IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-GRATES AND FURNACES TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Blunn, of Kilnhurst, in the County of
York, Glass Manufacturer, and John Wild, of the same Place,
Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF FIRE-GRATES AND FURNACES TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
GLASS."
.
Sealed the 29th August 1871, and dated the 7th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Blunn and
John Wild at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 7th June 1871.
د
We, WALTER BLUNN, of Kilnhurst, in the County of York, Glass
Manufacturer, and JOHN WILD, of the same Place, Manager, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-GRATES AND FURNACES TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF GLASS," to be as follows:―
The object of this Invention is to obtain an intense heat by the appli-
cation of peculiarly constructed fire-grates to glass furnaces containing
pots, and heated by common coal or slack. The furnace containing the
pots has no grate or opening whatever in any part of the "sieges" (or

page_text: 2
supports for the pots) for the admission of heat by the flame from the
fire-place or the gas, as in some glass furnaces which have their grates
and fire furnaces situated below the "sieges;" but our improved furnaces
are made with a solid "
Biege" constructed by building a wall from the
bottom to the top of the cave at each end of the brickwork on which the
ordinary sieges are laid, and filling the cavity up with rubbish which
makes a bed for the extra "siege " bricks, and prevents the external air
which enters the cave at either end from having a through passage.
The furnace walls and crown of flint glass furnaces may be built as
usual, and for bottle or crown furnaces flues can be added in addition to
the working holes. The siege bricks are by preference laid in a
slanting direction in order that any metal running from a broken pot
may be preserved, as hereafter described. The fire-grate with its furnace
(which will herein-after be called the "fire-furnace" to distinguish it
from the furnace containing the pots) is built at the outside and is.
separated from that part of the furnace containing the pots by a thick
fire-brick wall in such a manner that the flame from the fire-furnace
passes over the thick wall (at any convenient height, or just above the
level of the "siege") by an entrance arch, and at one or both ends of
the furnace containing the pots, and as the fire furnaces may be built
one at either one or both ends of the pot furnace it will be found very
advantageous, as in bottle houses where pots are set at the end or what
is usually called the " teazehole," as by working with one fire furnace
it will not interfere at all with the setting pots. At each side of each
of the fire furnaces a small flue is built communicating with the cave
which causes a current of air to pass under the grate carrying away any
sulphur or dust or other impurities from the man in charge of the grate.
These glass furnaces are simple in construction cost little more than the
ordinary ones, they will work regularly and will produce an intense heat,
consume a large portion of their own smoke, and there will be less
destruction than usual in the furnace. A great saving is otherwise
effected by running into small cisterns or out at the furnace fronts or
ends the metal from broken pots, or any metal which in bottle houses is
dropped by gatherers between the pot and the furnace, also by founders
when filling pots, and which in ordinary furnaces is nearly all wasted by
running into the cave, and another benefit derived from our improved
construction will be that the pots will last considerably longer, as they
are not exposed to any cold air whatever, which in ordinary grates is
caused to rush through the fire, and by coming in contact with the pots

page_text: splits or cracks the same, when the metal is wasted. There will also be
a saving in fuel of fifty per cent., the glass being melted in less time
and in as good quality as when melted in ordinary glass furnaces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Walter Blunn and John Wild in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 7th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WALTER
BLUNN, of Kilnhurst, in the County of York, Glass Manufacturer, and
JOHN WILD, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Walter Blunn and John Wild,
Her special licence that we, the said Walter Blunn and John Wild, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Walter Blunn and John Wild, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-
GRATES AND FURNACES TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Walter Blunn and
John Wild, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or one of our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the 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 Walter Blunn and John Wild,
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

page_text: in and by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of fire-
grates and furnaces employed in the manufacture of glass, and consists
essentially in placing the fire-grates outside of that part of the furnace
containing the pots, instead of having them in or running along the
centre thereof, as in ordinary furnaces for the manufacture of glass.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention for "Improve-
ments in the Construction of Fire-grates and Furnaces to be employed
in the Manufacture of Glass," we will now proceed to describe more in
detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or
carried into practical effect, and in order that the same may be distinctly
understood, we have annexed hereunto one Sheet of Drawings illustrative
thereof, and have marked the same with figures and letters of reference,
corresponding with those in the following explanation thereof, that is to
say :-
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figure 1 represents a
sectional plan through about the line 1-2, Figure 2, of a glass furnace
(rectangular in shape and to contain six covered pots) constructed
according to this Invention; Figure 2 is a sectional elevation thereof
through about the line 3-4; Figure 3 a sectional profile, the side A
through about the line 5-6, and the side B through about the line 7-8,
Figure 1; Figure 4 a sectional profile, the side C, through about the
line 9-10, and the side D, through about the line 11-12, Figure 1,
looking in the direction of the arrow x, and Figure 5 a partial section
through about the line 13-14, Figure 1; Figure 6 is a sectional profile
(through about the line 15-16, Figure 8, looking in the direction of
the arrow x¹) of a four-pot furnace for open pots constructed according
to this Invention; Figure 7 is a sectional elevation through about the
line 17, 18, Figure 8, and Figure 8 a sectional plan through about the
line 19-20, Figure 7. In all the Figures similar letters refer to similar
parts. The arrows w, w, represent the entrance of the air into the
various cavities, passages, and flues, and the directions which it then
takes

