IMPROVE- MENTS IN BLAST FURNACES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Brown Wilson, of No. 5, Parliament Street,
in the City of Westminster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BLAST FURNACES."
Sealed the 2nd February 1864, and dated the 14th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Brown Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th August 1863.
I, EDWARD BROWN WILSON, of No. 5, Parliament Street, in the City of
Westminster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLAST FURNACES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain peculiar arrangements of blast and cupola
furnaces for the smelting of ores and melting of metals, and to the mode of
working the same, whereby a considerable saving of fuel is effected, and when
iron is operated upon a superior quality of metal is obtained. In applying
this Invention to an ordinary blast furnace or cupola, the tuyeres are removed
and flues or passages are constructed, opening into the body of the furnace at
or about the level of the molten metal for the purpose of taking off the gases.
These gases are conveyed through the flues to a tall chimney, and may be
utilized on their passage to the chimney for any required purpose. In order
to increase the temperature of the furnace at the gas exits a number of air
holes are made at that part through the furnace walls, which may or may
not be supplied with a blast. In some cases it may be advisable to close in
the top of the furnace and provide it with a feeding hopper or hoppers, and to
introduce a blast downwards from the top of the furnace.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by tho said Edward Brown Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
BROWN WILSON, of No. 5, Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Iler Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Brown Wilson, Her special license that I, the said
Edward Brown Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, my executors, administrators,
or 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 BLAST FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the
hand and scal of one of them, 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 Edward Brown Wilson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly describe:l and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being bad to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to certain peculiar arrangements of blast and
cupola furnaces for the smelting of ores and melting of metals, and to the
mode of working the same. In applying this Invention to an ordinary blast
furnace or cupola, the tuyeres are removed and flues or passages are constructed
opening into the body of the furnace at or about the level of the molten metal
for the purpose of taking off the gases. These gases are conveyed through
the flues to a chimney, and may be utilized on their passage to the chimney
for any required purpose. A number of air holes are made through the

page_text: furnace walls near the gas exits, which may or may not be supplied with a
blast. In some cases it may be advisable to close in the top of the furnace
and provide it with a feeding hopper or hoppers, and to introduce a blast
downwards from the top of the furnace.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the annexed Drawing, which represents a vertical section of a
cupola or blast furnace constructed or arranged according to my said
Invention.
a is a flue formed in the lining of the furnace with numerous apertures a¹,
leading into the body of the furnace A, and a communication a² with a
chimney, this communication being provided with a suitable damper for
regulating the draught. b and c are two other flues, also formed in the lining
of the furnace, having apertures 6¹ and c' leading into the body of the furnace,
and provided with communications & and c³ with the exterior of the furnace,
these communications being also provided with valves or dampers. The
interior of the furnace being charged with fuel and the material to be reduced
or melted, air enters at the upper part (the combustion taking placo
downwards) and also by the flues b and c, and their apertures &' and c³ to
support the combustion, and the products of combustion issue by the apertures a¹
and the flue a, and pass by the communication a³ to the chimney, as indicated
by the arrows. I prefer to make all the apertures a¹, b', and c³, sloping
downwards into the interior as shown in the Drawing. When it is desired to
work with a blast I close the top of the furnace by a cover fitted with & pipo
for entering air, and also with a suitable hopper arrangement for the admission
of the charge, and I then connect the pipe which communicates through the
cover, and also the communications & and with the blast pipe regulating
the quantity of blast that enters at each place by means of valves or dampers.
The heat of the products of combustion passing by the channel a³ to the
chimney may be employed to heat the blast or entering air, or for any other
convenient purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Brown Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of January, One thousand
sight hundred and sixty Cove
EDWP. B. WILSON. (L.s.)