IM- PROVEMENTS IN FURNACES, AND IN THE COMBUSTION OF FUEL FOR MELTING STERL AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES WHERE HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE REQUIRED
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Alexander Forbes Suter, of the City of
Hereford, Banker, and Thomas Callender Hinde, of Fownhope, near
Hereford, aforesaid, Colliery Proprietor, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN FURNACES, AND IN THE COMBUSTION OF FUEL FOR MELTING
STERL AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES WHERE HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE REQUIRED"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Alexander Forbes
Suter and Thomas Callender Hinde at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 26th February
1869.
We, JOHN ALEXANDER FORBES SUTER, of the City of Hereford, Banker,
and THOMAS CALLENDER HINDE, of Fownhope, near Hereford, aforesaid,
Colliery Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES, AND IN THE COMBUSTION OF FUEL FOR MELTING
STEEL, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES WHERE HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE REQUIRED," to
be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of
furnaces for melting steel and for other purposes, and in the combustion

page_text: of fuel in the said furnaces, by which improvements great economy of
fuel is effected, a high temperature obtained, and great control over the
action of the furnaces at the same time secured.
Our improvements are also applicable to the furnaces of steam boilers.
We construct the furnace of two or more principal parts, namely, of a
gas generating chamber, a combustion chamber, and a superheating
chamber. In the first or gas chamber the coal, peat, or other solid fuel
is converted into gaseous fuel by being ignited and supplied with a
sufficient quantity of air to convert the carbon of the fuel into carbonic
oxide. The second chamber of the furnace consists of a reverberatory
or other chamber into which gaseous fuel produced in the first chamber
mixed with the requisite quantity of air for combustion is burned. In
the third or supplementary chamber the gaseous fuel may be heated
prior to. being burned in the combustion chamber. We do not limit
ourselves to any particular form in the essential parts of the furnace,
nor to the material of which they are made, but we prefer to make
the gas generating chamber of iron lined with fire-brick, and having
an opening at bottom at which the clinker can readily be removed;
or the clinker may be fluxed out by charging a little lime with the fuel.
We supply fuel to the gas generating chamber by an opening at top
closed by a valve or closing apparatus which permits of the introduction
of the fuel without material loss of gas. The requisite quantity of air
is introduced into the gas generating chamber from a fan or other
blowing apparatus, and is delivered into the said chamber by a tuyere or
tuyeres, and in order the more effectually to bring the air into contact
with the ignited fuel where the fuel is very small or in a fine state of
division we prefer to deliver it into the said chamber by a series of small
openings in the tuyeres instead of by one or two large openings. The
combustion chamber in which the gaseous fuel is burnt and in which
the steel is melted, or the other operations of the furnace performed, has
a size and form suitable to the particular use to which the furnace is
applied. We heat the gaseous fuel before introducing it into the
combustion chamber so as to raise its temperature, and thereby produce
a more intense heat in the furnace either by passing it through heated
tubes, or by allowing it to undergo combustion. When we heat the
gaseous fuel by the former method we prefer to construct a heating
chamber above or in connection with the combustion chamber, through
which heating chamber the waste heat from the combustion chamber is
- passed. Fire-clay tubes passing through the heating chamber conduct

page_text: the gaseous fuel to the combustion chamber, which gascous fuel is
superheated in its passage through the said tubes. When we effect the
heating of the gaseous fuel by its own combustion we mix atmospheric
air with it and ignite it. The gaseous fuel which has thus been burned
is passed through ignited carbonaceous matter, whereby it takes up
carbon and becoming revivified passes to the combustion chamber.
strongly heated and with its full combustible power. By heating-
gaseous fuel in the ways described an intense heat is produced in the
combustion chamber. When the furnace is used for reducing metallic.
ores the gascous fuel is not superheated by the waste heat from the
combustion chamber, but the gaseous fuel passes into and through the
combustion chamber to the superheating chamber and is burnt in the
superheating chamber:
In applying our improvements to the furnaces of steam engine boilers
the superheating of the gaseous fuel is unnecessary. By varying the
quantity of air mixed with the gaseous fuel during combustion the
character of the flame produced may be varied so as to possess either a
reducing or an oxidizing action. As a convenient means of ascertaining
the character of the flame we employ in the furnace a small lump of
coal and a lump of peroxide of manganese. When the flame has an
oxidizing character the gaseous fuel volatilized from the coal burns with
a bright light while there is no apparent action on the manganese.
When the flame has a reducing character there is no flame from the coal
but the lump of oxide of manganese becomes intensely ignited by the
combustion which takes place on its surface between the oxygen
evolved from it and the carbonaceous matter of the gaseous fuel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Alexander Forbes Suter and Thomas
Callender Hinde in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
ALEXANDER FORBES SUTER, of the City of Hereford, Banker, and
THOMAS CALLENDER HINDE, of Fownhope, near Hereford aforesaid,
Colliery Proprietor, send greeting.
Π
Tellent Veiesty Queen Victoria by Her

