Improvements in Lears for Annealing Sheets of Glass.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Aug., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 1st Apr., 1891-Accepted. 2nd May. 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Lears for Annealing Sheets of Glass.
We GEORGE FERGUSON CHANCE Managing Director of Chance Brothers
and Co. Limited, and CHANCE BROTHERS AND CO. LIMITED all of West
Smethwick in the County of Stafford, Glass Manufacturers, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
A lear for annealing sheets of glass as ordinarily constructed consists essentially
of an arched tunnel on the floor or bottom of which the sheets of glass to be
annealed are placed and removed by an intermittent motion from that end of the
tunnel at which they are introduced to the other or cooler end of the tunnel. The
end of the tunnel at which the sheets of glass are introduced is called the cooling
chamber and the entrance to the said chamber is called the push hole chamber,
the push hole being the entrance to the last named chamber. The push hole
chamber and the cooling chamber are furnished with fires. The rate of working
an ordinary lear is slow unless the lear is of inconvenient length and the object of the
said invention is to permit of the rapid working of the lear without increasing its
length beyond that of the ordinary lear.
The said invention consists in the addition to an ordinary lear of a second tunnel
alongside the first, the two tummels being so arranged as hereinafter described that
the sheets of glass to be annealed are fed into the said tunnels alternately and
proceed slowly from the hot to the cool end of the tunnel.
The cooling chambers of the two tunnels open into one another, one of the said
cooling chambers opening into the push hole chamber.
A sheet of glass introduced into the push hole chamber can either be passed into
the cooling chamber of the first tunnel or crossing the cooling chamber of the first
tunnel it can be passed into the cooling chamber of the second tunnel. Each
tunnel is provided with the mechanism ordinarily used in lears for carrying the
glass along from the hot end of the tunnel to the cool end of the same. As this
mechanism is of the ordinary kind and constitutes no part of the said invention we
do not think it necessary to describe the same. Neither do we think it necessary
to describe such other parts of the lear as resemble those of ordinary lears. The
lear may either be heated with coal or coke fires or with gas, part of the heat
passing under the beds of the tunnels and part between the beds and covering
arches.
Lears made according to the said invention are used in the following manner.
The first sheet of glass to be annealed is passed from the rolling table or machine
through the push hole and push hole chamber into the first cooling chamber and
before the second sheet is ready to pass into the lear the first sheet is pushed back
on to the bed of the first tunnel: the said second sheet is then passed through the
first cooling chamber to the second cooling chamber. A. third sheet takes the place
of the removed first sheet and the second sheet having been pushed on to the bed of
the second tunnel, a fourth sheet takes the place of the removed second sheet. The
sheets of glass are thus introduced alternately into the cooling chambers and are
withdrawn alternately at the cool ends of the tunnels. The sheets are passed into
a stove where they remain until they are quite cold.
Although we have described the said invention as consisting of two wholly inde-
pendent tunnels and prefer to employ that arrangement, yet a single tunnel of double
the ordinary width may be employed, each longitudinal half of the wide or compound
tunnel being provided with mechanism for effecting the intermittent and alternating

page_text: travelling of the sheet of glass along the said halves of the wide or compound
tunnel.
1
1
1800
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Lears for Annealing Sheets of Glass.
We GEORGE FERGUSON CHANCE Managing Director of Chance Brothers
and Co. Limited and CHANCE BROTHERS AND CO. LIMITED all of West
Smethwick in the County of Stafford Glass Manufacturers do hereby declare the
nature of the said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to he
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
A lear for annealing sheets of glass as ordinarily constructed consists essentially
of an arched tunnel on the floor or bottom of which the sheets of glass to be
annealed are placed and removed by an intermittent motion from that end of the
tunnel at which they are introduced to the other or cooler end of the tunnel. The
end of the tunnel at which the sheets of glass are introduced is called the cooling
chamber and the entrance to the said chamber is called the push hole chamber, the
push hole being the entrance to the last named chamber. The push hole chamber
and the cooling chamber are furnished with fires. The rate of working an ordinary
lear is slow unless the lear is of inconvenient length and the object of the said
invention is to permit of the rapid working of the lear without increasing its length
beyond that of the ordinary lear.
The said invention consists in the addition to an ordinary lear of a second tunnel
alongside the first the two tunnels being so arranged as hereinafter described that
the sheets of glass to be annealed are fed into the said tunnels alternately and
proceed slowly from the hot to the cool end of the tunnel. The cooling chambers
of the two tunnels open into one another oue of the said cooling chambers opening
into the push hole chamber.
