IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES, HEATING FURNACES, AND OTHER REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Smith Casson, of Round Oak Works,
Brierley Hill, in the County of Stafford, Manager of Iron Works,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES, HEATING
FURNACES, AND OTHER REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF IRON AND STEEL."-A communication from abroad by Pierre
Adolphe Dormoy, of Troyes, in the Department of the Aube,
France, Metallurgist.
Sealed the 7th February 1873, and dated the 11th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Smith Casson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th December 1872.
I, RICHARD SMITH CASSON, of Round Oak Works, Brierley Hill, in
the County of Stafford, Manager of Iron Works, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES,
HEATING FURNACES, AND OTHER REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFAC-
TURE OF IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows :-
The said Invention consists in combining with or adding to ordinary
puddling furnaces, heating furnaces, and other reverberatory furnaces used

page_text: in the manufacture of iron and steel, the parts herein-after described, by
the use of which combinations or additions the process of puddling or
other operation is facilitated, perfect combustion of the gases in the
furnace insured, and fuel and material economized.
In constructing a puddling furnace according to this Invention a
preparing or heating chamber is combined with the ordinary puddling
chamber of the furnace, the said preparing or heating chamber being
situated between the ordinary puddling chamber and the stack of the
furnace. The puddling chamber and heating or preparing chamber are
separated by a high bridge, and the said preparing chamber is furnished
with an ordinary reverberatory arch. In the said preparing chamber.
the pig iron or steel to be puddled is placed preparatory to its being
charged into the puddling chamber, the said pig iron or steel being
heated to incipient fusion by the waste heat or gases passing from the
puddling chamber. When the "heat" of puddled iron or steel has been
removed from the puddling chamber the pig iron or steel in the heating
or preparing chamber is charged into the puddling chamber by lifting
it over the bridge between the two chambers by means of a "pcel" or
other suitable instrument. Thus while the puddling is being effected in
the puddling chamber the iron or steel for a fresh "heat" is being heated
by the waste heat from the puddling chamber.
In order to control or regulate the combustion of the gases passing
through the puddling and preparing chambers described, and to cause
the flames passing through the said chambers to become oxidizing flames
or reducing flames, at pleasure, a moveable regulator or reverberator
is employed at the contracted end or neck of each of the said chambers.
These regulators or reverberators consist of oblong frames of metal
enclosing or binding together fire-bricks or other refractory material.
The said regulators or reverberators are placed in transverse openings
made in the arch of the furnace, and their ends rest upon the side walls
of the furnace. The said regulators or reverberators may be perforated,
so as to convey atmospheric air to the chamber, or they may be made
solid. By means of ledges or projecting bricks on the said side walls,
the position of the regulators or reverberators may be adjusted, so as to
diminish or increase the space at the contracted end of cach of the
chambers described.
A regulator or reverberator of the kind described may be applid
between the fire-place of the furnace and the puddling chamber. By

page_text: the use of the said regulators or reverberators, perfect combustion of the
gases passing through the chambers is ensured, and the temperature of
the furnace also controlled. The said moveable regulators or rever-
berators may be made hollow, so that air, steam, or water may be passed
through them to keep them cool. The bridge which separates the
puddling chamber from the preparing chamber is constructed hollow.
and partly of wrought or cast-iron plates, so that it may be kept cool by
a current of water or otherwise. By this means the proper dimension.
of the contracted part of the chamber can be preserved by the use of a
thin layer of refractory material on the said bridge.
The improvements herein-before described are applied to heating
furnaces and other reverberatory furnaces used in the manufacture of
iron and steel, substantially in the manner described with respect to a
puddling furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Smith Casson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD.
SMITH CASSON, of Round Oak Works, Brierley Hill, in the County of
Stafford, Manager of Iron Works, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Richard Smith Casson, Her special
license that I, the said Richard Smith Casson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Smith
Casoon, 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 PUDDLING FURNACES, HEATING FURNACES, AND OTHER
REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON OR STEEL," a

