IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICK KILNS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Wray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd March 1880.
GEORGE WRAY, of Rotherfield, in the County of Sussex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BRICK KILNS."
'
It has been proposed to burn bricks in a continuous manner by wheeling them
on suitable trucks into a furnace chamber like a tunnel, a fresh truck load of
unburnt bricks being introduced at one end of the chamber when a truckload of
burnt bricks is taken out at the other end. My Invention relates to brick kilns of
this description, which I construct and work in such a manner as to obtain with
great economy of fuel a thorough and uniform burning of the bricks. For this
purpose I provide near the middle of the length of the tunnel chamber a number
of openings through its roof, each opening having a removeable cap or cover, and
near one end, which is the entering end of the tunnel chamber, at a low level I
-provide lateral passages leading to a chimney. For conveying the bricks into,
along, and out of the oven I provide a number of trucks suited to run on rails laid
on the floor of the chamber. The trucks have metal wheels and framing, on which
above the wheels is laid a floor of fire bricks or tiles. The floor of the truck is
made with a lip or flange on each side projecting downwards into a sand trough
formed along the side of the oven so as to prevent passage of air to or from the
space in the tunnel above the truck floors, which space constitutes the oven. The
bricks-to-be-burnt are built-on the truck floor with interstices between them, and
vertical well holes corresponding in position with the holes through the roof of the
tunnel. The trucks thus loaded having been run in to the tunnel in such number
as to occupy its full length, and the tunnel being closed by doors at its ends, fuel
is fed through the roof holes into the well boles among the bricks immediately
below. The air for maintaining the combustion of this fuel having to pass from
openings in the one end door through the interstices of the bricks already burnt,
whilst it cools them, becomes itself heated, and the products of combustion having
to pass through the interstices of the unburnt bricks to the flues at the entering
Price 6d1

page_text: end of the oven, dry and heat these bricks before they reach the position in which
they are to be fully burnt. When the bricks on the middle truck are sufficiently
burnt a truck of burnt bricks is run out at the one end of the tunnel, and a truck
of moist bricks is run in at the other end, all the trucks being thus moved one
truck length forwards. The bricks on the truck now under the feeding holes are
burnt in their turn by fuel supplied as above described, this fuel becoming kindled
by the heat which had been imparted to the bricks in their previous position,
and by the hot products of combustion from the bricks that were previously being
burnt.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said George Wray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
August 1880.
GEORGE WRAY, of Rotherfield, in the County of Sussex.
BRICK KILNS."
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
It has been proposed to burn bricks in a continuous manner by wheeling them
on suitable trucks into a furnace chamber like a tunnel, a fresh truck load of
unburnt bricks being introduced at one end of the chamber when a truck load of
burnt bricks is taken out at the other end. My Invention relates to brick kilns
of this description which I construct and work in such a manner as to obtain with
great economy of fuel a thorough and uniform burning of the bricks. For this
purpose 1 provide near the middle of the length of the tunnel chamber a number of
openings through the roof, each opening having a removeable cap or cover, and near
one end, which is the entering end of the tunnel chamber at a low level, I provide
lateral passages leading to a chimney. For conveying the bricks into, along, and
out of the kiln I provide a number of trucks suited to run on rails laid on the
floor of the chamber. The trucks have metal wheels and framing, on which, above
the wheels, is laid a floor of fire bricks or tiles. The floor of the truck is made
with a lip or flange on each side projecting downwards into a saud trough formed
along the side of the kiln so as to prevent passage of air to or from the space in the
tunnel above the truck floors, which space constitutes the kiln. The bricks to be
burnt are built on the truck floor with interstices between them, and vertical well
holes corresponding in position with the holes through the roof of the tunnel. The
trucks thus loaded having been run into the tunnel in such number as to occupy
its full length, and the tunnel being closed by doors at its ends, fuel is fed through
the roof holes into the well holes, among the bricks immediately below. The air
for maintaining the combustion of this fuel baving to pass from openings in the
one end door through the interstices of the bricks already burnt, whilst it cools
them, become itself heated, and the products of combustion having to pass through
the interstices of the unburnt bricks to the flues at the entering end of the kiln,
dry and heat these bricks before they reach the position in which they are to be

