IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE FURNACES OF SALT PANS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hamer, of Bowdon, in the County of
Chester, Salt Proprietor, and Joseph Davies, of Runcorn, in the
County of Chester, Salt Proprietor, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE FURNACES OF SALT PANS."
Sealed the 1st December 1868, and dated the 10th June 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hamer and
Joseph Davies at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 10th June 1868.
We, WILLIAM HAMER, of Bowdon, in the County of Chester, Salt
Proprietor, and JOSEPH DAVIES, of Runcorn, in the County of Chester,
Salt Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FURNACES OF SALT PANS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of an improved mode of constructing the
furnaces of salt pans, by means of which a large portion of the heat
is utilised and employed to heat water or generate steam, and the sides
of the furnaces are rendered less liable to injury than heretofore.

page_text: Hitherto it has been the custom to construct the sides of these
furnaces of brickwork, but it is found that the clinkers adhere so firmly
to the brickwork that in removing them the brick sides are often broken
and the furnaces rapidly destroyed.
Our Invention consists in substituting for that part of the brickwork
liable to be affected by the fire, vessels which we prefer to be of
wrought-iron plates riveted or welded together, and so constructed
that they may be filled with water; this water prevents the iron plates
being burnt by the fires, and when heated or converted into steam it
may be used for heating other pans or for other purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Hamer and Joseph Davies in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 9th December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
HAMER, of Bowdon, in the County of Chester, Salt Proprietor, and
JOSEPH DAVIES, of Runcorn, in the County of Chester, Salt Proprietor,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Hamer and Joseph Davies, Her
special licence that we, the said William Hamer and Joseph Davies,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said William Hamer and Joseph Davies, our exccutors, 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 THE FURNACES OF SALT
PANS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William
Hamer and Joseph Davies, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-

page_text: tion, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Hamer and Joseph Davies,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
Our Invention consists of an improved mode of constructing the
furnaces of salt pans, by means of which a large portion of the heat is
utilised and employed to heat water or generate steam, and the sides
of the furnaces are rendered less liable to injury than heretofore.
Hitherto it has been the custom to construct the sides of these
furnaces of brickwork, but it is found that the clinkers adhere so firmly
to the brickwork that in removing them the brick sides are often broken
and the furnaces rapidly destroyed.
Our Invention consists in substituting for that part of the brickwork
liable to be affected by the fire, vessels which we prefer to be of
wrought-iron plates rivetted or welded together, and so constructed
that they may be filled with water; this water prevents the iron plates
from being burnt by the fires, and when heated or converted into steam
it may be used for heating other pans or for other purposes.
The accompanying Drawings illustrate a portion of a salt pan and its
furnaces constructed in accordance with our improved system.
Fig. 1 is a cross section taken on the line A, B, (Fig. 4); Fig. 2 is a
cross section taken on the line C, D, (Fig. 4); Fig. 3. is a view of the
front of the furnaces and pan; Fig. 4 is a plan, part of it being in
section taken on the line E, F, (Fig. 1). The same letters refer to all
the Figures.
G, G, G, are the vessels or longitudinal boilers which are substituted
for the old brickwork sides. At the front of the pan all these boilers
open into the water space H. By this arrangement the boilers commu-
nicate with one another, and ready access may be obtained to them
all at once. The top plates of the boilers G, G, G, form the longitudinal
plates of the bottom of the pan, as shewn at I, I, I, (Fig. 4), and we
prefer to make these longitudinal plates thicker than the cross plates

page_text: K, K, K, which form the other portion of the pan; but we do not claim
this as a part of our Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hamer, for and on behalf
of myself and the said Joseph Davies, have hereunto set my hand
and scal, this Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord 5
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM HAMER. (L.S.)