IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bashley Britten, of Red Hill, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
GLASS"
Sealed the 10th November 1876, and dated the 18th May 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bashley Britten at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th May 1876.
BASHLEY BRITTEN, of Red Hill, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS."
My Invention relates to a process for manufacturing glass, effected in such a
manner as to economise fuel and to obtain the requisite silicious ingredient in a
cheap and convenient formn from flint stones, fragments or blocks of quartz, sand-
stone, or other suitable mineral instead of the sand commonly used.
For this purpose I cause a pile or layer of the silicious stones or fragments to be
heated in a suitable tank or vessel to the temperature required, and upon this mass
I introduce a more or less continuous supply of the necessary fluxing materials.
On coming in contact with the heated stones the flux is rapidly dispersed over or
through the interstices, and dissolves the surfaces of silicious matter exposed,
combining therewith and becoming glass in a fluid state, which as it is formed runs
off into a receptacle provided, from which it may be withdrawn as required.
The fluxing ingredients which I employ are the same as those in common use for
making glass, and vary with the quality of glass to be produced.
In order to operate conveniently I sometimes prefer to use a tank or vessel
having its floor sloping down to a deepened part or well wherein the glass may
collect as it runs from the stones. By keeping up a proper supply of the ingredients
the above process may be rendered more or less continuous.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Bashley Britten in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
November 1876.
BASHLEY BRITTEN, of Redhill, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman.
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS."
"IMPROVE-
My Invention relates to a process for manufacturing glass, effected in such a
manner as to economise fuel and to obtain the requisite silicious ingredients in a
cheap and convenient form from flint stones, fragments or blocks of quartz, sand-
stone, or other suitable mineral, instead of the sand commonly used.
For this purpose I cause a pile or layer of the silicious stones or fragments to be
heated in a suitable tank or vessel to the temperature required, and upon this mass
I introduce a more or less continuous supply of the necessary fluxing materials.
On coming in contact with the heated stones the flux is rapidly dispersed over or
through the interstices, and dissolves the surfaces of silicious matter exposed,
combining therewith and becoming glass in a fluid state, which as it is formed runs
off into a receptacle provided, from which it may be withdrawn as required.
The fluxing ingredients which I employ are the same as those in common use for
making glass, and vary with the quality of glass to be produced.
In order to operate conveniently I sometimes prefer to use a tank or vessel
having its floor sloping down to a deepened part or well wherein the glass may
collect as it runs from the stones. By keeping up a proper supply of the ingredients
the above process may be rendered more or less continuous.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I make no claim to the
manufacture of glass or vitreous material by fusing a mass of silicious particles or
fragments already mixed with fluxing materials, but I claim, the manufacture of
glass by introducing suitable fluxing materials upon silicious fragments previously
heated so that their surfaces become dissolved, producing glass in a state of fusion,
substantially as hercin described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bashley Britten, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.