Improved Arrangements for Feeding Melting Furnaces.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Aug., 1886.
Complete Left, 20th May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 28th June, 1887.
RTS
Improved Arrangements for Feeding Melting Furnaces.
We DAN RYLANDS, of Hope Glass Works, Stairfoot, near Barnsley, in the county
of York, Glass Bottle Manufacturer, BENJAMIN STONER, of Bridge Street, Stairfoot
aforesaid, mechanic, and RICHARD POTTER, of Camden Terrace, Stairfoot aforesaid,
furnace builder, do hereby declare the nature of our said invention for IMPROVED
ARRANGEMENTS FOR FEEDING MELTING FURNACES to be as follows:-
The objects of this invention are to dispense with manual labour in the charging of
the furnace with batch, and to compress the batch previous to its being placed in the
furnace. We attain these objects by the following mechanism and processes.
On an iron frame which is supported on wheels, is fixed a horizontal steam cylinder,
the slide valve of which is preferably cylindrical and is actuated by a lever being
attached to its spindle. By nieans of this lever the piston may be started, stopped, or
reversed at any part of its stroke. A batch compressing cylinder is fixed to the
frame in a horizontal position and tandem to the steam cylinder. At one end of the
batch compressing cylinder is a vertical sliding door which is moved by means of a
lever so that the end of the said cylinder may be opened and closed at will. A
suitable piston is placed in the batch compressing cylinder and a piston-rod, which is
attached to said piston, passes through a gland formed in the cover of the batch
compressing cylinder and through the gland of the cover of the steam cylinder, and
is secured to the steam cylinder piston; it also passes through a gland formed on the
cover at the other end of the steam cylinder. The end of this piston-rod is attached
to a suitable shoe which works in a slide; secured to the shoe is an adjustable rod
which is arranged to come in contact with a lever which is connected to a steam cock,
thereby cutting the steam off at any desired part of the stroke of the steam cylinder
piston. On the upper portion of the batch compressing cylinder is arranged a
horizontal sliding door which may be opened or closed by means of a lever, and a hole
is formed in the cylinder which this door covers. The end of the batch compressing
cylinder where the vertical sliding door is situated has a mouthpiece attached which
is preferably the same diameter as the cylinder.

page_text: The wheels which carry the frame of the machine run on a suitable railroad which
is placed in any required position. When the machine is in working position, the
mouthpiece of the batch compressing cylinder is exactly opposite the feeding hole of
the furnace; the said mouthpiece is placed a short distance from the feeding hole to
allow a stopper mado of fireclay or other refractory material being placed between the
furnace and the end of mouthpiece.
A gangway is fixed above or over the batch compressing cylinder and the batch is
preferably carried from the batch mixing chamber in small trucks, the capacity of
cach truck being less than that of the compressing cylinder.
The process of working is as follows;-A truck of batch is placed immediately over
the horizontal door which covers the holo in the upper part of the compressing
cylinder, the vertical sliding door being closed, and the piston being at the extreme
end of the cylinder nearest the steam cylinder. The horizontal door is first opened
by means of the lever hereinbefore mentioned, and the batch is allowed to fall from
the truck into the batch compressing cylinder, after which the horizontal door is
closed. Steam is then turned on to the steam cylinder and the lever which works the
slide valve is moved so as to admit steam to the back of the steam cylinder piston, the
result being the compression of the batch in the batch compressing cylinder. The
slide valve lever is then moved in the reverse direction, thus releasing the steam
pressure from the back of the piston and at the same time relieving the pressure of
the batch cylinder piston on the batch. The vertical sliding door is then opened, and
the stopper of fire-clay or other refractory material which covers the feed hole of the
furnace, is removed. Steam is again admitted to the back of the steam cylinder
piston, this time causing the piston to make a full stroke, thus driving the compressed
batch out of the compressing cylinder through the mouth-piece and feeding holo to a
suitable distance into the furnace. The machine may be moved away from the furnace
when it requires repairing or for any other purpose.
A modification of our improved arrangements consists of compressing the batch as
hereinbefore described but instead of the compressing cylinder being placed near the
furnace it is situated in the mixing chamber. The compressed batch is forced from
the compressing cylinder on to suitable trucks which are run up to the mouth of a
shoot which extends obliquely from the gangway to the feeding hole in the furnace.
The compressed lumps of batch are then allowed to fall from the truck and descend
by gravitation down the shoot through a feeding hole formed by preference in the
crown of the furnace.
When desirable the batch may be damped by means of the exhaust steam so as to
compress it more readily.
Dated this Bighteenth day of Angust 1886.