A sheet of glass introduced into the push hole chamber can either be passed into
the cooling chamber of the first tunnel or crossing the cooling chamber of the first
tunnel it can be passed into the cooling chamber of the second tunnel. Each
tunnel is provided with the mechanism ordinarily used in lears for carrying the
glass along from the hot end of the tunnel to the cool end of the same. As this
mechanism is of the ordinary kind and constitutes no part of the said invention we
do not think it necessary to describe the same. Neither do we think it necessary
to describe such other parts of the Icar as resemble those of ordinary lears.
The lear may either be heated with coal or coke fires or with gas, part of the
heat passing under the beds of the tunnels and part between the beds and covering
arches.
Lears made according to the said invention are used in the following manner.
The first sheet of glass to be annealed is passed from the rolling table or
machine through the push hole and push hole chamber into the first cooling
chamber and before the second sheet is ready to pass into the lear the first sheet
is pushed back onto the bed of the first tunnel; the said second sheet is then
passed through the first cooling chamber to the second cooling chamber. A third
sheet takes the place of the removed second sheet, the second sheet having been
previously pushed onto the bed of the second tunnel. A fourth sheet takes the
place of the removed first sheet. The sheets of glass are thus introduced
alternately into the cooling chambers and are withdrawn alternately at the cool
ends of the tunnels. The sheets are passed into a stove where they remain until
they are quite cold.
We will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings
the manner in which the said invention is to be performed.

page_text: Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section; Figure 2 in horizontal
section (taken at the level of the cooling chambers and bed and rails on which
the sheets of glass are supported); Figure 3 in cross section, partly in end
elevation (taken at the cool or delivery end); Figure 4 in cross section, partly
in end clevation (taken at the feeding or working end) and Figure 5 in horizontal
section) taken at the ground level or level of the fireplaces) a lear for annealing
sheets of glass constructed according to the said invention; Figure 6 represents a
portion of Figare 2 drawn to a larger scale.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of
the drawings.
a and bare the two arched tunnels of the lear arranged side by side and divided
through the greater part of their length by the vertical wall e; a³ ³ is the
cooling chamber at the feeding end of the tunnel a and 12, 13 is the cooling
chamber at the feeding end of the tunnel the said two cooling chambers opening
into one another as seen in Figures 2 and 6. The cooling chamber a², a³ opens
into the push hole chamber d. The push hole chamber d may be situated at either
side of the lear. Over the two cooling chambers and is a reverberating
arch. On the beds or floors of the two tunnels a and beyond the cooling
chambers are the ordinary rails e e on which the sheets of glass are carried
forward the said sheets being lifted and carried forward by an intermittent motion
from the feeding ends to the cool ends of the two tummels. The rails
ee are of the
ordinary kind and are worked in the ordinary way by the levers at the cool
end of the compound lear, the supporting and lifting mechanisms of the two
tannels working independently of each other.
The cooling chambers a², and 2, 3 are provided with fire places and grates
at y, y for heating the said chambers and the tunnels of the lear; and the push
hole chamber d is also provided with a fireplace and grate at h for heating it.
The heat from the fireplaces g, g passes in part between, the beds and covering
arches of the tunnels a, b and in part under the beds of the tunnels by the flues, i.
The said flues i, i under the beds of the tunnels terminate however at k, k so that
there is no draught through the flues. The heated air and products of combustion
after passing through the tunnels a and escape at the funnel shaped chimneys or
stacks, at the cool ends of the said tunnels. The temperature in different parts
of the tunnels is regulated by the dampers at m, m, m.
Instead of heating the
lear by solid fuel gaseous fuel may be used.
At the front of and opening into the cooling chambers a³ and 62 63 are holes or
apertures for moving the sheets of glass in the cooling chambers and onto the
beds and rails as hereinafter described.
We will now describe with reference to Figure 6 the manner in which the sheets
of glass are fed into the cooling chambers a² a³ and 2, and from thence onto the
beds and rails for supporting and intermittently carrying forward the said sheets
from the hot ends to the cool ends of the two tunnels of the compound lear.
the said Figure 6 we have indicated in dotted lines six sheets of glass marked
respectively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the cooling chambers and on the rails.
