IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS OR VITREOUS MATERIAL.”
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bashley Britten, of Red Hill, in the County of
Surry, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF GLASS OR VITREOUS MATERIAL.”"
Sealed the 2nd April 1874, and dated the 19th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bashley Britten at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th November 1873.
I, BASHLEY BRITTEN, of Red Hill, in the County of Surry, Gentle-
man, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS OR VITREOUS MATERIAL," to be as
follows:
This Invention relates to the economical production of glass, or of a
material of vitreous character suitable for the manufacture of bottles and
other utensils, slabs, sheets, tiles, or other ware from the slag produced
in the smelting of iron or other ores, the chief object of the Invention
being to utilize material which is now wasted, and also to take advantage
of the heat at which that material is discharged from the furnace.

page_text: For this purpose I receive the fuzed slag as it runs from the furnace
in suitable vessels kept heated if necessary, and I mingle therewith, in
such proportions as are needed, according to the nature of the slag or the
color or other qualities required in the glass, siliceous mineral, cullet,
alkali, and metallic oxide, agitating the mass if necessary to assist
combination.
After boiling the material becomes homogeneous, and can be further
treated like ordinary glass for manufacture in any desired form.
The vessel in which the fuzed slag is received may be in a fixed
chamber or furnace attached to the smelting works, in which case the
molten glass when ready is withdrawn as required and conveyed in
heated vessels elsewhere to be manufactured, or the slag either with or
without the added materials may be run into suitable vessels contained
in suitable heated chambers arranged with firing if necessary, to allow of
transmission to a distance for manufacture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bashley Britten in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BASHLEY
BRITTEN, of Red Hill, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Bashley Britten, Her special
licence that I, the said Bashley Britten, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Bashley Britten, 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS OR VITREOUS MATERIAL," upon the condition

page_text: For making dark green or amber glass suitable for wine or beer
bottles the quantity of sand to be added to the slag may be about one
part by weight of the former to four parts of the latter.
Alkali in the cheap form of sulphate of soda can be used with the
usual small quantity of ground coke or charcoal mixed with it.
The addition of from one to three per cent. of arsenic promotes the
fining of the glass.
If glass of a lighter color or superior kind to the above mentioned is
to be produced; the slag requires to be combined with a larger proportion
of silica. The quantity of alkali needed with it varies with the degree
of fusibility or other working qualities required in special modes of
manufacture. When containing from eight to ten per cent. of alkali
the glass can be worked at a moderate heat. The glass may be rendered
softer or easier to manipulate by the introduction with the other materials
of from five to ten per cent. of oxide of lead or zinc or powdered 1
baryta.
For producing various colors the ingredients in common use are
employed.
The materials to be incorporated with the slag may be introduced in a
pulverulent condition in a stream or streams directed upon the slag as it 2
is made to flow in a broad shallow current into the converting vessel or
tank, or the materials may be separately heated and added in a state of
fusion to the slag.
After boiling for some time in the tank the mixture becomes homo-
geneous, and can be further treated like ordinary glass for manufacture 2
in any desired form.
The vessel or tank in which the fused slag is received to be converted
into glass may be heated in a stationary furnace or chamber contiguous
to the smelting works, and the molten glass can be withdrawn as
required, or the slag, either with or without the materials to be added, 3
may be run into vessels mounted on wheels and conveyed in a molten
state to works convenient for the further process of manufacture.
Such portable vessels may be lined or cased with non-conducting
materials to prevent loss of heat by radiation, also furnaces may be
arranged in the trucks on which they are mounted for the purpose of 3.
providing additional heat.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that
I do not claim generally the manufacture of glass or vitreous material
from the slag of smelting furnaces, but I claim the method substan-
tially as herein described of treating slag hot as it runs from the
smelting furnace for the manufacture of glass or vitreous material.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bashley Britten, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
JOHN IMRAY,
20, Southampton Buildings.
BASHLEY BRITTEN. (L.S.)