page_text: Improved Arrangements for Feeding Melting Furnaces.
We, DAN RYLANDS, of Hope Glass Works, Stairfoot, near Barnsley in the County
of York, Glass Bottle Manufacturer, BENJAMIN STONER, of Bridge Street, Stairfoot
aforesaid, mechanic, and RICHARD POTTER, of Camden Terrace, Stairfoot aforesaid,
furnace builder, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :—
This Invention relates to the feeding of Melting Furnaces with batch, and the
objects are to dispense with manual labour in the charging of said Furnaces, and to
compress the said batch previous to its being fed into the Furnaces, to attain which
objects we construct a machine and place it in position shown at Fig. 1, which is a
longitudinal elevation of our improved feeding arrangement, and shows a section of
part of Melting Furnace. The following is a description thereof.
The frame a is supported on wheels and carries a horizontal steam cylinder c
which has a cylindrical slide valve d. The said slide valve d is actuated by a hand
lever e, by means of which the piston can be started, stopped or reversed at any part
of its stroke. The batch compressing cylinder g is also carried on the frame a, and
has a vertical sliding door h which can be moved up and down by the lever i. The
lower part of the door h has a hole through it, either corresponding in size or larger
than the diameter of the batch cylinder g. A piston works in the cylinder
connected to which is a piston rod k, which passes through the gland and through
the gland m and is secured to the steam cylinder piston f; it also passes through the
gland n and is attached to a slide block or shoe o. This shoe operates upon the
quadrant p which is connected to the slide valve d by the rod q. By means of this
arrangement the piston cannot move beyond its stroke, and therefore the said
piston fis prevented pressing or being blown or forced up to the covers r, r.
The steam is applied to and cut off from the slide valve d by means of a valve s
which is operated upon by the foot lever t.
The batch cylinder g has also a horizontal sliding door u, which is opened or closed
by the lever v; an oblong hole is formed in the top of the cylinder 9 which the
door u covers. The cylinder g has a mouthpiece w attached, which may be the same
diameter as the cylinder 9 or larger if preferred. The wheels bb6 run on suitable
rails z.
When the feeding machine is in working position as shown, the mouthpiece wis
Between the end of the
immediately opposite the feeding hole y of the furnace z.
mouthpiece w and the feeding hole y is a refractory stopper 2 which can be lifted or
lowered by the weight 3. The gangway 4 preferrably runs from the batch mixing
chamber and the truck 5 brings a suitable quantity of batch therefrom. The capacity
of each truck 5 is a little less than the cylinder g. The said truck 5 has a door 6

page_text: which can be opened and closed by means of the lever 7. The batch is guided from
the truck 5 into the cylinder g by means of a shoot or hopper 8.
The process of working this improved arrangement is as follows:-The truck 5 is
filled with batch, and is then run over the shoot 8. The lever is then pressed so
that the door u is removed from the upper part of the cylinder g thereby uncovering
the oblong hole in said cylinder g. The door 6 of the truck 5 is then opened and the
batch falls down the shoot 8 into the cylinder g, after which the door u is closed.
The foot levert is then pressed; this allows the steain to enter the slide valve d and
to get to the back of the steam piston f, thereby forcing the said piston forwards
and thus pressing the piston ; against the batch in the cylinder g. When the batch
has thus been satisfactorily pressed, the lover e is moved and operates the slide valve d
and reverses the stroke of the piston f. This takes the pressure of the piston j off the
batch so that the vertical door can be lifted up, which is done by moving the
lever. After this steam is again admitted to the back of the piston by the means
heroinbefore described, and this time the piston f makes a quick full stroke and causes
the piston to force the compressed batch out of the mouthpiece w and through the
feeding hole y to a suitable distance within the furnace z.
The machine may be moved from its position near the furnace z when it requires
repairs, or for other purposes.
g
A modification of our invention is shown at Fig. 2 which is also a part sectional
elevation showing a portion of melting furnace. In this arrangement the batch is
compressed previous to its being placed in the truck 5, and instead of the compressing
cylinder and machine being situated near the furnace z as shown at Fig. 1 it is
preferrably placed in the mixing chamber, and the compressed batch is fed from the
cylinder g into the truck 5. The said truck 5 is then brought over a shoot 9 which
extends from the gangway 4 to the feeding hole y of furnace z, when the lever 7 is
allowed to leave the catch 7, and the door 6 falls, thus causing the compressed batch
to fall into the shoot 9; before this is done, however, the refractory stopper 2 is
pulled by means of the weight 3 clear, of the hole y so that the batch 1 can pass clear
through the said hole y to a suitable distance within the furnace 2.
When desirable and where so preferred the batch either before or during com-
pression may be damped or saturated by the exhaust steam from the cylinder c.
By means of our improved arrangements here described the manual labour of
feeding the batch into the furnace with shovels is dispensed with, and by compressing the
batch before it enters the furnace the lighter constituents such as the alkalies and salts
are prevented being carried away along the furnace with the flame to the regenerators.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is :—
1. The improved arrangement of horizontal steam cylinder and batch compressing
cylinder as and for the purpose specified and as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings
annexed or any mere modification thereof.
2. The feeding of melting furnaces with compressed batch through a hole in the
side or other part of the furnace.