IMPROVEMENTS IN OVENS, KILNS, OR FURNACES, FOR MANUFACTURING OR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Claude Brison and Antoine Chavanne, both of Lyons,
France, Gentlemen, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OVENS, KILNS,
OR FURNACES, FOR MANUFACTURING OR OTHER PURPOSES"
Sealed the 16th April 1862, and dated the 23rd October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Claude Brison and
Antoine Chavanne at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 23rd October 1861.
We, CLAUDE BRISON and ANTOINE CHAVANNE, both of Lyous, France,
Gentlemen, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS. IN OVENS, KILNS, OR FURNACES. FOR MANUFACTURING OR OTHER PURPOSES,"
to be as follows:-
These improvements relate to ovens, kilns, or furnaces in which retorts are
or may be made use of for containing the matters to be operated on, such, for
instance,as the heating, drying, baking, calcining, burning, distilling, or other
similar operations, by which a suitable rise of temperature is required, and as
is applied to the manufacture of bone black, burning or calcining of earths,
lime, plaster of Paris, distilling of wood, coals, spirits, or other similar articles,
heating or roasting of minerals, and other analogous operations. The same
consists in constructing the said ovens, kilns, or furnaces in such manner that
conjointly or not with the common.horizontal retorts hitherto made use of, they
may contain one or more vertical retorts of a cylindrical, elliptical, or other
suitable shape, open at top and bottom. Against the lower or bottom opening of
these vertical retorts may be applied at pleasure a corresponding obturator or
moveable bottom, jointed to one end of a counterpoise lever arm turning in a
[Price 8d.1]

page_text: suitable bracket, so as either to allow of filling the retort from above with the
materials to be treated, by throwing them on the obturator applied closely
against the bottom opening of the retort, or by lowering,an. thus withdrawing
this obturator from the lower opening of the retort, allow the matters contained
in this latter to fall out of the same, so as to permit of filling the retort again
while heating the retorts; the same are provided with a suitable lid, and if
materials are to be treated therein evolving gaseous matters, this lid or the
retort itself may be provided with an abduction pipe for carrying the said
gaseous matters to suitable purifiers, gasometers, or other apparatus or oven
under or in the fire of the fire-place, or the gases may be allowed to escape at the
sides of the obturator, and be burnt by the heat from the fire. Sometimes a pipe
is made to pass through the axial part of the retort from near the bottom of the
same to near the top thereof, for conducting heat through the bulk of the
materials in the retort, and thus more equally heat these latter small ovens.
Kilns or furnaces constructed according to these principles may be made
moveable on wheels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Claude Brison and Antoine Chavanne in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 23rd April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CLAUDE
BRISON and ANTOINE CHAVANNE, both of Lyons, France; Gentlemen, send
greeting.
WHERFAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of ('ctober, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and graut unto us, the
said Claude Brison and Antoine Chavanne, Her special licence that we, the
said Claude Brison and Antoine Chavanne, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Claude Brison and Antoine Cha-
vanne, our 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 OVENS,
KILNS, OR FURNACES, FOR MANUFACTURING OR OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Claude Brison and Antoine Chavanne,

page_text: our executors, or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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, aud cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calender months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Claude Brison and Antoine Chavanne,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
These improvements relate to ovens, kilns, or furnaces in which retorts
are or may be made use of for containing the materials to be acted upon
such, for instance, as ovens, kilns or furnaces for heating, drying, baking, burn-
ing, roasting,calcining, distilling, or for other similar operations, by which a
suitable rise in the degree of heat required,as, for instance, in the manufac
ture of bone black or the revivifying of the same, the drying, burning, or
calcining of earths, limestone, gypsum, sulphate of barytes, or others, the
distilling of wood or the calcination of the same into charcoal, the distilling
of coals, tar, spirits, and other analogous matters, the heating, roasting, or
calcining of minerals, and other similar operations which may be effected in
retorts. The improvements consist in providing the said ovens, kilns, or fur-
naces either conjointly or not, with the ordinary horizontal retorts, as are
made use of in the manufacture of illuminating gas or other similar opera-
tions, with one or more vertical retorts of a cylindrical, elliptical, or other
suitable shape, open at top and bottom, the said openings to be closed at
pleasure,and as hermetically as required, the top one by a corresponding lid,
and the bottom one by a corresponding obturator or moveable bottom, jointed
to one end of a counterpoise lever turning in suitable brackets, so as either to
allow of applying this obturator against the lower opening of the retort,
when this latter is to be filled with the materials to be treated therein, or by
withdrawing the obturator cause the materials to fall out of the retort.
each operation the lid and the obturator may be luted against their respective
openings of the retort, and if materials are to be acted upon in this latter
evolving greatly gaseous matters, the lid or the retort itself may be provided
with an abduction pipe or pipes for carrying the said gaseous matters into
suitable purifiers, gasometers, collectors, or other apparatus, or even under or
into the fire of the fire-place, or these gases may be allowed to escape at the
sides of the obturator,in order to be burnt or decomposed by the heat of the
fire. Sometimes it will be found useful to cause part of the heat of the fire to
At

