Improvements in Recuperators or Apparatus for Utilizing the Waste Heat of Furnaces.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Apr., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 13th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 17th Jan., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by GOTTFRIED PIETZKA, Engineer, of Witkowitz,
Moravia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.]
Improvements in Recuperators or Apparatus for Utilizing the Waste
Heat of Furnaces.
We, JOSEPH VON LANGER, Engineer, and LEONARD COOPER, Iron Merchant, both
of 32, Park Row, Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to appliances which utilize the heat contained in the waste
gases of furnaces, for heating cold air or gases.
We employ two or more seis or blocks of parallel tubes placed side by side, each
tube being provided, at its ends, with flanges or muffs of earthenware of rectangular
or prismatic shape, in such a manner, that the muffs situated at the same end form a
continuous wall and serve to keep each tube at a certain distance from its neighbours,
the said wall being only traversed by the inlet or outlet of the tubes. In addition to
the end walls, one or more intermediate walls may be formed in the same way by
muffs applied to the tubes between their ends.
The hot gases or fumes pass across the tubes at right angles to the same, so as to
heat the tubes from the outside, and are guided on the sides by the muffs or end walls;
they pass across the first block (filling the open spaces between the tubes) then across
the second, and the following blocks, to the chimney, preferably in a straight line,
without changing their direction. The cold air or gases to be heated pass through
the blocks of tubes longitudinally, entering through the last block, through its front
wall, and leaving it through the rear wall, then passing through a flue to the rear wall
of the next block, proceeding through the tubes of the same to its front wall, in order
to reach a second Hue, which leads the gases along the front wall to the front of the
next block. Having entered the tubes of this block through its front wall, they travel
along the same and escape through the rear wall into a third flue, which leads either
to the rear wall of the following block or to the furnace, in which the heated air or
gas is to be used.
Thus the heating gases and the cold air or gas come in contact with the different
blocks in the reverse order, and the dust or soot which settles on the outside of the
tubes can be easily removed.
Instead of heating the tubes from the outside, the arrangement may be reversed,
that is, the hot gases may pass through the interior of the tubes from end to end while
the cold air or gas travels between and across the same.
Dated this 25th day of April 1800
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
433, Strand, London, Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Recuperators or Apparatus for Utilizing the Waste
Heat of Furnaces.
We, JOSEPH VON LANGER, Engineer, and LEONARD COOPER, Iron Merchant, of
32, Park Row, Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to appliances for heating air or gases by means of the waste
gases of furnaces, and more particularly to recuperators composed of two or more
separate blocks.

page_text: In the example shown by the accompanying drawings, Figs. 1 to 6, three of these
blocks are built up side by side and on the same level, so that the heating gases may
pass through the blocks in a straight line, while the air passes through the same in a
zig-zag line, entering at the coldest part of the apparatus and leaving it at the hottest
part. This arrangement also facilitates cleaning, which is important in the case
of puddling processes.
In the drawings, Fig. 1 is an end elevation and partial section, Fig. 2 a horizontal
and Fig. 3 a vertical transverse section of an apparatus embodying this invention,
while Figs. 4 to 6 represent certain details on a larger scale.
Each block is composed of iubes a. provided at the ends with flanges, sleeves or
muffs of such a shape, that the flanges or muffs situated at the same end form a
continuous wall (A1, A2 or A3 or B1, B2 or B³) and serve to keep each tube at the
required distance from its neighbours, tho said wall being only traversed by the inlet
or outlet of the tubes.
In addition to the end walls, one or more intermediate walls are forined by making
each tube of two or more lengths joined together by square muffs or other expansion
joints. The space between contiguous blocks is closed at both ends by suitable walls,
as shown. The air to be heated passes through the interior of the tubes of each block;
while the heating gases discharged from the furnace pass across the tubes and heat
them from the outside. But this arrangement may be reversed.
In the drawings, the course of the air and of the waste furnace gases is indicated by
arrows, that is to say, the atmospheric air (or the gas to be heated), enters the last
recuperator block R³ through its front wall A3 and leaves it through the rear wall B³,
after which it passes through a short side flue C to the rear wall of the second
block R², proceeding through the tubes of the same to its front wall A2, where it
reaches a second side flue B, which leads the gases to the front of the first block R¹.
Finally they travel through the tubes of this block to a third flue E which leads the
heated air to the furnace for entertaining combustion.
The waste gases from the furnace travel across the first block R¹, so as to fill the
open spaces between the tubes, then in the same manner across the second R2 and
the third block R³ to the chimney flue F, without changing their direction. They are
guided by the end flanges or sleeves of the tubes, that is to say, the walls of the blocks.
Consequently, the heating gases on the one hand, and the cold air or gas on the
other hand, come into contact with the different blocks in the reverse order, and the
dust or soot which settles on the outside of the tubes can be easily removed from
the top, from the front, or from the back of each block.
The tubes are preferably made of fire-proof earthenware, the interior of the tubes is
cylindrical, and the flanges or muffs are square, but iron or other suitable material and
other cross sections may be chosen.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section and an end view of tubes provided at one end with
square sockets, while the other end is plain and fits into the socket of its neighbour.
Fig. 5 shows a tube provided with sockets at both ends. In Fig. 6 the tubes are of
uniform section and joined together by square sleeves or muffs.
The different, blocks of the recuperator may be placed underground and on the same
level, as shown by the drawings, or they may be arranged vertically one over the other
and enclosed in an iron casing mounted on the floor of the furnace room.
The recuperators are preferably placed close to the gas furnace, either on one side
or on both sides or at the back of the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is-
1. A recuperator composed of two or more separate blocks, connected with each
other by side flues, alternately at the front and at the back, each block consisting of
tubes perpendicular to the direction of the heating gases, and of walls parallel to the
same, the flues being arranged in such a manner, that the atmospheric air or the cold
gas travels successively through the tubes of the first block to the first side flue,

page_text: through the tubes of the second block to the second side flue, and so on to the furnace,
thus following a zig-zag course across and against the current of heating gases,
substantially as described.
2. A recuperator composed of two or more separate blocks connected with each
other by flues, each block consisting of tubes perpendicular to the direction of the
beating gases, and provided with flanges or muffs forming continuous walls parallel to
the direction of the said gases, and the flues being arranged in such a manner, that
the atmospheric air or cold gas travels successively through the tubes of the first
block, through the first side flue, through the tubes of the second block and through
the second side flue to the tubes of the third block or to the furnace, thus following a
zig-zag course, across and against the current of heating gases, substantially as
described.
Dated this 4th day of Danowhow 1800