provements in and connected with Gas Furnaces for Metallurgical and other Industrial Purposes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 5th June, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 5th Mar., 1891-Accepted, 18th Apr., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Improvements in and connected with Gas Furnaces for Metallurgical
and other Industrial Purposes.
We, JOSEPH VON LANGER, Engineer, and LEONARD COOPER, Iron Merchant,
both of 32, Park Row, Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a new method of supplying and burning gas in gas
furnaces for metallurgical and other industrial operations, such as smelting metals
or ores, heating glass, porcelain or other materials.
Hitherto such furnaces have been worked by heating a given kind of gas, such
as producer gas, water gas, or ordinary coal-gas, or a mixture of such gases, in the
regenerator and then admitting it to the combustion space of the furnace, or by.
burning it directly in the furnace, without previous heating, but in each case only
one given kind of gas or gas mixture is used during the whole operation.
The principal feature of our invention, on the contrary, consists in using two
different kinds of gases or gas mixtures alternately alone or mixed in different
proportions.
The gases referred to are chiefly water gas and ordinary producer gas, such as is
obtained as a
bye-product in the manufacture of water gas; one kind is therefore
rich in combustible matter, while the other is comparatively poor.
The operation may be carried on by first heating the furnace with producer gas,
and, after the contents of the furnace have been raised to a high temperature,
diminishing or cutting off the supply of producer gas, and admitting water gas.
As soon as the temperature exceeds a given limit, the supply of water gas is stopped
or reduced, and the furnace again heated with producer gas. By these means the
operation in the furnace can be carried through more rapidly than heretofore, and.
the furnace walls are less injured. Experience has shown, that for the rapid and
complete combustion of water gas, the combustion chamber must have a high
temperature; the improved process therefore avoids the waste of gas which at a
low temperature is inevitable.
The air necessary for the combustion of the gases may be sucked by means of a
chimney, or forced into the furnace by a blower.
The arrangement of the canals which supply air and producer gas to the furnace
may be varied to suit different circumstances, but the water gas should be admisted
immediately in front of the combustion space; in the case of regenerator furnaces,
the water gas may, however, be mixed with the producer gas before they enter the
regenerator.
In the case of a reverberatory furnace, with horizontal gas and air inlet, the air-
may, for instance, be supplied from below through a vertical canal, and the producer
gas through a vertical canal placed nearer to the furnace, while the water gas is
supplied through a pair of pipes which pass horizontally through two opposite walls
of the producer gas canal immediately below the upper edge or mouth of the same.
Cocks and valves or dampers are arranged in such a manner, that the furnace
may be fed with water gas alone, or with producer gas alone, or with both at the
same time, in any desired proportions.
The furnace may be combined with a single gas generator, producing alternately
rich and poor gas, or with two independent gas generators.
Dated this 5th day of June 1890.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
433, Strand, London, Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: Improvements in and connected with Gas Furnaces for Metallurgical
and other 'Industrial Purposes.
We, JOSEPH VON LANGER, Engineer, and LEONARD COOPER, Iron Merchant,
both of 32, Park Row, Leeds, in the County of York, 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 a new method of supplying and burning gas in gas
furnaces for metallurgical and other industrial operations, such as smelting metals
or ores, heating glass, porcelain or other materials.
Hitherto such furnaces have been worked by heating a given kind of gas, such
as producer gas, water gas, or ordinary coal-gas, or a mixture of such gases in the
regenerator, and then admitting it to the combustion space of the furnace, or
by burning it directly in the furnace, without previous heating, but in each
case only one given kind of gas or gas mixture is used during the whole
operation.
The principal feature of our invention, on the contrary, consists in using two
different kinds of gases or gas mixtures alternately alone or in different
proportions.
The gases referred to are chiefly water gas and ordinary producer gas, such
as is obtained as a bye-product in the manufacture of water gas; one kind is there-
fore rich in combustible matter, while the other is comparatively poor.
The operation may be carried on by first heating the furnace with producer gas,
and, after the contents of the furnace have been raised to a high temperature,
diminishing or cutting off the supply of producer gas, and admitting water gas.
As soon as the temperature exceeds a given limit, the supply of water gas is stopped
or reduced, and the furnace again heated with producer gas. By these means the
operation in the furnace can be carried through more rapidly than heretofore, and
the furnace walls are less injured. Experience has shown, that for the rapid and
complete combustion of water gas, the combustion chamber should have a high
temperature; the improved process therefore avoids the waste of gas, which at a
low temperature is inevitable.
The air necessary for the combustion of the gases may be sucked by means of a
chimney, or forced into the furnace by a blower.
The arrangement of the canals which supply air and producer gas to the furnace
may be varied to suit different circumstances, in the case of regenerator furnaces,
the water gas may be mixed with the producer gas before they enter the
regenerator.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section, Fig. 2 a horizontal section and Fig. 3 a
transverse section of an open-hearth smelting furnace divided into three hearths and
provided with a gas generator and a recuperator.
P represents the gas producer,
W the conduit or supply pipe for water-gas, 13, the air inlet to the producer,
a the canals for supplying air to the furnace,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 represent water gas burners,
10 the recuperator,
-12 the flue-for supplying hot air to the furnace,
11 the flue for conducting the waste gases to the chimney.
Water gas at the required pressure is forced through the horizontal main supply
pipe W into the burners, of which there are two for each hearth. The said

