IMPROVE- MENTS IN FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Grant Sanderson, of Park Gate Ironworks,;
near Rotherham, in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR SHIPS
AND OTHER STRUCTURES."
Sealed the 11th June 1861, and dated the 2nd March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Grant Sanderson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd March 1861.
I, GEORGE GRANT SANDERSON, of Park Gate Ironworks, near Rotherham,
in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES FOR
SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in furnaces used in the
manufacture of armour plates for ships and other structures.
For the purpose of heating iron to be rolled into the very large and thick
plates required for the armour of ships and other structures I employ
furnace somewhat similar in construction to an ordinary reverberatory furnace,
that is to say, it consists of two compartments, the one the fire-grate and the
other the working bed of the furnace, there being a bridge between the one
and the other. The dimensions of the two compartments are, however, very
different from those of an ordinary reverberatory furnace, the breadth both of
the fire-grate and the working bed being greater than the length, and in place

page_text: of having but one flue at the further end of the working bed I have two, one
proceeding from each corner. By this arrangement I am enabled to obtain a
uniform distribution of the heat over the great extent of surface necessary in
the fire-bed. I prefer that the flues should pass into separate stacks, each
with its own regulating valve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Grant Sanderson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
GRANT SANDERSON, of Park Gate Ironworks, near Rotherham, in the County
of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Grant Sanderson, Her special licence that I, the said
George Grant Sanderson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Grant Sanderson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMOUR PLATES
FOR SHIPS AND OTHER STRUCTURES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said George Grant Sanderson, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,'"
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the 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 I, the said George Grant Sanderson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in furnaces used in the
manufacture of armour plates for ships and other structures.

page_text: For the purpose of heating iron to be rolled into the very large and thick
plates required for the armour of ships and other structures I employ a
furnace somewhat similar in construction to an ordinary reverberatory furnace,"
that is to say, it consists of two compartments, the one the fire-grate and the-
other the working bed of the furnace, there being a bridge between the one:
and the other. The dimensions of the two compartments are, however, very>
different from those of an ordinary reverberatory furnace, the breadth both of:
the fire-grate and the working bed being greater than the length, and in place;
of having but one flue at the further end of the working bed I have two, one,
proceeding from each corner. By this arrangement I am enabled to obtain a;
uniform distribution of the heat over the great extent of surface necessary.in,
the fire-bed. I prefer that the flues should pass into separate stacks, eacli;
with its own regulating valve.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more:
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a plan in section of a furnace constructed according to my;
Invention; and Figure 2 shews an end elevation thereof.
.
A is the bed of the furnace, which has a door at each end. The door B at:
one end is of large dimensions, suitable for withdrawing the iron or steel when
heated, and the door Cat the other end of the bed may be of smaller
dimensions, it only being required to enable the workmen to lift or move the
iron or steel at that end of the bed of the furnace; D is the fire-place or
grating and E, the bridge which separates the fire from the bed of the
furnace. It will be seen that the fire-place or grating D is suitable for
making a fire nearly from end to end of the bed of the furnace, and there is a
door F, F, at each end of the fire-place or grating.
The object of the Invention is to construct a furnace suitable for heating
iron or steel suitable for the manufacture of plates of large dimensions, in
which it is important that the iron or steel should be as uniformly heated from
end to end as may be, and which could not be the case by simply enlarging
the dimensions of a furnace such as usually employed in heating of iron or
steel for the manufacture of plates or sheets of iron or steel, as such furnaces
have heretofore been heated at one end, so that the metal has been heated
lengthwise and not crosswise, as is the case in the furnaces employed by me in
carrying out my Invention, the peculiarity of which consists in constructing a
furnace with two outlets, one near each end of the bed A, and with a door at

page_text: each end of the lengthway of the bed in contradistinction to having a working
door at the side or intermediate of; the length of the bed, as heretofore has
been the case in furnaces employed for heating iron or steel when making
plates or sheets. It is preferred that each of the flues or outlets G, G, should
have its separate stack, and that each stack should be provided with a separate
damper, to regulate the draft through the stack, in order that the heating
of the whole length of the bed and of the iron or steel thereon should be as
uniform as may be, and should a single stack be used then that a separate
damper should be used to each of the flues or outlets G, G. The fire-place or
grating D is arranged suitable for making a fire from end to end or nearly so
of the bed A, and this is important, in order to obtain a uniform heating of
the bed.
I would remark that I do not claim as my Invention the constructing
reverberatory furnaces with two outlets or flues when such furnaces are not
suitable for manufacturing plates of iron or steel such as herein described;
neither do I claim separately as of my Invention the constructing reverberatory
furnaces with two doors opposite to each other; but what I claim is, the com-
bined arrangement of furnace, heated across or at right angles to the length of
the bed, as herein described, and suitable for heating iron or steel for the
manufacture of thick plates of large dimensions.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Grant Sanderson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one:
GEO. G. SANDERSON. (L.S.)