IMPROVEMENTS IN HOT-BLAST STOVES OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING BLAST FOR SMELTING IRON
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Player, of Norton, Stockon-on-Tees; in the
County of Durham, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HOT-BLAST STOVES OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING BLAST FOR SMELTING IRON."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Player at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with. his Petition, on the 21st April
1866.
I, JOHN PLAYER, of Norton, Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of Durham,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN HOT-BLAST STOVES OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING BLAST FOR SMELTING
IRON," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in heating stoves or apparatus
for heating blast for smelting iron in blast furnaces in which coal is used as
a fuel for smelting or for heating the blast.
Whereas in the Specification of a Patent granted to me, and dated the
29th of March 1865 (No. 891), I have described a method of using the.
waste gases from blast furnaces with closed tops; and whereas a great number
of blast furnaces are still working with open tops, and heating the blast with
coal fires or the gas drawn from the furnace top by means of a high stack;
and whereas the proprietors of such furnaces cannot avail themselves of the
full advantages of the use of my said Patent; now this Invention has for its'
object improvements in the arrangements of stoves by which a very high
temperature may be given, the blast and all the advantages of my former
Patent derived, except the saving of fuel which accrues where closed-top

page_text: furnaces are used; whereas it has been the custom in heating blast in cast-
iron pipes with a coal fire to have the fire-place arranged generally under
the pipes to be heated and to form an integral part of the so-called heat-
ing stove; and whereas by this arrangement the flame and smoke from
the coal fire pass directly amongst and impinge on the pipes through which
the blast to be heated passes and act injuriously on the said pipes; and
whereas, although in some instances arches were placed over the fire-places
with a view to prevent the great heat of the fire from acting injuriously on
the pipes, the flame nevertheless was not prevented from acting injuriously
on the pipes; now this Invention provides a remedy for all the disadvantages
above detailed inasmuch as the heating stove is divided into three distinct
compartments, that is to say,-
First, a fire-place or furnace built by preference very similar to the fire-place
of a puddling furnace.
9
Secondly, immediately adjoining this furnace is a combustion chamber,
into which the flame and smoke from coal inside the first-mentioned furnace
passes.
Thirdly, immediately above this chamber or contiguous to it is another
separated by a thick arch of brick work, in which are certain apertures through
which the heated fumes formed in the combustion chamber pass; in this upper
chamber is placed the system of cast-iron pipes through which the blast to be
heated travels. The upper chamber is of large dimensions as compared to the
space occupied therein by the system of pipes in which the heating of the blast
takes place; this causes the upper chamber to be at all times pervaded by a
red-hot atmosphere which acts on all parts of the system of pipes alike. I
use a jet of steam passed into the incandescent fuel or flame therefrom in such
a manner that the steam is mixed in the combustion chamber with the gases
in ignition, and thereby becomes highly superheated, and in this state passes
on into the upper chamber, thus conveying and distributing heat amongst the
pipes to be heated through which the blast travels. The effect of this steam
jet is threefold, in the first place it may be so arranged to draw the gases from
the top of an open blast furnace (through apertures in the sides of the lining),
or from the fire-places before described into the combustion chamber; secondly,
the steam here mixes with the flame produced by ignition and prevents its
attaining a too high temperature; and, thirdly, it is used as a medium to carry
the heat generated into the upper chamber.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the. conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Player in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN PLAYER,
5 of Norton, Stockton-on-Tees,, in the County of Durham, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters:
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord"
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, fór Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Player, Her special licence that I, the said John Player; iny
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Player, 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
HOT-BLAST STOVES OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING BLAST FOR SMELTING IRON," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I; the said John Player, 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 John Player, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-...
formed, 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 heating stoves or apparatus
for heating blast for smelting iron in blast furnaces in which coal: or coke is
used as a fuel for heating the blast.
Whereas in the Specification of a Patent granted to me, and dated: the
29th day of March 1865, No. 891, I have described a method of using
the waste gases from blast furnaces' with closed tops; and whereas a great
number of blast furnaces are still working with open tops, and heating 'the
blast with coal fires or the gas drawn from the furnace top by means of a
high stack; and whereas the proprietors of such furnaces cannot avait them-
selves of the full advantages of the use of my said Patent; now this Invention