page_text: communication to me from abroad by Pierre Adolphe Dormoy, of
Troyes, in the Department of the Aube, France, Metallurgist, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Smith Casson, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Smith Casson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :
-
The said Invention consists, first, in arranging the parts of puddling,
heating, and other reverberatory furnaces, as herein-after described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, and in making in combination
therewith a preparing chamber, constructed as herein-after described,
for the purpose of preparing or heating pig and other iron or steel ready
for melting by means of the waste heat of the furnace, and passing the
heated iron or steel from the preparing chamber directly into the 1
puddling or heating chamber, instead of removing the said heated iron
or steel from the said preparing chamber through a side or other door,
and introducing it into the puddling or heating furnace by the door of
the said furnace.
.
Figure 1 of the Drawings shows in horizontal section a preparing
chamber with two doors for heating the pig or other iron or steel, in
connection with or applied to a double puddling furnace with a metallic
basin, the said puddling furnace being of the kind described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to Pierre Adolphe Dormoy, on
the Twenty-seventh day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-one, Number 1967. The dimensions and shape of these
chambers for preparing the iron or steel may be varied to suit the
position of the furnace, and the quantity of iron or steel they are to
contain. C, H, R, is the space in the chamber contained between the
flue bridge P, A, and the fixed reverberator R, F, and between the
two doors; D, D, are the two doors; P, A, a plan of hollow casting
forming the flue bridge; R, F, is the fixed reverberator represented in plan.
•

page_text: Figure 2 represents a longitudinal section of the preparing chamber
applied to a double furnace with metallic basin, with a perspective view
of the process of transferring the heated pig or other iron or steel from
the preparing chamber into the puddling furnace, by passing it by
means of a "peel" or other suitable instrument over the flue bridge.
C, H, R, is the preparing or reheating chamber between the flue bridgo
and the fixed reverberator R, F; D is one of the working doors for
charging in the cold pig or other iron or steel, and for passing it by
means of the "peel" into the puddling furnace; P, A, is a transverso
section of the small metallic flue bridge; P, C, is the peel for trans-
ferring the heated iron or steel from the preparing chamber to the
puddling furnace.
The said Invention consists, secondly, in combining with the said
furnaces two regulators or reverberators, constructed as herein-after
described, the said regulators or reverberators being either moveable or
fixed, and serving to simultaneously regulate the heat in the puddling or
heating furnace, and in the preparing chamber, and by means of the
said reverberators uniformity in the dimensions of the escape flue is
maintained. R, F, and R, M, respectively represent the two regulators
or reverberators, and the space included between B, C, is the space
within which the position of the reverberator R, M, may be varied,
without affecting the proper working of the furnace; R, F, is a fixed
reverberator, and R, M, is a moveable reverberator with air draught, the
said reverberator being represented in elevation, and the iron casing in
which it works being represented in section; A. is the outlet of the air
used for cooling the reverberator.
. Although it is preferred to make the reverberator R, F, fixed, and the
reverberator R, M, moveable, yet each of the said reverberators may
either be made fixed or moveable.
S shows a section of the bed of the preparing chamber, the level of
which may be varied according to need. It may be below the level of
the flue bridge P, A, or it may be level with or above the same, and
either horizontal or inclined. It is preferred to cover the bed S with an
ashy or earthy material.
Figure 3 shows a longitudinal section of a preparing chamber in
connection with or applied to a reheating furnace. C, H, R, shows the
space of the preparing chamber .contained between the two rever-

