CERTAIN IMPROVED MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR PUDDLING IRON
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Renshaw at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th April 1872.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT RENSHAW, Foreman to Messrs. Barker and
Cope, of Kidsgrove, in the County of Stafford, Ironfounders and Engi-
neers, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVED MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR PUDDLING IRON," to be as follows (that
is to say) :-
I use a puddling furnace, say of the ordinary description, slightly
modified in the interior to receive a revolving and oscillating hearth or
vessel for holding the crude iron in 'a cold, heated, or molten condition.
The internal form of my improved revolving and oscillating hearth
may be of an uniform concave or semi-spherical shape when fettled and
prepared for working. This hearth is formed by preference of wrought
iron internal and external plates, the space between being arranged with
suitable ribs for water or air to flow continually through the openings

page_text: formed by the said ribs so distributed as to protect the plates from over-
heating, the ingress and egress being arranged through the line of the
axes hereafter referred to, and on the internal plate tho fettling is applied.
The semi-spherical vessel or hearth is united to a strong spindle radiating
downwards from its centre which fits in a socket formed in connection
with the axes before referred to, and through which the water or air
way is formed with an ascending flow way so as to admit the air or other
cooling fluid flowing readily through the divided space between the
external and internal semi-spherical plates forming the hearth or vessel,
its return flow way being formed through the radiating descending
spindle and from there through the other axis for escape. The combined
socket and axes are cast or formed with a descending arm which sup-
ports an axis, on the front end of which a driving wheel or pulley is
fixed, the inner end of the axis taking a bearing in a recess formed in
the lower end of the socket in which the spindle of the hearth or vessel
revolves. On the lower end of the descending spindle a bevilled toothed
wheel is secured, which, gearing with a pinion secured to the inner end
of the shaft before referred to conveys a horizontal revolving motion to
the hearth or vessel, and yet at the same time permits the hearth to
oscillate on the hollow axes before described, but as this oscillating
action is more to assist the operator it is left for him to use or direct its
use at discretion by means of a lever or other convenient means, both
when fettling the hearth or vessel, as well as during the operation of
converting and drawing the puddled balls. The combined axis and
socket rest and oscillate on strong bearings built or connected with the
vertical brickwork or buckstaves of the furnace.
The power required for giving the revolving motion to the hearth
may be derived from an axis secured outside of one of the main axes
before referred to, and upon this auxiliary axis fast and loose pulleys are
placed for receiving a band working from the main driving shaft, and
on the same axis I place a grooved pulley that by means of a chain or
other means working over the same, and the pulley before described in
connection with the pinion and bevelled wheel, the revolving motion is
given to the hearth or vessel, but instead of using grooved pulleys, as
described, spur gearing may be adopted with good effect. On the side
of the furnace and in or near a line parallel with the horizontal top edge
of the hearth or vessel a dead plate is formed on which rests a plate or
door over the charging way, and which plate or door is inclined inwards,

page_text: by preference at the top, and can be drawn up or lowered at pleasure
either for charging or drawing the balls when puddled. A bridge may
be constructed between the furnace and the hearth in the ordinary way,
as also beyond the heath that the heat may be concentrated and held in
check over the hearth or vessel.