Improvements applicable to Furnaces or Retorts used in the Production of Glass and for similar purposes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Aug., 1892-Accepted, 8th Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements applicable to Furnaces or Retorts used in the
Production of Glass and for similar purposes.
I DAN RYLANDS of Shepcote Stairfoot near Barnsley in the County of
York, Glass Bottle Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My present invention has for its object such an improvement in furnaces or
retorts used in the production of glass or for similar purposes as will secure the
most economical and regular productions of molten glass or of other similar material
such as glass "frit."
In carrying out my invention I first attach to each furnace in any suitable
position under the same roof a dry grinding and mixing room so arranged that it
can by the waste heat from the furnace or by any other suitable means be kept at
a thoroughly dry temperature. This arrangement enables me to grind in this room
chloride of calcium in the dry state without risk of its absorbing moisture from the
atmosphere. Into this dry grinding or mixing room I bring dried glass sand and
chloride of sodium and after all have been thoroughly ground and mixed in proper
proportions with the dried chloride of calcium I pass the mixture into a hopper
over a suitably shaped retort which retort I prefer to fix vertically though I do
not limit myself to this position. Over the mouth of these retorts 1 fit a hopper
of any suitable size and shape and at the bottom of this hopper I fit or fix an
automatic slide worked by crank or other suitable action and so arranged that it
can be made to drop any required quantity of the mixture at each movement.
short distance down the retort I fit in a slide or other suitable mechanical arrange-
ment so that each lot of material dropped through the hopper rests on this slide
where it remains until properly heated when the slide or other arrangement is so
actuated as to drop the heated material into a lower part of the retort. This lower
part of the retort is so arranged that at a suitable point or place a jet of super-
heated steam can be turned on and this steam acting upon the material above
named produces hydrochloric acid and glass "frit."
A
Arrangements are made in this part of the retort for allowing of the egress of
the hydrochloric acid and the pipe conveying it from the retort is connected to
proper chambers or towers for treating the hydrochloric acid so as to get it into
the most valuable commercial form.
At the bottom of the steam chamber in the retort is another slide or suitable
mechanical arrangement and when this is actuated the glass "frit" is dropped into
the melting furnace or into a wing or branch thereof and it is melted into glass and
worked out in any, desired manner.
A further important part of my present invention is the arranging of a floor of
any suitable material which is suspended or fixed close over the furnace crown 80
that the greatest amount of waste heat from the furnace can be utilized. One
purpose to which this heat may be applied is the evaporation of the liquid chloride
of calcium as it comes from the works where bleach powder is being manufactured.
The dry grinding room may be arranged next to this evaporating room. Where
so preferred a proper system of mechanical carriers may be arranged for passing
the liquid chloride of calcium through the evaporating room in such a way that by
the time each tray or carrier arrives at a certain point the whole of the liquid will
have been evaporated out of the chloride of calcium.
Dated this 22nd day of October 1891.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements applicable to Furnaces or Retorts used in the
Production of Glass and for similar purposes.
I, DAN RYLANDS of Shepcote Stairfoot near Barnsley in the County of
York, Glass Bottle Manufacturer 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 :--
My. present invention has for its object such an improvement in furnaces or
retorts used in the production of glass or for similar purposes as will secure the
most economical and regular productions of molten glass or of other similar material
such as glass frit.
In carrying out my invention I first attach to each furnace in any suitable
position under the same roof a dry grinding and mixing room so arranged that it
can by the waste heat from the furnace or by any other suitable means be kept at
a thoroughly dry temperature. This arrangement enables me to grind in this room
chloride of calcium in the dry state without risk of its absorbing moisture from the
atmosphere. Into this dry grinding or mixing room I bring dried glass sand and
chloride of sodium and after all have been thoroughly ground and mixed in proper
proportions with the dried chloride of calcium I pass the mixture into a hopper
over a suitably shaped retort which retort I prefer to fix vertically though I do
not limit myself to this position. Over the mouth of these retorts I fit a hopper of
any suitable size and shape and at the bottom of this hopper I fit or fix an
automatic slide worked by crank or other suitable action and so arranged that it
can be made to drop any required quantity of the mixture at each movement.
short distance down the retort 1 fit in a slide or other suitable mechanical arrange-
ment so that each lot of material dropped through the hopper rests on this slide
where it remains until properly heated when the slide or other arrangement is so
actuated as to drop the heated material into a lower part of the retort. This lower
part of the retort is so arranged that at a suitable point or place a jet of super-
heated steam can be turned on and this steam acting upon the material above
named produces hydrochloric acid and glass "frit.". Arrangements are made in this
part of the retort for allowing of the egress of the hydrochloric acid and the pipe
conveying it from the retort is connected to proper chambers or towers for treating
the hydrochloric acid so as to get it into the most valuable commercial form.
