IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING INGOTS, BLOOMS, OR BILLETS OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN FURNACES THEREFOR
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Daniel Allen, of Bessemer Works, Sheffield, in
the County of York, Steel Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN HEATING INGOTS, BLOOMS, OR BILLETS OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN
FURNACES THEREFOR."
"
Sealed the 26th August 1879, and dated the 19th June 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Daniel Allen at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th June 1879.
WILLIAM DANIEL ALLEN, of Bessemer Works, Sheffield, in the County of York,
Steel Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING INGOTS, BLOOMS, OR BILLETS
OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN FURNACES THEREFOR.”
My improvements in beating ingots, blooms, or billets, of iron and steel, and in
furnaces therefor, are designed to economise fuel and obtain a regular supply of
hot ingots, blooms, or billets practically without intermission. For this purpose I
charge the ingots, blooms, or billets at the cool end of the furnace, and by
mechanical or other means advance them consecutively towards the fire, and as one
or more of the heated ingots, blooms, or billets is or are withdrawn from the hot
end of the furnace I charge another or others at the cool end. I arrange the ingots,
blooms, or billets side by side in and crossways of the furnace on longitudinal ridges
or supports, so arranged that the heat and flame may act on the under sides of the
ingots, blooms, or billets, as well as on other parts thereof, and in carrying out my
Invention a full charge may be constantly kept in the furnace in such manner that
as the ingots, blooms, or billets are advanced consecutively towards the fire, each
in turn will become sufficiently heated and a continuous supply of hot ingots,
blooms, or billets will be maintained. The furnace may with advantage be of the
reverberatory kind, with a fire grate at one end and a chimney at the other.
Along the body of the furnace I make two parallel walls or ridges, extending from
the chimney to a point near the fire grate. Embedded in or on the upper parts
of these walls, and projecting slightly above their upper surfaces, I fix two wrought
iron or steel pipes or hollow bars in which I cause water to pass for the purpose of
preventing them from acquiring too high a temperature. Upon these tubes or
hollow bars the ingots, blooms, or billets are placed crossways, side by side, and if
the tubes or hollow bars incline or fall towards the fire the whole of the ingots,

page_text: blooms, or billets will slide casily along the tubes or hollow bars towards the fire ;
each one when moved pushing those in advance of it, so that each time a hot ingot,
bloom, or billet is withdrawn at the fire end of the furnace and another inserted
at the cool or chimney end, the whole charge in the furnace may be by thrusting
or pushing caused to slide along the tubes or hollow bars one stage towards the
fire. The pushing along may be done either by hand or other power, by a rack, a
lever, or some such means, or a small hydraulic cylinder will be found a very con-
venient method of pushing them along; or the tubes or hollow bars may be placed
at an angle or inclination to the horizontal, such as will cause the ingots, blooms,
or billets to slide forward of their own gravity. The fire-bricks for supporting the
tubes or hollow bars extend above the bed of the furnace sufficiently high to allow
the heat and flame to pass below the ingots, blooms, or billets, and act on their
undersides as well as on their upper sides. The fire-bricks for supporting the
hollow bars or tubes may be grooved and the tubes or hollow bars be partly bedded
in the grooves, so that only a small portion of each tube or hollow bar will project
above the top side of the bricks supporting it, and the embedded portion will be
somewhat protected from the full action of the fire.
When good hard fire lumps can be obtained, if the tops of the ridges or walls be
made semi-circular in cross section, the ingots, blooms, or billets will slide along
upon them without the assistance of the tubes or hollow bars, the use of which will
however in any case be found to add greatly to the durability of the furnace.
In heating ingots or blooms of such sizes, for instance, as are commonly used for
making rails, and which involve the use of a furnace of greater length than
required for heating comparatively small ingots, blooms, or billets, the tubes or
hollow bars instead of being made to extend the whole length of the furnace may
be employed for a part of the length only. In some cases the cooler portion of the
furnace may be laid with ordinary railway or other iron bars.
I would observe that when ingots of a more or less conical or tapering form are
to be heated it will be necessary to arrange them with their larger and smaller
ends alternating to maintain parallelism of the mass.
As the tubes or hollow bars by being cool will abstract some heat from those
parts of the ingots, blooms, or billets in contact with them, it may, in cases where
it is important they should be very uniformly heated, be necessary to leave a space
in the furnace between the ends of the tubes or hollow bars and the fire; this
space may be large enough to hold, say, three or more of the ingots, blooms, or
billets, and to allow of their being turned over so as to expose the cool part to the
fire, and in a short time they will bocome of an uniform heat.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Daniel Allen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
December 1879.
WILLIAM DANIEL ALLEN, of Bessemer Works, Sheffield, in the County of York,
Steel Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING INGOTS, BLOOMS, OR BILLETS
OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN FURNACES THEREFOR.”
My improvements in heating ingots, blooms, or billets of iron and steel, and in
furnaces therefor, are designed to economise fuel and obtain a regular supply of hot
ingots, blooms, or billets practically without intermission. For this purpose I
charge the ingots, blooms, or billets at the cool end of the furnace, and by
mechanical or other means advance them consecutively towards the fire, and as one
or more of the heated ingots, blooms, or billets is or are withdrawn from the hot
end of the furnace I charge another or others at the cool end. I arrange the ingots,
blooms, or billets side by side in and crossways of the furnace on longitudinal
ridges or supports, so arranged that the heat and flame may act on the under sides
of the ingots, blooms, or billets, as well as on other parts thereof; and in carrying
out my Invention a full charge may be constantly kept in the furnace in such
manner that as the ingots, blooms, or billets are advanced consecutively towards
the fire, each in turn will become sufficiently heated and a continuous supply of
hot ingots, blooms, or billets will be maintained. The furnace may with advantage
be of the reverberatory kind, with a fire grate at one end and a chimney at the
other. Along the body of the furnace I make two parallel walls or ridges
extending from the chimney to a point near the fire grate. Embedded in or on
the upper parts of these walls, and projecting slightly above their upper surfaces,
I fix two wrought iron or steel pipes or hollow bars, in which I cause water to
pass for the purpose of preventing them from acquiring too high a temperature.
Upon these tubes or hollow bars the ingots, blooms, or billets are placed crossways,
side by side, and if the tubes or hollow bars incline or fall towards the fire the
whole of the ingots, blooms, or billets will slide easily along the tubes or hollow
bars towards the fire; each one when moved pushing those in advance of it, so
that each time a hot ingot, bloom, or billet is withdrawn at the fire end of the
furnace and another inserted at the cool or chimney end, the whole charge in the
furnace may be by thrusting or pushing caused to slide along the tubes or hollow
bars one stage towards the fire. The pushing along may be done either by hand
or other power, by a rack, a lever, or some such means, or a small hydraulic cylinder
will be found a very convenient method of pushing them along, or the tubes or
hollow bars may be placed at an angle or inclination to the horizontal, such as will
cause the ingots, blooms, or billets to slide forward of their own gravity. The fire
bricks for supporting the tubes or hollow bars extend above the bed of the furnace
sufficiently high to allow the heat and flame to pass below the ingots, blooms, or
billets, and act on their undersides as well as on their upper sides. The fire bricks
for supporting the hollow bars or tubes may be grooved and the tubes or hollow
bars be partly bedded in the grooves, so that only a small portion of each tube or
hollow bar will project above the top side of the bricks supporting it, and the
embedded portion will be somewhat protected from the full action of the fire.
When good hard fire lumps can be obtained if the top of the ridges or walls be
made semi-circular in cross section, the ingots, blooms, or billets will slide upon
them without the assistance of the tubes or hollow bars, the use of which will
however in any case be found to add greatly to the durability of the furnace.
In heating ingots or blooms of such sizes, for instance, as are commonly used for
making rails, and which involve the use of a furnace of greater length than required

page_text: for heating comparatively small ingots, blooms, or billets; the tubes or hollow bars
instead of being made to extend the whole length of the furnace may be employed
for a part of the length only. In some cases the cooler portions of the furnace may
be laid with ordinary railway or other iron bars.
I would observe that when ingots of a more or less conical or tapering form are
to be heated it will be necessary to arrange them with their larger and smaller ends
alternating to maintain parallelism of the mass.
As the tubes or hollow bars by being cool will abstract some heat from those
parts of the ingots, blooms, or billets in contact with them, it may, in cases where
it is important they should be very uniformly heated, be necessary to leave a space
in the furnace between the ends of the tubes or hollow bars and the fire; this space
may be large enough to hold, say, three or more of the ingots, blooms, or billets,
and to allow of their being turned over so as to expose the cool part to the fire,
and in a short time they will become of an uniform heat.
Referring to the accompanying Drawings,—
Fig. 4, a cross section in the line A, B; and
Fig. 5, a cross section in the line C, D, shewing the position of a bloom.
a is the fire place; b, the chimney; c, c, are the walls or ridges; d, d, the water
tubes; is the opening or doorway through which the ingots, blooms, or billets are
supplied to the furnace; and f, a sole plate upon which they are laid for that
purpose, and to which is attached a hydraulic cylinder g with its plunger / worked
by the water pressure up towards the furnace, and drawn back by means of a
chain and counterbalance weight i; k is a plate of iron attached to the plunger,
forming a door to close the opening e after thrusting the ingots, blooms, or billets
into the furnace; is a space in the furnace to receive the ingots, blooms, or billets
as they are thrust forward and roll and fall off the tops of the walls or ridges; mis
the door through which the ingots, blooms, or billets are withdrawn from the
furnace when heated; n is a break or gap in the walls or ridges made to allow a
draft of the fire or heated gases to pass between the walls or ridges and under the
centre part of the ingots, blooins, or billets. In heating a furnace of this kind with
gas it will be obvious that the fire grate will not be required, and that the gas may
be admitted at the fire end of the furnace; the combustion chamber may also be at
that end.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I hereby declare that what I consider to be novel and original and
therefore claim as secured to me under the Letters Patent hereinbefore in part
recited is,―
1. Heating ingots, blooms, or billets of iron and steel on walls or ridges so
arranged in the body of a furnace as to support the ingots, blooms, or billets above
the bed of the furnace and allow fire and heated gases to pass under them as well
as above them, substantially as described.
2. The method, substantially as hereinbefore described, whereby the heating of
ingots, blooms, or billets of iron and steel is rendered a continuous process.
3. The method of treating ingots, blooms, or billets of iron and steel, consisting
in arranging them side by side on longitudinal ridges or supports in a furnace,
wherein they are subjected to heat, and moving the whole mass of such ingots,
blooms, or billets gradually along the said furnace from the chimney or cool end
thereof towards the fire or hot end thereof by pushing or thrusting, substantially
as described.
4. Supporting ingots, blooms, or billets of iron and steel in the heating furnace
on tubes or hollow bars carried by walls or ridges, and protected from destructivo
action of the fire by the circulation of water within them, substantially as
described

page_text: 5. Constructing and arranging furnaces for heating ingots, blooms, or billets of
iron and steel, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accom-
panying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Daniel Allen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.