Improvements in Furnaces for Annealing Iron and Steel Sheets, and in other Furnaces employed in the Manufacture or Treatment of Iron and Steel.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Dec., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 19th Oct., 1894-Accepted, 1st Dec., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Furnaces for Annealing Iron and Steel Sheets, and
in other Furnaces employed in the Manufacture or Treatment
of Iron and Steel.
I, WALTER JENKS, of Minerva Works, Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton in
the County of Stafford, Ironmaster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows :-
In furnaces for annealing iron and steel sheets and in other furnaces used in
the manufacture or treatment of iron and steel, as usually constructed, the heat
from the grate is deflected from an arched roof upon the metal which is placed
upon the bed of the furnace, and the only heat imparted to the bed of the furnace
from the grate is such as is deflected thereupon. A considerable portion, however,
or even the entire portion, of the bed is covered by the metal resting thereon.
The beds of these furnaces consequently are comparatively cool.
Fuel has to be placed direct upon the bed of the furnace in order to maintain
the required degree of temperature. The sheets, are, consequently, very liable to
carry dirt from the fuel and if not thoroughly brushed before being rolled their
surfaces are damaged; and moreover the fuel is liable to clinker on their surfaces,
which prevents its being properly brushed off.
Now, according to this invention, the waste heat from the interior of the
furnace is utilized to directly heat the bottom or bed by forming a hollow space
below the bed and passing such waste products therethrough; whereby fuel is
not required upon the bed of the furnace to maintain the temperature thereof, and
the inconveniences attending its use are thereby obviated and economy effected in
the cost of heating the furnace. The invention is applicable also for maintaining
at a higher temperature the beds or bottoms of other furnaces used in the
manufacture or treatment of iron and steel.
According to a convenient application of this invention the bottom or bed of
the furnace is built on arches which cover in flues through which the products of
combustion from the furnace pass on their way to the chimney. The flues are
formed by dividing off the hollow space underneath the bottom or bed of the
furnace by means of walls; and, conveniently, two walls only are used, so as to
form three flues which extend from about the front of the furnace to the fire-
bridge, the middle flue being wider than either of the outside ones.
Flues are
formed from the bed of the furnace at the forward end thereof into the forward
ends of the two side flues, respectively, and preferably in position at their upper
ends which makes them to be about the same distance from one another as each one
is from the side of the interior of the furnace. The escaping products of com-
bustion from the furnace pass through the down flues into the two side flues under
the bottom of the furnace, and after traversing the side flues pass therefrom into
the back end of the middle flue, and then travel forwards along such flue, and pass
thence to the chimney stack.
Dated this 22nd day of Desembos 1902
STEPHEN WATKINS,
Wolverhampton, Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE OF DUIFICATION.
Improvements in Furnaces for Annealing Iron and Steel Sheets, and.
in other Furnaces employed in the Manufacture or Treatinent
of Iron and Steel.
I, WALTER JENKS, of Minerva Works, Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton in the
County of Stafford, Ironmaster, 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 :-
In furnaces for annealing iron and steel sheets (commonly known in the iron
and steel trades as "annealing" furnaces), as usually constructed, the beat from
the grate is deflected from an arched roof upon the sheets which are placed upon the
bed of the furnace, and the only heat imparted to the bed of the furnace, from
the fuel burnt in the grate, is such as is deflected thereupon. A considerable
portion, however, of the bed is covered by the sheets resting thereon; and the
deflected beat is consequently very largely absorbed by the upper sheets. Fuel
has therefore to be placed direct upon the bed of the furnace in order to maintain
the required degree of temperature, and the sheets are consequently very liable to
carry dirt from the fuel, and if the furnace is used for heating the sheets for
re-rolling and the sheets are not thoroughly brushed before being re-rolled their
surfaces are damaged in the rolling; and, further, the fuel is liable to clinker on
the surfaces of the sheets, which prevents its being properly brushed off.
Now, according to this invention, the waste heat from the interior of the furnace
is utilised to directly heat the bottom or bed by forming a hollow space below the
bed and passing such waste heat therethrough on its way to the chimney stack;
whereby fuel is not required upon the bed of the furnace to maintain the
temperature thereof, and the inconveniences attending its use are thereby obviated
and economy effected in the cost of heating the furnace.
A convenient application of this invention is illustrated by the drawings here-
with, of which
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through the centre of a furnace, for annealing
iron or steel sheets, to which the invention is applied.
Figure 2 is a corresponding view to Figure 1, but the section is taken through
one of the side flues bereinafter described, instead of through the centre flue as is
the case with Figure 1; and
Figure 3 is a transverse section through the furnace taken at the point in the
length thereof indicated by the broken line xx of Figure 1.
Flues a ba are shewn as running longitudinally underneath the bed A of the
annealing chamber B of the furnace. The products of combustion, after passing
over from the grate C into the chamber B, escape from the chamber B through
openings c formed through the bottom A of the chamber B into the forward ends
of the flues a a, and pass in a backward direction along such flues to the hinder
ends thereof, and from thence through openings d into the hinder end of the middle
flue 6, and pass in a forward direction through the flue b, and thence downwards
into a cross flue e through which they pass to the chimney stack. The openings c
into the flues a are at or near to the front end of the chamber B, as shewn, one
opening conveniently being formed into each such flue. It is convenient to arch
the flues over and to carry the bed A upon such arches, and more especially so
when wide flues such as those indicated are used; but the flues may be covered
over with slabs of refractory material, if desired, and more especially if a greater
number of narrower flues are used instead of the three wide flues shewn. When
three flues only are used, as shewn, the centre flue should of course be somewhat
greater in area than each side flue; but any convenient number of flues may be
used, one or more conveying the products of combustion in one direction under the

page_text: bed of the furnace, and another or others of such flues being used to convey such
products in the opposite direction under the bed.
It will be obvious that the invention is applicable to furnaces of the character
above described whether the same are constructed or used for annealing sheets or
for simply heating them; and the invention is of course applicable also to furnaces
for annealing or heating plates.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A furnace for annealing iron or steel sheets, or plates, or for simply heating
same, formed with a hollow space underneath the bed of the annealing or heating
chamber through which the products of combustion from such chamber pass on
their way to the chimney stack, substantially as described for the purpose set
forth.
2. In a furnace for annealing iron or steel sheets or plates, or for simply heating
same, heating flues formed under the bed of the annealing or heating chamber
through which the products of combustion from such chamber pass on their way to
the chimney stack, substantially as described and shewn by the drawings herewith,
for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 18th day of October 1894
STEPHEN WATKINS,
Wolverhampton, Agent for the Applicant.