IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR PUDDLING IRON
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Frederick Cashin and
Joseph Felix Allender at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 1st May 1865.
We, THOMAS FREDERICK CASHIN, Civil Engineer, of Sheffield, in the County
of York, and JOSEPH FELIX ALLENDER, Iron Works Manager, of Parkgate,
near Sheffield, aforesaid, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR PUDDLING IRON," to be
as follows:-
We propose to subdivide each puddling furnace in the direction of its
length into two or more chambers by introducing iron hollow partitions or
bridges protected in the usual manner by fire-bricks, cinders, or iron ore.
The partitions may be kept cool by allowing water to flow continuously
through them; each chamber to be constructed in the form of a parallelogram,
the full length which the width of the furnace will admit of. The length and
capacity of the chambers may diminish in proportion to their distance from the
fire; or for large balls one such chamber only sufficiently capacious may be
used. To each chamber there must be a separate door. This form of
chamber will admit of the process of puddling being effectually regulated by
means of machinery. We propose to use in each chamber a hollow tool
made in the ordinary form. The tool is preserved by means of water, steam,
or other gaseous fluid passing as required through it. This tool we intend to
work by a bar slung from an axle above the furnace and about four feet
from the front; to this bar horizontal motion is imparted by means of an
oscillating horizontal lever driven by a crank shaft or an eccentric on a plain

page_text: shaft. The motion can be communicated to the bar or stopped instantly by
connecting or detaching the lever from a moveable cylindrical pin which
works in a slot in the slung bar. Intermittent vertical motion is communi-
cated to the tool by cambs attached to the shaft, which, at the approaching
*termination of each backward and forward stroke works into a slot in a vertical
lifting bar slung close to the furnace front. To this bar projections with
moveable guides are attached, which lift the tool at each end of the chamber,
and regulate its lateral movement. For the moveable guides, cranks, and
springs to communicate a pendulum motion to the lifting bar, may be
substituted. Other machinery may be arranged to accomplish the operation
of puddling in furnaces constructed of the form contemplated by our said
Invention. The inconvenience which results from the present mode of
removing the slagg or clinkers which adheres to the furnace grate and retards
the operation of puddling, we propose to remedy by substituting for the bars
now in use bars let into socketed bearers; these bearers are in length only
half the width of the firing place. Each half of the furnace grate is inde-
pendent of the other, and is borne nearly in equilibrio by a lever at each end,
the jaws of which hold a pivot in the middle of each bearer. The pivot at
the end of the grate next the outer wall of the furnace is formed with a
square end; a barrel key applied to this end turns the grate when lowered
into a suitable position. The levers are attached on each side of the furnace
to an axis which is prolonged through the furnace wall to receive a balance
lever and weight sufficient to sustain the grate in its place and bear up the
fuel upon it. Instead of separate bars let into end bearers each half grate
may be cast in one piece with a water channel running throughout it. When
it is desired to clear the grate from slag or clinkers flat slide bars are passed
through an opening in the end of the furnace to support the fuel above it on
one half grate. The balance lever on that side is then raised sufficiently to
lower the grate clear of the slide bars. The grate is then turned upside down
by the application of the turn key to the end of the balance pivot. On lowering
the balance lever the grate is raised into position, the slagg falls or is
knocked off the under side, and the slide bars are withdrawn. The same
operation is performed when requisite on the other side of the fire. The fire
can thus be effectually cleared of clinkers in a few minutes and the process of
puddling promoted.