FURNACES FOR PUDDLING IRON AND STEEL."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Jones and Eli Holt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th October 1880.
HENRY JONES, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Manager of Iron
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
Works, and ELI HOLT, of West Bromwich aforesaid, Plumber.
FURNACES FOR PUDDLING IRON AND STEEL."
Our Invention consists of the construction and arrangements or combinations of
parts herein after described of furnaces for puddling iron and steel.
By our Invention the bottom plates or bed of the puddling chamber of the
furnace, as well as the flue plates, jamb plates, and back plates, are effectually kept
cool, and thereby preserved from the injurious action of the heat of the furnace.
Our Invention also effects a perfect combustion of the fuel in the fire place, and
perinits of the use of slack or small coal in the fire place; an economy of fuel is
also effected.
We construct the bed of the puddling chamber of the furnace mainly of two
bottoms, namely, of a lower or false bottom, and an upper bottom constituting the
true bottom of the bed of the furnace, the said two bottoms being arranged parallel
to one another and at a short distance apart, so as to form between them a flat air
chamber. The false bottom is supported upon pillars or upon masonry, and the true
bottom is supported upon notched longitudinal bearers on the false bottom. The
ends of the false bottom are perforated, so that blast, supplied as hereinafter
described, may enter the perforated flue bridge end of the bed and pass into the air
chamber between the two bottoms, and from thence to the perforated fire bridge
end. The flue bridge is made hollow or tubular, and communicates at its middle
with an air passage in the flue bridge end of the bed. The ends of the said hollow
flue bridge open into flues or passages made between the jamb plates of the bed and
the sides of the furnace, and by the circulation of air through the said side flues or
passages the said jamb plates are kept cool. The fire bridge is also made hollow
or tubular, and is perforated at that face which is presented to the fire place of the
furnace for supplying air or blast to the said fire place. The said hollow fire bridge
is in communication at its bottom with the perforated fire bridge end of the false
bottom of the puddling chamber, and the ends of the said fire bridge open into flues
in the side walls of the fire place, and by means of perforations or slits in the said

page_text: side walls, air or blast in the form of jets or sheets may be supplied to the fire place.
At the rear end of the furnace and opening into the perforated flue bridge end of
the false bottom is a chamber supplied with air under pressure, preferably by a fan.
The blast rises through the perforated flue bridge end of the false bottom of the
puddling chamber, and a portion of the said blast passes into the air chamber
between the false and true bottoms of the puddling chamber bed, and thereby keeps
cool the plates of the true bottom of the said bed. Another portion of the blast
passes through the hollow flue bridge, and entering the side flues herein before
described keeps the jamb plates cool. The blast after travelling through the air
chamber between the false and true bottoms of the bed, and becoming heated
thereby, escapes by the perforated fire bridge end of the false bottom into the
hollow and perforated fire bridge, from whence it is delivered partly into the back
of the fire place and partly conveyed to the side flues of the fire place to be delivered
into the said fire place at its sides. By thus delivering jets or sheets of heated blast
at the back and sides of the fire place, a vigorous and perfect combustion of the fuel
is ensured with great economy of fuel. At the front of the fire place is a perforated
plate, inclined inwards, by which plate air is supplied to the fire place at the front.
In order to control the quantity of blast delivered to the fire place one end of the
hollow fire bridge is open to the atmosphere at the side of the furnace, and the said
open end is furnished with a slide or damper. By adjusting this slide or damper a
portion of the blast may be permitted to escape, and the quantity entering the fire
place may thus be controlled with great nicety.