IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES AND HEATING FURNACES AND OTHER REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Jeffries, of West Bromwich, in the County
of Stafford, Manager of Iron Works, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PUDDLING FURNACES AND HEATING FURNACES AND OTHER REVERBERATORY
FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 12th June 1866, and dated the 22nd January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Jeffries at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd January 1866.
I, WILLIAM JEFFRIES, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford,
Manager of Iron Works, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES AND HEATING FURNACES AND
OTHER REVERBERATORY FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in puddling
furnaces and heating furnaces, and other reverberatory furnaces used in the
manufacture of iron and steel, by which improvements great strength and
stability are secured in the said furnaces, and the necessity for the frequent
repairs required in the said furnaces when built in the ordinary way obviated.

page_text: I will describo my Invention as applied to a puddling furnace. 1 support
the bed of the furnace upon arches built of brick or stone ruuning from end
to end of the bed, that is to say, from the back of the ash-pit to the end of
the furnace. The said arches are open from end to end, and the air circulates
freely through them. On the said arches the bed of the furnace is supported.
The said bed is made of brick or stone, and contains a series of horizontal
parallel passages running from front to back, the said passages being open at
both ends to the air. The passage of air through these passages keeps the
bed of the furnace cool. Upon the bed of the furnace the mill cinder or
other material with which the bed is prepared is put. Upon the bed and
between it and the mill cinder a plate of iron may be put if preferred, but
in practice I do not find it necessary. By constructing the furnace in the
way described, the following parts, which in ordinary puddling furnaces are
made of iron and require frequent renewal, are dispensed with, that is to say,
the flue plates, flue bridge plates, flue jamb plates, bridge jamb plates, back
wall plates, and in most cases the bottom plates, great economy thereby results
both in the cost of keeping the furnace in repair and in the saving of time con-
sequent upon the furnace working a long time without requiring repair. The
application of my improvements to other reverberatory furnaces used in the
manufacture of iron and steel differs in no essential respect from their applica-
tion to puddling furnaces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Jeffries in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JEFFRIES, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Manager of Iron.
Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me; the said William Jeffries, Her special licence that I, the said William
Jeffries, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as Ì,
the said William Jeffries, 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 makė,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PUDDLING FURNACES AND HEATING FURNACES AND OTHER REVERBERA-
TOBY FURNACES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Jeffries, 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 William Jeffries, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
puddling furnaces and heating furnaces and other reverberatory furnaces used
in the manufacture of iron and steel, by which improvements great strength
and stability are secured in the said furnaces, and the necessity for the
frequent repairs required in the said furnaces when built in the ordinary way
obviated.
I will describe my,Invention as applied to a puddling furnace. I support
the bed of the furnace upon arches built of brick or stone, running from end
to end of the bed, that is to say, from the back of the ash-pit to the end of
the furnace. The said arches are open from end to end and the air circulates
freely through them. On the said arches the bed of the furnace is supported.
The said bed is made of brick or stone and contains a series of horizontal
parallel passages running from front to back, the said passages being open at
both ends to the air. The passage of air through these passages keeps the
bed of the furnace cool. Upon the bed of the furnace the mill cinder or
other material with which the bed is prepared is put. Upon the bed and
between it and the mill cinder a plate of iron may be put if preferred.
Instead of supporting the bed upon arches as described, a bottom plate.of iroų
may be used, upon which the mill cinder is put, the said bottom plate being
supported upon pillars. By constructing the furnace in the way described, the
following parts which in ordinary puddling furnaces are made of iron and require
frequent renewal, are dispensed with, that is to say, the bottom frame, the flue
plates, flue bridge plates, flue jamb plates, bridge jamb plates, back wall plates,
and sometimes the bottom plates. Great economy thereby results both in

