Improvements in Smelting Furnaces.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 10th Sept., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by OLIVER ALUMINUM COMPANY, of No. 33, Broadway,
City and State of New York, United States of America.]
Improvements in Smelting Furnaces.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents
45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, 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 :-
This invention relates to smelting furnaces embodying the improvements
hereinafter described.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a smelting furnace embodying the improvement.
Figure 2 is a top view of the same.
Figure 3 is a vertical section of the furnace.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken at the plane of the dotted line y y
Figure 3.
Figure 5 is a side view of a furnace showing a condenser in vertical section.
Figure 6 is a top view thereof.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.
A designates a chamber, here shown as of cylindric form. It is closed at the
top and has a circular opening at the bottom. Around this circular opening it is
provided with a number of openings, here shown as fitted with doors a¹ a³ a³ a',
connected with the chamber by hinges fastened when closed by any appropriate
catches. I have shown this chamber as supported on a bed piece A' resting on
columns, A which, in the present instance, are four in number. The bed piece
consists of two concentric rings 1, 2, united at intervals by radial arms, 3. The
chamber may be made of cast iron and lined with clay or other material.
In the lower annular portion of the chamber A a pot B is arranged. This may
be made of cast iron and provided with a lining b of clay.
It will be observed that the upper portion of this pot extends above the grate
bars G and that its lower portion protrudes beneath the bottom of the chamber A.
The space between the upper portion of the pot and the side or wall of the chamber
forms an annular receptacle for fuel supported upon the grate bars G. Preferably
the lining b will extend over the outer side of the upper portion of the pot down to
the grate bars.
The pot may be supported by resting upon the inner ring, 1, of the bed piece A',
the inner surface of such ring being contracted downwardly to fit the lower portion
of the pot which is similarly contracted, or the pot may be supported by trunnions, 4,
and then can be tilted.
It will be observed that the lower portion of the pot is rounded and has a
tangential discharge orifice b'. This may be closed in any suitable manner as, for
instance, by a plug of clay and opened whenever it is desired to discharge metal.
The fuel may be supplied to the receptacle heretofore mentioned through the
holes which are furnished with the doors a' a' a³ a'. The burning of the fuel in
the receptacle will heat the contents of the pot B.
The chamber is shown as provided with a flue A³ for conducting off the products
of combustion as may be necessary. As shown, this flue is provided with a
damper a°.
The top of the chamber A is provided with a gas inlet, here shown as consisting
of an annular chamber E, between which and the interior of the chamber are
apertures or tuyeres f, the latter being arranged in a circle corresponding to the
chamber E. As here shown, the chamber E, is formed integral with a plate

page_text: constituting a cover for a circular opening a, with which the top of the main
chamber A is provided, and the apertures fare formed in this cover. The apertures
or tuyeres are so disposed as to direct the gas into the contents of the pot. That is
they are arranged in a smaller area than the area of the opening in the pot.
At the centre the cover for the opening a is fitted with a hopper or chute H
whereby material to be treated may be introduced into the pot. This chute will
preferably be fitted with feeding rollers h whereby the material may be properly.
introduced.
The gas inlet may be supplied with gas by a pipe: I.
The gas used may be compressed air or any other gas.
This smelting furnace herein described is particularly adapted to the smelting of
clay for the purpose of obtaining aluminium therefrom.
The clay may be supplied to the pot through the chute H. The fuel within the
chamber will burn in connection with the gas admitted. The burning of the fuel
and the gas within the chamber A will heat the contents of the pot and the gas
will carry the flame into the contents of the pot so that the latter will be very
intensely heated and the contents while heated will be put in thorough circulation
by the gas and all portions will consequently be properly heated.
As a considerable portion of the aluminium rises in the form of vapor and would
escape through the pipe A3 if not arrested, is provided, a condenser, C, through
which the aluminium vapor and other products of combustion may be directed and
the aluminium condensed and saved.
This condenser C consists of a receptacle having a pipe C¹ communicating with
the furnace. As here shown, the pipe C¹ communicates with the furnace through
the pipe A beneath the damper a so that when the damper is closed the products
of combustion and aluminium vapor will be directed into the upper portion of the
condenser. When the aluminium vapor enters the condenser it is met by a stream
of water flowing through a pipe c, which preferably has a nozzle, and the aluminium
is crystallized thereby causing it to fall to the bottom of the condenser, as at c', and
the lighter products of combustion may be carried off through the pipe C³.
An overflow pipe c² connects with the condenser a short distance above its bottom
and is designed to carry off the water used in the condensation, and the product
may be removed from the condenser through a door c.
It will be seen from the foregoing that a means is provided for smelting the
purified calcined and impalpable clay powder by means of igniting the oxygen of
the air with a carbon fire.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a smelting furnace, the combination of a chamber, grate bars in the lower
part of the chamber, a pot at the lower part of the chamber and having its bottom
below the grate bars, provided with a discharge outlet and apertures or tuyeres for
admitting gas through the top of the chamber to the pot, substantially as
specified.
2. In a smelting furnace the combination of a main chamber, an annular gas
chamber at the top of the main chamber, and aperture or tuyeres leading from said
gas chamber into the main chamber for discharging gas into the pot, all of said
apertures or tuyeres being arranged in an area less than that of the pot, substan-
tially as specified.
3. In a smelting furnace, the combination with a chamber, of a condenser
communicating therewith through pipes A³, C', and a damper in one of said pipes
for directing products of combustion to said condenser, substantially as specified.
Dated this 9th day of August 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.