page_text: berators R, M, R, M; D, D, are the two working doors of the said
preparing chamber; P, P, show two piles of iron or steel which have
been first placed in the preparing chamber to be heated before they are
passed into the furnace proper; P, I, represents a pile of iron or steel
placed on a peel, and in the act of being transferred from the pre-
paring chamber into the heating furnace. This operation is performed
by causing the piles to pass below the moveable reverberator R, M,
which separates the two chambers. The adjustability of the reverberator
offers the advantage that on lifting it up piles of large size can be
passed from one chamber to the other. The said reverberators R, M,
have air passages through them for a ventilating draught of air.
A, A, show the outlet of the air used for ventilating the reverberators.
The regulators or reverberators R, M, in Figure 3, may either be
moveable or fixed.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of a preparing chamber in con-
nection with or applied to an ordinary single puddling furnace, showing
in perspective the method of transferring by means of the peel P, C, the
heated iron or steel from the preparing chamber into the puddling
furnace over the flue bridge. C, H, R, is the space of the preparing
chamber contained between the reverberator R, F, and the flue bridge,
and of which the dimensions may be varied; R, F, and R, M, are
regulators or reverberators of the kind herein-before described, which
reverberators may either be moveable or fixed, and be provided with
ventilating air passages A.
C, R, M, Figure 5, represents a longitudinal section of one of the
regulators or reverberators, marked R, M, in Figure 4, ventilated by
a draught of air, E, E, E, being the holes for the inlet of the air.
The said Invention consists, thirdly, of a flue bridge separating the
preparing chamber from the puddling or beating furnace, subject to
little wear and tear, and requiring but slight and simple repairs, so as to
keep the dimensions for the outflow of the fire gases as exact as possible,.
the said bridge being made hollow, and constructed either of cast or
wrought iron, and kept cool by a current of water or steam, as herein-
after explained. The said bridge and cooling appliance are illustrated
in Figure 4, in which Figure 4 P, A, represents the said hollow bridge 3
covered with a thin layer of refractory brick or other material; T is a
tube open at top, situated within the hollow flue bridge P, A, and

page_text: supplied with water. The volatilization of the said water in the tube T
by the heat of the flue bridge produces a current of steam which escapes
at the open upper side of the tube, and ventilates and keeps cool the
said hollow bridge. Instead of introducing water into the tube T to be
volatilized as described, a current of steam may be passed into the said
tube with the same effect.
The said Invention may be applied to double puddling furnaces in
general, and to double or single heating furnaces, as also to single
puddling furnaces, but it is especially applicable to double furnaces with
metallic basins of the kind described in the Specification of Pierre
Adolphe Dormoy's Patent herein-before referred to.
The improvements described with reference to puddling and heating
furnaces may be applied to other kinds of reverberatory furnaces used in
the manufacture of iron and steel.
I wish it to be understood that I am aware that supplementary.
preparing or heating chambers in connection with puddling furnaces
have or may have been used from time to time; but the preparing or
heating chambers thus used differ in their construction and mode of
working from those herein-before described and represented in the
accompanying Drawing, inasmuch as they were so constructed and
arranged that the iron or steel heated in them had to be withdrawn
therefrom and transferred through the air to the puddling furnace,
through the ordinary door of the said puddling furnace, by which the
heat of the puddling furnace was injuriously reduced by the ingress
of cold air into it, and the heated iron or steel also cooled, thereby
occasioning a loss of time and increased labor to the workman.
.
By constructing and working preparing chambers according to this
Invention, the inconveniences of the preparing chambers referred to are
obviated.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of the said Invention%; but I claim as the said Invention of
improvements in puddling furnaces, heating furnaces, and other
reverberatory furnaces used in the manufacture of iron and steel,-
--

page_text: Firstly. The particular combination of preparing or heating chamber
with the said furnaces, and working the same by passing the heated iron
or steel direct from the preparing chamber to the puddling or heating or
other reverberatory furnace, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly. The moveable or fixed regulators or reverberators, as
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in connection
with the preparing or heating chamber of the said furnaces, for the
purpose of controlling or regulating the passage of gases through the said
furnaces, and causing the flames to become either oxidizing or reducing
flames at pleasure.
Thirdly. The hollow bridge with the arrangement for keeping it cool
by water or steam, substantially as, herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Smith Casson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three
flames at pleasure.
Thirdly. The hollow bridge with the arrangement for keeping it cool
by water or steam, substantially as, herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Smith Casson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
throo
Witness,
FREDERICK YATES,
Cromwell Street,
Kate's Hill,
Dudley.
RICHARD SMITH CASSON. (L.S.)