IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Smith Casson, of Round Oak Works,
Brierley Hill, in the County of Stafford, Manager of Iron Works,
for the Invention of
66
IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Smith Casson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th November 1875.
I, RICHARD SMITH CASSON, of Round Oak Works, Brierley Hill, in
the County of Stafford, Manager of Iron Works, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists mainly of improvements on or additions to an
Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the Eleventh
day of December 1872, No. 3763. Some of my improvements are,
however, applicable to puddling furnaces differently constructed.
I will describe my présent Invention in connection with a puddling

page_text: furnace of the kind described in the Specification of the Patent herein-
before referred to.
I modify the fire-place of the furnace in the following manner :-I
diminish the horizontal area of the grating or fire-bars and add a series
of fire-bars to the lower part of the front of the furnace. The lower
ends of these fire-bars are inclined inwards. A hinged flap or door is
fixed in front of the inclined bars.
By closing or opening the flap or door, more or less, the quantity of
air entering the furnace at the said inclined bars can be regulated at
pleasure. Or the bars at the front of the furnace may be vertical instead
of inclined.
The back of the fire-place of the furnace is inclined, the said back
being made of an iron plate which may either be perforated or unper-
forated. As the air has free access to the outer side of this plate, it is
kept so cool as not to be injuriously affected by the heat of the furnace,
and the formation of clinkers is avoided. The sides of the grate may
be made of similar plates.
The ash-pit of the furnace is closed, and a blast of air is delivered
from a fan or blowing engine into the ash-pit, from which the said blast
passes between the grate-bars to the burning fuel.
By the arrangements described the combustion can be regulated with
great nicety, and the character of the flame and heated air passing to
the puddling chamber determined with great certainty.
The puddling chamber is circular, and is built up of a series of curved
plates bolted together and resting on a flat circular bottom. This
bottom is made in one or more parts. The bottom of the puddling
chamber is supported upon a series of spheres or balls of iron situated
in a shallow water dish. By this arrangement the sides and bottom of
the puddling chamber are permitted to expand and contract freely on
change of temperature... The bottom of the puddling chamber is kept
cool, and the water in the water dish circulates freely. :
In order to expedite the puddling of the iron, a series of pipes are in-
serted obliquely in the sides of the puddling chamber, by which pipes jets
or blasts of air are delivered on or below the surface of the iron under
treatment. These pipes are inclined so as to give a rotary motion to
the molten iron, and at the same time expedite the puddling process.

page_text: The waste heat passes to a dandy or preliminary heating chamber in
which the pig iron is heated before it is passed into the puddling
chamber.
The arrangement of furnace described may be applied generally to
puddling furnaces having dandies or preliminary heating chambers,
whether with puddling chambers of the kind described or having
puddling chambers of a construction different from that described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Smith Casson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
SMITH CASSON, of Round Oak Works, Brierley Hill, in the County of
Stafford, Manager of Iron Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Smith Casson, Her
special licence that I, the said Richard Smith Casson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Smith Casson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES," upon the condition.
(amongst others) that I, the said Richard Smith Casson, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Smith Casson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists mainly of improvements on or additions to an
Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the 11th day
of December 1872, No. 3763. Some of my improvements are, however,
applicable to puddling furnaces differently constructed.
I will describe my present Invention in connection with a puddling
furnace of the kind described in the Specification of the Patent herein-
before referred to.
I modify the fire-place of the furnace in the following manner :-I
diminish the horizontal area of the grating or fire-bars and add a series
of fire-bars to the lower part of the front of the furnace. The lower
ends of these fire-bars are inclined inwards. A hinged flap or door is
fixed in front of the inclined bars.
By closing or opening the flap or door, more or less, the quantity of
air entering the furnace at the said inclined bars can be regulated at
pleasure, and the fire-bars cleared without disturbing the doors below;
or the bars at the front of the furnace may be vertical instead of
inclined.
The back of the fire-place of the furnace is inclined; the said back
being made of an iron plate which may either be perforated or unper-
forated. Or in place of the said back plate bars may be used: As the
air has free access to the outer side of this plate it is kept so cool as not ?
to be injuriously affected by the heat of the furnace, and the formation
of clinkers is avoided. The sides of the grate may be made of similar.
plates or bars.
The ash-pit of the furnace is closed, and a blast of air is delivered
from a fan or blowing engine into the ash-pit, from which the said blast 3
passes between the grate bars to the burning fuel.
By the arrangements described the combustion can be regulated
with great nicety, and the character of the flame and heated air passing
to the puddling chamber determined with great certainty.
The puddling chamber is circular and is built up of a series of curved 3
plates bolted together and resting on a flat circular bottom. This

