IMPROVEMENTS IN GLASS AND OTHER FURNACES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Warren, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Glass Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GLASS AND OTHER FURNACES."
Sealed the 3rd November 1868, and dated the 6th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Warren at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th May 1868.
I, THOMAS WARREN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Glass Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said.
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GLASS AND OTHER FURNACES," to be as:
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates partly to the kind of glass furnace in which
the glass is melted in a tank built with air spaces round and beneath
it as described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to Antoine
Pocheron, and dated 7th May 1866 (No. 1297).
. And the first part of the present Invention consists in arranging
in the cave beneath the tank a series of tubes or flucs for the passage..

page_text: of air, and which are enclosed in chambers receiving the waste gases
by flues leading down to them from outlets in the sides of the tank,
whilst other flues lead the waste gases up again to the cone above,
with which arrangement the necessary draught is maintained. The
various flues or passages are furnished with dampers whereby the
action of the parts can be regulated. The intention is that these
improved arrangements shall be in operation whilst the glass is being
fused, when a strong heat is required; and at such times the ordinary
working openings in the tank as well as in the side of the cone
will be closed so that the, fire gases must pass down to the chambers
below before having access to the cone. A considerable economy of
fuel is effected in consequence of the air taking up heat from the
waste gases.
A second part of the Invention is applicable to glass furnaces and
also to pottery furnaces or kilns, and to other furnaces in which the
heat is applied in a chamber apart from the fuel grate or receptacle,
and consists in causing air heated in the manner herein-before described,.
or otherwise to enter the application or reverberatory chamber in
jets or streams directed towards the centre of such chamber by passages
or inlets formed at the sides of the openings by which the fuel gases
enter the said chamber from the grates or fuel receptacles. By
directing the heated air in this way the intensest combustion is made
to take place in the middle of the chamber, and the sides and par-
ticularly the passage or passages from the fuel grate or grates are
less liable to be overheated than when the whole supply of air is mixed.
with the fuel gases before they enter the application chamber.
filed by the said Thomas Warren in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS-30
WARREN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Glass
Manufacturer, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent, Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters. Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of.

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Warren, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Warren, my executors, 'administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Warren, 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 GLASS AND
OTHER FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Warren, 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 Thomas Warren, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates partly to the kind of glass furnace in
which the glass is melted in a tank built with air spaces round, and
beneath it as described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted
to Antoine Pocheron, and dated 7th May 1866 (No. 1297).
And the first part of my present Invention consists in arranging
in the cave beneath the tank a series of tubes or flues for the passage
of air, and which are enclosed in chambers receiving the waste fire
gases, or are formed contiguously to flues through which those gases!
pass. The waste fire gases are led down to the series of chambers:
or flues below by flues proceeding from outlets in the sides of the
tank, whilst other flues lead the waste gases up again to the cone
above, with which arrangement the necessary draught is maintained.
The second part of my Invention consists in causing air heated
according to the first part or otherwise to enter the melting chamber.
or tank of a glass furnace or the reverberatory or application chamber

page_text: of any furnace having a fuel grate or receptacle apart from such
chamber, by passages directing the air in jets or streams from the
sides of the fire gas inlets towards the centre of the chamber.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I have hereunto appended a
Sheet of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and
representing the application of my improvements to a glass furnace
of ordinary proportions.
Figures 1 and 2 are vertical sections at right angles to each other,
and Figure 3 is a horizontal section, one half at the level of the tank
and the other half at that of the uppermost of the series of air flues.
The glass furnace is of the ordinary construction as regards its
general contour and arrangement. The tank 1 occupies the centre at
about the ground level 2-3, and has directly over it the large cone 4
to carry off the waste fire gases, whilst at the four corners are
calcining or annealing chambers 5. Arched pits or caves 6, 7, are
as usual formed beneath the ground level 2-3. The tank 1 in the
example delineated is of a rectangular form and is built with air
spaces 8 around and beneath it. It is heated by means of two
furnaces or fuel receptacles 9 at opposite ends, the fire gases from
which enter it by the inlet passages 10. The parts subjected to heat
are built of fire-brick in the ordinary way, the more refractory material
being employed for those parts where the heat is most intense. In
each of the longer sides of the tank 1 there are three openings, two 11
for working the glass, and a middle one which is the entrance into
a flue 12 carried down below the ground level 2-3. When the glass
is being fused the working openings 11 in the tank, as also the corres-
ponding ones in the side of the cone are closed and the fire gases after
operating in the tank pass by the flues 12 down to the air heating
flues below. The two flues 12 communicate with separate sets of
flues occupying diagonally opposite quadrants, but one set only is
shown in each of the Figures.
Each set comprises seven horizontal flues a to g, and the descending
'flue 12 communicates with the top one a which leads by a short
vertical flue into the third c, thence continuing in a similar way
by the fifth and seventh flues e and 9.
pass by a horizontal continuation 13 to
From the last
the gases
a vertical fluc 14, which is
led up in any convenient way to the cone space above the tank 1. In

page_text: this way the fire gases finally pass off by the cone 4, whereby the
requisite draught is secured. The alternate flues b, d, f, are occupied
by the air which enters the lowest by an opening from the cave 7
indicated by dotted lines, and passing through them in succession
is led up by a flue 15 shown in section in Figure 1 to an opening
at the side of the fire gas inlet 10 and directed towards the middle
of the tank. By directing the heated air in this way the intensest com-
bustion is made to take place in the middle of the chamber or tank 1
and the sides and particularly the passages 10 from the fuel grates 9
are less liable to be overheated than when the whole supply of air
is mixed with the fuel gases before they enter the application chamber.
After the glass is fused and when the openings 11 are opened for
working it the fire gases pass directly to the cone 4 without traversing
the air heating flues below; but at that time it is not necessary for
the heat to be so intense.
My improved arrangements are obviously applicable to glass furnaces
in which the glass is melted in separate pots placed in the chamber,
and in such application I prefer to arrange the mouths of the
descending flues 12 at as low a part of the chamber sides as can be
conveniently managed. The arrangements are also obviously applicable
to glass furnaces which are made with the fuel grates or spaces more
or less in the melting chamber itself.
A. considerable economy of fuel is effected by my improved arrange-
ments in consequence of the air in passing through the flues f, d, b,
taking up heat from the waste fire gases passing through the con-
tiguous flues a, c, e, g, whilst the mode of applying the air heated in
this way is such as to avoid the overheating of the building at the
same time that it improves the action of the heat upon the glass or
other materials upon which it is intended to operate.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that
I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or
delineated, and that I do not claim generally the heating of the air
supply of glass or other furnaces, but that what I believe to be novel
and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the constructing and arranging

page_text: of flues or passages for heating and directing air in connection with
glass and other furnaces substantially in the improved manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Warren, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of November, in the year 5
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
THOMAS WARREN. (L.s.)