page_text: burners are constructed like injectors, that is to say, with an inner nozzle, through
which the water gas escapes as a jet, and an outer nozzle for the hot air which is
sucked from the canal 12 through the pipe a'.
The pressure of the gas and the diameters of the nozzles are chosen in such a
manner, as to obtain the requisite mixture of air and gas. As each burner can be
regulated independently of the others, the temperature of cach hearth may be
varied without disturbing the others.
The various valves, gas holders, flues and connections are arranged in such a
manner, that the furnaces may be heated at will either with water gas only or with
producer gas only, or alternately with water gas and producer gas, or with a
mixture of the two. A high temperature may, for instance, be produced on the
third hearth, which is farthest from the producer, by admitting water gas to the
saine, while the first and the second hearth are only heated with producer gas.
A similar arrangement may be employed in the case of furnaces having a single
long hearth, without any divisions.
Figs. 4 to 7 represent a welding furnace applicable for welding iron and steel
tubes, and in which a uniformly high temperature should be maintained, Fig. 4
being a longitudinal vertical and Fig. 5 a horizontal section, Fig. 6 a cross
section through the producers, and Fig. 7 a cross section through the furnace and
recuperator.
11, chimney flue.
The furnace is first heated with producer gas, after which water gas is blown
in at one or more places, according to the rapidity or nature of the work required.
The burners are constructed as in Fig. 1.
As a rule, we prefer to build the producers on to the furnace, but in some cases
the producer gas may be supplied by a main pipe from a distant locality.
We may employ a regenerative furnace, or a recuperator for heating the air and
the gas supplied to the furnace.
Figs. 8 and 9 represent a crucible sinelting furnace, in which producer gas is
employed for the preliminary heating, while water gas serves to complete the
smelting. In this manner, the preheating and the smelting may be alternately
carried on in the crucible C and in the crucible C. The other letters of the figures
designate analogous parts, as in the previous figures. Instead of a gas generator
built on to the furnace, we may employ a gas conduit from a distant producer, and
instead of a recuperator, we may use a regenerator.
Fig. 10 represents an annealing furnace for long objects which must be suspended
vertically, in order to avoid warping.
The letters of reference designate analogous parts, as in the previous figures,
but 1, 6 and 7 designate the passages for products of combustion, while 8 and 9 are
covers.
The furnace is first heated with producer gas from P, or from a separate gas
conduit, after which the required uniform heat is produced by means of water gas.
The arrangement may be modified, by admitting the producer gas at the lowest
point, and the water gas above the producer gas, the gas current flowing upward,
and not downward. Instead of a recuperator, we may employ a regenerator.
Two furnaces may be built side by side, and arranged so, that the gas current

page_text: A a hot air condunt,
Ba burner.
In the case of open hearth furnaces, where high temperatures are desired,
the water gas is admitted through a water-cooled nozzle, similar to that shown
in Fig. 18.
In some cases, the use of regenerators or of recuperators may not be necessary,
cold air may be employed, and the producer gas may be supplied cold from a
supply pipe and admitted directly to the furnace. The different gases may be
produced separately in independent generators situated in different localities or
they may be obtained from one gas producer by the intermittent working of
the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. A gas furnace provided with two conduits or supplies for combustible gas,
the gas supplied to the furnace by one conduit being rich in combustible matter,
while the gas supplied by the other conduit is comparatively poor, substantially as
described.
2. A gas furnace provided with two independent gas conduits.or.supplies arranged
in such a manner, that the furnace may be heated either from one conduit or from
the other, or from both at the same time.

page_text: 3. The method of working gas furnaces, which consists in first heating them with
producer gas or other comparatively poor gas, and subsequently admitting water
gas, substantially as described.
4. The various arrangements of furnaces and gas supplies, substantially as shown
by the drawings and described in the Specification.
Dated this 5th day of March 1891
JOSEPH VON LANGER.
LEONARD COOPER.
By Fairfax & Wetter,
433, Strand, London, Agents.