IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michael Henry, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES."
-A communication from abroad by Hyppolite Godard-Desmarest, of
38, Boulevart Saint Martin, Paris, France.
Sealed the 27th May 1863, and dated the 9th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Michael Henry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
January 1868.
I, MICHAEL HENRY, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FURNACES," communicated to me from abroad by Hyppolite Godard-
Desmarest, of 33, Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris, France, to be
follows:-
My arrangement relates to a novel arrangement or adaptation of Siemen's
furnace or method of heating by "regenerators" or reversing currents of heat,
and consists in applying the same to double furnaces, or two combined furnaces,
or furnaces in which are two hearths or chambers for containing materials
while subjected to heat in such manner that chemical metallurgical or other
manufacturing processes in which there are two consecutive stages and
especially when such two stages require different temperatures, may be per-
formed in the same apparatus by the reversing of the currents of heat or of

page_text: aeriform and gaseous matters. By these means the two stages of such a process
may he carried on in each of the two furnaces or chambers so combined
alternately, the two stages can thus be performed simultaneously, though in each
furnace alternately. There are usually four regenerators with small inter-
stitial openings, two regenerators receiving and collecting the heat of the
products of combustion on their way to the chimney, the third receives and
heats the combustible gases proceeding from their generator, and the fourth
acts in like manner on the air that supports combustion. When the furnace
is at work the gases and air travel separately each through a regenerator which
heats them and they combine and evolve a high temperature, and the products
of combustion pass into the two other regenerators where they part with a large
portion of their heat. When the two first regenerators are sufficiently cooled
and the two last sufficiently hot, the position of the valves is reversed and the
currents reversed in consequence, the two last regenerators then heat the
entering air and gaseous currents, while the two first become heated by the
passage of the products of combustion.
In applying this arrangement as a double furnace, or to two furnaces com-
bined, tho firing and regenerating arrangements provided with reversing valves
may be combined and communicate with the two furnaces, hearths, or chambers
so that the following method of action can be pursued:-While the air and
gases heated by the regenerators combine, burn, and produce the high temperature
requisite for the hotter stage in one furnace, the hot gases are passing at a
reduced temperature through the other furnace on their way from the former
furnace to the regenerators, so that the cooler stage can go on in the cooler
furnace, and when the two stages are sufficiently advanced in their respective
furnaces the position of the valves is reversed, thereby reversing the currents
of air and combustible gases and the currents of the gaseous products of com-
bustion, so that the furnace in which the cooler stage was performed will
acquire the high degree of heat suitable for the hotter stage, and the other
furnace will become sufficiently cool for the cooler stage.
The Invention is applicable to furnaces for paddling or refining iron, melting
copper, manufacturing artificial soda by decomposition of the sulphate, and
other manufacturing processes in which there are two stages.
In the arrangement I prefer for carrying out the Invention when applied
to puddling or refining iron, in which process two stages (the fusing or
melting and the refining) require different degrees of heat, there is a passage
for water to circulate behind the sides, and another for cold air to circu-
late beneath the sole; the two combined furnaces communicate each
with two regenerators, and generally have an opening or floss hole between

page_text: them from drawing off the slags which run over the fire bridges. The
valves work in frames with four ways or openings, the openings being disposed
diagonally so that the regenerators may be put into alternate communication
with the currents; there are passages under the arch for the hot gases to pass
from one regenerator, and for the air to pass from the other. The products
of combustion are directed to, the chimney by the position of the valves.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Michael Henry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
HENRY, of. 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Michael Henry, Her special licence that I, the said Michael Henry,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said
Michael Henry, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES," communicated to me from abroad by Hyppolite Godard-Desmarest,
of 33, Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Michael Henry, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Michael Henry, do hereby declare.
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, as communicated to me, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:-

page_text: This Invention relates to certain regenerator and current reversing furnaces.
or heating apparatus patented by Mr. Siemens, in which four regenerators
are employed, two of which receive the waste heat of the products of com-
bustion on their way to the chimney, while the third imparts heat to the
combustible gases proceeding from their generator, and the fourth imparts
heat to the air, the said combustible gases and air combining and evolving
a high temperature; valves being employed to reverse the direction of the
aeriform or gaseous currents, so that the two regenerators, which before
received heat from the products of combustion, will receive and heat the
entering air and combustible gases, while the two others will in their turn
receive heat from the departing products of combustion.
I wish it to be understood that this immediately foregoing method or
arrangement for heating, which I have described in order that my Specifica-
tion may be comprehended, is not of my Invention, and I lay no claim to the
same considered separately and apart from the application and combination
thereof, herein-after set forth, and expressly claimed.
Now the present Invention has for its object a mode of adapting the
said method of heating to the purpose of performing various chemical,
metallurgical, and other manufacturing processes, in which are two conse-
cutive operations or stages requiring different temperatures.
. And the Invention consists in applying or combining the before-described
regenerator and current reversing arrangement with two combined furnaces,
hearths, ovens, kilns, or heated or working chambers in such manner that
by the reversing of the currents each such furnace, hearth, oven, kiln, or
chamber shall be alternately brought to the proper temperature for each such
operation or stage, so that the two stages or operations may be performed in
each furnace, hearth, oven, or working, chamber alternately, and both stages
ór operations may thus be carried on at the same time in the same apparatus
though in each of its said furnaces, hearths, or chambers in turn. For this
purpose the apparatus is so arranged that the air and gases (heated by
their passage through two of the regenerators) combine and produce in one
furnace or working chamber the temperature requisite for the stage or the
operation requiring the greater heat, while the spent gases, as they pass away
from such furnace or chamber to the other regenerators at a reduced tem-
perature, produce in the second working chamber or furnace a temperature
sufficient for the operation or the stage requiring the less heat, so that when
both furnaces, hearths, ovens, or chambers are charged with articles or
materials to be-treated one stage can be carried on in each, and when the two
stages are sufficiently advanced in their respective chambers the position of

