IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas James Swinburne, of South Shields, in the
'County of Durham, Plate Glass Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
GLASS."
Sealed the 25th March 1856, and dated the 31st October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. Thomas James Swinburne
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
81st October 1855.
I, THOMAS JAMES SWINBURNE, of South Shields; in the County of Durham,
Plate Glass Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention'
for IMPROVEMENTS IN. FURNACES OR APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
GLASS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists' in constructing annealing: furnaces or kilns upon
arches; flues, tunnels, or hollow' passages; and with flues or hollow passages.
carried along, around, and' at the sides of the said kilns, whereby the contents
of the furnace are more rapidly cooled and annealed than in annealing
furnaces as at present constructed. The passages; tunnels, or flues may, if
desired, be fitted with valves or doors to be opened when the contents of the

page_text: kilns are required to be annealed or cooled. Fans or blowers may be
employed to drive currents of air rapidly through the tunnels, passages, or
flues. And the air flues or passages may communicate with a chimney which
is closed during the heating and filling of the annealing furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas James Swinburne in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JAMES SWINBURNE, of South Shields, in the County of Durham, Plate Glass
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, hearing date the Thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her-reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas James Swinburne, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
James Swinburne, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas James Swinburne, 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 OR APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas James Swin-
burne, 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 immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas James Swinburne, do hereby
declare the nature of.my 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, in each of which similar parts are marked with similar letters of
reference, that is to say:

page_text: My said Invention consists of a mode of constructing a furnace, kiln, or
apparatus for annealing glass, being that part of the apparatus used.in
manufacturing glass usually called the annealing furnace or annealing kiln,
and into which articles made of glass while still in a hot state are deposited
for the purpose of undergoing the process usually termed annealing. When
the glass articles introduced into an annealing furnace or kiln have filled it
sufficiently and accumulated, it becomes necessary. to cool the furnace
gradually in such a manner that the articles it contains may be annealed and
cooled uniformly down to the temperature at which they may be taken out of
the furnace or kiln without risk of being injured by exposure to the cold air.
The ordinary furnaces or kilns used for annealing plate and other kinds of
glass are usually made with their floors resting upon solid masonry or without
any means of ventilation underneath for the purpose of cooling the furnaces
or kilns.
My improvement or improvements in the construction of annealing furnaces
or kilns consists in constructing them upon or with flues, tunnels, or hollow
passages underneath and in the side walls thereof, which flues, tunnels, or
passages are made to pass underneath the floors of such furnaces or kilns and
in the side walls thereof, so that, after the glass articles introduced into a
furnace or kiln to be annealed have sufficiently accumulated, the air may be
permitted to pass through the flues. or passages, and carry off the heat
radiating or escaping from the bottom or under side of the floor, and thus cause
or assist in causing the furnace and its contents to be more rapidly and
uniformly cooled down to the proper temperature at which the articles can be
withdrawn. If it be desired to prevent the access of cold air to the flues or
passages during the accumulation of the articles to be annealed in a furnace
or kiln, and before it becomes necessary to have recourse to ventilation for the
purpose of cooling the furnace or kiln and its contents, they may be furnished.
with doors or shutters, or any other convenient, means for closing them, and
the doors or shutters may be also used for the purpose of regulating the
ventilation or draught of cold air, so that it may be progressively increased or
otherwise regulated during the cooling of the furnace or kiln and its contents.
The flues or passages may be made to terminate in or communicate with a
.chimney or chimnies, or may, when opened, communicate immediately with
the surrounding atmosphere.. During the whole or any part of the time
during which a furnace, or kiln and its contents may be cooling, artificial
means may be adopted to drive, impel, or draw. currents of air more rapidly
through the flues or passages for the purpose of accelerating the cooling. In

page_text: the accompanying Drawings I have given Figures shewing parts of a furnace
or kiln proper for annealing plate glass, and constructed with air flues, or
passages under its floor and in its side walls, according to my Invention.
In these Drawings, Figure 1 is a plan or horizontal section taken through
the flues or passages underneath the floor of the furnace or kiln. Figure 2 is
'a vertical cross section on an enlarged scale of the floor of the furnace or
kiln and the flues or passages underneath it, and a flue and a portion of
'another flue in each of the side walls. Figure 3 is a plan of the floor of the
'furnace or kiln; and Figure 4, a transverse section or end view of two of
the quarls or flats of which the floor is composed, showing their rebated sides
for edges and the manner of putting them together. In these Figures the
parts marked A are the external walls of the furnace or kiln; B, dwarf walls,
made of brick or any other fit material for supporting the floor; C, the air
flues or passages under the floor; D, the side flues in the walls; and E, the
quarls or flats composing the floor of the furnace or kiln, which are of such a
size and laid in such a manner, that their ends, which are not rebated, meet
together upon the 'tops of the dwarf walls which support them, whilst the
rebated sides or edges of the quarls meet together above or over the flues or
'passages and are joined together, as shewn in Figure 4; Fare fire-places for
heating the furnace or 'kiln. When intended to be used for cooling the
furnace or kiln, the flues may be left perfectly'open at the ends, as shewn in
Figures 1 and 2, so as 'to permit a free passage of the air, and at other times
may be closed by any convenient means.
.
Upon the 'floor (shewn in Figure 3) a layer of sand is placed, in which
bricks are paved or placed in the usual way, and the furnace or kiln is heated
in 'the usual manner, as well as furnished with 'the usual openings for
admitting the articles to be annealed and taking them out after the completion
of the process. The number of arches, flues, tunnels, or passages under the
floor of an annealing furnace or kiln made according to my Invention 'may
of course be varied, and instead of supporting the floor of such a furnace or
kiln 'upon' dwarf walls, as shewn in the Drawings, pillars may be used for'that
purpose. By opening the air flues, passages, or passage in a'furnace or kiln
of this description so as to admit a free ventilation or passage of the air, I
have found that the furnace or kiln and its contents may be cooled and its
contents withdrawn several hours 'sooner than could be effected in ordinary
furnaces or kilns made without 'such flues or passages.
said
Having now particularly ascertained and described the nature of my
Invention, and the manner of performing it, I declare that I claim as my

page_text: Invention, the constructing of furnaces or kilns for annealing glass with flues,
tunnels, or any hollow passage or passages under their floors and in the side
walls thereof, for the purpose of admitting the passage of air through them,
and causing the furnaces or kilns and their contents to be more rapidly and
uniformly cooled.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas James Swinburne, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six.
THOMAS JAMES SWINBURNE. (L.S.)