Improvements in or relating to Cupolas and Blast Furnaces.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Apr., 1892
Complete Specification Left 4th Jan. 1893-Accented 11th Feb. 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Cupolas and Blast Furnaces.
ALEXANDER PERCY RUSH FORTH 181 Barking Road Canning Town London E.
Ironmoulder. I do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
I connect to the said cupola or blast furnace a receiver made by preference
circular & in the interior of the said receiver I place one or more rows of pipes
& connect them with main blast pipes from the blowing machine or blowing engine
& thus force the blast from the blowing machine or blowing engine through the
pipes in the said receiver into the air belt or pipe leading into the cupola or blast
furnace thus obtaining a blast of very high temperature.
2nd. I utilise all waste gases or heat contained in the receiver by means of a
pipe or pipes leading from the receiver into the said cupola or blast furnace.
3rd. All pipes & air belt connected with the above are either made or lined with
refractory materials well know to resist high temperatures.
Anil 5th 1892
ALEXANDER PERCY RUSHFORTH.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Cupolas and Blast Furnaces.
I, ALEXANDER PERCY RUSHFORTH, of 181 Barking Road, Canning Town,
London, Engineer, 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, reference being had to the accompanying sheet
of drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
•
The object of my invention is to provide improved means of heating the air
blast before admitting the same to the cupola or blast furnace.
For this purpose I employ, in connection with the cupola or blast furnace, a
receiver into which the molten metal runs as it is produced in the cupola or blast
furnace, and in the interior of this receiver and above the surface of the molten
metal contained therein, I place one or more pipes or rows of pipes and connect
such pipes at one end with the main blast pipe from the blowing machine or
blowing engine, and the other end with the air belt or pipe leading to the tuyeres
of the cupola or blast furnace. The pipes in the aforesaid receiver become
highly heated, partly by contact with the hot gases contained in or passing through
the receiver, and partly by heat radiated from the molten metal, and the blast of
air becomes correspondingly heated in its passage through the aforesaid beated
pipes in the receiver.
In the drawings hereto annexed
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a cupola with my improvements applied thereto
and Figure 2 a horizontal section taken on line X X of Figure 1.
A is the body of the cupola constructed in the usual way, B the air belt,
C the tuyere holes for the admission of air from the belt B to the interior of the
cupola. D is the usual charging opening and E a passage through which the
molten metal flows from the bottom of the cupola. F is the receiver above men-
tioned into which the molten metal flows from the opening E. G is the tapping

page_text: hole through which the molten metal can be withdrawn from the receiver Fas
and when required. H is a coil of pipe which may be of cast iron or any other
suitable material adapted to bear the great heat to which it is subjected. This
coil of pipe is supported in the upper part of the receiver F by bearers I, or in
any other convenient and suitable way. The end H of the coil of pipe H is
connected to the air belt B and the other end H2 to the main blast pipe of the
blowing machine or blowing engine.
Figure 3 is a section of the pipe H taken on line Y Y of Figure 2 looking in
the direction of the arrow showing the connection between the upper and lower
coils of pipe.
The lower part of the receiver F, containing the molten metal, may be con-
structed of firebrick J bound together by an iron casing K. The upper part may
consist of a continuation upwards of the iron casing K, lined with firebrick or
ganister for example, and covered with slabs of fire clay. An opening is pre-
ferably made in the top for convenience of access to, or examination of, the pipe H,
or of the receiver. This opening may be closed with a fire clay plug L. The
hot gases which escape through the opening E into the receiver F are by preference
returned to the cupola at a convenient point by means of a pipe M.
It will now be understood that when the cupola is at work, the pipe H will be
highly heated, firstly, by the hot gases escaping from the lower part of the cupola
through the opening E and passing back to the cupola through the pipe M and,
secondly, by heat radiated to it from the molten metal N collected in the lower
part of the receiver F, and that the air blast, in its passage through through the
said pipe H on its way from the blowing machine or blowing engine to the
air belt B, will be highly heated by contact with the heated sides of the said
pipe H.
It will be obvious that the invention can be adapted to a blast furnace by
suitably modifying the arrangements above described and illustrated in the
drawings of a cupola; but the length of the pipe H should be much greater
for a blast furnace than for a cupola. This increased length may be obtained by
making the upper part of the receiver higher and increasing the number of coils
of the pipe contained in it. And it will be understood that whether applying the
invention to a cupola or to a blast furnace I do not confine myself to the coiled
form of the pipe H as the same may be arranged in any way that may be most
convenient or suitable; for example the said pipe may be composed of a series of
vertical or inclined pipes of any suitable height connected together by shaped
bends at top and bottom so as to form a continuous serpentine or zigzag pipe
arranged around the interior of the upper part of the receiver F.
The receiver F is shown of circular form in plan but it may be made of square,
octagonal or any other shape as may be found most convenient.
I am aware that it is not new to employ receivers in connection with cupolas and
blast furnaces to receive and contain the molten metal therefrom, and I make no
claim to the use of such receivers except when employed in connection with a pipe
or pipes for heating the air blast in accordance with my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. In a cupola or blast furnace, provided with a receiver for the reception
of the molten metal, heating the air blast by causing it, on its way from the blowing
machine or engine to the cupola or blast furnace, to pass through a pipe or pipes.
placed in the upper part of such receiver and over the molten metal, substantially
as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the drawings.
Second. In a cupola or blast furnace, provided with a receiver for the reception
of the molten metal, the use, in connection with such receiver, of the air blast
pipe H one end of which is in connection with the blowing machine or engine and

page_text: the other with the air belt or pipe supplying air to the tuyeres, arranged, combined
and operating to heat the air blast, substantially as hereinbefore described, and
illustrated in the drawings.
1000
A. P. RUSHFORTH,
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent.
A. P. RUSHFORTH,
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent.