IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUCIBLES AND OTHER VESSELS FOR MELTING REFINING OR CONVERTING METALS AND MEANS FOR HEATING THE SAME
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Elton Bott of Manchester in the County of
Lancaster for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUCIBLES AND OTHER
VESSELS FOR MELTING REFINING OR CONVERTING METALS AND MEANS FOR
HEATING THE SAME
(Void by reason of the Patentee having neglected to file a Specification in
pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Elton Bott at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th September 1883.
JOSEPH ELTON BOTT of Manchester in the County of Lancaster,
"IMPROVEMENTS
MELTING REFINING OR CONVERTING
IN CRUCIBLES AND OTHER VESSELS FOR
METALS AND MEANS FOR HEATING THE SAME"
My invention consists in so constructing and heating a crucible or other vessel
that large masses or quantities of metal can be melted refined or converted therein
and poured therefrom directly into moulds for forming ingots or castings without
the use of ladles and without tilting the said vessel-whereby as applied to steel
castings the use of a large number of small crucibles (necessary to make a large
casting) is entirely dispensed with and the entire quantity of metal is melted in
one crucible, the result being as a matter of course a perfect admixture of the
various materials a great saving in time labour and in the number of workman
employed and the resulting casting is free from the many risks now attending the
production of crucible steel castings from a number of small crucibles each requiring
separate handling with its attendant disadvantages,
Furthermore in accordance with this invention and by the flow of the molten
metal directly into castings or ingots without the medium of ladles the metal is
perfectly protected from sculling and from loss of heat oxidization from the
atmosphere is in a great measure prevented; absolutely no skimming is required
and the direct flow of the metal as aforesaid at an almost equal temperature is

page_text: conducive to the production of more perfect and homogeneous castings or ingots
than has hitherto been practicable,
The improved crucible consists of an outer casing of plate iron or other suitable
material having an inner lining of firebrick or other refractory substance the
crucible being preferably of a rectangular form where a regenerative gas furnace
supplies the necessary heat and of a circular or oval form where gas is used direct
from a producer or other source of supply.
At each end of the crucible are two vertical refractory partitions or walls forming
flue spaces whilst in the centre of the crucible is a central flue also enclosed by a
refractory circular wall; the internal space between the sides of the crucible and
the end partitions and surrounding the said central enclosed flue forms the melting
chamber whilst tapping holes are made in the bed for the purpose of running off
the molten metal, The crucible is covered with a removeable reverberatory dome,
for the purpose of charging the melting chamber with the metals or other materials
to be melted or otherwise treated and auxiliary charging doors are constructed in
the said dome or the sides of the crucible for the purpose of making additions to the
molten metal, or stirring the same;
Tapping holes are also made in the side of the crucible on a level with the bed,
in order that samples of the molten metal may be obtained from time to time.
Where a regenerative gas furnace supplies the necessary heat for melting I form
the regenerators of a series of vertical baffle plates or boxes of a corrugated or wavy
configuration, so that all dust and other accumulations fall to the bottom of the
regenerators into a collecting chamber thus increasing the durability of the
regenerators and avoiding the necessity' of pulling down the wall for cleansing
purposes. The crucible is carried on a truck having wheels running. on a suitable
track over flues, corresponding with the end and central flues of the crucible
through which flues the gas and hot air are supplied in order that the combined gas
and hot air from one pair of regenerators may pass over and around the metal or
other material in the crucible undergoing treatment and then pass into the other
pair of regenerators, the currents of gas and air being controlled and reversed from
time to time by means of the ordinary, two way valve arrangement fitted to the gas
and air supply pipes respectively, When the gas is supplied direct from a
-generator or producer, without the intervention of regenerators I prefer to make
the crucible of circular or oval shape and admit the necessary supply of air into a
combustion chamber having corresponding inlet and outlet ports with the crucible
surmounting same and I admit gas and air into the said combustion chamber in the
form of compound annular Jets, each circumference being by preference waved ōr
irregular in contour the central Jet consists of air and is surrounded with an
annulus of gas, this in turn being also surrounded with an annulus of air whilst the
whole is surrounded with another annulus of gas forming the outer envelope this
form of jet insuring the perfect mixture of gas and air necessary to ensure a high
heat being obtained-The air being supplied by pipes passing through the hot gas
: and also becoming heated,
In cases where it is impracticable to use gas for heating the crucible and it is
necessary to use coke, I prefer to construct the crucible with ports as before and to 4
: fill the said ports with coke or other combustibles communicating with a furnace
under same and having the necessary tuyeres for the admission of air
Where the crucible is of large dimensions I prefer to support the same on a truck.
having wheels capable of being moved on a suitable track over an ingot-pit or over
large moulds for casting-the truck and crucible being moved by steam, hydraulic, 5
or other mechanical contrivance, But I do not confine myself to this method of
handling or moving the crucible as in the case of small crucibles having to be
carried or conveyed in various directions I would prefer to construct the crucible
with suitable rings or shackles by which they could be transported as required by a
crane or its equivalent, When the process of melting has continued for a sufficient 5
length of time and the samples of molten metal taken from the side tapping holes

page_text: have proved satisfactory the flow of gas and air is stopped and the crucible is
wheeled off or otherwise conveyed to the casting floor, or ingot-pit when the molten
metal is run out of the tapping holes in the bottom of the bed, refractory plugs,
operated by levers or other suitable mechanical equivalents controlling the flow of
the molten metal from the crucibles, such refractory plugs being secured at the
extremity of metal tubes protected on the outside by being surrounded by strips of
asbestos cloth wound on in a spiral direction and the intervening spaces being well
filled in and the outside painted over with two or three coats of asbestos paint