IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GLASS- HOUSE FURNACES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Reuben Plant, of Brierly Hill, Staffordshire,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GLASS-
HOUSE FURNACES."
Sealed the 7th May 1858, and dated the 21st January 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Reuben Plant
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st January 1853.
I, REUBEN PLANT, of Brierly Hill, Staffordshire, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC-
TION OF GLASS-HOUSE FURNACES" to be as follows:-
Heretofore glass-house furnaces have been usually constructed with
bars placed horizontally, somewhat below the bed of surfaces on which
he pots are placed, and so that the firc is below the bed. And it has
also been proposed to use inclined bars at the ends of the horizontal
bars, such inclined bars ascending above the bed. Now my Invention
has for its object the so constructing and arranging the fire bars of
glass-house furnaces that, being supported at their ends in about the
position of the horizontal bars heretofore used, the fire shall becomie

page_text: deeper towards and be deepest at the centre, and this may be accom-
plished by the use of two sets of bars mecting at or near the centre of
the fire, and inclined to each other, or the bars may be of a bent form
or have a concave surface. And I also introduce streams of air above
'the level of the fire bars and at the sides of the fire to obtain better
combustion
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Reuben Plant in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th July 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
REUBEN PLANT, of Brierly Hill, Staffordshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Reuben Plant, Her special licence
that I, the said Reuben Plant, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Reuben Plant, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec 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
THE CONSTRUCTION OF GLASS FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Reuben Plant, Reuben Plant, by an instrn-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Reuben Plant, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say): -
:
Heretofore glass-house furnaces have been usually constructed with
bars placed horizontally below the bed or surfaces on which the pōts
are placed, and so that the fire is below the bed. And it has also been
proposed to use inclined bars at the ends of the horizontal bars, such
inclined bars ascending above the bed. Now my Invention has for its
object the so constructing and arranging the fire bars of glass-house
furnaces that, being supported at their ends in about the position of
the horizontal bars heretofore used, the fire shall become deeper towards
and be deepest at the centre, and this may be accomplished by the use
of two sets of bars meeting at or near the centre of the fire, and inclined
to each other, or the bars may be of a bent form or have a concave
surface. And I also introduce streams of air above the level of the
fire bars and at the sides of the fire to obtain better combustion.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by
me. The construction of glass-house furnaces being well understood, it
will not be necessary to enter into a particular description thereof in this
my Specification, and it will only be desirable in regard thereto to
remark that it is usual in most furnaces, as before stated, to have the
fire below the bed or surface on which the pots are placed, the fire being
across and below the middle, the beat and products of combustion rising
up through an opening in the bed or surface on which the pots are placed,
and it is to this class of glass-house furnace to which my Invention is
applicable. And in carrying out my Invention, in place of having the
fire bars of the fire in a horizontal plane as heretofore, I cause the
centre of the fire to be lower than the outer ends, with a view that the
fuel should have a tendency to slide down towards the centre of the fire,
so that the most ignited fuel will be in the middle of the fire, and im-
mediately under the opening through the bed or surface on which the
pots are placed, whilst the fresh coal will be fed into the end or ends of
the fire, and as the same ignites the products will pass below the bed
of the furnace which is above, and thence over the more fully ignited
fuel further on the fire bars, by which the fuel will be better consumed,

page_text: and the ignition of the products will be better insured. The inclination
to the fire bars may be obtained by means of straight bars supported
at their outer ends about the position below the bed of the furnace
where the straight bars have heretofore been supported, the inner ends
of the bars being supported at a lower position; and I have found that
in a furnace where the fire is ten feet long that the middle may with
advantage be ten to fifteen inches deeper than the outer ends of the
fire, but this may be varied, or, in place of using two sets of straight
fire bars meeting in the middle, bent bars may be employed so long as
they incline towards the middle of the fire-place, and thus obtain the
desired result. And in order to improve the combustion of the fuel and
products I find it desirable to admit air above the fire bars and below
the bed of the furnace by making channels below the bed commu-
nicating with the outer atmosphere or with the ash pit, in order to
admit air to flow through and enter the fire-place above the fire bars,
in like manner to what is well understood in constructing other fur-
naces, and there should be slides or valves to regulate the air so
admitted.
In witness whereof, I, the said Reuben Plant, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
REUBEN PLANT. (L.S.)