page_text: my
has for its object improvements in the arrangements of stoves by which a very
high temperature may be given to the blast, and all the advantages of former
Patent derived except the saving of fuel which accrues where closed top furnaces
are used; whereas it has been the custom in heating blast in cast-iron pipes
with a coal fire to have the fire-place arranged generally under the pipes to be
beated and to form an integral part of the so-called heating stove; and whereas
by this arrangement the flame and smoke from the coal fire pass directly
amongst and impinge on the pipes through which the blast to be heated
passes and act injuriously on the said pipes; and whereas, although in some
instances arches were placed over the fire-places with a view to prevent the
great heat of the fire from acting injuriously on the pipes, the flame never-
theless was not prevented from acting injuriously. on the pipes; now this
Invention provides a remedy for this disadvantage. The heating stove is
divided into three distinct compartments, that is to say,-
First, a fire-place or furnace built by preference very similar to the fire-place
of a puddling furnace.
Secondly, immediately adjoining this furnace is a combustion chamber,
into which the flame and smoke from coal inside the first-mentioned furnace
pass
Thirdly, immediately above this chamber or contiguous to it is another'
separated by a thick arch of brickwork, in which are certain apertures through
which the heated fumes formed in the combustion chamber pass; in this
upper chamber is placed the system of cast-iron pipes through which the
blast to be heated travels. The upper chamber is of large dimensions as
compared to the space occupied therein by the system of pipes in which
the heating of the blast takes place; this causes the upper chamber to be at
all times pervaded by a red-hot atmosphere which acts on all parts of the
system of pipes alike.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is a side elevation of a hot-blast stove
constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 is an end elevation; Figure
3, a longitudinal section; Figure 4, a transverse section; and Figure 5 is a
plan of the same; Figure 6 is a horizontal section taken at the line 1, 1,
Figure 3.; Figure 7 is a horizontal section taken at the line 2, 2, Figure 3 ;
and Figure 8 is a horizontal section taken at the line 8, 8, Figure 3.
-a, a, is the furnace or fire-place; b, b, is the combustion chamber into which the
flame and smoke from the furnace a pass, and there complete their combustion;
c, c, is a substantial arch of fire-brick closing in the top of the chamber b; dis
the upper chamber containing the cast-iron pipes, in which the blast to be heated
circulates, this chamber receives a glowing atmosphere from the lower chamber &

page_text: by the passages 61, 61, in the top of the arch c, and also by the side passages
e. At the top of the chamber d is a chimney f fitted with a damper, at the
top g is a pipe of rectangular section, by which the blast to be heated is led
to the stove, it has a regulating valve at 9'; 'h is a corresponding pipe by
which the blast passes away from the stove. On these pipes are sockets to
receive the ends of inverted U-pipes; i, i, are short troughs also of rectangular
section passing across from the pipe g to the pipe h, they are closed at their
ends and have a central partition, and also sockets for U-pipes at the top;
k, k, are the U-pipes fitted into the sockets in the pipes 9 and A, and in the
troughs they are so arranged. as will be seen that each row of U-pipes
affords & free passage for the blast from the pipe g to the pipe h, but in passing
it is compelled to ascend and descend three times, so that it may pass over a
large extent of heating surface. At the top of each limb of the U-pipes is an
opening to facilitate the removal of the cores from the pipes after casting; these
openings are, closed by stoppers when the stove is.at. work. I prefer to use
in connection, with these' stoves a jet of steam passed into the incandescent
fuel or flame therefrom in such a manner that. the .steam is mixed in the
combustion chamber with the gases in ignition, and thereby becomes highly
superheated, and in this state passes on into the upper chamber, thus conveying
and distributing heat amongst the pipes to be heated through which the blast
travels. The effect of this steam jet is threefold, in the first place. it draws
the gases from the fire-places before described into the combustion chamber;
secondly, the steam here mixes with the flame produced by ignition, and
prevents it attaining a too high temperature; and thirdly, it is used as a
medium to carry the heat generated into the upper chamber. 1, 1, are these
steam jets for a stove of the size shown, the orifices may conveniently be
about ths to of an inch diameter, the pressure of the steam being, say,
30 lbs. on the iuch; a regulating cock is applied in connection with each
steam jet.
Another method of using the steam jet according to my Invention is to
employ it to draw down gases from the top of a blast furnace and to force the
said gases into the stove for heating the blast where they are burnt with or in place
of solid fuel. The arrangement at the top of the blast furnace may be similar
to arrangements heretofore employed for drawing off gases from open blast
furnaces, there may be apertures in the sides of the brickwork a few feet below
the surface of the charge, and these openings may lead into a circular flue
surrounding the furnace, from which flue the gas pipe descends; or the end
of the gas pipe may simply be inserted a few feet down into the charge in the
furnace. The stove does not require to be modified except that the two branch

page_text: gas pipes m, m, are added, as is shown in Figure 9, which is a portion of a
vertical section of the stove, and in Figure 10, which is a portion of a horizontal
section of the same, these gas pipes have nozzles as shown, say about six
inches diameter, and these nozzles enclose within them the steam jets, and
the jets then act to produce a partial vacuum in the gas pipe, which is
immediately supplied by more gas from the blast furnace. The gas drawn
by the jets from the gas pipe is thus forced into the stove and is there
burnt.
What I claim is the constructing and arranging a hot-blast stove to be
used with coal or solid fuel with three distinct chambers in the manner herein
described.
Also the use in conjunction therewith of a steam jet as herein described.
...I also claim the use of a steam jet to draw down gases from the top of
the blast furnace and to force it into the stove for heating the blast.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Player, have hereunto set my hand 1
and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOHN PLAYER.
(L.B.)