page_text: be conducted through the midst of the bulk of the materials in the retort by
meansofa perforated pipe passing through the sides ofthis latter or thelid thereof.
Small ovens, kilns, or furnaces provided with our vertical retorts may be
made moveable on wheels; as for the size, shape, and respective positions of
the retorts in the oven, kiln, or furnace, this may vary at pleasure, according
to the nature of the substances to be treated in the retorts, or of the opera-
tions to be performed therein.
In the annexed Drawings is given an illustration or example of an oven,
kiln, or furnace, arranged according to our Invention,and provided with some
of the above-mentioned vertical and some of the ordinary horizontal retorts.
The Figs. 1 & 2 respectively represent a longitudinal and a transverse
vertical sectional view of the oven, of which Fig. 3 represents a horizontal
sectional view over the line X, Y, of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4, a side elevation
view. In these Figures corresponding parts are indicated by the same
letters of reference.
A represents the brickwork or masonry of the kiln, provided with a hearth
or fire-place B, of which C are the fire bars; F are the vertical retorts, which
may be employed either alone or in combination with the ordinary horizontal
retorts R, and may be made from fire-clay, cast iron, or any other suitable
material; these retorts F are set on suitable bed plates D, with their upper
ends protruding for a suitable distance through the upper part of the kiln,for
allowing the filling of the retorts F to take place from the outside of the kiln.
On each retort F fits a moveable cover or lid O, and the lower opening of the
retort may be opened or shut by means of an obturator I (by preference, of
the concave shape, shown in the Drawing) jointed to the end of the arm J of
the lever J, J1, which latter has its fulcrum situated in a pair of pendants K.
For keeping the obturator I in the elevated position firmly applied against the
lower opening of the retort, we prefer to have a suitable counterweight J2
attached at the end of the arm J',or this arm may, when required,be retained
in that position by a catch,stop; or any other suitable means. In Fig. 1, the
levers J, J, towards the right-hand side are represented in the position in
which the obturators keep the retorts closed, whereas those towards the left-
hand side are represented with their obturators in the lowered position,so as
to allow the substances in the retorts to fall out of the same into an extin-
guishing or cooling reservoir or vessel H, whence the said substances may be
removed at pleasure. Small pipes Q passing through the bed plates I) are
sometimes made use of for conducting part of the flame underneath the obtu-
rator I, or for burning the gases escaping from between this latter and the
sides of the retort. The kiln is further provided with proper flues L and

page_text: lampers M. For distributing the heat more equably through the entire bulk
of the materials in the interior of the retorts F, a pipe E may be made to pass
through the axial part of the said retorts, and conduct part of the heat from
the fire through the retorts and into the upper part of the flue L, and if the
substances to be treated in the retorts contain much water, or are likely to emit
greatly gaseous products, a perforated pipe N inserted in each of the retorts
and passing through the lid or the sides of the same may serve for collecting
the said gaseous products, and conduct them into any suitable condenser,
gasometer, or other apparatus, or even into the fire, or under the fire-bars.
P represents the arch above the ordinary retort R, which latter should be
situated by preference immediately above the fire.
It will be further understood that several distinct operations may be carried
on simultaneously in the same kiln; thus, for instance, whilst bones are being
calcined into bone black in the retorts R, those F may serve for distilling
coals or other matter by having the heat properly regulated by means of the
dampers M.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect,
we wish it to be understood that we do not intend to restrain or restrict our-
selves to the precise details of the Invention herein-before desrcibed; but
what we claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, providing ovens, kilns, or furnaces in which retorts
are or may be used for various manufacturing or other purposes, with vertical
retorts, each of them provided with a suitable moveable lid, and also with a
moveable obturator for closing or opening at pleasure the bottom of the retort,
this obturator being jointed to a lever for allowing the easy and effectual
working of the same, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antoine Chavanne, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
A. G. BRADE.
A. CHAVANNE. (L.S.)