IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES, AND THE MODE OF WORKING THE SAME FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BLACK ASH OR CRUDE SODA
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Paul Ellison at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th June 1856.
I, PAUL ELLISON, of St. Helens, Lancashire, Manufacturing Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES, AND THE MODE OF WORKING THE SAME FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BLACK
ASH OR CRUDE SODA," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, first, in constructing the furnace or furnaces so as
to be enabled to work each charge of the materials on the same bed or bottom
from beginning to end of the operation; and, secondly, in arranging the
furnace, with its fire-places and ash-holes in such a manner that each charge
of materials successively shall have the benefit of the full heat of the fires
before the charge is withdrawn.
I propose to build the furnaces of brickwork, and of such a length or size
as to contain, many beds or bottoms, and an adequate number of fire-places
to decompose the charges, in order to produce black ash. I prefer that each
furnace should contain not less space than is equal to eight beds or bottoms;
but more or less may be adopted if thought desirable. To these eight beds
I propose to have four fire-places; one introduced between every two beds
or bottoms, and the flues from the furnace to the chimney to be placed one
at each end of the furnace, and each flue to be supplied with a damper, so

page_text: that the draft of air through the furnaco may be changed or reversed at
pleasure to obtain the required heat for fluxing the material. The ash-holes
are each to have a door or damper, to prevent the admission of atmospheric
air to the respective fire-places, while the charge or charges of black ash
material, which may be on certain beds, are being heated up and prepared
for the process of fluxing. When this period arrives, the full force of the
fire is to be directed on the particular bed containing the charge to be fluxed, by
arranging the dampers in the flues, and opening the ash-pit door nearest to this
charge. The furnace having been heated up in the usual way with the fires,
a charge of material for manufacturing black ash, namely, sulphate of soda,
lime, and small coal, in their proper proportions (which are well known to
alkali manufacturers, and therefore need not be particularised here,) are
placed on one of the beds of the furnace, and occasionally stirred with a rake
or slicer, in order to expose all the parts to a proper heat. A fresh charge
of black ash material is then to be placed on the next bed, and so on in
succession, until all the beds contain a charge. When the time arrives for
fluxing the mass into a ball or cake in any one bed, the fire nearest that
charge is to be made to impinge on its surface, by reversing the draft of the
furnace by means of the dampers. The fire being thus applied to the greatest
advantage, the mass of material is then to be fluxed, by the assistance of tho
workman, with his rake and paddle, and withdrawn from the furnace into a
box or mould for the reception of the black ash. A fresh charge of material
is then to be let down from a hopper placed on the top of the furnace, one
over each bed. The next bed in rotation with its charge which has been
exposed to the general heat of the various fires is now to be subjected in like
manner to the immediate influence of the nearest fire to effect the fluxing of
that charge, and thus, by a succession of charges both in the draft of the
furnace and in the admission or otherwise of atmospheric air to the ash-pits
and fire-places, by means of the dampers and doors, above referred to, the
several advantages of economy of fuel and saving of labor are effected.