IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ANNEALING OF METALLIC PLATES, AND IN THE ナラed
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Prentice and Alexander Binny Inglis, both
of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ANNEALING OF METALLIC PLATES, AND IN THE
ナラ
Sealed' the 28th August 1866, and dated the 3rd March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Prentice and
Alexander Binny Inglis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd March 1866.
We, GEORGE PRENTICE and ALEXANDER BINNY INGLIS, both of Glasgow,
in the. County of Lanark, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ANNEALING OF METALLIC PLATES,
AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is
to say:-
This Invention, which has for its object the effecting of the process of
annealing plates of metal in a more efficient manner than has hitherto been
done, and in the furnaces used for producing the said annealing effects; consists
as follows:-The furnace is composed of brick or other suitable material, and at
one end or side of it is (or are) placed a set or sets of fire-places or furnaces;
from these flues extend, leading under and over an arched chamber, and the

page_text: heat from the fires is thus conveyed to raise the chamber to the requisite
temperature; after having passed under and over or around the chamber
several times these flues at length meet, and are then united into a stalk or
chimney.
In conducting the process of annealing with the furnace afore mentioned
it is found advantageous to fire it about two hours previous to the insertion
of the plates or articles to be annealed, for by this time all moisture or steam
will be completely driven off and the furnace dry to receive the said articles.
At one side of the furnace a baked earthenware tube is inserted, and
into this a plate of glass or mica is placed, by looking through which the
state of the furnace and articles being acted upon can at any time be
ascertained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Prentice and Alexander Binny Inglis in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 1st September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
PRENTICE and ALEXANDER BINNY INGLIS, both of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
<did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
-George Prentice and Alexander Binny Inglis, Her special license that we, the
said George Prentice and Alexander Binny Inglis, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Prentice and Alex-
ander Binny Inglis, our executors, administrators, or 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
THE ANNEALING OF METALLIC PLATES, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED
THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said George
Prentice and Alexander Binny Inglis, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same was to be performed, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Prentice and Alexander
Binny Inglis, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,. and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being. had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,. that.
is to say:
Our said Invention, which has for its objects the effecting of the process of.
annealing plates of metal in a more efficient manner than has hitherto been
done, and in the furnaces used for producing the said annealing effects, consists
as follows:-The furnace is composed of brick or other suitable material, and
at one end or side of it is (or are) placed a set of fire-places or furnaces; from
these flues extend, leading under and over an arched chamber, and the heat.
from the fires is thus conveyed to raise the chamber to the requisite tem-
perature; after having passed under and over or around the chamber several
times these flues at length meet, and are then reunited into a stalk or
chimney.
In conducting the process of annealing with the furnace afore mentioned
it is found advantageous to fire it about two hours previous to the insertion of
the plates or articles to be annealed, for by this time all moisture or steam
will be completely driven off and the furnace dry to receive the said articles.
At one side of the furnace a baked earthenware tube is inserted, and
into this a plate of glass or mica is placed, by looking through which the
state of the furnace and articles being acted upon can at any time be
ascertained.
And in order that our said Invention may be properly understood, we now.
proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner. in. or
under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect,
reference being had, for the sake of more complete elucidation, to the expla-
natory Sheet of Drawings which we have hereunto appended, and in the
several Figures of which similar parts are indicated by corresponding letters
of reference, that is to say :-
Figure 1 is a transverse section of the furnace taken. about. midway of its'
length; Figure 2 is a full side elevation corresponding to Figure 1; Figure 3
is a sectional plan on the line A, B, Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a sectional.
plan on the line C, D, Fig. 1.

page_text: In all the Figures the body A of the furnace is that in which the plates to
be annealed are placed; the fire for heating the same is placed on the grates B,
and the heat is led therefrom by means of the flues C which surround the
body of the furnace, the waste products of combustion passing thence into the
chimney or stalk.
Upon more particularly referring to Figures 1 and 3 it will be seen that
the body of the furnace is double-cased, as at a and b, and that between the
two casings a space is left, into which sand or other slow heat-conducting
material is placed; the arched top of the body of the furnace is also covered
with sand, and a metal plate may be placed over this top covering to prevent
the action of the draft causing its disturbance. The use of the sand is chiefly
to render the body of the furnace perfectly air-tight so that the plates may
not be oxidised during the annealing process; it also tends to confine the
heat as much as possible when this has reached the plates being annealed, at
the same time to prevent the annealing chamber becoming rapidly hot, or
when the fire is dropped too rapidly cooled. In Figure 2, O are the
firing doors, and in Figure 1 e represents in cross section a malleable iron
ring for holding together the inner casing of the furnace body. In addition
to using the sand around the top and sides of the furnace body, it may also be
placed between the bottom of the body and the flue; an iron plate may also
be laid on the sand so as to provide a perfectly level floor for the plates to
rest on.
Having described the various parts of our improved furnace, we proceed to
set forth the mode of operating with the same to be as follows, that is to say:
-In order to obtain the best results with those plates such as are used for
being tinned or galvanised (this latter term being the commercial name for
iron plates coated with zinc), we find it advantageous to fire the furnace for
two hours or thereabouts previous to the insertion of the charge so as to com-
pletely dry the furnace. The charging door or inlet being now open, the plates
to be annealed are piled or laid in the body A, one above the other, until the
body is filled; as soon as the plates are laid in the opening in front is bricked
up, as represented by the part f, f, in Figure 3, and the tube containing the
plate glass or mica, for ascertaining by the sight the condition of the furnace,
is built in along with the brickwork in front; the charge is now allowed to
remain until the plates have attained a low red heat, at which point the firing
is stopped; the furnace is now allowed to cool down, and the plates are with-
drawn usually about twenty-four hours after the firing has ceased.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner

page_text: in which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, we
would observe, in conclusion, that what we consider novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent, is the general arrangement and construction of
furnaces to be used in the manner and for the purposes as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Prentice and Alexander Binoy
Inglis, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirty-first day of
August, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
GEORGE PRENTICE.
(L.S.)
Witness,
ALEXANDER BINNY INGLIS. (L.S.)
ST. JOHN VINCENT DAY, C.E.,
Patent Office,
166, Buchanau St.,
Glasgow.