IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR PUDDLING, BOILING, MELTING, OR HEATING IRON OR STEEL
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jeremiah Head at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
January 1868.
I, JEREMIAH HEAD, of Newport Rolling Mills, near Middlesborough,
in the County of York, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR PUDDLING, BOILING,
MELTING, OR HEATING IRON OR STEEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to furnaces where two or more regenerators
one applied to each furnace to receive alternately the waste heat of the
products of combustion, and to restore such heat to that part of the
furnace where ignition and combustion commence.
My Invention consists in introducing a jet or jets of steam into any
part of the flues or passages leading from the place where ignition and
combustion begin to the extreme outlet or outlets of the said flues or
passages where the waste gases are discharged into the atmosphere, the
jet or jets being caused to act or blow in the direction opposite, or nearly
so to that taken by the products of combustion when passing forwards
to their outlet. I prefer to construct the furnace with a double stack
or. chimney, each flue of which is formed into a regenerator for a part

page_text: or the whole of its length by any convenient arrangement of fire-brick,
gannister, or other refractory material. At the top of each flue I prefer
to have two openings, one of which is fitted with a damper in the
ordinary way, and the other is an orifice through which a steam jet is
introduced blowing downwards. The second opening or orifice is so
arranged that it can be closed with a damper or plug when the steam
is turned off. The neck of the furnace branches off to either flue of the
stack and is fitted with two dampers, so that the waste products of
combustion can be directed at will up the one or the other. Each flue
of the stack is continued downwards below the neck, and the two flues
eventually unite in one, which one passes under or along the side of the
furnace backwards towards the ash-pit. Just below the neck and before
they unite each flue of the stack is provided with a damper to cut off
connection between the two, and also between themselves and the lower
flue. The waste products of combustion are alternately passed through
each flue of the stack and the regenerator contained in the same, the
steam jet being at the same time turned on in the flue up or through
which the waste products of combustion are not at the time passing;
the waste heat previously taken up by that regenerator is thereby
conducted downwards past the neck and through the lower flue
towards the back of the furnace; the steam acting through the orifice
at the top of the stack induces air to follow it, and the mixture forms
a vehicle for the conveyance and restoration of the waste heat to that
part of the furnace where it is needed. At the end of the lower flue
part of its contents are conducted into the ash-pit, which is provided
with doors to close it in, and such part is directed upwards through a
suitable nozzle against the burning fuel, whilst the other portion of
the gases or contents pass on through an upright pipe with suitable
bends into the back part of the furnace, where they are discharged in
jets or streams to mix with the gases given off above the fuel. These
arrangements may be varied by causing the jet or jets of steam to pass
through suitable orifices at any part of the flues below the top, or a
jet or jets of steam may be admitted into the lower flue blowing in
the direction of the back of the furnace. In this case the steam would
produce a partial vacuum, owing to which air would rush downwards
from the top of the stack, absorbing the heat contained in the
regenerator in its passage, and thus producing a mixture with the
steam to be utilised, as previously described, at the place of ignition
or combustion. In the last case the steam may be superheated by

page_text: conveying it through pipes which pass through a portion of the flues
traversed by the waste heat before it is discharged in a jet, thereby
taking up an additional portion of heat and restoring the same where
required.
My Invention further consists in introducing steam into the flues,
passages, stove pipes, or chambers connected therewith of any furnace
used for puddling, boiling, melting, or heating iron or steel in
intermittant jets or puffs in a manner similar to the exhaust of the
steam engine.