page_text: the valves is reversed, thereby reversing the direction of the aeriform currents,.
so that the cooler chamber will acquire the heat suitable for the hotter opera-
tion or stage, which can thereupon be carried on in it while the other chamber.
will cool down sufficiently to allow of the cooler operation or stage being per-
formed in it.
And in order that the mode of performing the Invention may be fully.
understood, I proceed to describe with reference to the Drawings an arrange-
ment shewn by way of example as adapted for puddling or refining iron, in.
which process there are two operations, viz., the fining and the fusing or
melting, one of which requires a lower temperature than the other.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of this arrangement, and Figure 2 a.
horizontal section on the line a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, of Figure 1. I prefer to
form a passage for the circulation of water behind the sides of the furnace,
and another for that of cold air beneath the sole. I call the four regene-.
rators A, B, C, D, though only two, A, C, are shewn. These regenerators
are as usual composed of masses of refractory material with intersticial.
openings as is well known; E, F, are the two working or heated chambers,
hearths, or furnaces for containing charges of iron to be treated, each chamber
or furnace communicates with two regenerators, viz., the chamber E with the
regenerators A, B, and the chamber F with C, D; G is the passage through.
which the gasses enter from their generator; x, y, are the reversing valves,,
they work in cast-iron frames, in which are four ways or openings disposed.
diagonally, so that each regenerator may be alternately put into communica-
tion with the passage G.
In the position shown in the Figures the regenerators A, B, are supposed
to be receiving heat from the escaping products of combustion, while the
regenerator C is imparting heat to the air, which supports combustion, and
the regenerator D is communicating heat to the gases of combustion, and
these gases are supposed to be travelling in the direction indicated by the
arrow 1 through the regenerator D, and thence through the passage L, under
the fire arch M, while the air is entering in the direction indicated by the
arrow 2 through the regenerator C, and passes through the passage R, under
the arch M. The air and gas heated in the regenerators C, D, combine,
and heat the chamber F to the degree requisite for the fining or hotter stage,
so that the charge of iron therein will be refined, and at the same time
another charge of iron in the chamber E is undergoing an operation requiring
less heat, i.e., it is being fused by the heat of the products of combustion
escaping from the chamber F, on their way to the regenerators A, B, through
the flues S, T, in the direction of the arrows 1, 2; V is a flue through which

page_text: the spent products of combustion finally pass to the chimney. When the
charge is in the chambers E, F, have respectively undergone sufficient treat-
ment therein, and the regenerators A, B, have acquired sufficient heat from
the escaping gases, the valves x, y, are reversed, whereupon the direction of
the currents of air, combustible gases, and products of combustion will be
reversed, and the chamber or furnace E will in its turn be heated to the
elevated temperature necessary for the hotter or refining stage or operation,
while the chamber or furnace F will in its turn cool down to the degree-
proper for the other or cooler stage or operation; o is a floss hole, which may
be formed between the chambers E, F, for drawing off the flux and scoria
which escape over the fire bridge, but this floss hole is not always needed.
The Drawing shows the Invention by way of example as applied to furnaces
for treating iron, but from this illustration and the description it is easy to
understand how the Invention may be applied to furnaces for other purposes.
The Invention is applicable, among various other manufacturing purposes,
to the melting of copper, and the manufacture of artificial soda (by decom-
posing the sulphate).
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I wish it to be understood
that I do not claim the herein-before described mechanical parts separately
considered, but what I do claim as the Invention referred to in my herein-
before recited Letters Patent, is, combining Siemens' aforesaid regenerator
and current reversing apparatus with two hearths, furnaces, ovens, kilns, or
heated or working chambers, in the manner and for the purpose herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Henry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
S. E. A. NEWSOME,
84, Fleet Street, London.
M. HENRY. (L.S.)