IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE BLAST FOR FURNACES USED IN SMELTING IRON, AND FOR OTHER FURNACES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Player, of Norton, Stockton-upon-Tees, in the
County of Durham, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE BLAST FOR FURNACES USED IN
SMELTING IRON, AND FOR OTHER FURNACES."
Sealed the 19th September 1865, and dated the 29th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Player at the
Office of the Commissioner of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
March 1865.
I, JOHN PLAYER, of Norton, Stockton-upon-Tees, in the County of
Durham, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE BLAST FOR
FURNACES USED IN SMELTING IRON, AND FOR OTHER FURNACES," to be as
follows:-.
This Invention has for its object improvements in furnaces or apparatus for
heating the blast for furnaces used in smelting iron and for other furnaces.
Heretofore, when heating the blast for furnaces, the waste gases of blast
furnaces have been employed; but by reason of the construction of the
furnaces or apparatus employed when such gases have been before used, the
heating of the system of pipes or passages through which the blast is forced
has been very irregular, and this irregularity has been consequent on the
flames of the ignited gases passing freely to the system of pipes or passages in
which the heating of the blast takes place.

page_text: Now, according to the present Invention, I arrange apparatus for heating
the blast for furnaces in such manner that the combustion of the gases takes
place in a separate chamber from that in which the system of pipes or
passages in which the blast is heated is situated, and the chamber in which
the system of pipes or passages is situated is, by preference, above the com-
bustion chamber, and only communicates therewith by means of numerous
openings through the top of the combustion chamber. The upper chamber
is of large dimensions as compared with the space occupied therein by
the system of pipes or passages in which the heating of the blast takes
place, so that such upper chamber is at all times pervaded by a red-hot
atmosphere which acts on all parts of the system of pipes or passages alike,
and thus not only is a very highly heated blast maintained, but its heat is
more constant and uniform than has heretofore resulted when using the waste
gases of blast furnaces in heating systems of pipes or passages through which
the blast passes and is heated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Player in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PLAYER, of Norton, Stockton-upon-Tees, in the County of Durham, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Player, Her special licence that I, the said John
Player, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Player, 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 OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE BLAST FOR FURNACES USED IN SMELTING
IRON, AND FOR OTHER FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Player, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly

page_text: 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 Player, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in furnaces or apparatus for
heating the blast for furnaces used in smelting iron and for other furnaces.
Heretofore, when heating the blast for furnaces, the waste gases of blast
furnaces have been employed; but by reason of the construction of the
furnaces or apparatus employed when such gases have been before used, the
heating of the system of pipes or passages through which the blast is forced
has been very irregular, and this irregularity has been consequent on the
flames of the ignited gases passing freely to the system of pipes or passages in
which the heating of the blast takes place.
"
Now, according to the present Invention, I arrange apparatus for heating
the blast for furnaces in such manner that the combustion of the gases takes
place in a separate chamber from that in which the system of pipes or
passages in which the blast is heated is situated, and the chamber in which
the system of pipes or passages is situated is, by preference, above the com-
bustion chamber, and only communicates therewith by means of numerous
openings through the top of the combustion chamber. The upper chamber is
of large dimensions as compared with the space occupied therein by the system
of pipes or passages in which the heating of the blast takes place, so that such
upper chamber is at all times pervaded by a red-hot atmosphere which acts
on all parts of the system of pipes or passages alike, and thus not only is a
very highly heated blast maintained, but its heat is more constant and uniform
than has heretofore resulted when using the waste gases of blast furnaces in
heating systems of pipes or passages through which the blast passes and is
heated.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS,
which represent a double air-heating stove constructed according to my
Invention, each stove being of a size suitable for heating about 2,300 cubic
feet of air per minute at a pressure of 2 lbs. on the square inch, and to a

page_text: temperature of about 1,200° Fahrenheit. The dimensions and arrangements
shewn in the Drawings may be varied. The nature of each of the Figures
shewn by the Drawing being written thereon, it will not be necessary to repeat
the same here.
A is the combustion chamber into which the waste gases are received and
are burned with an admixture of atmospheric air, as is well understood. The
ignited gases ascend through the openings in the upper parts of the
chamber A into the chamber B, where there will be no indication of flame
but a uniformly highly heated vapour or fame. The pipes for heating the
blast are arranged in the chamber B, as is shewn, or otherwise, according to
the judgment of the engineer constructing the apparatus. In the arrange-
ment, shewn the atmospheric air to be heated enters the longitudinal mains
.D, D, and passes therefrom through the series of pipes c, c, to the other or
outlet main...
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
constructing or arranging of a hot blast stove in the manner herein described,
whereby the water gases are ignited and consumed in a chamber separate from
the chamber within which the pipes are contained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Player, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JOHN PLAYER. (LS.)