page_text: bottom is made in one or more parts. The bottom of the puddling
chamber is supported upon a series of spheres or balls of iron situated
in a shallow water dish. By this arrangement the sides and bottom of
the puddling chamber are permitted to expand and contract freely on
changes of. temperature. The bottom of the puddling chamber is kept
cool by the rising steam, and the water in the water dish circulates
freely.
In order to expedite the puddling of the iron, a series of pipes are
inserted obliquely in the sides of the puddling chamber, by which
pipes jets or blasts of air are delivered on or below the surface of the
iron under treatment. These pipes are inclined so as to give a rotary
motion to the molten iron, and at the same time expedite the puddling
process and the refining of the iron. The waste heat passes to a "dandy"
or preliminary heating chamber, in which the pig iron is heated before
it is passed into the puddling chamber.
The arrangement of furnace described may be applied generally to
puddling furnaces having dandies or preliminary heating chambers,
whether with puddling chambers of the kind described, or having
puddling chambers of a construction different from that described.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying
Drawing, the manner in which my Invention is performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section, and Figure 2 in
horizontal section, a double puddling furnace or a furnace provided with
a dandy or preliminary heating chamber constructed according to the
Patent herein-before referred to, with which are combined the improve-
ments constituting my present Invention.
In the said Figures 1 and 2 the fire-place is marked a, the puddling
chamber is marked b, 62, and the dandy or preliminary heating chamber
is marked c; in which chamber c the pig iron is heated by the waste
heat passing from the puddling chamber b, b².
The horizontal part of the grate or fire-bars d has the area represented,
that is, its breadth is considerably less than that of the fire-place a.
The fire-bars d of the grate are supported on the bearer e and flat bar f.
To the lower part of the front of the fire-place a a series of inclined
fire-bars 9 is applied, the said fire-bars 9 inclining inwards from the
outer wall of the fire-place to the contracted horizontal part d of the
grating..

page_text: In front of the inclined fire-bars g is a hinged flap or door h turning
in a vertical plane on the hinge 2 (see Figure 1). By opening, more
or less, the said flap or door h, as indicated in dotted lines, the required
quantity of air may be admitted through the said inclined bars g into
the fire-place, and by completely closing the said flap or door h, the
supply of air through the said inclined bars 9 may be cut off; i is the
inclined plate at the back of the fire-place. The outer side of this
plate is open to the ash-pit, and is kept so cool as not to be injuriously
affected by the heat of the said fire-place, and the formation of clinkers
is avoided. The said plate i may either be unperforated or perforated,
or be made of bars similar to the inclined bars at g.
Plates or bars similar to the inclined plate i at the back of the fire-
place may be applied to the sides of the fire-place, and kept cool by the
air having free access to the outer side of the said plates; % is the ash-
pit closed by the door or doors 7, best seen in Figure 2.
The fire-place end of the furnace, Figure 2, is taken at different
levels, one part showing the top of the grating d and inclined front and
back bars and plate g, i, and the other part the ash-pit k. In the said
ash-pit k is a blast pipe m in connection with a fan or blowing engine.
The blast pipe m delivers a blast of air into the ash-pit k, from
which the said blast passes between the grate bars d to the burning
fuel.
By means of the arrangement described for admitting air by the front
of the fire-place in combination with the blast of air delivered into the
ash-pit, the combustion of the fuel in the fire-place may be regulated
with great nicety, and the character of the flame and heated air passing
to the puddling chamber determined with great certainty.
Fuel may be supplied to the fire-place a from a hopper above it..
The circular puddling chamber b, b², consists of a flat circular bottom b
made in one or more parts, and a series of curved side plates 6º bolted
together by their flanges at 6 (see the plan, Figure 2). The puddling
chamber 6, 62, is supported by its bottom resting upon a series of
spheres or balls of iron n, the latter resting in a shallow water dish p.
The construction described of the puddling furnace permits the
sides b² and bottom 6 to expand and contract freely on change of tem-
perature. There is in consequence little or no strain upon any of the

page_text: +
parts, and the puddling chamber lasts a long time, there being no
liability to fracture by change of temperature.
By the evaporation of the water in the water dish p the bottom of
the puddling furnace is kept cool, and the water in the water dish
circulates freely.
In the sides 62 of the puddling chamber 6, 63, is a series of oblique
pipes for delivering jets or blasts of air on or below. the surface of the
iron under treatment in the said puddling chamber. The said oblique
blast pipes are connected with the circular pipe & passing round the
hollow head of the puddling chamber, the said pipe & being in con-
'nection with a fan or other blast producing machine or apparatus.
By the use of the inclined or oblique blast delivering pipes r, ", a
rotatory motion is given to the molten iron, and the puddling process
is expedited and the iron refined.
Puddling furnaces constructed as described and illustrated may be
used for hand puddling or mechanical puddling.
Although I have represented my improvements as applied to a
furnace furnished with a dandy or preliminary heating chamber, yet my
said improvements may be applied to furnaces without dandies; and my
said improvements in fire-places may be applied to puddling furnaces
having puddling chambers different from that herein described and
illustrated..
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention of improvements
in puddling furnaces,-
First. The construction and arrangement of the parts of the fire-
places of puddling furnaces herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly. The circular form of the puddling chamber or basin, and
the mode of constructing and combining the parts of the said puddling
chamber or basin herein-before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing, that is to say, constructing the said puddling

page_text: chamber or basin in parts so as to allow of freedom of expansion and
contraction, the said puddling chamber being supported on spheres
or balls in an open water dish, substantially as described and illus-
trated.
Thirdly. The combination with a circular puddling chamber or basin
of a series of oblique pipes for delivering jets or blasts of air on or
below the surface of the iron for the purpose of puddling and refining
the iron, substantially as described and illustrated.
Fourthly. The general arrangement of the parts of puddling furnaces,
particularly as applied to double furnaces or furnaces with preliminary 1
heating chambers, as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Smith Casson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
1
Witness,
FREDERICK JAMES,
Dixon's Green,
Dudley.
RICHARD SMITH CASSON. (L.S.)