IMPROVE- *MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OVENS AND KILNS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ridgway, of Hanley, in the County of
Stafford, Earthenware Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
*MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OVENS AND KILNS.”
+
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OVENS AND KILNS."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Ridgway at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declara-
tión, on the 15th April 1854, pursuant to the 9th section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RIDGWAY, of Hanley, in the County of Stafford, Earthenware Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OVENS AND KILNS," and have petitioned Her Majesty
to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn declaration that I
verily believe myself to be the true and first Inventor thereof:
NOW KNOW. YE, that I, the said William Ridgway, do hereby declare
that the following complete Specification, under my hand and scal, fully
describes and ascertains the nature of my said. Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, viz³ :—
My Invention consists in the application to ovens or kilns for firing earthen-

page_text: ware, china, bricks, quarries, tiles, and other articles composed of clays or
earths, of a number of vertical conducting, diffusing, and radiating pipes, by
the aid of which the flame and heated air proceeding from the oven mouths
through the flues under the oven bottom are led into those parts of the oven
or kiln where their action is required, and being divided and distributed into
the various quarters of the oven or kiln, no injurious effect is produced by a
large concentration of fire at one place. The pipes may be of any form to
suit the particular situation in the oven or kiln in which they are placed, either
circular, square, triangular, or of other form; the circular vertical form I find
to be, cheapest and most generally convenient, as it will place well in the
interstices left between bungs of seggars, pillars of bricks, or other things, such
as above mentioned, requiring to be fired in an oven or kiln. I place the pipes
upon those parts of the flues in the oven bottom where their action is required;
if placed upon a main or direct flue they will operate more forcibly than when
put upon a side flue. The required bore of the pipes I find to depend upon
the size of the oven, or upon the number of pipes employed, as it is obvious
that a small number of pipes of a large bore will discharge as much heat
into the oven as a larger number of small bore. The required number and
bore of pipes for an oven or kiln of any dimensions will be readily ascertained
after one or two firings. The height to which the pipes are carried above the
oven bottom depends principally upon the height of the oven.
In a lofty
oven they have to be carried up a considerable height (as shewn in the section
of Glost oven, hereunto annexed); in a low oven the pipes require to be
lowered considerably. From the plan and section hereunto annexed it will be
seen at what distance from each other and in what position I place the pipes
for an oven of the dimensions there given. The pipes are composed of what
is termed segga clay, which is well adapted to withstand the intense heat to
which the pipes are exposed; when properly made and fixed, as shewn in the
Drawing hereunto annexed, they will be found very durable. It is desirable to
make each pipe in short joints, as shown in the section, since a ready mode is
thus afforded of adjusting the height to which they are required to stand above
the oven bottoni, namely, by simply adding to or taking away one or more
joints. In fixing a pipe over or connecting it with a flue, I provide a covering
brick, having a hole pierced through it, somewhat less than the bore of the pipe,
and then I place the pipe on or over the hole; the small internally projecting
portion of the covering brick thus acts as a protection to the end of the pipe,
preserving it from splitting by the cutting action of the flames in their first
exit from the flue. It must be understood that I claim only as my Invention,
the use of vertical conducting, diffusing, and radiating pipes of the description

page_text: and nature before mentioned, communicating with flues under the bottom of
the oven, in the manner shown and described, whether the oven or kiln employed
be circular, square, or of other convenient form.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ridgway, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named William Ridgway in the presence of
C. MILLETT THOMAS,
Hanley, Staffordshire.
WM RIDGWAY. (L.S.)