section of the hearth and boshes of a furnace constructed
according to this Invention.
Figures 3 and 4 show the arrangement of the bricks in two consecutive courses
and the crossing of the joints of the same.
The distinctive or peculiar features of the bricks composing the series represented
in the Drawing are as follows, namely,-
1st. The length of the interior arc of the bricks a, b, is a divisor of the number
designated in mathematics, by the sign (3.14159), so as to allow all the circum-
ferences to be made with a whole or integral number of bricks.
2nd. The length a, c, of the bricks, as shown in Figure 1, is a multiple of the
difference of the radii of two consecutive courses.
3rd. The angles a of the bricks are multiples of each other, in order to ensure
the crossing of the points of two consecutive rows of the same course.
It will be understood that in using bricks made according to these special rules a
considerable reduction will be obtained of the number of patterns employed for the
construction of any high furnace; thus, by using bricks the length a, b, of whose
interior arc are shown in Figure 2, equals at least one unit of any measurement and
a divisor of π, all the circumferences can be obtained by means of a whole or
integral number of bricks; on the other hand with bricks whose length a, c,
Figure 1, is a multiple of the difference between the radii of two successive courses.
it will be observed that if is the length of a brick and a convenient co-efficient,
the result will be = (R, R¹); whence =
K, K',
that is to say, the interior
circumference of each course will find K courses further distant, thereby reducing to
a corresponding extent the number of patterns employed; therefore in taking for
angles at the centre the different patterns of bricks, angles which are multiples
of cach other, the vertical joints of the various rows will be always crossed and
will never coincide, as would be the case if any angles at the centre were
eraployed.
Having thus stated the principle upon which this Invention is based I will now
proceed to indicate the dimensions of bricks which appear the best adapted for
carrying the same into practise.
The length of the arc a, b, of the bricks is 0m 157 or, and 0m 1250 or, and
the angles at the centre which I condsider preferable are 9º, 6º, 41/20, and 3°, which
are multiples of each other. These dimensions are those of the series represented in
Figure 1 of the Drawing.
For large blast furnaces I adopt two supplementary bricks, 0m 157 and of
Om 1250, the angles of which correspond with the angle at the centre of two
degrees, and which allow larger diameters to be obtained.
The aforesaid series of patterns or models of bricks enable me to construct
(without having to cut a single brick, and at the same time effecting the crossing
of all the joints in every direction, and throughout the succession of courses) all the
most usual types or forms of high-blast furnaces, whatever may be the diameters
adopted. It will however be obvious that other series of patterns of bricks may be
It will only be necessary that the dimensions adopted should fulfil the three
conditions above explained.
used.
To construct a high-blast furnace with the series of models of bricks which I
have represented, the different bricks will be so combined as to cross the joints.
Moreover it will be very easy to give to all parts of the furnace any desired slope or
inclination; thus, in view of the considerations which have determined the interior
arcs of the types of bricks, it will be found that for each 0m 005 of increase in the
radius, the circumference will increase 0m 0314, or 0m 1256 +0 0314 = 0m 1570.
Therefore it will be necessary to replace a brick of Om 1250 by a brick of 0m 1570

page_text: for an increase of radius of 0m 005. The different patterns of bricks are con-
structed with certain radii, between which the difference is considerable, as shewn
in Figure 1. It is nevertheless necessary to obtain with these bricks all the
dimensions of the intermediate radius. To ensure this result it is only necessary to
replace by bricks of 0m 1570 as many bricks of 0m 1256 for as many times as
there is a difference of 0m 005 between the radii of these circumferences; for
example, in the furnace represented in Figure 2 the difference between the radii of
the two consecutive courses of the boshes is 0.04.
Having laid one course it will be sufficient in making the following to take the
same number of bricks of the same type, except with regard to the substitution of
eight bricks of 0m 1570 for eight bricks of Om 1256. After proceeding in this
manner for the necessary number of tiines the pattern of brick is changed for one
whose radius is nearer the radius of the courses being built; then a course is laid
with a convenient number of bricks of 0m 1256 and 0m 1570 with this radius, in
such a manner as to cross the joints; then the work is continued according to the
preceding rule, and so on.
012
004
012
0❤ 05
With regard to the boshes, the difference between the radii of two successive
courses is generally from 0m 040 to 0m 05, and in adopting for the thickness of
bricks 0m 12 it will be observed that = 3 = tg 72°, similarly = 2.4 tg
670, 30, a figure generally adopted for the slope or inclination of high furnaces.
It will be obvious that in the application of these fundamental rules the bricks
may have other dimensions than those above indicated, which are given as an
example and as being approximately the usual dimensions of bricks.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and the manner of perforniing the same, I wish it
understood that I claim, in the constructing of furnaces and furnace chimneys the
use of the herein described bricks in the manner and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.