In- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SWEET GLASS AND OTHER OBJECTS MADE OF GLASS."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Bowen, of the Platts Glass Works, near
Wordsley, in the County of Stafford, for the Invention of "In-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF SWEET GLASS AND OTHER OBJECTS MADE OF GLASS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Bowen at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th November 1870.
I, SAMUEL BOWEN, of the Platts Glass Works, near Wordsley, in the
3 County of Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SHEET GLASS AND OTHER OBJECTS MADE OF GLASS," to be as
follows:-
-
My Invention relates to an improved apparatus or machine for moving
the sheets of glass from stage to stage in the long chamber or tunnel
in which they are gradually reduced in temperature after being flattened
and annealed in the flattening and annealing furnaces or "lears" as
ordinarily constructed.

page_text: According to my Invention the masonry floor of the said cooling
chamber or tunnel is formed with a recess or shallow trough running.
its whole length, and of suitable width and depth to receive the
apparatus now to be described. The bottom of this trough is provided
with rollers or wheels. The lower part or frame of the apparatus, con-
sisting of two or more bars or bearers of the whole length of the
chamber united by suitable cross bars, runs upon the said rollers or
wheels so as to be easily moved backwards and forwards along the said
chamber, or the rollers or wheels may be fixed to the moving framo.
instead of to the trough. Above this lower frame and connected there-
with by a series of short rocking levers is a similar frame, consisting
also mainly of two or more longitudinal bars or bearers suitably con-
nected together. This apparatus projects through one end of the said
chamber or tunnel, and the upper frame is connected to the lower one
outside by a bent lever or other device, by which a short movement
backwards or forwards may be casily imparted to the upper frame,
thereby causing all the rocking levers to be moved from an inclined to a
vertical position, or the reverse. The upper frame may be thus raised
a little above the floor of the chamber, or sunk slightly below the same,
at pleasure. The apparatus, as a whole, can also be moved in and out
as may be required, either by direct manual effort or by a rack and
pinion movement, or other similar device.
By these means when one or more sheets or plates of glass are flattened
and annealed and placed on the said apparatus at the beginning of the
said cooling chamber the same can be raised, drawn along, and lowered
upon any other part of the floor of the said chamber. The apparatus .
can be returned to pick up the next sheet or sheets when ready, and in
this way the sheets either singly, as preferred, or in piles of two or more
are gradually moved along the floor of the cooling chamber from the
warm end to the cold end, and finally to the outside thereof, when they
can be removed one or more at a time.
By these improvements I can conduct the annealing and cooling
process with less labour and with greater safety and rapidity, and with
less cost than by the methods hitherto in use.
It will be evident that this apparatus may also be employed in the
annealing of other glass objects that require to be subjected to this
process.

page_text: SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Samuel
Bowen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
BOWEN, of the Platts Glass Works, near Wordsley, in the County of
Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Bowen, Her special
licence that I, the said Samuel Bowen, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Bowen, 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
APPARATUS OR MACHINERY EXPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET GLASS AND
OTHER OBJECTS MADE OF GLASS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Samuel Bowen, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office on or before
the Sixteenth day of June One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Bowen, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:
-
My Invention relates to an improved apparatus or machine for moving
the sheets of glass from stage to stage in the long chamber or tunnel
in which they are gradually reduced in temperature after being flattened

page_text: and annealed in the flattening and annealing furnace or "lears
ordinarily constructed.
"
as
According to my Invention the masonry floor of the said cooling
chamber or tunnel is formed with a recess or shallow trough running
its whole length, and of suitable width and depth to receive the
apparatus now to be described. The bottom of this trough is pro-
vided with rollers or wheels. The lower part or frame of the apparatus,
consisting of two or more bars or bearers of the whole length of the
chamber, united by suitable cross bars, runs upon the said rollers or
wheels, so as to be easily moved backwards and forwards along the said
chamber, or the rollers or wheels may be fixed to the moving frame
instead of to the trough. Above this lower frame and connected there-"
with by a series of short rocking levers is a similar frame, consisting
also mainly of two or more longitudinal bars or bearers suitably con-
nected together. This apparatus projects through one end of the said
chamber or tunnel, and the upper frame is connected to the lower one
outside by a bent lever or other device, by which a short movement
backwards or forwards may be easily imparted to the upper frame;
thereby causing all the rocking levers to be moved from an inclined to
a vertical position, or the reverse. The upper frame may be thus raised
a little above the floor of the chamber, or sunk slightly below the same,
at pleasure. The apparatus as a whole can also be moved in and out as
may be required, cither by direct manual effort or by a rack and pinion
movement or other similar device.
By these means when one or more sheets or plates of glass are
flattened and annealed and placed on the said apparatus at the beginning
of the said cooling chamber, the same can be raised, drawn along, and
lowered, upon any other part of the floor of the said chamber. The
apparatus can be returned to pick up the next sheet or sheets when
ready, and in this way the sheets, either singly as preferred or in piles
of two or more, are gradually moved along the floor of the cooling
chamber from the warm end to the cold end, and finally to the outside
thereof, when they can be removed one or more at a time.
By these improvements I can conduct the annealing and cooling
process with less labour, and with greater safety and rapidity, and with
less cost than by the methods hitherto in use. It will be evident that
this apparatus may also be employed in the annealing of other glass
objects that require to be subjected to this process.

