IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS, AND IN THE PRODUCTION OF OTHER VITRIFIED MATTERS APPLICABLE TO ARCHITECTURAL PURPOSES
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADOLPHUS
HENRI ERNESTE RAGON, of Great Portland Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Professor of Literature, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of November, in the second year of Her reign, did;
for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Adolphus Henri Erneste Ragon, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Adolphus Henri Erneste Ragon, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as: I, the said Adolphus Henri Erneste
Ragon, my exors, admors, 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, the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS, AND IN THE PRODUCTION OF OTHER
VITRIFIED MATTERS APPLICABLE TO ARCHITECTURAL PURPOSES," communicated to
me by a certain foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent' is
_contained a proviso that I, the said Adolphus Henri Erneste Ragon, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, 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: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Adolphus Henri Erneste Ragon, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention relates, first, to a mode of purifying sand or siliceous sub-
stances or compounds of silica used in glass making previous to their entering
into the composition of glass, so that when the other materials are likewise
carefully purified by any of the known processes and fused together in the
common way, they will at once give a pure and colorless glass, thus avoiding
the necessity of neutralizing the color by the addition of various materials, as
has been heretofore practised.
Secondly, to a mode of casting, forming, or producing plates of glass direct
from the melting pot, flatter, smoother, and of a truer surface than by the
method now in use.
Thirdly, to a modification of the furnace used in the manufacture of glass,
so as better to protect the metal in the pots during fusion from accidental
impurities, and for better regulating the heat.
Fourthly, to improvements in the process of annealing, whereby the heat of
the melting furnace is made to anneal the glass before it is allowed to pass off
up the chimney.
And, lastly, to applying to useful architectural purposes the waste slag of
smelting furnaces.
Having thus pointed out the objects of the Invention, I will now proceed to
describe how the same is to be performed.
The first improvement for purifying siliceous substances or compounds of
silica consists in bringing the siliceous matter into an aqueous solution, by
which I am enabled to remove any iron or other impurities found therein,
thus obtaining silica more pure previous to its being mixed with the alkali and
other materials to form glass. The best method with which I am acquainted
of bringing silica into solution are the following, but I would first remark
that silica may be brought into aqueous solution in various ways;
I do not
therefore confine myself to any particular mode, but I believe the following
most suited for the purpose:-Take about equal parts of sulphuric acid and
fluor spar, and nearly the same quantity of silica, mix them together in a retort,
which I prefer to be of lead, expose the same to the action of a moderate
heat, taking care not to let the heat be so high as to injure the lead; fluo-
silicie acid gas will thus be obtained, which passed into water will deposit pure

page_text: silica, and which is to be separated by filtration or any other convenient mode
to the remaining liquid, which is hydro-fluo-silicæ, acid, add a solution of
muriate of soda (about sixty parts to forty-one of the liquid), and which when
evaporated to dryness will give a fluo-silicate of soda; this may be used as
one of the materials in the formation of glass. Or, in face of the above
method, I can take sand or any siliceous substance and alkali or common
soda, of the former one part to three parts of the latter, calcine them together
in a crucible at a moderate red heat, dissolve the fused mass in water, sepa-
rate by filtration, or draw off the clear supernatant liquor from the insoluble
impurities, and evaporate it to dryness; the product left will be silicate of soda.
Or the silica may be thrown down by the addition of lime or lime water,
whereby I am enabled to obtain pure silica, either in a free state or combined
.with soda.
I will now proceed to describe the second part of the Invention, which
consists in casting the fluid glass on a polished metal table in the customary
way; but instead of passing a roller over the fused metal to force it into a
flattened plate, I bring another flat plate or surface on the melted glass, so as to
compress it into a sheet, the thickness and dimensions of which are determined
by strips or sides to the table, which prevents the upper plate descending too
low down. Thus, by keeping the top plate pressing upon the surface of the
glass until it has solidified, a much truer surface or a better plane is obtained
than by merely passing a roller over the glass, as is the common practice, and
consequently much less grinding is required to get a true surface; but when
the mass of fluid glass is too great to be controlled by the weight or pressure
of the top plate or surface, in that case the latter is made to travel in grooves
introduced in the sides of the table, and should immediately follow and simul-
taneously move with the roller now in use, the object being always to confine
or compress the glass until solidified, as above explained, and thus prevent the
warping of the glass plates when exposed too promptly to the action of the
atmosphere. These mechanical means are too well understood to render any
further description necessary.
