IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Williams, of Ketley, in the County of Salop,
Ironmaster, and George Bedson, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manager of Iron Works; for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PUDDLING FURNACES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Williams and George
Bedson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 5th January 1864.
We, JOHN WILLIAMS, of Ketley, in the County of Salop, Ironmaster, and
GEORGE BEDSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager of Iron
Works, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PUDDLING FURNACES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to improvements upon that construction of puddling
furnace for which Letters Patent were granted to George Bedson, bearing date
14th December 1859, No. 2838. In that arrangement a wrought-iron bottom
was employed through which a stream of water was allowed to flow. According
to our present arrangement we mount the said bottom, which according to the
Patent above mentioned was stationary, upon an axle, which axle may, how-
ever, be constituted by the bottom itself, and we apply toothed wheels or other
similar ordinary contrivance whereby an axial motion is imparted to the said
bottom. In conjunction with this rotating bottom we apply fixed stirrers
which may be held in position by being mounted in a framework, or they may

page_text: be applied by band. Or in place of the above described arrangement we still
use the stationary bottom and employ therewith stirrers mounted upon a frame
which is caused to rotate by toothed or other similar ordinary apparatus. In
order to feed the revolving bottom with water it is necessary to provide means
whereby the supply and outward flow shall not be interrupted by the said
revolution. To this end we use a central pipe for the supply, and another
pipe or pipes revolving with the bottom and extending from the top thereof
to the lower part, discharging the water into a central or annular opening.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Williams and George Bedson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
WILLIAMS, of Ketley, in the County of Salop, Ironmaster, and GEORGE
BEDSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager of Iron Works,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Williams and George Bedson, Her special license that we, the
said John Williams and George Bedson, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Williams and George Bedson,
our 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 PUDDLING FURNACES,"
upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said John Williams and
George Bedson, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, (or
under the hand and seal of one of us) should particularly 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 George Bedson, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
Our Invention refers to those puddling furnaces for which Letters Patent
were granted to George Bedson, dated 14th December 1859, No. 2888, in
which the bottoms are constructed of wrought iron and are made hollow so as
to constitute a chamber, through which water may flow, and the said Invention
consists in mounting such bottoms upon an axis and imparting rotatory motion
thereto so that a stirrer or stirrers projecting into the furnace and being held
stationary may effect the required pudding.
Also our Invention consists in a method of delivering the water to and
carrying off the overflow from the said hollow bottom.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a pudding furnace con-
structed according to our Invention in vertical section; and Fig. 2 is a
horizontal section, the general form being that usually adopted, the bottom in
this case however being circular.
The brickwork is at a, and the two sets of fire bars at 6, 61, with the dead
plate c between them, and the flue is at d. The furnace bottom constructed
of wrought-iron plates is shewn at e, the lower plate thereof being attached to
an axle g turning at bottom in a footstep h and supported laterally by a
bearing i. The top plate of the furnace bottom is provided with a tube k
extending upward and passing through the top of the furnace at which place
it carries a flanged piece 7 dipping downward into an annular trough m filled
with sand or water so that the aperture through which the tube passes shall
be closed. At n is a pipe connected to a convenient source for affording a
constant supply of water and which pipe descends through the tube k to the
lower part of the furnace bottom. At o are pipes (there may be two or more
in number) fexed to the lower plate of the furnace bottom and extending
upward therein to the higher part of the water chamber, and also downward
into an annular trough p. At q are wheels upon which the furnace bottom
runs, and by which the said bottom is partly steadied. The tube k carries
brickwork r for protection against heat, which brickwork is supported by
flanges projecting from the said tube. The furnace bottom being put in
motion through the medium of the wheels, or by other suitable means, the
metal will likewise receive rotary motion; the workman then introduces his
puddling instrument through one or both of the doors, as shewn by the red
lines, there being slits therein made for the purpose, and by holding it fast, or
otherwise fixing it, the metal will receive the necessary stirring or pudding,
after which it may be "balled up" by suitable tools introduced through the
said slits in the doors. During this operation water has been flowing

page_text: น
through the pipe n into the chamber constituting the furnace bottom, and the
hottest portion of the water and any steam that. may have accumulated have
passed through the pipes into the trough p, which by extending all round the
furnace bottom is always in position to receive the discharge of the pipes o.
The water however will fill the tube k, and at t is a pipe which takes
the overflow therefrom and delivers it into an annular trough u from whence
it is taken by a pipe v to any desired situation, and at w is a pipe which in
like manner takes the water from the trough p. The usual "fettling" for the
furnace bottom is shewn at x. The tube is applied for the purpose of allow-
ing ample escape for steam should the supply of water accidentally fail and
return when the bottom is in a heated state. Instead of the arrangement
shewn for supplying the furnace bottom with water the axle may be made
hollow for its passage, the said axle being provided with a stuffing box to
admit of its revolution, and yet allow a water communication as will be well
understood.
We claim as our Invention, and as applied to wrought-iron puddling furnace,
bottoms which are formed with water chambers, causing such bottoms to
revolve, and applying stirrers to the metal during such revolution. Also the
methods described of supplying and drawing off the water from the said
furnace bottoms.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bedson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
GEORGE BEDSUN. (L.S.)