IMPROVEMENTS IN REGENERATIVE Gas FURNACES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hackney, of Newport, in the County of Mon-
mouth, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REGENERATIVE
Gas FURNACES."
Scaled the 10th April 1879, and dated the 15th October 1878.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hackney at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th October 1878.
WILLIAM HACKNEY, of Newport, in the County of Monmouth, Civil Engineer,
IMPROVEMENTS IN REGENERATIVE GAS FURNACES."
This Invention has reference to the form and arrangement of the ports or openings
for the admission of gas and air in regenerative gas furnaces.
In such furnaces when both the gas and the air are in a heated state previous to
their ignition the air is in almost all cases heavier than the gas, and must be intro-
duced into the furnace above it or at a higher level in order to insure a satisfactory.
mixture and good combustion.
It is desirable also, in order to avoid waste of fuel and unnecessary heating and
destruction of the brick work, that the gas and air should be brought together and
the flame should begin only in the actual working chamber of the furnace where
the matters to be heated are placed; and in many cases, as in open hearth steel
melting furnaces, in heating and puddling furnaces for iron or steel, in tank glass
furnaces, and so on, it is important that the flame should be directed downwards so
as to strike directly on the substances to be heated, instead of being allowed to
play upon and heat or melt the furnace roof.
According to my Invention I obtain a flame commencing only in the working
chamber of the furnace and directed downwards on to the matters to be heated,
either by introducing the gas into the working chamber in one, two, or more hori-
zontal or inclined (and preferable parallel) streams and directing the air downwards
upon it in, say, an equal number of vertical streams or streams more steeply
inclined than those of the gas, which air streams are immediately over the stream

page_text: of gas. Each of the ports through which the air is admitted is so much wider
than the corresponding gas port that the stream of air laps round the stream of
gas and partly mixes with it, instead of simply beating the gas down and remaining
almost altogether above it.
Or instead of forming a series of air ports equal in number to the gas ports
below them, the air may in some cases be admitted with advantage through a
transverse slit extending the whole width or any part of the width of the furnace.
Or instead of the air ports being made wider than the gas ports the gas ports
may be made wider than the air ports. Or if the openings of the air ports are so
far above those of the gas ports as to allow of the issuing streams of air to spread
sufficiently before they strike the streams of gas, the air ports and the gas ports
may be of the same width. Or again if the gas ports are high and narrow and
are close together the jets of air may be more advantageously directed between
them instead of being vertically above the centre of each. Or the arrangment may
be modified in other ways, the essential principle of the Invention in all cases being,
that while the gas is admitted into the working chamber of the furnace in one,
two, or more streams, the air is made to impinge vertically, or at a higher angle
downwards upon it, so that the flame begins only in the working chamber itself,
and is directed downwards on to the work to be heated and away from the furnace
roof.
The rapidity of the mixing of the gas and air and the consequent length of the
flame may be modified as required (and as is well known) according to form and
size of the working chamber of the furnace and the nature of the work to be done,
and the form and arrangement of the ports may also be adjusted so that the gas is
neither on the one hand kept down too much below the air, nor allowed on the
other hand to rise too much above it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Hackney in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
April 1879.
WILLIAM HACKNEY, of Newport, in the County of Monmouth, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REGENERATIVE GAS FURNACES."
This Invention has reference to the form and arrangement of the ports or
openings for the admission of gas and air in regenerative gas furnaces.
In such furnaces when both the gas and the air are in a heated state previous
to their ignition the air is in almost all cases heavier than the gas, and must be
introduced into the furnace above it or at a higher level, in order to insure a satis-
factory mixture and good combustion.
It is desirable also, in order to avoid waste of fuel and unnecessary heating and
destruction of the brickwork, that the gas and air should be brought together and
the flame should begin only in the actual working chamber of the furnace where