page_text: .
But in order that my Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the manner of performing tho
same, and for that purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the
accompanying Drawing, the same letters of reference indicating corre
sponding parts throughout the corresponding figures.
Figure 1 is a plan of the cooling chamber or tunnel of a flattening
and annealing furnace or "lear," showing my improved apparatus or
machine applied thereto; Figure 2 is a sectional elevation in a longi-
tudinal direction of part of the said cooling chamber or tunnel, and of tho
said improved apparatus or machine; Figure 3 is a transverse section of.
the same.
.
:
A represents the cooling chamber or tunnel of an ordinary flattening
and annealing furnace or "lear," to which is applied my proposed
apparatus or machine as now to be described; B, is a trough or recess
formed in the bed of the said chamber for the reception of the said
apparatus, and for enabling the glass to be cooled as far as possible
upon both sides at the same time; O is the lower part or frame of the
apparatus consisting mainly of two or more longitudinal bars united
by cross bars c, c, for the sake of stiffness, the frame running upon the
rollers D, D, mounted on suitable spindles and bearings, as shewn; F
is the top frame constructed in a similar manner to the lower one, and
carried upon and connected therewith by the short rocking levers. or
links F, F, the latter having suitable joint pins at each end. This com-
bined frame or carriage projects some distance through the outer end
of the said chamber or tunnel, and at this part the rollers on which tho
lower frame runs are mounted on spindles carried by the standards G, G.
The levers or handles H, H, are attached to two of the rocking levers,
and by moving these handles a short movement backwards or forwards
can be imparted to the upper frame at the same time causing it to rise
and fall by the change from the inclined to the vertical position of the
rocking levers, or the reverse; I, I, are two short racks attached to the
lower frame and gearing with the pinions J, J, which are actuated
by the spindle K and crank handle k, and by this arrangement, the
whole apparatus can be steadily moved into or drawn out of the said
5 cooling chamber, as far as; may be necessary for its operation in the
manner and for the purpose now to be described. The frame being in
its lowered position, that is a little below the floor line of the cooling
chamber or tunnel, and the apparatus altogether pushed back to the

page_text: .
inner end of the said chamber or tunnel, one or more sheets of glass L
after being spread out and annealed in the usual way are placed upon tho
floor, as shewn, over the trough containing the apparatus. The upper
frame is then put into its raised position as shown by the dotted lines,
that is, somewhat above the floor line of the chamber by the means
already described, thereby raising also the sheet or sheets of glass, and
the apparatus is then drawn outward a sufficient distance and the upper
frame lowered, thereby depositing the glass on the floor at the sides and
over the trough. The apparatus is again pushed up to the end of the
cooling chamber or tunnel to receive the next shect or sheets. This
operation is repeated until step by step the whole length of the tunnel
from the warm to the cold end is occupied by the glass which is then by
the further continuance of the operation brought outside sufficiently
cooled, and the sheets one by one are then removed by the workmen.
It will be evident that if the sheets of glass are of considerable width
two such before described travelling frames may be arranged to work
side by side in a trough of double width, having a longitudinal partition
between the frames upon which the sheet of glass takes a middle
bearing. The two frames would be connected together at their outer
ends, and be actuated simultaneously by one and the same lever and
crank handle.
.
By this Invention the construction of machinery for the purposes set
forth is very much simplified, and it is made casily applicable to "lears"
of the old kind with but slight alteration to the latter, as my apparatus
is self contained. The arrangement of the same inside a trough by
enabling the glass to be cooled on both sides at once also saves time in
the process.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the precise details of the arrangement
of the same as herein-before described, nor do I claim the application
of mechanical means for the purposes set forth, as I am aware that
varous arrangements of mechanism for such purposes have been already
proposed and employed, nor do I claim as new the particular manner
of moving the slicets of glass by raising the same upon bars, which
are made to carry the glass forward a stage, and to lower them upon
the bed of the annealing chamber, in order to return and repeat the
operation, as I have been made aware since the filing of my petition

page_text: that this has also been proposed and employed, but what I do claim as
new and desire to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,--
. Firstly. The construction of an apparatus or machine for the moving
5 of sheets or other objects of glass along the cooling chamber or tunnel
of a flattening and annealing furnace or lear, in which longitudinal
bearers, forming the main parts of a horizontal frame on which the
glass is raised or lowered, are connected directly by means of short
rocking levers or links or equivalent devices to a carriage or lower
O frame running on rollers or wheels in the lower part of said chamber, the
parts being actuated and arranged substantially in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before set forth.
-Secondly. The arrangement and combination of parts or mechanism
´as herein-before described with reference to the accompanying Drawing,
5 operating inside a sunk trough in the annealing or cooling chamber or
lear for carrying the glass forward, substantially as set forth.
0
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Bowen, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
SAMUEL BOWEN. '(L.S.)