In
The table carrying the sheet to be annealed is brought to the position marked
at the front of the push hole chamber d and the sheet on the table is passed from it
through the said push hole chamber into the part a² of the first cooling chamber a²,
occupying the position indicated in dotted lines and marked 1 and before the
second sheet is ready to pass into the lear, the first sheet at 1 is pushed by a hooked
tool, introduced by the workman at the hole p, onto the part a³ of the first cooling
chamber, the first sheet now occupying the position indicated at 2. The part a² of
the first cooling chamber being now unoccupied by a sheet of glass, the second
sheet of glass brought by the table to the position is passed through the push hole
chamber d and partly through the cooling chamber a nearly into the part of the
cooling chamber 6, 63 of the second tunnel ; that is, the second sheet occupies a.
position midway between the parts a² and of the two cooling chambers. By
means of a hooked tool introduced through the hole P the workman pushes the

page_text: .
second sheet completely into the part 62 of the second cooling chamber, the second
sheet occupying the position indicated in dotted lines and marked 3 in the said
chamber The second sheet at 3 is next passed by a longer hooked tool,
introduced through the hole 7: into the other part 3 of the second cooling chamber,
the second sheet now occupying the position marked 4. A third sheet is next
introduced into the first cooling chamber and made to occupy the position 1 and
by means of a long hooked tool passed through the hole the first sheet occupying
the position marked 2 is pushed onto the bed of the tunnel a into the position
marked 5. The third sheet of glass occupying the position 1 of the removed first
sheet in the chamber a² is pushed by the hooked tool into the position marked 2 on
the part 3 of the first cooling chamber. The chamber a being again clear a
fourth sheet is introduced at two stages in the manner hereinbefore described with
respect to the second sheet into the part 2 of the second cooling chamber in the
position indicated at 3 of the removed second sheet and the second sheet having
the position 4 is pushed by a hooked tool introduced through the hole q onto the
bed of the tunnel into the position indicated at 6. The fourth sheet now in the
position marked 3 is pushed by the hooked tool into the position marked 4.
the intermittent motion given to the rails e, e the sheets at 5 and 6 are carried
forward the required distance onto other portions of the beds so as to leave the beds
at 5 and 6 clear for the feeding of the sheets in the chambers at a and 3 onto the
beds at 5 and 6. The feeding of other sheets through the push hole chamber d
into the two cooling chambers a², a³ and 1² 6³ in the order and in the manner herein-
before described is then proceeded with. The sheets of glass thus introduced into
the cooling chambers and tunnels are carried through the tunnels and are withdrawn
at the cool ends of the said tunnels. The sheets if not sufficiently cool are then
passed into a stove where they remain until they are quite cool.
By
Although we have described the method which we prefer of feeding the sheets of
glass into the double or compound lear yet we do not limit ourselves thereto as the
order in which the sheets are introduced may be varied; for example the first sheet
may be introduced at two stages into the part 3 of the second cooling chamber
occupying the position 4 and the second sheet may be introduced at two stages into
the part of the second cooling chamber occupying the position 3. The third
sheet may be introduced into the part 2 of the first cooling chamber so as to occupy
the position and the said third sheet having been moved from the position 1 to
the position 2, a fourth sheet is introduced and made to occupy the position 1.
Prior to the introduction of the fourth sheet the sheet occupying the position 4 has
been moved to the position 6 on the bed and the sheet occupying the position 3 has
been moved to the position 4. The sheet occupying the position 2 is next pushed
to the position 5 on the bed and the sheet occupying the position 1 is passed to the
position 2 in the first cooling chamber. The operations described are then
repeated.
Although we have described and illustrated the said invention as consisting of
two wholly independent tunnels and prefer to employ that arrangement yet a
single tunnel of double the ordinary width may be employed, each longitudinal
half of the wide or compound tunnel being provided with mechanism for effecting
the intermittent travelling of the sheets of glass along the said halves of the wide
or compound tunnel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed we wish it to be understood
that we claim as the said invention:-
The combination in a lear for annealing sheets of glass of two independent tunnels
arranged side by side or parallel to one another the cooling chambers of the said
independent and parallel tunnels at the feeding end of the lear opening into one
another, the sheets of glass to be annealed being fed into the said cooling chambers
and tunnels preferably in the manner before described, the several parts of the
compound or double lear being constructed and arranged substantially as herein-

page_text: before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings; also the modification
described in which a single tunnel of double the ordinary width is used in place of
two independent tunnels."
GEORGE FERGUSON CHANCE.
For CHANCE BROTHERS AND CO., LIMITED,
EDWARD F. CHANCE, Director.