IMPROVEMENTS IN GLASS .FURNACES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Horace Alonzo Blunn, of Kilnhurst, in the County of
York, Glass Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GLASS
.FURNACES."
Sealed the 7th October 1876, and dated the 27th April 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Horace Alonzo Blunn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th April 1876.
HORACE ALONZO BLUNN, of Kilnhurst, in the County of York, Glass Manu-
facturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN GLASS FURNACES."
This Invention has reference to furnaces used for melting and working bottle
glass and flint house glass, and relates to furnaces in which the fire-places or grates
are arranged externally of the siege or bed containing the melting pots or crucibles.
Such furnaces as heretofore usually constructed are open to objection owing to the
great trouble and expense involved in removing from the sieges or beds the slag
and metal resulting from breakage of pots and otherwise. Now my Invention is
designed to obviate this objection, for which purpose I dispense with the bridges
or walls usually interposed between the fire-places or grates, and the siege or bed
on which the pots or crucibles are placed, and I arrange the fire-grates at a lower
level then the siege or bed, which I slope or incline in a downward direction
towards the fire-places or grates, so that the metal and slag from the siege or bed
may flow into the fire-places. By this arrangement I obtain more perfect com-
bustion of the fuel, and am thus enabled to realise considerable economy in fuel,
and by utilizing the slag I am enabled to dispense with the use of limestone or
steam.
In furnaces constructed according to my Invention green glass may be worked
in open pots.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Horace Alonzo Blunn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
October 1876.
HORACE ALONZO BLUNN, of Kilnhurst, in the County of York, Glass Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GLASS FURNACES."
This Invention has reference to furnaces used for melting and working bottle glass
and flint house glass, and relates to furnaces in which the fire-places or grates are
arranged externally of the siege or bed containing the melting pots or crucibles.
Such furnaces as heretofore usually constructed are open to objection, owing to the
great trouble and expense involved in removing from the sieges or beds the slag and
metal scattered during the charging of the pots, as well as any that may be dispersed
owing to breakage of pots. Now 1
my Invention is designed to obviate this
objection; for which purpose I dispense with the bridges or walls usually interposed
between the fire-places or grates and the siege or bed on which the pots or crucibles
are placed, and I arrange the fire-grates at a lower level than the siege or bed,
which I slope or incline in a downward direction towards the fire-places or grates,
so that the metal and slag from the siege or bed may flow into the fire-places. By
this arrangement I obtain more perfect combustion of the fuel, and am thus enabled
to realize considerable economy in fuel, and by utilizing the slag I am enabled
to dispense with the use of limestone or steam.
In furnaces constructed according to my Invention green glass may be worked in
open pots.
Fig. 1 of the Drawings is a longitudinal vertical section (taken in the line A, B,
of Fig. 2) of a green flint house furnace embodying my improvements.
Fig. 2 is a sectional plan taken in the line C, D, of the preceding Figure, and
Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section taken in the line E, F, of Fig. 1.
In all the views the same letters are used to denote like parts.
a, a, are the fire-places, one at each side of the furnace, and each having an
inclined (or it may be horizontal) grate b, fed through a firing hole c. Below each
grate are a couple of flues d, one at each side, to carry off the dust and sulphur
from the stoker, as well as to cause a current of cold air to pass along the outside
of the fire-place for keeping the brickwork cool. e, e, are arches, through which
pass the products of combustion from the fire-places. f is the siege inclined towards
each fire-place, as shewn at f,f¹, so that slag or metal which is scattered during
the charging of the pots, or in case of a pot breaking, shall run off the siege
through the fire-places into the ash-pits. g, g, g, g³, are four open pots; a part of
cach pot stands on the level or central and highest part of the siege, whilst the
other part of the pot rests on bricks h, thus the pots can be set level and firmly.
i, i, are the working holes, and i,j, are flues, one at each side of the furnace, so that
the flame instead of escaping through the working holes during the working out of
the pots may escape through the flues, which can also be used during the melting
of the metal if required. k, k, are the ash-pits.
The arrangement shewn in the Drawings may be modified by constructing the
furnace with only one fire-place instead of with two, as shewn.
Furnaces as described can be worked in bottle houses or flint houses either with
open pots or with covered-in pots, and besides economising fuel and affording other
advantages will effect a saving in the pots by protecting them from the action of
cold air.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and explained the manner of
performing it, I would remark that I do not intend to claim as of my Invention
the arranging the fire-places or grates externally of the siege or bed containing the
melting pots or crucibles, but what I consider to be novel and original and there-
fore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
The use in combination with the external fire-places of glass furnaces of sloped

page_text: or inclined sieges or beds arranged above the fire-places, and sloping or inclining in a
downward direction toward them, so that the metal and slag from the sieges or beds
may flow into the fire-places as above described.
I also claim the improved glass furnace with sloping or inclined. siege or bed,
constructed, arranged, and operating as shewn in and described with reference to
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Horace Alonzo Blunn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.