IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS FOR PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONtus FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ALKALIES AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher James Schofield, of Clayton, near
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARATUS FOR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher James
Schofield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd September 1874.
I, CHRISTOPHER JAMES SCHOFIELD, of Clayton, near Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES OR APPARAtus
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ALKALIES AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to furnaces of the class described in the Speci-
fication of Letters Patent, No. 46, granted the 9th day of January 1871,
to William Holland Furlonge and James Dixon Churchill. The Specifi-
cation in question describes furnaces constructed with annular beds or
receptacles for containing the materials under treatment, such annular

page_text: beds or receptacles being arranged to revolve within annular spaces or
chambers, and covered by means of stationary roofs.
Now my Invention is designed to enable the materials that have been
treated in the annular beds of such furnaces to be readily removed there-
from by simple and efficient means, which shall not be liable to
derangement. For this purpose I so construct and arrange the furnace
as to leave at the outer side of the annular bed a space or spaces between
the upper edge of the annular side of the bed and the roof, and I adapt
to the roof or other stationary part of the apparatus a plate or plates or
deflector or deflectors arranged in a direction tangential or at an angle
to the inner lateral part or side of the annular bed, and so as when
lowered to dip into and form a partition across the bed in such manner
as that the materials-required to be removed from within the bed being,
by its revolving action brought against the said deflector or deflectors,
shall be thereby accumulated, deflected, or thrown aside and caused to
pass over the side of the bed into any suitable receiver.
To accommodate the receiver or receivers a portion or portions of the
wall of the annular space or chamber within which the annular bed
revolves is or are removed or dispensed with; or the outer annular wall
may be entirely dispensed with, and pillars carrying a ring or frame
may be used in lieu thereof for supporting the side of the flue and
roof.
It will be evident that in furnaces constructed with openings or spaces
between the outer annular sides of the beds and their roofs, as above
described, materials that have been treated in the annular beds may in
some cases be removed through such openings or spaces by means of
shovels or other apparatus.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year,
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Christopher James Schofield, Her.
special license that I, the said Christopher James Schofield, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Christopher James Schofield, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF ALKALIES AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Christopher
James Schofield, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should par-
ticularly 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 Christopher James Schofield, do
hereby declare the nature of the 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 thereof, and the Sheet of
Drawings therein referred to (that is to say) :-
:
This Invention relates to furnaces of the class described in the
Specification of Letters Patent, No. 46, granted the 9th day of January_
1871, to William Holland Furlonge and James Dixon Churchill, and
assigned to me the 7th day of January 1874. The Specification in'
question describes furnaces constructed with annular beds or receptacles"
for containing the materials under treatment, such annular beds or
receptacles being arranged to revolve within annular spaces or chambers,
and covered by means of stationary roofs.
2
Now my Invention is designed to enable the materials that have been.
treated in the annular beds of such furnaces to be readily removed,
therefrom by simple and efficient means which shall not be liable to.

page_text: derangement. For this purpose I so construct and arrange the furnace
as to leave at the outer side of the annular bed a space or spaces between
the upper edge of the annular side of the bed and the roof, and I adapt
to the roof or other stationary part of the apparatus a plate or plates or
deflector or deflectors arranged in a direction tangential or at an angle
to the inner lateral part or side of the annular bed, and so as when
lowered to dip into and form a partition across the bed in such manner
as that the materials required to be removed from within the bed, being
by its revolving. action brought against the said deflector or deflectors,
shall be thereby accumulated, deflected, or thrown aside and caused to
pass over the side of the bed into any suitable receiver.
To accommodate the receiver or receivers a portion or portions of the
wall of the annular space or chamber within which the annular bed
revolves is or are removed or dispensed with; or the outer annular wall
may be entirely dispensed with, and pillars carrying a ring or frame
may be used in licu thereof for supporting the side of the flue and
roof.
It will be evident that in furnaces constructed with openings or spaces
between the outer annular sides of the beds and their roofs, as above
described, materials that have been treated in the annular beds may in
some cases be removed through such openings or spaces by means of
shovels or other apparatus.

