CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATE GLASS
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WALTER SWINBURNE, of South Shields, in the County of Durham, Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of December, in the seventh year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Walter Swinburne, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Robert Walter Swinburne, my exors, adiñors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Walter Swinburne, my exors,
adiiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATE GLASS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, that I, the said Robert Walter Swinburne, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chan-
cery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Walter Swinburne, do hereby declare that the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
In the ordinary manufacture of cast plate glass the plates or sheets of
glass are annealed in a horizontal position, resting on the plane surface of an
annealing kiln or oven, thereby requiring a space during the process of anneal-
ing equal to or of greater extent than their superficial quantity. Now, my
Invention relates to the manufacture of plate glass in such a form and manner
as that plates or sheets of considerable size may be manufactured in kilns and
premises of much smaller dimensions than usual without the necessity of
annealing the said plates or sheets in a horizontal position, they being cut
while in a hot state to such sizes as may be properly and safely placed during
the process of annealing in a position approaching to the perpendicular, after the
manner of blown plate glass. And I now describe more particularly and at
large the method or manner of managing or performing the same. The metal
or fluid glass, having been prepared in the ordinary way, is cast on the casting
table, and rolled or flattened in the usual manner. After the roller has passed
over the metal, a bar of iron or other substance with a pointed or sharpened
edge is propelled by adequate force (mechanical or otherwise) upon the sheet
or plate of glass, so as partially or wholly to divide it into plates of such
dimensions as may be conveniently piled or placed on their edges while anneal-
ing; the several cuts or indentations having been made, the whole are pushed
from the table into the kiln, described in the Drawing hereunto annexed.
Should the plates or sheets not be completely severed by the instrument used
to divide them while in a hot state on the table, it will generally happen, if
the cut has been made at a proper time, that the act of pushing the plates
into the kiln will complete the separation, by causing a fracture of that part
which the cutting instrument had not sufficiently pierced. Should, however,
this not be the case, and the plates be found, after being pushed into the kiln,
to be still connected, a pair of shears is introduced at one or both sides of the
kiln by means of holes prepared for the purpose, and by their means the sepa-
ration is made complete. In the act of using the shears, a thin bar of iron
may be introduced under the plate close adjoining the indented part, so as to
give greater facility to the progress of the shears, and the kiln is kept at a
temperature sufficient to reduce to a flat state any inequalities in the plate
that such treatment may occasion. After the plates or sections are fully sepa-
rated, they are drawn (by means of an instrument called in blown plate glass
works a tool) one by one out of that end of the kiln called in the plan the

page_text: table on wheels, or by other means which may be found most convenient, to a
"spreading kiln," into which they are put, and afterwards treated precisely
after the manner of blown plate glass, being placed in a piling kiln, where
they are properly annealed. The construction of the spreading kilns and the
piling or annealing kilns differ in no way from those used in the ordinary
manufacture of blown plate glass, excepting that they are made of dimensions
large enough to admit of the plates being conveniently spread and piled
therein, having of course fire-places and flues adequate to impart sufficient
heat to effect the annealing process.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shews the casting table and kiln in perspective. The chimney or
main shaft may be carried to a height that may suit the convenience of the
building in which the kiln is erected, and is shewn in the Drawing and section
as cut off a little above the top of the kiln. The kiln is bound by iron plates
and bars, represented by a blue color in the Drawing. The cutting holes are
described by three spaces, colored black, through which the shears are intro-
duced, if necessary. Figure 2 shews the ground plan of the kiln, the floor of
which is laid with large stones of the same quality as those used for spreading
and annealing kilns in making blown plate glass. A, A, the fire grates and
ash-pits; B, B, B, B, B, B, the cutting holes, through which the shears or
other instruments may be introduced to complete the separation of the plates,
or to move them, as may be necessary; C, C, C, C, C, are flues on the side of
the kiln, opposite to the fire grates, through which the smoke passes, as is
shewn in the section, Figure 3; D, the main shaft or chimney; E, the casting
end, where the plates are introduced from the casting table. F describes in
dotted lines a flue placed upon the arch of the kiln communicating with the
casting end and chimney or main shaft (see description of Figure 4); G, the
drawing end. Figure 3 shews a section of the cutting holes, flues, and main
shaft; B, B, B, the cutting holes; C, C, C, C, C, the flues communicating with
the main shaft D. Figure 4 shews the elevation of the casting end, which is
formed by two arches, described in the ground plan by dotted lines, between
which there is a space forming a flue connecting with F. A, A, grate room
and ash-pit; B, the mouth of the kiln; F, the flue F in Figure 2, described
by dotted lines on the ground plan. The blue shade represents an iron door,
which is let down over the mouth B at pleasure. Figure 5 shews the elevation
of the drawing end. A, A, grate room and ash-pits; B, the opening through
which the plates are drawn on to the shovel or table to be conveyed to the

page_text: spreading kiln. The blue shade describes an iron door, adapted, as in Figure 4,
to move up and down at pleasure. Figure 6 describes an interior section of
the flues and cutting holes from the bed or floor of the kiln to the lower side
of the arch. B, B, B, the cutting holes; C, C, C, C, C, the flues; D, main shaft
or chimney. These plans are drawn on a scale of one inch to the foot.
In these my improvements I do not claim any part of the process con-
ducted in the spreading or piling kilns, nor in the construction of those kilns,
they being formed on the same principle as kilns used for spreading and piling
blown plate glass, but I claim, as my Invention, the cutting or separating
or otherwise dividing cast plate glass after it is formed into plates or sheets,
and while in a heated state, by means of knives, shears, or other instuments,
or any other means, into smaller sheets or plates, so that they may be
conveniently piled and annealed in an upright or reclining position, thereby
effecting a considerable saving of space, time, and labour.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Walter Swinburne, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
ROBERT WALTER (L.S.) SWINBURNE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of June, in the year
of our Lord 1837, the aforesaid Robert Walter Swinburne came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven