IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING, BURNING, AND COOLING BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER CERAMIC SUBSTANCES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 10, Bedford
Street, Strand, London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING,
BURNING, AND COOLING BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER CERAMIC SUBSTANCES."-
A communication.
Sealed the 30th January 1857, and dated the 4th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th December 1856.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 10, Bedford Street, Strand,
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DRYING, BURNING, & COOLING BRICKS, TILES, & OTHER CERAMIC SUBSTANCES,"
"a communication," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist of a certain method for effecting the drying, burn-
ing, & cooling of ceramic substances, in such a manner that the different changes
from cold to heat, and vice versa, may be perfectly gradual, thus avoiding a
great amount of breakage; also in the oven being so constructed that the
operations of drying, burning, & cooling to be conducted without intermission
all the year round. The oven is composed of two parallel channels or vaults,
one for burning and the other for cooling the materials. The furnace is placed

page_text: at the extremity of the burning channel. The length of the channels should
be about 95 feet & their width 30 or 38 inches. Over and round these
channels is constructed a drying chamber, which is divided compartments & is
used for drying the plastic materials. Between the top of the cooling channel
and the floor of the drying chamber is left a small space enclosed between two
ranges of cast-iron plates, through which the waste heat arising from the said
cooling channel circulates, & is made to pass through registers into the
different compartments of the drying chamber. The heat in the said compart-
ments may of courso be regulated by keeping the registers open or closed. On
the brick floors of the burning & cooling channels & of the drying chamber is
laid a line of rails, and the floors all have a slope of such inclination that the
waggons used for transporting the materials may be easily pushed along the
rails. The slope of the burning channel is above the furnace, that of the cooling
channel below it. At the extremity of the burning channel is the chimney,
& the smoke passes up it by means of subterranean passages leading from the
furnace to the said chimney. Each of the channels is closed by two doors about
3 feet apart from each other, and forming an antechamber. At the end of the
burning channel is a turnplate fitted on a transverse platform, on which the
waggons containing the materials to be burnt can be made to rotate in such a
manner as to expose equally the different sides of the mass of materials to the
heat of the furnace.
Modus operandi:-The materials are first placed in wooden or iron
waggons, and are then passed into the drying chamber by means of a lift or
platform, raised or lowered by a windlass or other mechanical contrivance.
The lift serves also to raise or lower the empty waggons. After the materials
are sufficiently dried they are placed (if not already so) on cast-iron waggons,
which carry them through the two channels in manner following:-The
burning channel is first filled with waggon, empty or loaded, and a waggon
is made to enter the first door of the burning channel, which is then closed;
the second door, which slides in grooves, is then opened by means of a crank,
wheels and pinions, & the waggon is pushed on by means of a crank, wheels,
and pinions; the sliding door is then shut. The waggon, thus thrust in, causes
the other waggons in the burning channel to move on towards the fire. The
first waggons having arrived on the transverse platform, the products placed in
it finish burning, all sides being equally exposed to the heat of the fire.
Telescopic apertures at the sides of the oven allow the workman to ascertain
when the burning is perfected; this latter being accomplished, the waggon
still on the moveable platform is sent along the rails of the short channel of
communication & passages opposite the entrance of the cooling channel, in

page_text: order to prevent too much of the heat escaping into the cooling channel; this
moveable platform bears with it a moveable wall of fire brick placed at one
extremity, so as to close the entrance of the channel of communication, except-
ing at such time that a waggon is moved from the burning to the cooling
channel. Along the burning channel are manholes slightly walled up, so that
should any obstruction occur in the said channel the attendant may have easy
access to the interior by knocking away the slight wall of one of the manholes.
Facing the fire of the furnace is a grating or perforated autel, which divides the
flame. Under the burning channel is a passage which serves to carry off the
moisture arising from the burning materials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 10, Bedford Street, Strand, London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
the said Augusto
Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence that I, the said Auguste
Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 DRYING, BURNING, AND COOLING BRICKS,
TILES, & OTHER CERAMIC SUBSTANCES," a communication, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
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 per-
formed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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:
These improvements consist of a certain method, hereafter described, for
effecting the drying, burning, & cooling of ceramic substances, in such a
nianner 'that the 'different changes from cold to heat, and vice versâ may be
perfectly gradual, thus avoiding a great amount of breakage; also in the oven
being so constructed as to allow the three operations of drying, burning, and
cooling to be conducted without intermission all the year round.
The principal peculiarities of construction of the oven are as follow:-
The oven is composed of two parallel channels or vaults, one for burning and
the other for cooling the materials. The furnace is placed at the extremity of
tho. burning channel. The length of the channels should be about 95 feet, and
their width about 80 or 38 inches. Over and round these channels is con-
structed a drying chamber, which is divided into six compartments, and used
for drying the plastic materials. Between the top of the cooling channel and
the floor of the drying chamber is left a small space enclosed between two
ranges of cast-iron plates, through which the waste heat arising from the
cooling channel circulates, & by means of registers passes into one or several
compartments of the drying chamber, the heat in the said compartments being
regulated by keeping the registers open or closed. On the brick floors of the
burning and cooling channels and of the drying chamber is laid a line of rails,
and the floors have a slope of such inclination as to allow the waggons used for
transporting the bricks or other ceramic substances to be easily pushed for-
wards. The slope of the burning channel is above the furnace, that of the
cooling channel below it. At the extremity of the burning channel, or at any spot
judged convenient, is erected the chimney or shaft, & the smoke passes up it by
means of subterranean passages leading from the furnace to the said chimney.
Each of the channels is closed by two doors about 3 feet apart from each other,
& forming an antechamber. At the end of the burning channel, facing & close
to the furnace, is a turnplate fitted on to a transverse platform, on which the
waggons containing the materials to be burnt may be made to rotate in such
a manner as to expose equally the different sides of the mass of materials to
the heat of the furnace.
Modus operandi:-The materials to be burnt are first placed in wooden
or iron waggons, and are then passed into the drying chamber by means
of a lift, or any other suitable mechanical contrivance; a description of
the said lift is berein-after given in the explanation of the Drawings. After

