IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR MELTING GLASB
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Sheffield, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES FOR MELTING GLASB.”
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said James Sheffield at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration on the 11th May 1872, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, James
SHEFFIELD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES FOR MELTING Glass," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the
true and first Inventor thereof.

page_text: •
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Sheffield, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the. said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, that is to say :
This Invention which relates to an improved arrangement of that class
of furnaces for melting glass wherein gas is employed as fuel, and the heat
of the waste products of combustion is utilized for heating the air, or
gas, or both the air and gas burnt therein, consists in constructing the
furnace with vertical or horizontal flues, or both vertical and horizontal
flues, beneath the vessel or receptacle wherein the glass is contained.
Through one set of the these flues the waste products of combustion pass
on their way to the chimney, and through another set or sets, alternating
therewith the air or gas, or both air and gas pass, becoming heated in
passing through them by the heat given up from the waste products; the 1
air or gas, or both air and gas, after being thus heated, pass through flues
leading into the combustion chamber, so that the air and gas enter it in
a state of admixture..
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, that is to say :—
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended, Figure 1 is a longi-
tudinal section of one arrangement of the improved furnace constructed
in accordance with this Invention; Figure 2 is a part horizontal section. ?
thereof on the line a, a, Figure .1; whilst Figuro 3 is a transverse section
of the same on the line b, b, Figure 1.
As shown by these Figures the furnace is constructed with a vessel or
receptacle A at its upper interior part, into which the glass to be melted,
or the materials of which glass is to be made, is or are placed. At one a
end of the furnace a gas producer B is situated, from which the gas is
conducted into the furnace, and over the vessel or receptacle A through
the passage or flue C, the waste products of combustion being conveyed
through the flues D at the opposite end of the vessel or receptable A, and
continuing to pass through a series of flues E situated underneath the a
vessel or receptacle A (as indicated by the direction of the arrows)
towards the front end of the furnace, at which place the waste products

page_text: of combustion enter return passages F leading to the chimney G, as
more particularly seen at Figure 1 of the Drawings. In each of the
passages E a series of vertical pipes or ducts I, is placed as shown,
through which the current of air necessary to promote combustion in
5 the furnace A is conducted, and thereby becomes heated before entering
the furnace. The air passes into the pipes or ducts I through an
opening J situate at the end of the furnace, as shown at Figure 1, and is
discharged by the first series of pipes into a chamber K situate underneath
the vessel or receptacle A, from which it passes down through another
series of pipes or ducts J into a chamber L at the lower end of the
furnace, and so on in the direction of the arrows until the flue M. is
reached, at the upper extremity of which the air escapes into the furnace
and mingles with the gas from the producer B, having in its passage
through the pipes become heated by the heat given up from the waste
products of combustion on their passage to the chimney G.
Figure 4 represents a longitudinal section; Figure 5, a part horizontal
section; and Figure 6, a transverse section of an arrangement of furnace
with horizontal flues, the waste products of combustion passing down in
the direction of the arrows, through one set of flues A to the chimney B,
and the air passing in the opposite direction up through another set of
flues C to the combustion chamber D, the flues A and C alternating
with each other, as shown.
In lieu of constructing the furnace according to either of the methods
herein-before described and shown on Sheet 1 of the Drawings, the flues
by which the waste products of combustion are conveyed to the chimney
may be laid at right angles to the flues by which the air is conducted to
the combustion chamber of the furnace, as shown in horizontal section
at Figure 1, and in transverse section at Figure 2, Sheet 2 of the Draw-
ings, the flues A. being the waste gas flues, and those marked B the air
flues.
In place of heating the air only as herein-before described, the gas, as
well as the air, may also be similarly heated by dividing the flues into
two or more sets, so as to keep the air and gas separate until arriving at
the point where they issue into the combustion chamber.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would obscrve

page_text: in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me is, the arrangement and construc-
tion of the improved furnaces for melting glass as herein-before described
and shown on the annexed two Sheets of Drawings.
in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me is, the arrangement and construc-
tion of the improved furnaces for melting glass as herein-before described
and shown on the annexed two Sheets of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Sheffield, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and somente twee