IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Brown Wilson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th January
1866.
I, EDWARD BROWN WILSON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FURNACES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in furnaces which are
applicable to such as are used for raising steam, puddling iron, heating,
reheating, melting iron, and other furnaces.
In carrying this Invention into practice the bottom of the furnace on
which the fuel rests is constructed of cast iron or other metal, and another
plate is placed a distance below the upper one, the two sides being closed,
thus forming a conduit, and the air is sometimes supplied into this conduit
over the cleaning-out door or doors, or it is introduced into it beyond the
sides of the furnace between the side plates and the brickwork; and, further,
the waste gases passing away into the chimney may be utilized to heat the
air by any well-known plan. By preference the front into the furnace is

page_text: sloped at the upper part, and into the slope is inserted or made therewith a
plate of cast iron (perforated) or other suitable metal or material, "such as
The air passes
fire-clay slabs, held in a frame or pigeon-holed brickwork."
through the perforations into the incandescent fuel, or in lieu of the perforations
an open space is so arranged as to overhang the upper plate on which the
fuel rests that the fuel will not fall over into the conduit. A plate of cast
iron or other metal is arranged in front of the above perforations, air passages,
or openings, in which a door or doors commmunicate into the chamber thus
formed. Thus the air ascends through the conduit into the chamber and
passes through the perforations, grid, or opening into the incandescent fuel,
and descends as gas into the chamber or flues to be heated, passing away into
the chimney, or the air may be admitted into the chamber direct in any
convenient manner; in that case the bottom plate below the one on which
the fuel rests would be dispensed with. In the case of boilers the space is
sometimes made a water space, as also the bridge or bridges in the flue or
flues. A door or doors is or are fixed at the bottom of the furnace for
cleaning out the refuse, and when convenient a small door is placed at the
side towards the bottom. It is preferred to flute and sometimes perforate
the bricks or other material forming the opposite side of the furnace facing
the perforations, grid, or opening, and also to slope it the opposite way, to
facilitate the descent of the fuel, or this side is also constructed with a perforated
plate or grid, which may be made in metal, fire-clay slabs, or brickwork,
or with an opening as before described, for admitting air into the incan-
descent fuel, and an air-receiving chamber is sometimes constructed in
front of the air admission, in which a door or doors are placed opening
into the chamber. A chamber is sometimes placed over the top of the
furnace either partially or wholly, and sometimes round the foot of the
chimney, in that case admitting the cold air at that point, and the air would
then pass over the top of the furnace into the chamber above described, from
thence into the incandescent fuel, and downwards into the chamber or flues to
be heated. It is preferred to make the above chamber with cast-iron plates or
suitable metal. The bottom of the chimney is sometimes made of cast iron
or other suitable metal. The fuel is put in at the top of the furnace, and which
it is preferred to close with an air-tight door. A hopper may be constructed
on the top of the furnace to contain fuel for a period, and it is preferred to
construct therein any well-known mechanical arrangement for setting down
the fuel. Air is sometimes admitted at the bridge or through the sloping
roof at any convenient point, but it is preferred to admit it at the bottom,

page_text: just in front of the bridge; this air may be heated as above described.
Air pipes are sometimes placed in the chimney or flue leading thereto
communicating with the passages described, the waste gases passing between
them.