page_text: fully burnt. When the bricks on the middle truck are sufficiently burnt a truck
of burnt bricks is run out at the one end of the tunnel, and a truck of moist bricks
is run in at the other end, all the trucks being thus moved one truck length
forwards. The bricks on the truck now under the feeding holes are burnt in their
turn by fuel supplied as above described, this fuel becoming kindled by the heat
which had been imparted to the bricks in their previous position, and by the hot
products of combustion from the bricks that were previously being burnt.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section partly in elevation; Fig 2, a plan partly sec-
tional; Fig. 3, a transverse section near one end; and Fig. 4 a transverse section
near the middle, Fig. 5 being a general plan shewing the arrangement of the kiln
and rails for the trucks. The kiln, as is shewn in these Figures, is a long tunnel
chamber T, which is closed by iron doors t at the ingress end, and t¹ at the opposite
or egress end, the door t¹ being made with openings for air provided with slides or
valves, by which the quantity of entering air can be regulated. The middle part
of the tunnel where the heat is most intense should be faced internally with fire
bricks, the other parts of the tunnel may be built of ordinary bricks. At the side
of the tunnel near the ingress end, which is closed by the door t, there is a chimney L,
with which communicate, by flues, a number of passages H through the sides of the
tunnel, and also passages K through its roof, each passage being provided with a
valve or damper by which it can be more or less closed or opened. Near the
middle of the tunnel there are a number of openings F through the roof, each of
these openings having a removeable cap or cover by which it can be closed, the
edge of the cap being immersed in sand to prevent passage of air.
There are
provided trucks B made with iron wheels to run on rails R, and with metal
framing supporting a fire brick floor b. A lip or flange projects down from each
side of the truck into a sand trough S formed in a recess extending along each
side of the tunnel so as to prevent passage of air from the open space below the
truck floors to the space above, which constitutes the kiln. The bricks A are
stacked upon the floors of the trucks B with interstices between them, and with
longitudinal and lateral passages D at the bottom of the pile, these passages com-
municating with vertical well holes C which are arranged so as to correspond in
position with the openings F through the roof of the tunnel.
In order to explain the mode of operating with the kiln I will suppose that the
tunnel contains a train of the trucks B loaded with bricks, and completely occu-
pying the length of the tunnel, that the bricks under the holes F are being burnt
by fuel dropped into their well holes through these openings, that the bricks E
towards the ingress end t of the tunnel are moist, and becoming dried and heated
whilst the bricks G towards the egress end t¹ of the tunnel have been burnt and
are being cooled. The door t is closed, the valves in the door t¹ are to a certain
extent opened, the openings F are closed by their covers, and some of the passages H
and K are opened, particularly the lower passages H, which are on the level of the
floors of the trucks. Air entering through the openings of the door t passes
through the interstices of the burnt bricks G and cools them, becoming itself heated.
This hot air maintains combustion of the fuel in the well holes of the bricks
under F. The products of combustion pass through the interstices of the bricks E,
drying and heating them, and_escape_by_the-passages-H-and K-to-the chimney L
along with the vapours from the drying bricks. After a certain time, when the
bricks under F have been sufficiently burut, the doors t and t¹ are opened, a truck
of the burnt and cooled bricks G is run out of the tunnel at t¹, and a truck of
moist bricks is run into the tunnel at t, the whole train of trucks being thus
advanced the length of one truck. The doors t, t¹, being again closed fuel is dropped
through some of the openings F into the well holes of the bricks now brought
below them, and this fuel becomes kindled by the heat that had been imparted to
the bricks before they reached the burning position, and by the products of com-

page_text: bustion of the fuel among the bricks in advance of them. Thus each truck load in
its turn passes through the successive drying, heating, burning, and cooling stages,
the fresh moist bricks being introduced at one end of the tunnel and the burnt
and cooled bricks being taken out at the other end. The rails on which the
trucks run through the tunnel communicate externally by shunts, points, or turn-
tables, with other sets of rails, as indicated in Fig. 5, so that the fresh bricks can
be readily transferred from various parts of the brick field to the kiln, and the
finished bricks can be readily conveyed to the place where they are delivered.
During the whole process there is no handling of the bricks, such as is in many
cases apt to deform the soft bricks or break the edges and corners of the burnt
bricks. The fuel is entirely supplied at one part of the roof of the tunnel, to which
it can be readily conveyed by a lift or incline. Thus there is a great economy of
labour, and as the whole heat of combustion is utilised in heating the air which
cools the burnt bricks G, in burning the bricks under F, and in heating and drying
the bricks E there is a large economy of fuel. Moreover, the heat for burning the
bricks being well distributed among them, and the cooling of the burnt bricks
and the heating and drying of the unburnt bricks being performed in a gradual
manner the burning is effected uniformly without the deformation, cracking, or
vitrifying, that frequently damage the products of ordinary kilns.
Although I have described the process as applied to bricks, obviously other
articles, such as tiles, clay pipes, or vessels, or articles of pottery, may be treated
according to the process described, and the dimensions, proportions, and arrange-
ments of kilns for operating in this manner may be varied without departing from
the essential character of the Invention which I have described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I hereby declare that I make no general claim to the burning of
bricks as they travel on trucks along a kiln of tunnel form, but I claim in respect
of brick kilns of that description,―
First. Introducing fuel through holes in the roof of the kiln near the middle of
its length into well holes provided among the bricks stacked with interstices on
the trucks below, admitting the air for supporting the combustion of the fuel at
the outlet end of the kiln so that it has to pass through the interstices of the burnt
kilns, cooling them and becoming itself heated, and emitting the products of com-
bustion at the inlet end of the kiln so that they have to pass through the interstices
of the bricks advancing to be burnt, drying them, substantially as herein
described.
Second. The construction of brick kiln to operate in the manner above referred
to, as herein described with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Wray, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
GEORGE WRAY (LS)