IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING AND BREAKING UP BLAST FURNACE SLAG AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Addison Birkbeck, of Middlesbrough, in the County
of York, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING AND BREAKING
UP BLAST FURNACE SLAG AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Addison Birkbeck at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th September 1880.
JOHN ADDISON BIRKBECK, of Middlesbrough, in the County of York.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING AND BREAKING UP BLAST FURNACE SLAG AND IN
THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED therein."
This Invention, which relates to improvements in cooling and breaking up blast
furnace slag, has for its object the performance of the operations in a more
economical manner than has been hitherto attained.
According to this Invention in lieu of running the slag from the furnace into a
casing or receptacle so as to form a solid block therein when set, as has been the
practice hitherto, one or more plugs or cores of cast iron, wrought iron, or other
suitable material are employed, which are inserted centrally or otherwise within
the casing, the slag being run into the said casing around the said plugs or cores
so as to form a hollow or recessed block or ring when set. The slag in consequence
of this arrangement cools rapidly, and the shapes produced when set are convenient
for the operation of breaking up.
In order to further assist in the breaking up of the slag after setting the plugs
or cores, or the casing, or both, may be provided with projecting ribs formed on
their surfaces.
The plugs or cores may be conical or of any other shape suitable for their
withdrawal or separation from the slag.
In lieu of forming the plugs or cores solid they may be made hollow to contain
water in order to further assist in cooling the slag, and the casing or receptacle
may also be made hollow for a like purpose.

page_text: is tilted to be finally broken up, which operation is now more easily and rapidly
performed than is practicable when the slag is cast in the ordinary manner.
A modification of my said Invention is shewn in Figures 3 and 4, in which the
plug or core is permanently fixed to the bogie, the core C' in this modification
being formed conical or tapering in the reverse direction to that of the core C in the
arrangement illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, whilst the casing A is constructed in a
similar manner to that of the said first arrangement.
When the ring of the slag is ready to be deposited and broken up the casing A
is lifted, as before, from the bogie, leaving the slag (surrounding the core, from
which it is readily broken off the ring, being already split up by the agency of the
projecting ribs c¹, as shown in the plan, Figure 4. In order to assist in the cooling
of the slag the hollow core C¹ may if desired be filled with water or other liquid.
A further method of modifying my said Invention is shown in Figure 5 and 6,
in which the plug or core is constructed of wrought iron or of other wrought
metal, and forms a water tank C to assist the cooling of the ring of slug
surrounding it. The said tank rests upon and communicates with a shallow tank
or receptacle C, which is supported upon the framing of the bogie in the manner
shown in the sectional elevation, Figure 5, and forms the platform upon which the
casing A and block of slag rest. The cooling of the ring of slag is thus still further
assisted. The projecting ribs c, Figure 6, are constructed of U shaped strips of
metal rivetted to the outside of the upper water tank, the water having communi-
cation with the said ribs, as shewn in the plan, Figure 6. A strengthening ring Y
fixed centrally around the interior of the water tank C prevents the liability of
the tank collapsing.
On Sheet 2 of the Drawings hereunto annexed modifications of my said
Invention are shewn, in which the casing or receptacle for the slag is fixed perina-
nently to the side of the furnace from which the slag is poured.
With reference to Figures 7 and 8, which represent respectively a sectional side
elevation and plan of the apparatus, the casing or receptacle is shown formed
angular, and having four sides a, a¹, a³, as, the side a being held securely at x to
the side of the furnace X, whilst the sides a¹, a², a³, are supported and work upon
pivots attached to standards or supports M arranged at each side of the rails, the
bogie travelling between the said standards.
The side as consists of two portions 1, 2, which are locked together at 3, and
have formed upon them projecting ribs E which correspond to the ribs upon the
cores shown in the first Sheet of Drawings. On the side a of the slag casing are
cast hollow wedge shaped projections F which correspond to the plugs or cores
shown in the first Sheet of Drawings.
When the bogie is to be loaded with slag from the furnace the sides a, a', a², a³,
are locked together so as to form an oblong casing slightly tapered, as shewn more
particularly in the plan, Figure 8, and the bogie is run under the said casing, as
shewn in Figure 7.
After the casing has been filled and the slag has become solid the sides are
unlocked and opened out from out of contact with the mould of slag, the two
portions of the side as being opened out by the aid of the hooks at. On the bogie
being drawn away from the furnace it carries the mould of slug with it, the slag
being freed from the projections F. The block of slag is thus moulded hollow by
the said projections, and being cracked during cooling by the agency of the
projecting ribs E can be rapidly and easily broken up.
In lieu of providing the side a of the casing with projecting F, as in the
preceding arrangement, a fixed plug or core similar to that represented in Figure 3
of the first Sheet of Drawings may be employed, as shewn at C, in the sectional
side elevation, Figure 9, and plan, Figure 10. This core is formed of a shape
corresponding to that of its casing or receptacle, as shewn in Figure 10, and is cast
with projecting ribs c³, as in the preceding modifications, for the purpose of assisting
in the breaking up of the slag. In this modification the sides of the casing are
unlocked as before, and the bogie is drawn from the furnace carrying the plug or

page_text: core C³ upon it, the mould of slag being detached therefrom, as herein before
described. In this case the core may be filled with water if desired.
A further modification of iny said Invention is shewn in sectional side elevation
in Figure 11, and in plan in Figure 12, in which the casing is provided with two
plugs or cores C4, C5, one of which (C) is fixed permanently upon the bogie, whilst
the other C³ is capable of being lifted off from the bogie after the manner described
with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the first Sheet of Drawings.
The cores are shewn formed with four sides, and are tapered, the fixed core C'
being tapered in a similar manner to that shewn in Figures 9 and 10, whilst the
movable core C³ is tapered in an opposite direction to allow of its ready removal
from the bogie, which is effected by the aid of the catches D¹ fixed at the sides of
the core.
These cores are also cast with projecting ribs c, as shown more particularly in
the plan, Figure 12, for the purposes hereinbefore described.
In all cases where fixed cores are employed they may filled with water or
other liquid to assist the colling of the slag, and the slag casing or receptacle may
itself if necessary be formed hollow to hold water for the same purpose.
I do not limit myself to any particular number of cores to be employed, or to
any particular shape or configuration of the same, as the said cores are capable of
a variety of modifications other than those described-and-illustrated in the Sheets
-of-Drawings hereunto annexed, nor do I limit myself to the particular shapes of
the slag casings or receptacles, as they-may-bo-also varied. in many ways without
departing from the nature-of-my-said Invention.
In all cases I have shewn the apparatus for effecting the cooling-and-breaking_up_
of the slag mounted upon bogies, but the said apparatus may be arranged upon any
other suitable carriage or machine to effect the removal of the slag to any
convenient spot for its final deposit.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
In cooling and breaking up blast furnace slag the employment of casings or
receptacles provided with plugs, cores, or projections, or combinations thereof, the
several parts being arranged and combined together, substantially as and for the
purposes hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Addison Birkbeck, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of March, One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
JAZON