page_text: the matters to be heated are placed, and in many cases, as in open hearth steel
melting furnaces, in heating and puddling furnaces for iron or steel, in tank glass
furnaces, and so on, it is important that the flame should be directed downwards
so as to strike directly on the substances to be heated, instead of being allowed to
play upon and heat or melt the furnace roof.
According to my Invention I obtain a flame commencing only in the working
chamber of the furnace, and directed downwards on to the matters to be heated
either by introducing the gas into the working chamber in one, two, or more hori-
zontal or inclined streams and directing the air downwards upon it in, say, an equal
number of vertical streams, or streams more steeply inclined than those of the gas,
which air streams are immediately over the streams of gas. Each of the ports
through which the air is admitted is so much wider than the corresponding gas
port that the stream of air laps round the stream of gas and partly mixes with
it, instead of simply beating the gas down and remaining almost altogether
above it.
Or
Or instead of forming a series of air ports equal in number to the gas ports below
them, the air may in some cases be admitted with advantage through a transverse
slit, extending the whole width or any part of the width of the furnace.
instead of the air ports being made wider than the gas ports, the gas ports may be
made wider than the air ports. Or if the openings of the air ports are so far above
those of the gas ports as to allow of the issueing steams of air to spread
sufficiently before they strike the streams of gas, the air ports and the gas ports
may be of the same width. Or again, if the gas ports are high and narrow and are
close together the jets of air may be more advantageously directed between them,
instead of being vertically above the centre of each. Or the arrangement may be
modified in other ways, the essential principle of the Invention in all cases being
that while the gas is admitted into the working chamber of the furnace in one,
two, or more streams, the air is made to impinge vertically or at a higher angle
downwards upon it, so that the flame begins only in the working chamber itself
and is directed downwards on to the work to be heated and away from the furnace
roof.
The rapidity of the mixing of the gas and air, and the consequent length of the
flame may be modified as required (and as is well known) according to the form
and size of the working chamber of the furnace and the nature of the work to be
done; and the form and arrangement of the ports may also be adjusted so that the
gas is neither on the one hand kept down too much below the air, nor allowed on
the other hand to rise too much above it.
In order that the nature of the Invention may be more clearly understood, two
arrangements of Siemens' regenerative gas furnaces for open hearth steel melting
designed in accordance with it are shown in Sheets 1 and 2 of the accompanying
Drawings. In both cases the same letters are used to indicate corresponding parts.
A, A, are the air regenerator chambers; B, B, the air flues from the regenerator
chambers to the combustion chamber of the furnace; and C, C, the ports or openings
through which the air is introduced into the combustion or melting chamber;
D, D, are the gas regenerator chambers; E, E, the gas flues from the regenerator
chambers; and F, F, the ports or openings through which. the gas is introduced
into the combustion or melting chamber of the furnace. In other points of con-
struction and in the mode of working of the furnaces they are similar to the
Siemens regenerative open hearth steel melting furnaces already in use.
In the furnace shown in Sheet 1 there is at each end a single wide air port with
three narrow gas ports below it, and in that shown in Sheet 2 there is at each end
a single wide gas port, through which the gas to be burned passes alternately into
the working chamber of the furnace with three narrow air ports above it. In both
cases the effect is similar; the combustion begins only in the working chamber of
the furnace, the flame is directed downwards upon the charge and away from the
roof, and the air and gas become partly mixed together close to the ports, so that a

page_text: shorter flame is obtained than if the air were introduced above the gas through á
port or ports of equal width.
In the arrangement of furnace shown in Sheet 1 the gas ports at each end are
made to converge towards the centre of the melting chamber, and the air port
above them is correspondingly narrower than the melting chamber; and in the
arrangement of furnace shown in Sheet 2 the gas and air ports are similarly kept
near to the middle of the melting chamber and away from the sides. The object
of this is to direct the flame on to the charge in the furnace and to keep it away
from the side walls and the extent to which the flame should be thus directed away
from the side walls and the precise position that is most advantageous for its
centre, nearer to the one side or to the other, depend on the way in which the
furnace is charged and on other local conditions, and the adjustment should be
made as may be required in each case so as to obtain the distribution of heat
throughout the width of the furnace that is desired.
Having thus set forth the nature of my Invention and explained the best methods
with which I am acquainted in which it may be carried out, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not claim as new the mere making of the ports through which air
is admitted into the combustion chamber of a regenerative gas furnace wider than
the corresponding gas ports so that the air may partly lap round the gas, but
what I claim is,-
First. Arranging the gas and air ports of a regenerative gas furnace so that
while the gas is introduced into the combustion chamber of the furnace in a hori-
zontal or inclined stream and either wholly or partly below the level of the furnace
roof, the air is made to impinge vertically or at a higher angle downwards upon
it, and the widths of the gas and air ports, or the distances apart of their openings,
are so adjusted to each other that either the air laps partly round the gas, or the
gas laps partly round the air.
Second. Arranging the gas and air ports of a regenerative gas furnace so that
while either the air or the gas or both are admitted into the combustion chamber
of the furnace through two or more passages, the gas is introduced in one or more
horizontal or inclined streams, and the air is made to impinge vertically or at a
higher angle downwards upon it, and the widths of the gas and air ports, or the
distances apart of their openings, are adjusted to each other as above described.
Third. Where two or more streams of air or of gas are introduced into the com-
bustion chamber of a regenerative gas furnace as above described, arranging them
so that the flame shall be directed upon the charge, and kept sufficiently away both
from the roof and from the side walls, as is above described, and as shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hackney, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.
Witness,
E. T. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
123, Chancery Lane,
London.
WILLIAM HACKNEY. (L.S.)