AN IMPROVEMENT IN GLASS FURNACES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ambroise Quertinier, of Charleroi, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN GLASS
FURNACES."
Sealed the 29th June 1855, and dated the 17th January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ambroise Quertinier at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,, on
the 17th January 1855.
I, AMBROISE QUERTINIER, of Charleroi, in the--Kingdom of Belgium, Mer-
chant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN GLASS FURNACES" to be as follows:-
•
My Invention consists in causing heat, ignited gases, hot, air, and; the
products of combustion to pass from the fire-place through side channels or
apertures, and circulate under the floor of the melting chambers, so as to
cause the heat, &c. to traverse as extended a space as may be, and thus
obtain the greatest possible transmission of heat to the melting chambers in
the passage of the products of combustion. from the fire-place into the shaft.."
I provide apertures for the admission of air among the products of combustion,
which apertures are regulated by earthenware or other suitable stoppers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ambroise Quertinier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AMBROISE
QUERTINIER, of Charleroi, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Ambroise Quertinier, Her special licence that I, the said Ambroise
Quertinier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Ambroise Quertinier, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
GLASS FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ambroise
Quertinier, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Ambroise Quertinier, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in causing heat, ignited gases, hot air, and the
products of combustion to pass from the fire-place of glass furnaces through
side channels or apertures, and to circulate under the floor of the melting
chambers, so as to cause the heat, heated air, gases, &c., to traverse as extended
a space as may be, and thereby to obtain the greatest possible transmission of
heat to the melting chambers in the passage of the products of combustion
from the fire-place into the shaft. I provide apertures for the admission of air
among the products of combustion, which, apertures are regulated by earthen-
warc or other suitable dampers.
The means of carrying my Invention into effect are as follows:-Air is

page_text: introduced from the side or end of the melting furnace through passages or
channels carried over or along the crown, from which passages it enters the
upper part or crown in a hot state, thereby assisting the combustion of the
gases which are formed and ascend from the fire-place; the amount of air
admitted must be regulated by suitable dampers. The ignited gases, hot air,
and caloric, after having skimmed or passed along the crown, are re-conveyed
through the sides to beneath the floor of the furnace by means of flues or
passages, and after having circulated through all parts of the furnace are
allowed to escape; dampers are placed in the mouths of the air passages during
the process of melting to assist the circulation of the ignited gases. A shaft
is placed at a suitable distance from the fire-place to assist the draught
which is regulated by a register placed in the flue which leads from the
furnace.
"
Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed is a sectional elevation of a glass furnace
constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2, a horizontal section of the.
same; Figure 3, a horizontal section on the line of the furnace; Figure 4, an
end view in section. A, A, is the brickwork of the furnace; B, B, the fire
bars; C, C, C, the glass pots (which are here shewn as eight in number); D,
the crown of the furnace. a, a, are channels or passages which run along the
entire length of the crown of the furnace, and convey the atmospheric air into
the interior, thereof in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figure 1; the
quantity of air admitted is regulated by suitable dampers placed in the mouth
of the passages, so that it may always be in due proportion to the inflammable
gases generated from the fuel employed. The passages are so distributed as to
admit of the conversion of the inflammable gases into flame. Three of these
passages are represented in the Drawing (Figure 4), but a greater or less
number may be employed as may be found desirable, the object being to
introduce the necessary amount of air raised to the same temperature, or nearly
so, as that of the furnace. b, b, are passages which convey only the quantity
of air necessary for maintaining the gases in an ignited state. When the
furnace doors are opened for a fresh charge of fuel, a quantity of cold air is
admitted into the furnace, which carries with it nearly all the inflammable
gases; these gases before reaching the shaft pass along the flues under the
bed of the glass pots or floor of the melting chamber, and the oxygen necessary
for igniting them is supplied through the passages b, b. d, d, are iron plates
bound with fire clay, which are placed beneath the fire bars, and fit into the
sides of the ash-pit, and regulate draught. These plates also prevent the mass
of fuel in the fire bars from burning away too rapidly; this is effected by
pushing the plates d, d, up to the ends of the ash-pit, so as together with the

page_text: floor of the fire-place to close up all the apertures through which air might be
admitted under the fire bars, thereby converting the fire-place into a sort of
coke oven, and preventing the too rapid combustion of the fuel, while at the
same time the requisite amount of heat is maintained. These plates may,
however, be dispensed with, if desired. 0, 0, 0, are passages or flues through
which, the products,of combustion, gases, &c. are carried under the melting
chamber, whence they pass into the shaft, through which the products of com-
bustion. escape after having done their duty.V, V, are openings (stopped up
during the fusion of the materials), through which the glass, is collected and
worked. I do not limit myself to any particular number, form, or arrange-
ment of furnace or passages, or to any position or arrangement of fire-place
or fire bars.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the,
manner in which the same. is to be performed, I declare that I claim as
my improvement in glass furnaces, the causing of heat and the products of
combustion to pass in through, around, and under the melting chamber in the
manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ambroise Quertinier, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, One thousand-
eight hundred and fifty-five.
..-
A QUERTINIER. (L.S.)
.