CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANNEALING FURNACES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward James, Iron and Tin Plate Works Manager, of
Tipton, in the County of Stafford, and Samuel Thomas, Annealer, of Bilston,.in
the County of Stafford, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANNEALING FURNACES."
Sealed the 7th December 1877, and dated the 8th June 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward James and Samuel
Thomas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th June 1877.
EDWARD JAMES, Iron and Tin Plate Works Manager, of Tipton, in the County of
Stafford, and SAMUEL THOMAS, Annealer, of Bilston, in the. County of Stafford.
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANNEALING FURNACES."
Our improvements consist in the construction of furnaces (suitable for open or
close annealing) with more or less horizontal flues running the whole length of the
annealing oven or furnace underneath the seige or bottom of the furnace, and in con-
nection with these flues we form at suitable intervals in each-horizontal flue vertical
openings or up-cast flues coming through the before-mentioned seige or bottom of
furnace.
The flame or heat rushes through the said horizontal flues, and is then brought
over and through a perforated bridge at that end of the annealing oven or furnace
in which the box or boxes containing the articles to be annealed are placed; and on
its way back over the top of the box or boxes and the said seige or bottom of the
furnace, the smoke and spent portion of the flame or heat is met on its way or exit
to the stack (the draught of which is regulated in the ordinary way by a damper)
by the hot air and flames arising from the before-mentioned vertical openings or
up-cast flues, which may be of any suitable number, thus burning and destroying
all the smoke and gases generated, and by this means obtaining complete and perfect
combustion.
At the before-mentioned bridge end of the oven or furnace over which the flame
or heat passes we place suitable airways or openings, through which (if necessary)
we can admit a supply of air, thus further assisting the complete combustion and
great economization of the fuel

page_text: Furnaces thus constructed, with the flame or heat conducted through suitable
flues running under the whole length of the seige or bottom of the furnace, and also
back again over the same, impart a thorough uniform heat, caused by the heat or
flame passing under, over, and around the box or boxes containing the articles to be
annealed, thereby affording greater facilities for the uniform expansion and con-
traction of the metal forming the box or boxes than are obtained by the use of any
other annealing oven or furnace in general use, and thus greatly diminishing the
amount of breakage and destruction of the boxes used, and the consequent imperfect
annealing of their contents; the boxes therefore subjected to this uniform heat last
much longer, and the contents, especially if they be thin guage inetal sheets or plates
intended for tinning, galvanising, or otherwise, are rendered thoroughly annealed
and pliable, and have at the same time a highly smooth surface imparted to them,
which is in itself a very great desideratum in the working up of such metal sheets
into manufactured articles:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Edward James and Samuel Thomas in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th December 1877. .
"
Edward James, Tin Plate Works Manager, of Tipton, in the County of Stafford,
and SAMUEL. THOMAS, Annealer, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANNEALING FURNACES."
CERTAIN
Our improvements consist in the construction of furnaces (suitable for open or
close annealing) with more or less horizontal flues running the whole length of the
annealing oven or furnace underneath the siege or bottom, and in connection with
these flues we form at suitable intervals in each horizontal flue vertical openings or
up-cast flues coming through the before-mentioned seige or bottom of furnace:
The flame or heat rushes through the said horizontal flues, and is then brought
over and through a perforated bridge at that end of the annealing oven or furnace
in which the box or boxes containing the articles to be annealed are placed; and on
its way back over the top of the box or boxes and the said seige or bottoin of the
furnace, the smoke and spent portion of the flame or heat is met on its way or exit
to the stack (the draught of which is regulated in the ordinary way by a damper)
by the hot air and flame arising from the before-mentioned vertical openings or
up-cast flues, which may be of any suitable number, thus burning and destroying
all the smoke and gases generated, and by this means obtaining complete and perfect
combustion.
At the before-mentioned bridge end of the oven or furnace over which the flame
or heat passes we place airways or openings, through which (if necessary) we can
admit a supply of air, thus further assisting the complete combustion and great
economization of the fuel.
Furnaces thus constructed, with the flame or heat conducted through suitable.
Blues running under the whole length of the seige or bottom of the furnace, and also
back again over the same, impart a thorough uniform heat, caused by the heat or
flame passing under, over, and around the box or boxes containing the articles to be
annealed, thereby affording greater facilities for the uniform expansion and cou-
traction of the metal forming the box or boxes than are obtained by the use of any

page_text: other annealing oven or furnace in general use, and thus greatly diminishing the
amount of breakage and destruction of the boxes used, and the consequent imperfect
annealing of their contents; the boxes therefore subject to this uniform heat last
much longer, and the contents, especially if they are thin guage metal sheets or plates
intended for tinning, galvanizing, or otherwise, are rendered thoroughly annealed
and pliable, and have at the same time a highly smooth surface imparted to them,
which is in itself a very great desideratum in the working up of such metal sheets
into manufactured articles.
But as our Invention will be best understood by referring to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, which are drawn to a scale of half inch to the foot, we will proceed
to describe the same, reference being made to the various figures and letters marked.
thereon
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of our improved furnace, part of which is shewn in
section below the ground line, taken through the dotted line A, B, of Figure 2;
which is a sectional plan of our furnace taken through the dotted line C, D, of
Figure 1; Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken through the dotted line E, F, of
Figure 2; and Fig. 4 is simply a front elevation of our furnace on which are shewn
in dotted lines the front or mouth of the horizontal flues marked G, G, G, G, shewn
also in dotted lines in Figure 2 running under the whole length of the seige or
bottom of the furnace, and also shown in the transverse section, Figure 3, marked
with the same letters.
In connection with these horizontal flues, before referred to, are the openings or
up-cast flues marked H, H, H, H, shewn in plan at Figure 2 and in section at
Figures 1 and 3. The object of these suid openings or up-cast flues is to help con-
siderably the combustion and destruction of the noxious gases and smoke by means
of the heated air and flame which rushes upwards through them from the horizontal
flues marked G, G, G, G, before referred to (as indicated by the two arrows shewn
in Figure 1), which meet the spent smoke and flame on its backward course after
the same has passed over and through the bridge or wall marked K, K, K, at the
end of the seige or bottom of the furnace, as shewn in section at Figure 2, and in
dotted lines at Figure 1, and in elevation at Figure 3, which said bridge or wall is
perforated in a suitable manner, as shewn in sectional plan and elevation, so as to
allow the flame and heat to pass freely through as well as over it, which flame then
passes over the top of the seige or bottom of the furnace, and thereby is equally dis-
tributed over the whole surface of the seige or bottom of the furnaco; it then passes
through the perforated wall marked L, L, L, shewn in section at Figure 2 and in
dotted lines at Figure 1, on its passage or entrance to the chimney or stack, the said
passage of the spent flame being indicated by the arrows, and the draught regulated
by means of a damper plate, which is actuated or worked by means of weights;
chains, and pulleys in the ordinary manner.
On referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the passage of the flame is
distinctly shewn by the arrows, cominencing from the fire-place or grating marked
M, M, along the said horizontal flues underneath the furnace, and back over the top
on its exit to the stack.
N, N, shewn in position in Figure 1, are merely the boxes containing the articles
to be annealed, from which it will be obvious that the heat passing through the
flues in the manner shewn and described, and playing over and around them, causes
the distribution of heat to be most equal. It is further self-evident that the iron
boxes, being thus subjected to such an equalization of heat, must last much longer
than in ordinary cases, there being no undue expansion and contraction of the metal
of which the boxes are constructed, they being of a uniform heat throughout, pro-
venting in a great measure their breaking and flying, at the same time imparting
an equal distribution of heat to their contents, which are thoroughly annealed, and
in the case of thin metal sheets are rendered thoroughly pliable, those at the bottom

page_text: being equally as pliable and completely annealed as those near the top of the box,
which is not the case in the treatment of the boxes by the ordinary annealing
furnaces, which is a very great desideratum.
The hollow troughs marked 0, 0, 0, &c., and the balls marked P, P, P, &c., shewn
in plan at Figure 2, and the troughs in section at Figure 1, are for working the
boxes N, N, (before referred to) in and out of the furnace, as in the ordinary way.
The shape, form, and number of the horizontal flues may be varied as circum-
stances may require. The number and shape of the openings or up-cast flues in
connection with them may also be varied in like manner.
The furnace is supplied with fuel, as indicated, by the fire-doors marked Q, Q,
Figure 4, R being merely a platform on which the stoker stands to feed the fire with
fuel, and S, S, the ash-pits, shewn in Figures 1 and 4.
Having thus described the nature and object of our Invention, we wish it to be
distinctly understood that we do not purpose confining ourselves to the exact delails
and arrangements of the flues as herein described and exhibited, as the same may be
greatly varied without departing from the spirit and object of our Invention, but
what we do claim and desire to protect by these our in part recited Letters Patent
is, the arrangement of the horizontal flues running under the seige or bottom of the
furnace, and the openings or up-cast flues in connection with them.
:
In witness whereof, we, the said Edward James and Samuel Thomas have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Witness,
G. GRIFFIN,
Clerk to Alfred Perry,
Assoc. Inst. C.E.,
EDWARD JAMLED.
TAS.
SAMUEL THOMAS. (L.S.)
Consulting Engineer & Patent Agent,
Handsworth,
Birmingham.