page_text: the materials are sufficiently dried, (they are placed if not already so) on
cast-iron waggons, which carry them through the two channels in the manner
following-The burning channel is first filled with waggons, empty or loaded,
and a waggon is made to enter the first door of the burning channel, which is
then closed, & the second door opened, & the waggon pushed on by means of
a crank, wheels, and pinions (hereafter described) into the burning channel;
the second door is then shut. The waggon thus thrust in causes the
other waggons already in the burning channel to move on towards the
fire. The first waggon having arrived at the transverse platform, the pro-
ducts on the swaggon finish burning, as all sides may then be equally exposed
to the fire. Telescopic openings made at the sides of the oven permit the
attendant to ascertain to ascertain when the burning is perfected. When the
burning is completed, the waggon still on the moveable platform is sent along
the rails of the short channel of communication, & passes opposite the entrance
of the cooling channel, in order to prevent too much heat escaping into the
cooling channel. This moveable platform bears with it a moveable wall of
fire brick placed at one extremity, so as to close the entrance of the channel of
communication, excepting at such time that a waggon is moved from the
burning to the cooling channel. Along the burning channel are manholes
slightly walled up, so that should any obstruction occur in the channel, the
attendant may have easy access to the interior by knocking away the slight
wall of one of the manholes, & thus be able to clear away the obstruc-
tion. Under the moveable platform is a pit to receive any materials that may
fall, thus keeping that part of the channel free from obstruction. An opening
furnished with large iron doors, lined with fire brick, affords an entrance to the
pit, from which the falling materials may easily be cleared away; the door is
large enough to allow the transverse platform to be passed out. Along the
burning channel are a number of valves, which open into a flue communicating
with the chimney, and allowing the vapours, gases, & moisture to escape.
strainer or perforated autel of fire brick is placed at the back of the furnace
and in front of the first waggon, for the purpose of dividing the flame and
making it act more equally upon the materials to be burnt. At the extremity
of the cooling channel is a turntable, and one likewise at the entrance of the
burning channel. These turntables serve to pass the waggons in any necessary
direction.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS.
A
Fig. 1, plan, sectional view of the burning & cooling channels through the
line I, J. Fig. 2, longitudinal section of the cooling channel through the
line A, B. Fig. 3, longitudinal section of the burning channel through

page_text: the line C, D. Fig. 4, transverse section of the channel of communication
through the line E, F. Fig. 5, transverse section of the burning & cooling
channels through the sectional line G, H.
A, burning channel; B, cooling channel; C, channel of communication;
D, drying chamber, heated by the waste heat; E, furnace, throwing heat into
the burning channel; F, crank, wheels and pinions, & gearing, serving to
move into the burning channel the articles to be fired; G, ratchet with its
gearing, serving to push along the channel of communication the articles that
are burnt; H, crank, wheels, & pinions, serving to push along the channel for
cooling the articles that are burnt; I, entrance of the burning channel; J,
exit chamber at the extremity of the cooling channel; K, first door at the
entrance of the burning channel, acting by means of a double lever; K',
second door (sliding in grooves) of the same channel; M, transverse platform;
inoving in the channel of communication and transporting the burnt materials
to the entrance of the cooling channel; N, waggons, on which the articles to
be burnt are placed, and by means of a crank, wheels, and pinions these
waggons impel one another into the burning channel, so that to introduce a
fresh waggon of materials to be burnt into the burning channel one containing
materials already burnt must be withdrawn. O, P, lift or raisable platform to
lift or lower the waggons into or down from the burning channel; Q, Q, two
turntables, one on a line with the entrance of the burning channel, and the other
on a line with the exit of the cooling channel, serving to make the waggons
pass in the different directions required; R, rails, on which the waggons move
along; S, turnplate, fixed to the transverse platform M, by which a waggon
may be made to rotate before the furnace; T, railways, branching out in all
directions about the works; U, great chimney, increasing the draught in the
fire-place. One chimney may serve for two kilns or more, and placed in tho
spot where found most convenient; V, cast-iron plates, covering the cooling
channel & receiving the heat arising from the incandescent materials in the
waggons; W, second range of plates placed above the first mentioned, so as
to allow the cold air to circulate between & become , this air being after-
wards made to pass into the drying chamber by means of the registers b; X,
register at the exterior of the cooling channel for the admission of cold air
between the two ranges of plates; Y, valves, for the escape of the moisture
arising from the ceramic substances during the process of burning; these also
serve to regulate the draught; Z, registers, to regulate the draught of the fire-
place; Z', subterranean passages going from the fire-place to the shaft; Z",
telescopic openings, to ascertain the progress of the burning; a, wooden stands
or shelves in the drying chamber to place the materials on; b, moveable

page_text: registers on the second range of plates W; C, wooden chimnies with exterior
valves, out of which passes the damp air arising from the ceramic substances;
d, moveable wall at the extremity of the transverse platform; e, subterranean
passage under the burning channel, & serving to carry off to the shaft the
moisture thrown out through the valves Y.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of Febuary, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred & fifty-seven.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)