A
At the bottom of the steam chamber in the retort is another slide or suitable
mechanical arrangement and when this is actuated the glass frit is dropped into the
melting furnace or into a wing or branch thereof and it is melted into glass and
worked out in any desired manner.
A further important part of my present invention is the arranging of a floor of
any suitable material which is suspended or fixed close over the furnace crown 80
that the greatest amount of waste heat from the furnace can be utilized. One
purpose to which this heat may be applied is the evaporation of the liquid chloride
of calcium as it comes from the works where bleach powder is being manufactured.
The dry grinding room may be arranged next to this evaporating room.
Where so
preferred a proper system of mechanical carriers may be arranged for passing the
fiquid chloride of calcium through the evaporating room.
In the accompanying drawing which is partly in sectional elevation, I illustrate
the manner of carrying out my invention..
a is a melting furnace of the usual construction, 6 the floor of a dry mixing and
grinding room, c a grinding and mixing pan, d a vertical retort seated as shown in
the retort casing e, f a flue for heating the retort, g a retort charging hopper, ha
sliding door enabling the contents of the hopper 9 to be emptied into the upper
portion of the retort i, j a similar sliding door dividing the upper from the lower
portion of the retort, and the discharging door, la pipe conveying super-heated
steam to the lower portion of the retort and m a pipe conveying the hydrochlorio

page_text: acid gas away from the upper end of the lower portion of the retort to the hydro-
chloric acid gas condensing tower n. The condensing tower n is provided at its
upper end with the usual arrangement of water tumbling boxes which are supplied
with water from the tank o through the regulating taps p p. The condensing tower
is packed with coke, the coke being supported and carried by the elevated stone
platform 9 formed with openings for the passage and ascent of the hydrochloric
acid gas, which it is one of the objects of this invention to produce.
Hydrochloric acid and glass "frit" are by my invention evolved and produced
from chloride of calcium, chloride of sodium, and dried glass sand after the
following manner:-The ingredients above named having been thoroughly dried
and mixed together in proper proportions are ground, and again very intimately
mixed together in the grinding and mixing pan c; after which they can be charged
by hopper g through sliding door h into the upper portion i of the vertical retort.
The flue f being now at work and the retort and its casing e being at the proper
and most suitable temperature, sufficient time is now given to thoroughly heat the
contents of the upper portion of the retort i, after which time the sliding door j is
withdrawn and the heated contents of the upper portion gravitate into the lower
portion of the retort. The upper portion i is now again charged, and during the
time taken for its contents to attain the proper temperature super-heated steam is
by pipe admitted to the contents of the lower chamber thereby evolving hydro-
chloric acid gas. The evolved gas finds its way by pipe line m to the bottom of
the condensing tower n, ascending which through the packing of wet coke a portion
of the gas becomes absorbed by the descending water and passes by syphon pipe r
to the acid collecting tank. The gas not absorbed in its ascent of the condensing
tower is led by pipes to the bottom of the next condensing tower, and so on,
sufficient towers being arranged to provide for the almost complete absorption of
the gas. The contents of the lower portion of the retort, having now given off the
greater portion of the hydrochloric acid gas they are capable of evolving, are
discharged from the retort in the form of glass "frit through the sliding
door k.
The now-heated contents of the upper chamber i are now by action of the sliding
door gravitated into the lower chamber and the above described series of operations
repeated.
Any convenient method of operating the sliding doors h, j and k may be employed
such as a rotating crank driven by gearing and controlled by the action of a sliding
clutch.
For the purpose of illustration I have shown but one retort and that retort a
vertical one, but it will be evident that the space on either side of the melting
furnace may be occupied by retorts, and that in some cases retorts set diagonally
may with advantage be employed, as in the latter case the discharging end of the
retort may be so set as to discharge directly into the furnace.
The second part of my invention consists in the utilisation of the heat given off
by the crown and side walls of a melting or heating furnace for evaporating
purposes, either by fixed evaporating pans or by mechanical carriers or conveyors
as shown in the illustration. A most applicable method of utilising this heat is by
the evaporation of liquid chloride of calcium as it comes from the works where
bleaching powder is being manufactured. The liquid being pumped into the
tank y is by tap y¹ led into the evaporating panse zz; the pans travelling in the
direction of the arrow slowly pass over the crown of the furnace-and in so doing
a portion of the liquid will be evaporated and each pan on arriving at the delivery
position will contain chloride of calcium in a concentrated state.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In combination with a drying room the utilization of the waste heat from a
furnace for the production of glass "frit" and hydrochloric acid.

page_text: 2. The utilization of the waste heat given off by retort casing e and longitudinal
flue for heating the drying and grinding room through the floor b.
3. The utilization of waste heat from the crown and sides of the furnace a for
evaporating purposes either by fixed evaporating pans or by mechanical conveyors
as shown.
.
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