CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ANNEALING ARTICLES OF IRON AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO. WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
JOHNSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Wire Drawer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirty-first day of January, in the fourteenth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Johnson, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Richard Johnson, my exors, adññors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Richard Johnson, my exors, adññors, or assigns, shall at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ANNEALING ARTICLES
OF IRON AND OTHER MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said Richard Johnson, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Johnson, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the
following explanation thereof, that is to say:-
My improvements consist in an arrangement of annealing pot or oven
suitable for receiving wire and other articles required to be annealed, the
peculiar feature of my improvement being the employment of one or more
flues situated within the vessel containing the articles to be operated upon.
The method of construction and general arrangement may be varied to a
considerable extent without departing from the principle involved; but in
order to show how the same may be carried into practical operation, I have
appended to this my Specification certain illustrative Drawings, applicable
particularly to the annealing of wire, and which I will now proceed to
describe.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the apparatus complete; and Fig. 2, a
horizontal section of the same, taken about the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1. The
outward part of the oven, composed of masonry, is shewn at a, a, a, within
which are formed (in this instance) three openings b, b, b, provided with fire
doors and plates of the ordinary construction. These openings communicate
with an interior chamber c, c, c, c, within which are placed radially a number
of fire bars d, d, d, d, which fire bars rest at their inward ends upon a
foundation plate e, e, e, e, supported by masonry f, f. The foundation
plate e, e, is provided with a circular groove g, g, within which the lower end
of the chamber A, A, A, intended to contain the articles to be annealed,
is placed, the joint being made air-tight by the introduction of sand or
other material. Within the plate e, e, is also formed a circular opening h, h,
provided with a projecting part, into which the lower end of a tube i, i, i,
constituting a flue, is placed, and the joint made air-tight by sand or other
material. The upper part of the tube i, i, i, has a groove formed therein
at j, j, within which is placed a flange k, k, having a projecting part upon its
outward periphery, so as to form an annular cavity, in order to obtain the
means of removing which, it is formed in two parts, as shewn in the detached
views, Figs. 3 and 4. Within the cavity thus formed is placed a circular
flange 1, 1, projecting from the under side of a lid m, m, which closes the
upper part of the chamber A, A, A, and is provided with rings for facilitating
a removal. The outward periphery of the lid m, m, rests upon a series of
rings n, m, n, which have their support within a socket of the chamber A, A, A.
The object of these rings is to obtain the means, by increasing or reducing

page_text: their number, of causing the lid m, m, to occupy a higher or lower position,
and thus compensate for any unequal expansion of the chamber A and tube i.
The orifice of the lid m is formed larger than is necessary for the admission
of the tube i, and within the space thus formed I place a ring o, provided with
a flange, which projects over a cavity formed in the lid, the interstices between
these parts being filled with sand or other material, will effectually prevent
the admission of air. Upon the exterior masonry is fixed a circular flange
p, p, p, within the interior of which is placed a cover q, q, provided with
a ring for the convenience of removal. When it is desired to charge this
apparatus, the covers q and m are to be withdrawn, and the two portions
of the flange k, k, also removed, the wire or other articles may then be
placed within the chamber A, A, the coils (if the former description of goods
be operated upon) being disposed around the tube i, i, after which, the several
parts being adjusted as shewn in the Drawing, and described, the admission
of air will be excluded. The fires being then lighted, the products of com-
bustion will rise through the chamber c, c, c, c, and being unable to escape at
the top by reason of the cover g, will pass downwards through the tubular
flue i, and from thence through the openings hand to the chimney flue y, y..
In order to promote the combustion of smoke and gases, I form over each fire-
place an opening, as at r, which opening communicates with a circular passage-
s, open to the chamber c; through the medium of a number of perforations-
t, t, t, t. By this arrangement atmospheric air will flow through the openings;
and from thence through the chamber s and perforations t, so as to mix with
the smoke and gases, and effect their combustion. Suppose the vessel charged
with bundles of wire, and the process of annealing, completed, the covers
before described are to be lifted off; and it will also be necessary to withdraw
the tube i, in order the more readily to remove the articles. For this purpose
a projecting part u is formed in the interior, to provide the means of obtaining
a hold.
Figs. 5 and 6 are side and top views of an apparatus I employ for removing
bundles of wire from the pot in which they have been annealed. To a ring
are attached three arms 2, 2, 2, each of which is provided with a centre pin 3,
upon which there is mounted a catch 4, capable of turning upwards upon
the said pin in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 5, but prevented from turning
in a downward direction by the end 4* arriving in contact, with the under
side of the arm 2. In stowing the bundles of wire, I place. occasional
intervening plates of metal so as to divide the articles into several lots,
which plates are provided with a central orifice, as shewn a 5, 5, in the
sectional view, Fig. 7. When it is desired to remove the wire, the covers

page_text: and flue are to be removed, as before described; I then attach the ring 1,
Figs. 5, &c., to an ordinary.hoisting tackle, and lower it until the catches
4, 4, 4, have dropped through the orifice of that plate 5 which is nearest
to the top. This dropping through will be effected by the catches 4, 4, 4,
turning upon their centre pins; they will then, however, again fall down-
wards so as to project beyond the periphery of the orifice of the plate 5, and
occupy the position shewn in Fig. 8. The hoisting tackle being then put into
operation, the plate and that portion of the wire above it will be lifted and
withdrawn from the pot.
Figs. 9 and 10 shew a modification of my improvement. In this instance
the annealing pot A is made in three portions, capable of being charged
separately, and placed one on to another, so as to form an entire apparatus,
and also of being removed independently. Fig. 9 shews one of the portions
in section. This, after being charged, has a ring of metal k placed within
a groove formed upon the periphery of the central flue i, the said ring
being formed in balves for the purpose of being so applied. A cover m is
then adapted, and another ring similarly applied to a corresponding groove.
The pot so arranged is placed upon a foundation plate e, a socket at its lower
part fitting upon a central projection e', as shewn in the section of the entire
apparatus, Fig. 10; and above this other pots are in like manner placed, the
whole forming three distinct chambers, but traversed by a common interior
flue. In this manner any required number of distinct pots may be combined,
placed within a heating apparatus, similar to that shewn at Figs. 1 and 2, or
of any other convenient arrangement; and when the required process of
annealing shall have been completed, they may be removed separately by the
apparatus shewn at Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, or by other convenient means, for which
purpose projections u, u, u, are left within the flue i, i.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I would remark that
although I have shewn but one interior flue, yet, if desired, two or more may
be employed, and other variations may be made in arrangement and con-
struction without departing from the principle of my Invention; that which I
claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent being the use of a flue
pr flues situate in the interior of annealing pots or ovens.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Johnson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-one.
RICHARD (L.S.) JOHNSON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Richard Johnson came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord Cne
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one..