IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING HEAT FOR SMELTING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kirkham, of Euston Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR GENERATING HEAT FOR SMELTING AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 2nd February 1864, and dated the 6th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kirkham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the 6th
August 1863.
I, JOHN KIBKHAM, of Euston Road, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR GENERATING HEAT FOR SMELTING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be
as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to generate heat in an economical manner,
and to maintain it at an increased or diminished intensity at pleasure, so as to
render it applicable to the smelting of metals, the generation of steam, the
heating of air to form a hot blast, and the generation of gas, two or more of
these being effected simultaneously in the same apparatus.
In adapting the Invention to the smelting of iron, say, for the reduction of
the granulated ore known as Taranaki sand, I use the following arrangement
of apparatus:-On either side of a reverberatory furnace I arrange a gas

page_text: generating furnace, and connect these with the reverberatory furnace by
suitable flues. These gas generators are fitted at top with a closed hopper for
holding coal or other fuel to be supplied to the generators. The fuel in the
hoppers is let out at the bottom through a conical valve into the gas generators
as often as may be required.
When the generating furnaces are charged with fuel fire is to be applied
at the bottom, the door giving access thereto being left open. The conical
valve at the lower end of the hopper and the door on its mouth-piece at top
are also to be open until the fuel is well ignited; the furnaces are then to be
closed. The draft is now to be kept up by hot atmospheric air forced in near
the top of the generating furnace by blowing apparatus. The air descends
through the fuel for the support of the combustion of the same, and the gases
generated pass off into the reverberatory furnace. To assist in the production
of the heating gases I also introduce small jets of steam into the incandescent
fuel, which steam becoming decomposed is resolved into its constituent gases.
The streams of gases as they pass to the middle or smelting furnace have
introduced to them a further supply of hot atmospheric air and bydrogen gas,
previously prepared and forced into the passages from the gas-generating
furnaces; an intense heat is thus produced in the smelting furnace, which
heat can be regulated by valves or stop-cocks to any required extent, or
intensified or diminished at pleasure by increasing or diminishing the hot
blast. In the flue at the rear of the furnace I set up a series of retorts for
generating gas, applying for that purpose the heat that passes off from the
smelting furnace. The retorts I set transversely across the flue, and lead off
the gas derived therefrom to the gas furnaces. In the rear of the retorts is
an oblong air chamber, in which are laid a number of tubes, which tubes
lead the hot gases through the chamber. Air is caused to circulate around
these tubes, and absorbs the heat therefrom when it passes off to the furnaces,
as already described. The heated gases, after passing through the horizontal
tubes in the air chamber, serve to generate steam in a tubular boiler set in
rear of the air chamber, and the steam thus generated may be used for
supplying the gas furnaces with jets of steam as described, or for supplying
the retorts when water gas is made therein.
The same principle of arrangement of furnaces as that described and the
mode of working the same may, with modification of details, be applied for
heating steam boiters and large stoves for providing hot air blasts. Thus, for
example, when the generation of steam is the main object, a steam boiler may
take the position of the smelting furnace, the heated gases as they leave

page_text: the gas-generating furnaces being caused to circulate in or around the
boiler. As the gases leave the boiler they may then be conducted to the air
chamber, and caused to heat air that is to be used in the gas-generating
furnaces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kirkham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KIRKHAM, of Euston Road, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Kirkham, Her special license that I, the said John Kirkham, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Kirkham, my executors, administrators, and 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR GENERATING HEAT FOR SMELTING AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Kirkbam, by an instrument in
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 I, the said Johh Kirkham, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and,
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to generate heat in an economical mannor
and to maintain it at an increased or diminished intensity at pleasure, so as to

page_text: render it applicable to the smelting of metals, the generation of steam,
the heating of air to form a hot blast, and the generation of gas, two
or more of these operations being effected simultaneously in the saine
apparatus.
In adapting the Invention to the smelting of iron, say, for the reduction of
the granulated ore known as Taranaki sand, I use the arrangement of appa-
ratus shewn in the accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a
sectional plan view of the apparatus, Fig. 2, Sheet II., is a transverse vertical
section taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3, Sheet I., is a longitudinal
vertical section. On either side of the reverberatory furnace a, in which the
granulated or pulverized ore is operated upon and smelted, is placed a gas-
generating furnace b, b; these two gas-generating furnaces are connected with
the reverberatory furnace a by flues c, c, in which are valves or dampers u for
cutting off the connection between the smelting furnace and either or both of
the furnaces b, b. These gas-generating furnaces are fitted at top with a closed
hopper d for holding coal or other fuel to be supplied to the generators. The
fuel in the hoppers is let out at the bottom as often as may be required into
the gas generators through a valve opening closed by a conical plug e, which
plug is suspended from a stem or rod f, whereby it may be raised or lowered
at pleasure, and thereby made to regulate the quantity of fuel supplied to the
generators below.
When the generating furnaces are charged with fuel fire is to be applied at
the bottom thereof, the door g which gives access thereto being left open to
admit air for supporting combustion, and the valve u closed. At this time the
conical valve or plug e at tho lower end of the hopper, and the door whereby
the hopper is supplied at top with fuel, are also to be open, and they are to be
left open until the fuel is well ignited. The doors of the furnaces are then to
be closed and the valves 1 opened, and the draft is now to be kept up by
forcing in hot atmospheric air through the openings h, h, h, near the top of
the generating furnaces by means of blowing apparatus; these furnaces b, b,
may be used either together or alternately according to the temperature
required. This hot air I obtain from an air-heating chamber, to be hereafter
described, which chamber derives its heat from the waste gases of the smelting
furnace. The air supplied through these openings h descends through the
fuel in the gas-generating furnaces b, b, and serves to support combustion
therein, and the gases generated in these furnaces pass off through their
respective flues c into the reverberatory furnace a to assist in the pro-
duction of the heating gases which are to be applied to the smelting of the