page_text: Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said John Alexander Forbes Suter
and Thomas Callender Hinde, Her special licence that we, the said John
Alexander Forbes Suter and Thomas Callender Hinde, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Alexander
Forbes Suter and Thomas Callender Hinde, our 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 AND IN THE
COMBUSTION OF FUEL FOR MELTING STEEL AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES WHERE HIGH
TEMPERATURES ARE REQUIRED," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said John Alexander Forbes Suter and Thomas Callender Hinde,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us
or them, 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 Callender Hinde, on behalf
of myself and the said John Alexander Forbes Suter, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of
furnaces for melting steel and for other purposes; and in the combustion
of fuel in the said furnaces herein-after described, by which improve-
ments great economy of fuel is effected, a high temperature obtained,
and great control over the action of the furnaces at the same time
secured. Our improvements are also applicable to the furnaces of steam
boilers. We construct the furnace of two or more principal parts,
namely, of a gas generating chamber, a combustion chamber, and a
superheating chamber. In the first or gas chamber the coal, peat, or
other solid fuel is converted into gaseous fuel by being ignited and

page_text: supplied with a sufficient quantity of air to convert the carbon of the
fuel into carbonic oxide. The second chamber of the furnace consists of
a reverberatory or other chamber into which gaseous fuel produced in
the first chamber mixed with the requisite quantity of air for com-
bustion is burned. In the third or supplementary chamber the gaseous.
fuel may be heated prior to being burned in the combustion chamber...
We do not limit ourselves to any particular form in the essential parts of
the furnace nor to the material of which they are made, but we prefer to
make the gas generating chamber of iron lined with fire-brick, and
having an opening at bottom through which the clinker can readily
be removed; or the clinker may be fluxed out by charging a little lime
with the fuel. We supply fuel to the gas generating chamber by an
opening at top closed by a valve or closing apparatus which permits of
the introduction of the fuel without material loss of gas. The requisite
quantity of air is introduced into the gas generating chamber from a fan
or other blowing apparatus, and is delivered into the said chamber by a
tuyere or tuyeres, and in order the more effectually to bring the air into
contact with the ignited fuel where the fuel is very small or in a fine
state of division we prefer to deliver it into the said chamber by a series
of small openings in the tuyeres instead of by one or two large openings.
The combustion chamber in which the gaseous fuel is burnt, and in
which the steel is melted, or the other operations of the furnace per-
formed, has a size and form suitable to the particular use to which the
furnace is applied. We heat the gaseous fuel before introducing it into
the combustion chamber so as to raise its temperature, and thereby
produce a more intense heat in the furnace, either by passing it through
heated tubes or by allowing it to undergo combustion. When we heat
the gaseous fuel by the former method we prefer to construct a heating
chamber above or in connection with the combustion chamber, through
which heating chamber the waste heat from the combustion chamber is
passed. Fire-clay tubes or tubes made of other refractory material
passing through the heating chamber conduct the gaseous fuel to the
combustion chamber, which gaseous fuel is superheated in its passage
through the said tubes. When we effect the heating of the gaseous fuel
by its own combustion we mix atmospheric air with it and ignite it.
The gascous fuel which has thus been burned is passed through ignited
carbonaceous matter whereby it takes up carbon, and becoming revivified
or reconverted into combustible gas passes to the combustion chamber
strongly heated and with its full combustible power. By heating gaseous.

page_text: fuel in the ways described an intense heat is produced in the combustion
chamber. When the furnace is used for reducing metallic orcs the
gaseous fuel is not superheated by the waste heat from the combustion
chamber, but the gaseous fuel passes into and through the combustion
chamber to the superheating chamber and is burnt in the superheating
chamber.
In applying our improvements to the furnaces of steam engine boilers
the superheating of the gaseous fuel is unnecessary. By varying the
quantity of air mixed with the gaseous fuel during combustion the
character of the flame produced may be varied so as to possess either a
reducing or an oxidizing action. As a convenient means of ascertaining
the character of the flame we employ in the furnace a small lump of
coal and a lump of peroxide of manganese. When the flame has an
oxidizing character the gaseous fuel volatilized from the coal burns with
a bright light while there is no apparent action on the manganese.
When the flame has a reducing character there is no flame from the coal
but the lump of oxide of manganese becomes intensely ignited by the
combustion which takes place on its surface between the oxygen evolved
from it and the carbonaceous matter of the gaseous fuel.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that
we do not limit ourselves to the precise details herein described, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of our said
Invention, but we claim as our Invention of improvements in furnaces
and in the combustion of fuel for melting steel and for other purposes
where high temperatures are required,-
Firstly. The combination with furnaces for producing gaseous fuel of
a chamber or apparatus for heating or superheating when required the
gaseous fuel produced in the said furnaces, substantially as herein-before
described.
Secondly. Superlicating gaseous fuel by passing it prior to combustion
through pipes, tubes, or flues, in a heating or superheating chamber or
apparatus in connection with the gas producing chamber or apparatus of
the furnace, substantially as herein-before described.
Thirdly. Superheating gaseous fuel by making it undergo a preliminary
combustion so as thereby to give it a high temperature, and passing tlie
said burned gaseous fuel through ignited carbonaceous matter so as to

page_text: thereby revivify or restore its combustible character and preserve its
high temperature prior to its final combustion, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Callender Hinde have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
THOMAS CALLENDER HINDE. (L.S.)
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.