page_text: the cost of keeping the furnace in repair and in the saving of time consequent
upon the furnace working a long time without requiring repair. The applica-
tion of my improvements to other reverberatory furnaces used in the manu-
facture of iron and steel differs in no essential respect from their application
to puddling furnaces.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe
with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section a puddling furnace
constructed according to my Invention, and Figure 2 is a horizontal section of
the bed of the same. a is the bed of the furnace; b, the fire-place; and c the
chimney or stack. The chimney or stack c is built upon the arch d, and
between the said arch and bridge e the bed of the furnace is supported. The
said bed is made of a bottom plate a of iron supported by the longitudinal
bar f, the latter being carried by the pillars g. The position of the said bar f
and pillars g is indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2.
The bottom plate a of the bed is made in three pieces, connected together
by dovetail junctions, as best seen in the separate view, Figure 3, which
represents the separate pieces of which the bottom plate a is composed.
Instead of dovetail junctions of the form represented in Figure 3, the pieces
composing the bottom plate may be joined together by dovetail junctions of
the form represented in Figure 4, that is to say, joints similar to those
employed in joining together the parts of the framing of metallic bedsteads.
Although I find it convenient to make the bottom plate a in three pieces, yet
it may be made in one or two pieces or more than three pieces. The sides of
the bottom plate a are built in the side walls of the furnace, and the ends of
the said plate are made to bear closely against the bridge e and arch d, the
said plate being supported in its longer direction by the bar f and pillars 9 as
before explained. Upon the bottom plate a of the bed I build or arrange
blocks of mill cinder or ball furnace cinder or other fettling material with
which the bed is to be prepared, and upon the said blocks I put powdered
mil cinder or ball furnace cinder or other fettling material previous to using
the furnace. The blocks of mill cinder or ball furnace cinder which I employ
in preparing the bed of the furnace may be made in moulds by conveying the
liquid cinder from the mill or ball furnace to the said moulds.
In Figure 2 the cinder on the bottom plate a is omitted in order to better
exhibit the construction of the said plate and the manner in which it is
supported. Air for supporting the combustion of the fuel in the fire-place b
is supplied above the grate by means of vertical side flues, one of which is

page_text: marked i and the front opening k. The bridge e is made hollow, and is kept
cool by a stream of water passing through it. As the construction of the fire-
place and bridge constitutes no part of the present Invention I do not think
a detailed description of the same necessary. The opening to the chimney c
is contracted by a saddle piece c, by means of which an increased draught is
obtained. By the use of the saddle piece c³ the cinder is returned to the bed
of the furnace.
Instead of supporting the bed upon pillars as described and represented in
Figures 1 and 2 the bed built of brick or stone may be supported upon arches,
the said arches running from the back of the ash-pit to the end of the furnace,
that is, the arch d upon which the chimney c is built is continued to the fire-
bridge e. When the bed is supported upon arches the said bed may have a
series of horizontal parallel passages made in it running from front to back,
the said passages being open at both ends to the air. By means of the circu-
lation of air through these passages the bed is kept cool. Upon this bed
of brick or stone the blocks of mill cinder or ball furnace cinder or other
fettling material with which the bed is to be prepared is put; or a plate of
iron similar to the plate a, Figures 1 and 2, may be placed upon the brick or
stone bed, and the blocks of mill cinder or ball furnace cinder built or arranged
upon it in the manner represented in the Drawing. By constructing puddling
furnaces in the manner described and represented, the bottom frame, flue
plates, flue bridge plates, flue jamb plates, bridge jamb plates, back wall
plates, and sometimes the bottom plates are dispensed with. In ordinary
furnaces the parts just enumerated require frequent renewal. By my Inven-
tion a great saving both in the cost of construction and keeping the furnace in
repair is obtained, and the necessity for the frequent repairs required in
furnaces of the ordinary construction is obviated.
In applying my Invention to mill bail and other reverberatory furnaces used
in the manufacture of iron and steel, the beds of the said furnaces are
constructed essentially in the manner described with reference to the bed of a
puddling furnace, the details only being varied to suit the particular furnace
to which my Invention is to be applied.
Having now described the nature of my 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 herein described and represented in the Drawing,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion, but I claim as my Invention the improvements in puddling furnaces and
heating furnaces and other reverberatory furnaces used in the manufacture of
ion and sted herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying

page_text: Drawing, that is to say, constructing the beds of the said furnaces, substantially
in the manner herein-before described and illustrated, whereby the whole or
nearly the whole of the plates used in ordinary furnaces are dispensed with,
and great economy, both in the cost of keeping the furnaces in repair and in
the saving of time consequent upon the furnaces working a long time without
requiring repair is obtained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Jeffries, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
GEORGE 'SHAW.
WILLIAM JEFFRIES. (L.S.)