page_text: iron in the furnace a. I also introduce into the incandescent fuel in the gas
generators b, b, small jets of steam from a pipe i in connection with an
adjacent steam boiler; this steam is decomposed as it comes in contact with
the red-hot fuel, and is resolved into its constituent gases of oxygen and
hydrogen. Into the volume of heated gases which pass from the gas generators
to the middle or smelting furnace a I introduce a further supply of hot
atmospheric air obtained from the hot air chamber before mentioned, and also
carburetted hydrogen or hydrogen gas, or a mixture of both gases, which gases
are prepared or generated in suitable retorts (see j, j, j, Figs. 1 & 3) heated
by the gases passing off from the smelting furnace. This hot atmospheric air
and gas I cause to commingle with the gases from the furnace 6 just pre-
viously to their entering the reverberatory smelting furnace a; an intense heat
is thus produced in the smelting furnace, and this heat I am enabled to
regulate by means of valves or stop-cocks in the supply pipes to any required
extent; the heat may thus be intensified or diminished at pleasure by
increasing or diminishing the hot blast. The retorts j, j, j, I set up in a
suitable chamber k at the rear of the reverberatory furnace a, and generato
therein at pleasure either hydrogen or carburetted hydrogen gas, or both, using
for that purpose, as above intimated, the waste heat that passes off from the
smelting furnace a. The retorts j,j, are set transversely across the chamber,
and the gas derived therefrom is led off or conducted by any convenient
arrangement of pipes 7, 7, to branch pipes m, m, which enter the flues c of the
gas furnaces b, b. Behind the retort chamber k is an oblong air chamber n
(shewn in cross section at Fig. 24, Sheet II.), in which are arranged a number
of longitudinal cast-iron pipes o, o, laid parallel to each other, and supported
at their ends by cross walls after the manner of supporting the tubes of a
tubular boiler by tube sheets; these pipes o, o, are heated by the hot gases
which pass through them from the retort chamber. Air is admitted to the
chamber by pipes 2, and caused to circulate around these pipes o, o, and
absorb the heat therefrom. The heated air then passes off to the furnaces b, b,
for the purpose already described by means of pipes q, q, the supply of heated
air to these furnaces being regulated by valves or cocks 1, 1, fitted in stand
pipes s, to which the pipes 9, 9, respectively lead, and from each of which the
air passes directly to an annular passage surrounding the furnace at the level
at which the radial openings h, h, occur in the furnace. The branch
pipes m, m, connect respectively with the stand pipes and the flues c of
the furnaces b, b, and they are provided with valves for regulating the
delivery of the hot air from the stand pipes s to the flues c of the furnaces

page_text: valves.
The heated gases of combustion which have been used to heat the retorts,
after passing through the horizontal pipes o, and thereby heating the air in the
chamber n, may now serve to generate or assist in generating steam in a
tubular boiler set in rear of the air chamber, but not shewn in the Drawing,
and the steam thus generated may be used for supplying the gas furnaces with
jets of steam, as described, or for supplying the retorts j, j, when water gas is
made therein.
The same principle of arrangement of furnaces as that described and shewn
in Sheets I. and II., and the mode of working the same, may, with modifi-
cation of details, be applied for heating steam boilers and large stoves for
providing hot air blasts. Thus, for example, when the generation of steam is
the main object, a steam boiler may take the position of the smelting furnace,
the heated gases as they leave the gas-generating furnaces being caused to
circulate in or around the boiler as the gases leave the boiler; they may then
be conducted to the air chamber and caused to heat air that is to be used in
the gas-generating furnaces.
In Sheet III. I have shewn in transverse vertical section an arrangement
of apparatus for generating steam and heating air for hot blast furnaces;
b, b, are the gas-generating furnaces, as before described, the heated gases from
which are conducted through the flues c, c, to the under side of the boiler t, t,
from thence the gases pass up into the hot air chamber n, n, where they will
heat the air that circulates in the tubes o contained therein. The air so
heated may be applied to hot blast furnaces or to other uses, a portion being
reserved for supporting combustion in the furnaces b, b, as they are brought
into operation. To throw one furnace 6 into and the other out of action, it is
only necessary to shift the position of the valves u in the flues c, c. By the
adjustment of these valves the intensity of the heat generated may to a very
considerable extent bo regulated, and by closing both valves the supply of heat
to the boiler will be instantly cut off. In this arrangement I provide pipes v, v,
for throwing hot air (or gas if required) into the flues c (as already explained
with reference to the first arrangement) for intensifying the heat, and ensuring
the more perfect combustion of the volatile portions of the fuel carried over
from the furnaces b, b.
Having now described my Invention of " Improved Apparatus for
Generating Heat for Smelting and other Purposes," and explained the mauner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that, under the

page_text: above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the means above described for
obtaining and applying heat for smelting metals, generating steam, heating
air, and generating gas, or for effecting simultaneously two or more of these
operations.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kirkham, have hercunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
JOHN KIRKHAM. (L.B.)