IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR GENERATING GAS AND MELTING METALS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thomas, of 88, Paul's Terrace, Middles-
brough, in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FURNACES FOR GENERATING GAS AND MELTING METALS."
Sealed the 16th August 1872, and dated the 22nd June 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thomas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1872.
I, JOHN THOMAS, of 88, Paul's Terrace, Middlesbrough, in the County
of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR GENERATING GAS AND MELTING METALS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention has reference to furnaces for generating gas and melting
metals.
In constructing my improved furnace I make a sound foundation of
brick or stone, and on this I place a foundation plate. On the plate I
lay one or two courses of bricks, and on the bricks I fix one or more

page_text: water boshes similar to those described in the Specification of my Patent
dated 18th July 1868, No. 2265. These water boshes may be made in
as many parts as is most convenient, and through them in suitable places
I form one or more blast holes for air, and also tapping holes to run out
the metal and cinder. The inside of these boshes, or side next the fire,
is spiked or ribbed for the purpose of holding the lining. I then fix
four columns, one on each corner of the foundation plate. I next make
the upper casing with a projecting gas main branch attached, which
casing may be of wrought or cast iron, and I fix the same on the water
bosies and bolt them fast. I also firmly fasten four brackets to the
outside of the casing, which brackets bear on and are boited to the
columns; these columns support the upper casing, and enable the boshes
to be repaired or replaced with new ones when necessary. I also fix four
other columns under the projecting gas main to support the same.
On
the gas main, and near the throat which connects it with the upright
generator, I fix a hopper with two sliding shutters; I also fix on the gas
main the service pipes, and in cach service pipe I fit a valve or sluice.
On the top of the gas main I apply a safety valve for relieving any
excess of pressure. At the ends of the gas main, and near the bottom
part, I make one or more doorways and doors, which doors are secured
with a cross bar and screw as in ordinary gas retorts. On the top of the
upright casing I place a hopper having two sliding shutters with levers
or gear to work them, and on the hopper I fix a chimney with a door-
way for charging, which chimney is to carry off any gas that may escape
through the hopper. I also form an outlet under the lower sliding
shutter, and fix a pipe with a valve on the top so as to let off, when
necessary, the light gas that will accumulate in the upper part of the
generator; risk of explosion is thus prevented.
When I have erected the furnace casing I line the water boshes inside
on the spikes or ribs with clay or other fire resisting material, which
lining should be about two inches thick; and from the top of the water
boshes I build fire-brick up to and through to the hopper on the top of
the gas generator. I also build fire-brick all over the inside of the gas
main, and line inside the service pipes with brick or clay. On the bottom
of the gas main I lay iron bars (girder shaped) from 9 inches to 12 inches
high, and separate from each other, so as to allow a clear space through
the length of the bottom opposite the end doorways. On the iron bars
I lay or build up dry bricks with spaces between the bricks for the

page_text: passage of the gas; and I fill the gas main up to or near the top
with these bricks, excepting a clear space under the gas main hopper or
the throat connecting the gas main with the upright generator, and also
a clear space under the service pipes to allow the gas to go off freely.
I convey a blast of air to the furnace from any ordinary blowing
machine, and if gas of very high temperature is required I heat the air
in its passage from the blower to the generator in any suitable stove or
furnace. In the air blast pipe, and near the orifice or inlet to the
generator or furnace, I fit a sluice or valve so as to regulate the quantity
of the air, or to shut it off entirely. Having lined the generator
melting furnace, I dry the same, and I then let into the boshes through
a pipe sufficient water to keep them comparatively cool, which water
will flow off through the outlet or waste water pipe. I then raise the
fire in the upright generator, and when I have charged the same with
sufficient fuel, which fuel should be good sound coke, or coke and coal
mixed, I charge metal and fluxes with the fuel until the furnace or
generator is full up to the under shutter of the hopper. I then close the
hopper on the top of the generator with the slide shutters, and I open
the valves in the service pipes. I then set on the air blast through the
tuyeres, and the gas produced by the union of the oxygen of the air
uniting with the carbon and hydrogen of the fuel will pass out through
the tl roat, and through and between the spaces of the loose bricks in the
gas main to the service pipes, and the gas will be conveyed by the service
pipes to the different furnaces required to be heated.
I convey to each heating furnace, by a proper sized pipe, a blast of
air, and I so arrange the gas pipe and the air pipe that the gas and air
shall come into contact on their entering the furnace to be heated, and
if a high temperature is required I heat the air before it enters the
licating furnace.
If it is necessary to enrich the gas with carbon I charge the hopper on
the gas main with coal or other carbonaceous materials, I draw the upper
slide and let the charge fall on to the lower one, and I then close the
upper slide and open the lower one, when the charge will fall on the hot
coke in or near the throat which connects the gas generator with the
gas main, the heat of which will cause the gas to evolve from the car-
bonaceous material supplied, which will improve the quality of the gas
issuing from the gas generator, and increase the quantity. As the

page_text: materials sink down in the gas generator 1 continue to charge more
materials through the hopper, and this I perform by withdrawing the
upper slide shutter and letting the charge of materials fall on to the
lower one, and by then closing the upper one and opening the lower one
so as to allow the charge to fall into the gas generator; this I perform
regularly, so as to keep the generator nearly full. When there is
sufficient metal melted I tap and run it out into a converting furnace,
which metal may be converted into iron or steel, as may be required.
The water boshes protect the lining on the lower part of the generator
from being burnt or melted away, and will keep the inside in proper
form for a considerable time.
The loose bricks in the gas main which are set apart from each other
for the passage of the gas, are so placed that the current of gas may
strike against them, and that the dust and ashes blown from the
generator, by striking against the bricks, will fall to the bottom of the
gas main between the girder-shaped iron bars, from which they may
from time to time be cleaned out through the doorways. The melting
of the metal and fluxes in the gas generator dissolves the cinder deposit
from the fuel, which cinder will combine with the fluxes in a liquid
state, and can be run off as may be required, thus keeping the bottom
clear from obstructions, and also at the same time melting the metal for
the converting furnaces, which will save the time and cost of melting in
other furnaces.
The chief features of novelty in my Invention are the adaptation of
water boshes to gas generator furnaces, as herein-before described, which
boshes will secure durability, and enable the work to be carried on
without stopping so frequently for repairs; the placing of loose bricks
in the large gas main for the purpose of arresting the dust and ashes
which issue from the generator with the gas; the melting of metal and
fluxes in the gas generator which will dissolve the cinder that would
otherwise accumulate, and which accumulation of solid cinder has
hitherto been a hindrance to the complete success of this description of
furnace or generator; the conveying of the melted metal from the gas
generator to the converting furnaces, and making the same into iron or
steel; and the introduction of coals or other carbonaceous material into
the throat of the gas main, to enrich the quality and increase the
quantity of the gas.

page_text: My improved gas generator and melting furnace may be applied to
the heating of reverberatory furnaces, and employed in conjunction with
the puddling machine patented by me on the 18th April 1871, No. 1024,
and with any other puddling furnaces or machines, either those used for
the making of iron and steel, or for the heating of iron and steel, and
for any purposes when heat is required, or when heat and melted metal
are required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Thomas in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th December 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
THOMAS, of 88, Paul's Terrace, Middlesbrough, in the County of York,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Thomas, Her special licence that I,
the said John Thomas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Thomas, 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 FURNACES FOR GENE-
RATING GAS AND MELTING METALS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Thomas, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Thomas, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to furnaces for generating gas and melting
metals.
In constructing my improved furnace I make a sound foundation of
brick or stone, and on this I place a foundation plate. On the plate I
lay one or two courses of bricks, and on the bricks I fix one or more,
water boshes similar to those described in the Specification of my Patent,
dated 18th July 1868, No. 2265. These water boshes may be made in
as many parts as is most convenient, and through them in suitable places
I form one or more blast holes for air, and also tapping holes to run out
the metal and cinder. The inside of these boshes, or side next the fire,
is spiked or ribbed for the purpose of holding the lining. I then fix four
columns, one on each corner of the foundation plate. I next make the
upper casing with a projecting gas main branch attached, which casing
may be of wrought or cast iron, and I fix the same on the water boshes
and bolt them fast. I also firmly fasten four brackets to the outside of
the casing, which brackets bear on and are bolted to the columns; these
columns support the upper casing, and enable the boshes to be repaired
or replaced with new ones when necessary. I also fix four other columns
under the projecting gas main to support the same. On the gas main,
and near the throat which connects it with the upright generator, I fix
a hopper with two sliding shutters; I also fix on the gas main the
service pipes, and in each service pipe I fit a valve or sluice. On the
top of the gas main I apply a safety valve for relieving any excess of
pressure. At the ends of the gas main, and near the bottom part, I
make one or more doorways and doors, which doors are secured with a
cross bar and screw as in ordinary gas retorts.
casing I place a hopper having two sliding shutters with levers or gear
to work them, and on the hopper I fix a chimney with a doorway for
charging, which chimney is to carry off any gas that may escape through
the hopper. I also form an outlet under the lower sliding shutter, and
fix a pipe with a valve on the top, so as to let off, when necessary, the
light gas that will accumulate in the upper part of the generator; risk of
explosion is thus prevented.
On the top of the upright
When I have erected the furnace casing I line the water boshes inside
on the spikes or ribs with clay or other fire resisting material, which lining

