IMPROVEMENTS IN KILNS FOR CALCINING IRONSTONE AND LIMESTONE
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gjers, of Middlesbrough, in the North Riding
of the County of York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN KILNS FOR CALCINING IRONSTONE AND LIMESTONE"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gjers at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
December 1868.
I, JOHN GJERS; of Middlesbrough, in the North Riding of the County
of York, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KILNS FOR CALCINING IRONSTONE AND LIMESTONE," to be as
follows:-
It consists, firstly, in supporting the kiln, which is formed with a plate
shell having a brick lining inside, and may either be circular or of any other
convenient form in plan, upon a series of pillars or supports, in such manner
as that a space may be left all around beneath the bottom of the shell of the
kiln (that is to say, between the bottom of the shell and the floor) for the
purpose of allowing the calcined stone, as it falls down, to be conveniently
removed from every side all around the kiln, either by shovels or other suit-
able means.
Secondly, in the employment of a cone or other similar figure or com-
bination of parts of cones, or similar figures situated centrally at the bottom of
the kiln, and presenting its or their apex upward for the purpose of causing

page_text: the calcined stone as it falls to the bottom to be directed outward, (from the
centre) all around, towards, or through the space left, as before described,
between the bottom of the shell of the kiln and the floor.
Thirdly, in cases where gas or gases from the blast furnace or other source
or sources is or are employed for heating the kiln, I make use of a hollow
frustum of a cone, or other similar figure situated as described with reference
to the second part of my Invention, and surmounted by a hollow cone or
other similar figure constituting a cap, the base of which is sufficiently large
to overhang the upper part of the frustum or other similar figure, thereby
leaving an annular or other space or spaces between the upper part of the
frustum and the lower part of the cone or other similar figure. The gas or
gases employed is or are conveyed by one or more suitable passages or flues
to the under side of the frustum or other similar figure, and thence issue by
the annular or other opening or space or spaces described into the kiln. The
overhanging of the lower part of the upper cone, or similar figure or cap pre-
vents any of the materials contained in the kiln from falling into and stopping
up the annular or other space or spaces whereby the gas or gases enter
the kiln.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Gjers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th June 2
1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GJERS, of Middlesbrough, in the North Riding of the County of York,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Gjers, Her special licence that I, the said John Gjers,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Gjers, 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 KILNS
FOR CALCINING IRONSTONE AND LIMESTONE," upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said John Gjers, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 John Gjers, 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 fol-
lowing statement:-
It consists, firstly, in supporting the kiln, which is formed with a plate shell
having a brick lining inside, and may either be circular or of any other con-
venient form in plan, upon a series of pillars or supports, in such manner as
that a space may be left all around beneath the bottom of the shell of "the
kiln (that is to say, between the bottom of the shell and the floor) for the
purpose of allowing the calcined stone as it falls down to be conveniently
removed from every side all around the kiln, either by shovels or other suit-
able means.
Secondly, in the employment of a cone or other similar figure, or combi-
nation of parts of cones, or similar figures situated centrally at the bottom of
the kiln, and presenting its or their apex upward for the purpose of causing
the calcined stone as it falls to the bottom to be directed outward (from the
centre) all around, towards, or through the space left, as before described,
between the bottom of the shell of the kiln and the floor.
Thirdly, in cases where gas or gases from the blast furnace, or other source
or sources is or are employed for heating the kiln, I make use of a hollow
frustum of a cone or other similar figure, situated as described with reference
to the second part of my Invention, and surmounted by a hollow cone or
other similar figure constituting a cap, the base of which is sufficiently large
to overhang the upper part of the frustum or other similar figure, thereby
leaving an annular or other space or spaces between the upper part of the
frustum and the lower part of the cone or other similar figure. The gas or
gases employed are conveyed by one or more suitable passages or flues to the
under side of the frustum or other similar figure, and thence issue by the
annular or other opening, or space or spaces described into the kiln. The
overhanging of the lower part of the upper cone, or similar figure or cap
prevents any of the materials contained in the kiln from falling into and
stopping up the annular or other space or spaces, whereby the gas or gases.
enter the kiln.

page_text: The accompanying Sheet of Drawings represents a kiln constructed ac
cording to my said Invention, and intended to be heated by gases from a blast
furnace or other source.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the kiln; Fig. 2, a horizontal section, and
Fig. 8, an elevation of the same.
d
a represents the shell of the kiln formed of plate iron, and lined with fire-
brick 6; the kiln rests on six columns or supports o, thus leaving a space
between the bottom of the kiln and the floor f (entirely uninterrupted,
excepting by the columns) from which the calcined materials as they fall
down may be withdrawn at every side, or all around the kiln. A flue or
channel g connected with the blast furnace, or other source from which the
gas for heating the kiln is to be drawn, passes beneath the floor f to the centre
of the bottom of the kiln, where it turns vertically upward and terminates at
the summit of the conical frustum h, covered by the hollow conical cap i
which overhangs the summit, so as to leave an annular space between it and
the lower part of the cap i for the passage of the gases into the kiln.
In cases where gas or gases is or are not employed for heating the kiln,
but where it is heated by fuel in the ordinary manner, I construct the exterior
part of the kiln and mount it on pillars or supports as before described; but
instead of forming the cone, pyramid, or other similar figure, whereby the
calcined materials are guided outward in their descent, in two parts, one over-
hanging the other as described, I make use for that purpose only of a single
cone, pyramid, or other similar figure.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same may be performed, I desire to point
out that the form of the kiln employed may be variously modified, as, for
example, it may be elliptical, square, rectangular, or polygonal in plan, and
the interior conical or pyramidical figure correspondingly varied. It is also
obvious that the form of the supporting pillars and other particulars may be
varied in different ways without departing from the characteristic features of
my Invention, in respect of which I do not, therefore, confine or limit myself
to the precise forms or arrangements represented; but I claim,-
Firstly, supporting the kiln upon a series of pillars or supports in such
manner as that a space may be left all around beneath the bottom or lower
edge thereof and the floor for the purpose of allowing the calcined stone as it
falls down to be conveniently removed from every side or all around the kiln,
substantially as described.
Secondly, the use or employment of a cone, pyramid, or other similar figure
or combitation of parts of cones, pyramids, or other similar figures situated

page_text: at the bottom of the kiln for the purpose of causing the calcined stone as it
falls down to be directed outwards from the centre all around, through, or
towards a space left between the bottom of the kiln and the floor, substantially
as described.
.
Thirdly, in cases where gas or gases from the blast furnace or other source
or sources is or are employed for heating the kiln, the introduction of such
gas or gases into the body of the furnace by means of a hollow cone, pyramid,
or other similar figure or combination of figures substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gjers, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.