A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING AIR IN REHEATING, PUDDLING, AND OTHER SIMILAR FURNACES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Browne, of the Firm of Browne and Company,
Patent Agents, of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
HEATING AIR IN REHEATING, PUDDLING, AND OTHER SIMILAR FURNACES"
A communication from abroad by Edouard Fabre, of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Browne at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th December 1877.
ALEXANDER BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent Agents,
of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex.
"A NEW
OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING AIR IN REHEATING, PUDDLING, AND
OTHER SIMILAR FURNACES." (A communication from abroad by Edouard Fabre,
of Paris, France.)
According to this Invention an apparatus, hereafter described, is placed beneath
the sole of a puddling, reheating, or other similar furnace The air necessary to
cause combustion is admitted by means of one or more holes worked out underneath
the floss hole, or at any other convenient part of the furnace. This air is caused to
circulate in the apparatus, which is naturally heated by the heat radiated from the
sole of the furnace, and the air is caused to pass through very long passages, thus
offering very large heating surfaces, and ultimately its temperature is raised to a
very high degree before entering the fire-bars. The ash-pit is entirely closed, so as
to prevent the exterior cold air from entering the fire-place. The air thus drawn
by the natural force of the furnace draught brings with it a vast amount of heat,
which being thus supplied to the fuel effects a great saving.
The apparatus before referred to consists of a series of horizontal plates extending
the entire length and breadth of the sole of the hearth. These plates are placed
above each other at equal distances, and form horizontal spaces into which is intro-
duced another series of bars having in section the shape of a double T, thus having
four wings on the body of the bar. This group of bars forms a series of small
Prine B77

page_text: channels for the passage of the air, and serving to divide its mass equally so as to
heat it more rapidly.
The two extremities of the apparatus are closed by vertical plates, care being
taken to leave the lower horizontal layer open to admit the cold air, and the upper
layer open for the exit of the hot air. The other horizontal plates are regularly
placed so as to give a serpentine motion to the air inside the apparatus before it
enters the fire-bars. The time is thus prolonged for the air to remain in the
apparatus, and thus giving it the highest obtainable temperature.
It is on account of the air having so far to travel and the multitude of channels
that it becomes sufficiently heated to obtain important results.
The aforesaid apparatus may be made of cast iron, wrought iron, copper, fire-brick,
common brick, or any other metal or material capable of receiving and communicating
heat, but cast iron will be found preferable on account of its great power of conducting
heat, and also on account of its cheapness. Brick will also yield good results.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent and of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor filed by the said Alexander Browne in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th June 1878.
ALEXANDER BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent Agents,
of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex " A NEW
OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING AIR IN REHEATING, PUDDLING, AND
OTHER SIMILAR FURNACES." A communication from abroad by Edouard Fabre,
of Paris, France.
An apparatus constructed according to this Invention has the effect of leading the
air slowly to the fire-bars by causing it to describe beneath the sole numerous cir-
cuits in order to separate it into thin layers, which become hotter and hotter by
degrees in proportion as these approach the fire-place. These thin layers, which are
disposed horizontally one above another, present a very important characteristic of
their own.
Each layer is divided by vertical partitions of cast iron or other
material (being a good conductor of heat), the object whereof is to bring the air in
contact with hot surfaces and thus to facilitate the elevation of its temperature.
The more numerous the partitions are the greater will be the heating surface. It
is of advantage in practice to carry out the partitions of the bed of the upper layer
to the under side of the sole, and thus obtain in these vertical partitions all the
elevation of heat possible. As is seen, the use of these partitions is considerable, for
it is they which transmit nearer and nearer to the arrangement of air channels, the
radiant heat proceeding from the sole, and consequently allow the air to be heated
rapidly and arrive at the fire-bars at the highest possible temperature.
The action of these partitions is so important that it has been found capable
(limiting the apparatus to a single bed of air and multiplying the vertical partitions
as much as possible) of obtaining under the fire-bars a current of air, having already

page_text: a temperature capable of shewing an important saving in the weight of the coal
used.
This Invention is most effective when the greatest number of horizontal layers,
each divided by the greatest possible number of vertical partitions are arranged
underneath the sole.
At Sheet 1 Figure 1 of the Drawings shows a section of the whole arrangement
of apparatus adapted to a furnace through the line A, B, Figure 2.
Figure 2 shews another section through the lines E, F, G, H, Figure 1.
Figure 3 shews a side view, and Figure 4, section through the line C, D,
Figure 2.
Sheet 2 shews a modification of the apparatus.
If the vertical partitions are brought sufficiently near together the horizontal
parts a, b, may be dispensed with, thus attaining very satisfactory results, especially
when the partitions are placed chequer-wise, as shewn in Figure 2, Sheet 2, in
which a, a, are the vertical partitions; so placed these partitions touch the sole, as
shewn in Figure 3, and they present this peculiarity, that they are extremely thin
at their point of contact therewith. This arrangement effectually hinders the cooling
of the sole at these points of contact, which might otherwise happen if the partitions
were terminated at their upper end by a piece, as shewn in Figure 1.
It may be found desirable to cast the vertical partitions with the bottom plates
of the sole so that they may be all of a piece with the partitions themselves. The
whole arrangement rests upon a horizontal plate, preferably of cast iron, but it may
be made of any other material, being a good conductor of heat. The indraught of
afterwards it passes
air is passed first under this plate, the surface of which it licks;
to the upper surface where it meets the partitions a, a, which divide it into very
thin divisions, and heat it more and more until it arrives below the bars. The con-
siderable beating of the air, and consequently the high temperature at which it
arrives at the grating rapidly deteriorates the bearers supporting the bars of the
fire-placo. These pieces, which are of cast iron, are constantly cooled by the air
furnished by the draught of the fire-place in the ordinary system; but on the
contrary, in this system they are always in contact with air too hot to have any
great cooling effect, so that they acquire a temperature which may approach the
melting point of cast iron. In order to obviate this inconvenience a slight curront
of water or other suitable liquid may be circulated in contact with the bearers,
which would occasion their constant cooling, and give them an almost indefinite
durability.
Having thus described the nature and object of this Invention, I would remark in
conclusion that what I claim is, adapting to puddle and other similar furnaces an
apparatus for heating the air by passing it through narrow passages in contact with
extensive surfaces heated by the radiant heat of the furnace sole, and all inodifica-
tions thereof involving the same principle, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Browne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
TRAUZITA