IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING AND OTHER FURNACES, AND IN STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
SYMES PRIDEAUX, of Southampton, Gentleman, send greeting.
Lier
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirtieth day of August
(One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine), in the thirteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Symes Prideaux, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Symes
Prideaux, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others at I, the said Thomas
Symes Prideaux, 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, in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING AND OTHER FURNACES, AND
IN STEAM BOILERS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in
Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery 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.

page_text: Figure 1 shows a plan in section of a puddling furnace constructed according
to my Invention Figure 2 shows a longitudinal 'section of the same; and
Figures 3 & 4 show two transverse sections of the furnace, taken. respectively
at the dotted lines (1, 1,) and (2, 2,) in Figure 1. In each of these Figures the
same letters indicate similar. parts. a is the furnace or fire-place; b, the
puddling furnace, heated by the fire at a in the ordinary manner; c is the
fire bridge, and.d.is, the bridge at the end of the puddling furnace. These
bridges are hollow, and are kept .cool by the passage of air, which air is
employed in supplying the ash-pit below the fire bars of the fire place. a. The
peculiarity of this furnace consists of the employment of air under pressure
caused to circulate through suitable passages or ways to become heated, and
then to pass into a closed ash-pit, as will readily be traced on examining.the
Drawing, by which the fire will be supplied with heated air propelled through
the passages by means of suitable. blowing apparatus, the pressure and supply
being regulated by the cock or valve at e, from whence, as before stated, the
air passes below the plate at the bottom of the puddling furnace, thence through
the passages f, g. The passage fleads through the bridge d, at the back of
the puddling furnace, into the passage f¹, as indicated by the Drawing, and
through the fire bridge,c into the chamber f, thence down into the asb-pit;
the other passage 9 passes up over the passage f', and communicates directly
with the chamber g', whence the air passes into the ash-pit, as indicated by the
arrows. By these arrangements not only does the air cool down the bottom of
the puddling furnace but also the bridges, and becoming highly-heated_aids
materially in supporting combustion; but I do not claim the causing air to be
heated in this manner, the novelty consisting in the use of air forced through
henting surfaces and into a closed ash-pit of a puddling furnace. The ash-pit

page_text: is closed by two doors, and there are small openings a', a', a, into the furnace a
having doors in order to rake the fire from time to time, h being the door to
supply the fuel. In some cases I cause some of the heated air to pass in at
the sides of the furnace through suitable openings, such as have heretofore been.
employed, or through fixed iron grating with suitable external apertures for
keeping the holes clear of clinkers, as hereafter described, or by means of iron
bars, readily removeable, and having spaces between them so as to admit air
freely; but I prefer in such cases to make such openings by means of iron bars
piled one on another, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, there being indents or
hollow parts at intervals on the bars through which the air may pass freely,
which arrangement and construction of side fire bars will be found advantageous,.
whatever be the means of introducing air to the sides of such descriptions of
furnaces. And another improvement in this description of furnaces consists in
causing openings to be made from the outside of a furnace to the air passages,
in such manner that the openings by which the air can enter from the passages
into the sides of a furnace above the fire bars may be got at by a suitable
instrument. for. cleaning out such. openings; this will readily be understood by
reference to the section, Figure 7, which is viewed as from the inside of the
fire-place, looking to the front end thereof. a, x, are air passages; y, y, are
holes to admit the air to the fire above the fire bars; z,, are openings with
covers, so that when uncovered a suitable tool may be passed through the holes
to clear them from clinkers; and it will be found desirable to have other open-
ings w, w, at the front of the furnace for the passage of a suitable tool to scrape
off any clinker which may adhere to the holes or contiguous surfaces at the
interior of the furnace; the positions of the openings, , may be varied so
long as they are suitably situated for the passage of a tool or tools to clean the
air holes. Although I have herein only spoken of puddling furnaces, the
description above given is equally applicable to the construction of mill or scrap
furnaces.
I will now proceed to explain the second part of my Invention. Figure 8.
shows a section of a furnace for smelting iron ore. It consists of a furnace a,.
a crucible b, and a smelting chamber or compartment c. The furnace a is to.
be supplied with fuel at d; it is to have a closed ash-pit, as described in respect
to the puddling furnaces, and air is to be forced through suitable channels or
passages built or formed in the brickwork of the lower parts of the furnace, in
order that the air, when it reaches the ash-pit, may be highly heated, and the
air is to be forced through such passages into the ash-pit by any suitable
blowing apparatus. The ore to be smelted is to be fed into the part c of the
furnace through the hopper above, which has a slide to close it, and fuel and

page_text: fluxes are to be introduced into the furnace with the ore. And in order to
savo heat I prefer that the ore and matters to be fed into the furnace at c
should be first partially heated by passing through the passage e.
By this arrangement the heat of the fire from a will be conveyed-into b and c
and the gases and products will pass away at the chimney f; and as the metal
runs it will descend into the crucible b, together with the melted slag, which
latter may be tapped from time to time and run off through a passage above
the one leading from the bottom of the crucible intended to run off the melted
iron. I would state that I prefer to use anthracite coke or charcoal with the
ore.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details herein given so long as the peculiar character of any part
of my Invention be retained. But what I claim is,-
First, the improvements in puddling furnaces, and also mill or scrap fur-
naces, by the employment of closed ash-pits in combination with air under
pressure, as herein explained. I also claim the mode of introducing air, pre-
viously heated in a flue or chamber, into the sides of puddling and mill.or
scrap, furnaces by bars; and I also claim means herein described of
cleaning out the air openings at the sides of puddling and m
furnaces:
And, secondly, I claim the mode of constructing furuaces for smelting iron,
as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
THOMAS S. (L.S.) PRIDEAUX.

page_text: En the Matter of a Patent granted to THOMAS SYMES PRIDEAUX, of
Southampton, Gentleman, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PUDDLING AND OTHER FURNACES, AND IN STEAM BOILERS," bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirtieth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-nine..
DISCLAIMER proposed to be entered by the said Thomas Symes Prideaux
with the Clerk of the Patents of England, pursuant to an Act passed
in the fifth and sixth year of the reign of His late Majesty King William
the Fourth, entituled "An Act to amend the Law touching Letters
Patent for Inventions.""
I, the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, do declare that since I obtained the
said Letters Patent I have discovered that the Invention which was intended
to have been described under that part of the title which is contained in the
following words, "and in steam boilers," is not new; for which reason I am
desirous to and do hereby disclaim all that part of the title which is contained
in the following words, "and in steam boilers."
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
To the Clerk of the Patents of England.
This is to certify that Thomas Symes Prideaux, of Southampton, Gentleman,
has applied to me for leave to enter with you the above-written Disclaimer of
part of the title of a certain Invention, for which Letters Patent were granted
to him under the Great Seal of Great Britain, dated at Westminster, the 30th
day of August, 1849; and having considered of the said application, and no
objection having been made to the same, I hereby grant leave to the said
Thomas Symes Prideaux to file his said Disclaimer, pursuant to the Statute

page_text: passed in the fifth & sixth years of the reign of His late Majesty King
William the Fourth, entituled "An Act to amend the Law touching Letters
Patent for Inventions."
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that. on the Twenty-seventh day of Feb-
ruary, in the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Thomas Symes Prideaux
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification and Disclaimer aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification
and Disclaimer aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-eighth day of February, 'in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.