page_text: "
66
has no openings whatever into the pot chamber a as there have been
hitherto; b, b, represent walls built from the bottom to the top of the
'cave" at each end of where the ordinary fire-grates are, the cavity c
between the walls is filled up with any rubbish, by which means we
stop the through current of air and obtain a better bottom heat. On
this bed of rubbish we place suitable resting pieces or blocks d, and lay
the siege bricks or blocks thereon in a slanting or sloping direction
either towards the sides, as shewn at Figures 3 and 6, or towards the
ends of the pot chamber, so that the glass scattered by the men who
fill the pots and by those who gather the molten metal, and in the case
of a pot breaking, may run through channels g at the sides (or ends) into
sumps" and used over again, instead of as in ordinary furnaces
running into the cave and wasted. h, h, represent a cavity which runs
under the siege, and communicates by passages h¹ underneath or in the
bottom of the siege, with branches i which may either communicate with
the flues j, as shewn at k, see Figures 2 and 5, or with the interior of the
pot chamber, as shewn at 7 in the same Figures, see also Figures 3 and 7.
m, m, represent the fire-grates or furnace, and are separated from the
pot chamber by continuations upwards 6+ of the walls 6; the flame
and heated gases are admitted therefrom into the pot chamber over
the walls through an opening n. At the end of each fire-grate m
nearest the pot chamber a is an opening p which communicates with
two flues q (into which the cavity / opens, see Figures 2 and 4), carried
up into the chimney. A current of air enters at the arch r, and that
part of it not taken up by passing under the fire-grate passes through
the opening p and into the flues 9, and thereby causes a draught to
be continually passing close under the grate bars and so greatly aids
combustion, and carries away sulphur, dust, or other impurities from
the workman who has charge of the fire-grates, and up the flues 9 into
the chimney. The current of air in thus entering the flues q partly.
passes thence into the cavity has it opens thereinto. The flame and
heated gases after playing round the pots pass from the chamber a
through flues j, and thence to the chimney, which is not illustrated on
the accompanying Drawings, but is built so as to embrace all the flues.j
and q. The air from the cavity / passes (by means of the passages 7¹
in the bottom of the siege) to the branches i, and thence may either
pass into the flues j and mix with the flame from the pot chamber,
or direct into the chamber itself through the openings l, and mix with
the flame before entering the flues, and so assist to consume the
h
h

page_text: smoke, and to preserve the flues from being burnt away by the flame:
v, v, represent passages through which air is admitted into the fire
furnaces; it there mixes with the heated gases and flame, and is carried
therewith into the pot chamber, and produces an intense heat. x, x, re-
present openings through which the fire furnaces m, m, are worked.
8, 8, represent the pots; these are placed on the siege e through openings t
which, whilst the metal is in process of reduction are loosely bricked.
up, as shewn at u, Figures 1 and 7. The furnace walls are constructed..
as in ordinary furnaces. A glass furnace for containing four open.
pots is illustrated in Figures 6, 7, and 8. In this class of furnace only
one fire-grate is used, as shewn. y represents the usual working holes,
or the holes where the flame issues from the pot chamber.
'
Flues may
also be formed for this purpose as above described. y*, y+, represent
openings in the furnace walls, which are filled with loose bricks as
shewn at z (like the openings t for setting the pots), which in case
of a pot splitting or cracking can be quickly pulled down and the
fracture repaired without the necessity of removing the pots. The air
enters the cavity h through an opening p at the rear, and passes thence
by means of the branches ' under the siege to the passages i, and
thence into the pot chamber a through the openings 2, Figure 7.
In both the furnaces above described the sumps ƒ may either be
constructed as shewn at 1, Figure 6, or as shewn at 2 in the same
Figure. In the former case the metal is obtained therefrom through the
opening 3 at the bottom; 4, 4, represent metal coverings to the sumps.
In the open pot furnace the chimney is also built so as to embrace all
the flues and working holes, but on the accompanying Drawings it is not
illustrated. The advantage of furnaces.constructed according to this
Invention are a great saving of fuel, the pots last considerably longer,
make a deal less smoke, and all the metal is saved which is wasted
on the principle on which glass furnaces have been hitherto constructed.
.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention
for "
Improvements in the Construction of Fire-grates and Furnaces
to be employed in the Manufacture of Glass," together with the manner
in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical
effect, we would remark in conclusion that we claim as our Invention,--
The general construction and arrangement of glass furnaces and the
component parts thereof, substantially as herein-before described and

page_text: as illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, but more
particularly we claim,—
First. Placing the fire-grates with their draught flues outside the
chamber containing the pots, instead of running them along the centre
as hitherto.
Second. Stopping the through current of air under the siege by
building the walls and filling up the cavity between them.
•
Third. The construction of the solid siege.
And, fourth. The peculiar construction and arrangement of the various
flues, air passages, and cavities, all substantially as herein described and
as illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, or any mere
modification or adaptation thereof for any similar purpose.
In witness whereof, we, the said Walter Blunn and John Wild
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-one.
WALTER BLUNN. (L.S.)
JOHN WILD.
(L.S.)
WALTER BLUNN. (L.S.)
JOHN WILD.
(L.S.)