IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Evans, of Moxley, near Wednesbury,-
in the County of Stafford, Manager of Iron Works, for the Inven-
Sealed the 5th February 1875, and dated the 27th August. 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION, left by the said William Evans at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th August 1874.
I, WILLIAM EVANS, of Moxley, near Wednesbury, in the County of
Stafford, Manager of Iron Works, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF IRON," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in combining or arranging in the manner
herein-after described the parts of furnaces to be used for melting,
refining, and puddling iron.
By the use of furnaces combined or arranged according to my Inven-.
tion economy of fuel and an increased quantity and a uniform and
improved quality of iron are obtained.

page_text: In constructing a furnace according to my Invention I arrange a
puddling chamber, a refining chamber, and a melting chamber in juxta-
position or side by side, that is, near the fire-place of the furnace I
construct the puddling chamber; next the said puddling chamber I
place the refining chamber, and between the said refining chamber and
the exit flue of the furnace I place the melting chamber. The said
melting chamber is situated at the highest level, the refining chamber at
a lower level, and the puddling chamber at a still lower level. The
puddling chamber is provided with the usual doors for operating upon
the melted and refined iron to be puddled. The longitudinal sides of the
refining chamber consist of hollow bridges or boshes through which
a circulation of water is maintained, the connection between the said
refining chamber and the puddling chamber being effected by a passage
or pipe.
In the ends of the refining chamber are tuyeres by which blasts or jets
of air are made to play upon the surface of of the melted iron in the said
chamber for effecting the refining of the said iron. The melting
chamber is shallow and has an inclined bed and is situated near to the
reverberatory arch of the furnace so as to obtain the full effect of the
waste heat passing from the furnace. The pig iron to be manufactured
into wrought iron being placed on the inclined bed of the melting
chamber, it is melted by the waste heat passing through the said
chamber, and runs into the refining chamber, where it is refined by the
action of the blasts of air upon it. After the iron has been sufficiently
refined the connecting passage between the refining chamber and the
puddling chamber is opened, when the refined iron passes by the said
passage into the said puddling chamber, where it is puddled in the
usual way.
By my Invention a charge of iron is being melted and refined in the
melting and refining chambers while a previous charge is being puddled
in the puddling chamber, the iron being melted in the melting chamber
and maintained at the required temperature in the refining chamber by
the waste heat from the puddling chamber.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Evans in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th February 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EVANS, of Moxley, near Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford,
Manager of Iron Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Evans, Her
special license that I, the said William Evans, my executors, admini
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Evans,
my 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Evans, my exe-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
thoir, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE that I, the said William Evans, do hereby declaro
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 :—
My Invention consists in combining or arranging, in the manner
herein-after described, the parts of furnaces to be used for melting,
refining, and puddling iron.
By the use of furnaces combined or arranged according to my
Invention economy of fuel and an increased quantity and a uniform
and improved quality of iron are obtained.
i

page_text: .
In constructing a furnace according to my Invention I arrange a puddling
chamber, a refining chamber, and a melting chamber in juxtaposition or
side by side, that is, near the fire-place of the furnace I construct the
puddling chamber; next the said puddling chamber I place the refining
chamber, and between the said refining chamber and the exit flue of
the furnace I place the melting chamber. The said melting chamber is
situated at the highest level, the refining chamber at a lower level, and
the puddling chamber at a still lower level. The puddling chamber is
provided with the usual doors for operating upon the melted and refined
iron to be puddled. The longitudinal sides of the refining chamber
consist of hollow bridges or boshes, through which a circulation of water
is maintained; or the said bridges may be solid. The connection between
the said refining chamber and the puddling chamber is effected by a
passage or pipe..
In the sides of the refining chamber are tuyeres by which blasts or jots
of air are made to play upon the surface of the melted iron in the said
chamber for effecting the refining of the said iron. The melting
chamber is shallow and has an inclined bed, and is situated near to the
reverberatory arch of the furnace so as to obtain the full effect of the
waste heat passing from the furnace. The pig iron to be manufactured
into wrought iron being placed on the inclined bed of the melting chamber
it is melted by the waste heat passing through the said chamber and
runs into the refining chamber where it is refined by the action of the
blasts of air upon it. After the iron has been sufficiently refined the con-
necting passage between the refining chamber and the puddling chamber
is opened, when the refined iron passes by the said passage into the said
puddling chamber where it is puddled in the usual way.
By my Invention a charge of iron is being melted and refined in the
melting and refining chambers while a previous charge is being puddled
in the puddling chamber, the iron being melted in the melting chamber
and maintained at the required temperature in the refining chamber by
the waste heat from the puddling chamber.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents in horizontal
section, and Figure 2 in longitudinal vertical section a combined
melting, refining, and puddling furnace constructed according to my
Invention.
Figures 3 and 4 are clevations of opposite sides of the furnace,
and Figure 5 is an elevation of the fire-place end of the furnace.

page_text: The same letters indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the
Drawings.
a is the puddling chamber, 6 is the refining chamber, and c is the
melting chamber of the furnace, arranged side by side. The puddling
chamber a is situated near to the fire-place e of the furnace, and next
the puddling chamber is the refining chamber b, and between the
refining chamber 6 and the exit flue f of the furnace is the melting
chamber c. g, g³ is the reverberatory arch of the furnace, the part g³
over the refining and melting chambers b, c, being somewhat lower
than that part over the puddling chamber a.
:
By an examination of Figure 2 it will be seen that the melting
chamber c is situated at the highest level, the refining chamber 6 at a
lower level, and the puddling chamber a at a still lower level. h is the
bridge separating the fire-place e from the puddling chamber a, and i is
the bridge separating the puddling chamber a from the refining
chamber b. k is the passage or pipe between the refining chamber
and puddling chamber a. By means of this passage the melted refined
iron is conveyed from the refining chamber to the puddling chamber.
In the sides of the refining chamber 6 are tuyeres 1, 1, by which blasts
of air are made to play upon the surface of the iron in the said
chamber 6 for effecting the refining of the said iron. Two or more tuyeres
may be placed at each side of the refining chamber. The bed of the
melting chamber is inclined, as seen in Figure 2, and the said bed as
well as the bed of the refining chamber is covered with sand. The
puddling chamber a is furnished with doors m, m, at either side, and
access to the refining chamber 6 is obtained by the door n (see Figure 3)
at one side of the furnace. The pig iron is placed in the melting chamber c
through the door p (see Figure 4). The pig iron being placed on the
bed of the melting chamber c, as represented in Figure 2, it is melted
by the waste heat passing through the said chamber on its way to the
exit fluef, the said heat being reverberated on to the said bed by the
arch 9. As the pig iron melts on the bed of the chamber c it runs
down the said bed into the refining chamber 6 where it is refined by the
action of the blasts or jets of air from the tuyeres 1, 1. The refined iron
is removed from the chamber 6 by opening the passage k, through
which passage
it runs into the puddling chamber a to be puddled.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I

page_text: :
claim as my Invention the improvements in furnaces used in the
manufacture of iron, herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say, arranging a puddling chamber,
a refining chamber, and a melting chamber side by side, and in the order
described and illustrated, and at different levels.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Evans, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
WILLIAM EVANS. (L.S.)