page_text: should be about two inches thick, and from the top of the water boshies
I build fire-brick up to and through to the hopper on the top of the gas
generator. I also build fire-brick all over the inside of the gas main,
and line inside the service pipes with brick or clay. On the bottom of the
gas main I lay iron bars (girder shaped) from 9 inches to 12 inches high,
and separate from each other, so as to allow a clear space through the
length of the bottom opposite the end doorways. On the iron bars I lay
or build up dry bricks, with spaces between the bricks for the passage of
the gas, and I fill the gas main up to or near the top with these bricks,
excepting a clear space under the gas main hopper, or the throat con-
necting the gas main with the upright generator, and also a clear space
under the service pipes, to allow the gas to go off freely.
I convey a blast of air to the furnace from any ordinary blowing
machine, and if gas of very high temperature is required I heat the air
in its passage from the blower to the generator in any suitable stove or
furnace. In the air blast pipe, and near the orifice or inlet to the
generator or furnace, I fit a sluice or valve so as to regulate the quantity
of the air, or to shut it off entirely. Having lined the generator melting
furnace, I dry the same, and I then let into the boshes, through a pipe,
sufficient water to keep them comparatively cool, which water will flow
off through the outlet or waste water pipe. I then raise the fire in the
upright generator, and when I have charged the same with sufficient
fuel, which fuel should be good sound coke, or coke and coal mixed, I
charge metal and fluxes with the fuel until the furnace or generator is
full up to the under shutter of the hopper. I then close the hopper on
the top of the generator with the slide shutters, and I open the valves in
the service pipes. I then set on the air blast through the tuyeres, and
the gas produced by the union of the oxygen of the air uniting with the
carbon and hydrogen of the fuel will pass out through the throat, and
through and between the spaces of the loose bricks in the gas main to
the service pipes, and the gas will be conveyed by the service pipes to
the different furnaces required to be heated.
I convey to each heating furnace, by a proper sized pipe, a blast of
air, and I so arrange the gas pipe and the air pipe that the gas and air
shall come into contact on their entering the furcace to be heated; and
if a high temperature is required I heat the air before it enters the
heating furnace.

page_text: If it is necessary to enrich the gas with carbon I charge the hopper on
the gas main with coal or other carbonaceous materials. I draw the
upper slide and let the charge fall on to the lower one, and I then closc
the upper slide and open the lower one, when the charge will fall on the
hot coke in or near the throat which connects the gas generator with
the gas main, the heat of which will cause the gas to evolve from the
carbonaceous material supplied, which will improve the quality of the
gas issuing from the gas generator, and increase the quantity. As the
materials sink down in the gas generator I continue to charge more
materials through the hopper, and this I perform by withdrawing the
upper slide shutter, and letting the charge of materials fall on to the
lower one, and by then closing the upper one and opening the lower one
so as to allow the charge to fall into the gas generator; this I perform
regularly, so as to keep the generator nearly full. When there is
sufficient metal melted, I tap and run it out into a converting furnace,
which metal may be converted into iron or steel, as may be required.
The water boshes protect the lining on the lower part of the generator
from being burnt or melted away, and will keep the inside in proper
form for a considerable time.
The loose bricks in the gas main which are set apart from each other
for the passage of the gas are so placed that the current of gas may
strike against them, and that the dust and ashes blown from the gene-
rator, by striking against the bricks, will fall to the bottom of the gas
main between the girder-shaped iron bars, from which they may from
time to time be cleaned out through the doorways. The bricks will also
keep the gas hot. The melting of the metal and fluxes in the gas
generator dissolves the cinder deposit from the fuel, which cinder will
combine with the fluxes in a liquid state, and can be run off as
required, thus keeping the bottom clear from obstructions (accumulation
of solid cinder having hitherto been a hindrance to the successful working
of this description of furnace), and also at the same time melting the
metal for the converting furnaces, which will save the time and cost of
melting in other furnaces.
My improved gas generator and melting furnace may be applied to
the heating of reverberatory furnaces, and employed in conjunction with
the puddling machine patented by me on the 18th April 1871, No. 1024,
and with any other puddling furnaces or machines, either those used for

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First. Constructing furnaces for generating gas and melting metals,
substantially as herein-before described.
Second. The employment of bricks in the gas main O, substantially as
and for the purposes herein-before described.
5
Third. The doorways N and doors, arranged substantially as and for 1
the purpose herein-before described.
Fourth. The employment of the hopper L, or equivalent device, for
introducing coals or other carbonaceous material into the throat of the
gas main, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described.
And, lastly. Constructing gas generator furnaces so that the metal 1
and fluxes may be melted therein, the cinder deposit from the fucl be
dissolved, and the melted metal be conveyed from the said furnaces to
the converting furnaces, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Thomas, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December One thousand 20
eight hundred and seventy-two.