The modification of the furnace consists in placing the pots so that they
may be less exposed to the sulphureous vapours, dust, and other impurities of
the fuel, and the heat better regulated. This part of the Invention will be
best understood by referring to the Drawing. A, the furnace, which is to be
air-tight; B, the close ash-pit, into which a blast of air is driven at any given
pressure, so as to obtain the degree of heat required; C, the hot chamber,
in which the crucibles are placed; D, the level of the burning fuel; E, a
close feeding hopper; F, the flue to convey the hot-air into the arch of the

page_text: annealing oven. I will now describe the improvement of the annealing oven,
which will also be best understood by referring to the Drawing. a is a
revolving table in polished fire tiles; Stourbridge clay, or any other suitable
material fixed on a cast-iron base; the table is supported by and moved on
wheels running in a circular tramway or track; b, the centre or axis on
which it revolves; c, the dome or top arch of the oven made of fire brick,
which is stationary, and is fixed over the table a; d, the hot-air flue to corres-
pond with flue f of the furnace; e, the escape pipe for the cooled air. The
déscending or turned-down edge or rim of the moveable table on which the
glass is placed enters into a hollow channel containing sand, so that they may
work one within the other, the vacant space being filled up with sand; to
prevent the hot air from escaping. Supposing the glass to require: fifteen days
to anneal, then the table must be moved on its axis one-fifteenth part of the
circumference every twenty-four hours, in order that the glass, which is first
introduced in the hottest part of the annealing oven immediately under the
opening or flue d, may be withdrawn at the coolest part on the fifteenth day';
this fifteenth part, or any other computed division of the table corresponding
with the number of days allowed for annealing, is then moved forward under
the flue d, to get sufficiently heated to receive fresh glass, and thus a continued
supply is kept up. By this means a great saving in fuel is effected, since all
the heat from the melting furnace is made available to anneal the glass. The
arch or dome is made as thin as possible, and covered with sand, so that by
increasing or diminishing the bed the radiation of heat may be prevented or
effected at any part of the flue or annealing places, as occasion may require.
The economy in fuel, as described, is equally applicable to any other con-
struction of annealing oven, for it is evident that the waste heat of the melting
furnace may be conveyed to any other construction of annealing furnace.
Lastly, the mode of carrying out the improvement for 'applying to archi-
tectural purposes the vitrious slag of the furnace used for smelting ores,
consists in receiving this refuse, flux, or scoria as it flows in a fluid state from
the furnace into moulds, of which the figure, size, and shape of course deter-
mine the figure, size, and shape of the casting. Either the bottom of the
mould, or the top plate which serves as a stamp thereto, or both of them, may
be provided with any given figure, pattern, or device for the purpose of
stamping or imprinting the cast vitrified material. The slag lumps from the
smelting furnace, by the practice now in common use, are removed at very
considerable expense on railway trucks to the slag heap as waste material, or
serve merely as gross matter to mend the roads, or are coarsely piled together
for walls and sheds or other coarse buildings.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of the Invention, I would have it under-
stood that what I claim as the Invention secured by the present Letters
Patent is,-
First, the improvement of glass making by employing siliceous substances
previously brought into solution, so as to be purified previous to its entering
into the composition of glass.
Secondly, I claim the mode of making sheets of glass as herein described.
Thirdly, the mode of arranging or constructing of the furnace by which
the glass is less subjected to become injured during the process of fusion,
as herein described.
And also, I claim the combining of the melting furnace with an annealing
furnace or furnaces in such manner that the waste heat of the former may be
made available to the latter.
Fourthly, I claim the arrangement of annealing oven.
And, lastly, I claim the converting by casting the vitreous slag into regular
and systematic shapes, as applicable to architectural purposes, particularly
designed for monuments and other species of ornamental architecture.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adolphus Henri Erneste Ragon, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-nine,
A. RAGON. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid Adolphus Henri Erneste Ragon came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery and acknowledged the