page_text: the annular rails g supporting the bottom of the annular bed; h is a
reverberatory fire-place situated at the side of the annular chamber c²,
so that by the use of the annular bed a, a', in combination with the
stationary walls c, c', and annular roof c³ an annular flue is formed, of
which the rotating bed or receptacle a, a', constitutes the bottom, the
walls c, c', the sides, and the roof c³ the top. The bed of the annular
flue so formed contains the materials on to which the flame and intensely
heated products of combustion from the fire-place are reverberated or
caused to impinge. The exit for the products of combustion is at h', so
that the flame and heated products of combustion on entering the
annular flue are split up or divided into two streams travelling in opposite.
directions along the annular flue, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2,
and meeting and leaving together by the exit 7, as shewn; i, i, are
annular gutters or channels carried by the walls c, c', and containing
pulverized ore or other granulated luting material or liquid sealing, into
which dip the flanges or feathers ², i, carried by the rotating annular
bed; c is an opening formed in the annular roof c³ for the insertion of
instruments for mixing, turning over, and otherwise manipulating the
substances under treatment.
To enable the materials that have been treated in the rotating annular
bed to be readily removed, I construct the furnace so as to leave a space
at one side between the upper edge of the annular side of the rotating
bed and the roof, as shewn at c³ (Fig. 3), for which purpose in the
arrangement illustrated I provide a small archway c* projecting in a
radial direction from the annular roof c³. This archway is provided with
a sliding door constructed of iron c' lined with fire-brick c', and arranged
to be raised and lowered, or held in any required position by means of a
lever having its fulcrum at k³, and provided with a sliding weight k².
The inclined bottom of the opening c³ consists of an iron plate c³ arranged
to slightly overlap the outer annular bed, so as when materials aro
ejected from the bed, as herein-after described, to guard against any
portions thereof falling down between the wall c and the annular bed.
The plate c is made adjustable by set screws, as shewn. is a frame
having grooves or guides l', in which slide the respective ends of a
deflector m constructed in the present instance of iron. This deflector, as
will be seen by the plan view, Fig. 2, is arranged in a direction tan.
gential or at an angle to the lateral part or side of the annular bed. It
is made adjustable vertically by means of a chain », and differential

page_text: pulleys o, or a lever provided with a screwed rod operated by a hand
wheel having a correspondingly screwed boss may be used. By this
arrangement the deflector m can be adjusted to any required height in
the flue c³.
When the deflector is lowered it dips into and forms a partition across
the bed of the furnace in such manner as that the materials required to
be removed from the said bed being by the rotating action of the bed
brought against the said deflector are thereby accumulated and deflected
or thrown aside, and caused to pass over the side of the rotating annular
bed through the opening c* out of the furnace into any suitable 1
receiver.
When the annular bed is tolerably full the deflector may in some
cases be advantageously lowered, so as to dip at first only slightly into
the contents of the bed, thereby, as it were, skimming the same at first,
and after a portion of the contents have been removed from the bed the 1
deflector may be gradually lowered until it finally assumes its lowest
position towards the conclusion of the emptying operation.
When removing iron in a pasty state I cause it to accumulate by
means of the deflector, and I remove the accumulated balls by means of
a shovel, tongs, or otherwise.
Although the arrangement shewn is the one I prefer to make use of
it may obviously be modified to suit circumstances without departing
from the distinctive character of my Invention.
2
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into practical effect, 12
hereby declare what I consider to be novel and original and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent to be,-
:
First. The so constructing and arranging furnaces having rotating
annular beds as to leave spaces between the upper edges of the annular
sides of the beds and the roofs, as herein set forth, and adapting thereto
adjustable plates or deflectors so arranged in relation to the rotating
annular beds and to openings in the sides of the furnaces, as that such
plates or deflectors may be caused to dip into and form partitions across -
the beds of the furnaces, the materials required to be removed being by a
the rotation of the beds brought against the said plates or deflectors,

page_text: and thereby accumulated for removal over the sides of the . rotating
annular beds, as herein-before described.
Secondly. The combination with the rotating annular bed a, a¹,
walls c, c³, roof c³, c*, opening or way c³, door c, c', and plate c³ of the
grooved frame 1, l', pulleys o, chain n, and deflector m, the whole
arranged together, and operating substantially as shewn in and
described with reference to the Drawings for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof I, the said Christopher James Schofield,
have hereunto set 'my hand and seal, this 25th day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-five.
CHRISTOPHER JAMES SCHOFIELD. (L.S.)