IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND OVENS OR KILNS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND OVENS OR KILNS."
-A communication from abroad by Professor Theodor Weiss, of
Dresden, in the Kingdom of Saxony.
Sealed the 11th March 1870, and dated the 14th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th September 1869.
1
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office. for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FUINACES END OVENS
OR KILNS," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in furnaces and ovens, or kilns has
for its object to economise the heat given off by the combustion of the
fuel in the fire-place.

page_text: The Invention is applicable to various constructions of furnaces, but
more particularly to puddling and reheating furnaces, and also to glass
and steel melting furnaces, and to pottery and other kilns, furnaces,
or ovens.
In carrying out the Invention the heated gaseous products of com-
bustion when they issue from the fire-place and have passed over the
working hearth are divided and conducted by separate channels or flues
to different parts of the apparatus. One portion of the heated gases is
conducted to an air-heating chamber provided with a series of metal
pipes, through which air is forced by any suitable blowing apparatus.
The air in its passage through the tubes takes up a large portion of the
heat from the surrounding gases, and is conducted to the ash-pit or
fire-place for the purpose of assisting in promoting the combustion of the
fuel. Another portion of the heated gases is conducted by a separate
channel back to the fire-place, or to the working part of the furnace,
where they will be commingled with the new gaseous products from the
fire-place. During their passage the gases may be employed to heat
pots, crucibles, and seggars, in the case of kilns, ovens, or melting
furnaces, or metal preparatory to its being drawn into the working
hearth of puddling furnaces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One. thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-

page_text: after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND OVENS OR KILNS," being a com-
munication to me from abroad by Professor Theodor Weiss, of Dresden,
in the Kingdom of Saxony, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):-
This Invention of
Improvements in Furnaces and Ovens or Kilns"
has for its object to economise the heat given off by the combustion of
the fuel in the fire-place.
The Invention is applicable to various constructions of furnaces, but
more particularly to puddling and reheating furnaces, and also to glass
and steel melting furnaces, and to pottery and other kilns, furnaces,
or ovens.
In carrying out the Invention the heated gaseous products of com-
bustion when they issue from the fire-place and have passed over the
working hearth are divided and conducted by separate channels or flues
to different parts of the apparatus. One portion of the heated gases is
conducted to an air-heating chamber provided with a series of metal
pipes, through which air is forced by any suitable blowing apparatus.
The air in its passage through the tubes takes up a large portion of the
heat from the surrounding gases, and is conducted to the ash-pit or
fire-place for the purpose of assisting in promoting the combustion of
the fuel. Another portion of the heated gases is conducted by a separate
channel back to the fire-place or to the working part of the furnace,
where they will be commingled with the new gascous products from

page_text: the fire-place.
During their passage the gases may be employed to
heat pots, crucibles, and seggars in the case of kilns, ovens, or melting
furnaces, or metal preparatory to its being drawn into the working
hearth of puddling furnaces.
In the accompanying Drawings are shewn several methods in which
this Invention can be applied to various kinds of furnaces.
In Sheet I. Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of a furnace taken in the
line L, M, of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a cross section of a furnace in the line
N, O, P, Q, of Fig. 1. Instead of all the products of combustion as in
ordinarily constructed flame furnaces taking the direction of the black
arrows a separation of the combustible gases (after they have passed
over the working surface) will take place at the flue end of the furnace.
A portion of the entire quantity (on moving forward in the usual way)
will reach the chimney (or a main flue C constructed for the reception
of the products of combustion of several furnaces), but the remaining
portion will pass in the direction of the red arrows through the flue
a, b, c, d, back to the front part of the furnace, where they are mixed
with new products of combustion and again pass over the working
space e, f. These mixed products of combustion contain more heat
than those of ordinary ovens. They contain so much ntore heat that
by their mixing with the circulating gases that degree of heat will be
restored which the latter lost first in the working space, and secondly
in the circulating flue in consequence of external refrigeration or cooling,
and consequently the mixtures will attain a degree of temperature
adequate to the working process. The more intense heating of the
newly generated gases of combustion is caused by pre-heating the
atmospheric air introduced to support combustion. This object is
attained by the use of any ordinary apparatus for heating atmospheric
air, such, for instance, as Siemens' regenerative gas furnace, or it may
be a chamber in which the air is caused to circulate in coils of metal
pipe. This apparatus or pre-heater g, h, is erected at the back of the
furnace or oven. The heating of the same is caused by the gases of
combustion on their way to the chimney passing between the metal
pipes of which it is composed, so that the heat usually departing with
the same is for the greater part saved. The atmospheric air for sup-
of a blast
porting combustion in the furnace is forced by means
apparatus first into the pre-heater g, h, and from thence conducted by
the pipe into the furnace of combustion. Branch pipes may conduct

page_text: the heated air into the hermetically closed ash-pit beneath the fuel, or
into the midst of the fuel as well as to the upper part of the combustion
chamber. The products of combustion will escape out of the com-
paratively narrow opening o with considerable pressure and velocity, and
will effect an adhesion by suction of that portion of the gaseous products
of combustion which, as before described, have been caused to circulate
in the flue a, b, c, d, commingling with them and carrying them again
over the working hearth.
In order to shew how the Invention can be adapted to other descrip-
tions of ovens or furnaces the following examples or modifications are
illustrated in Figs. 3, 4, and 5.
Figures 3 and 4 represent an oven adapted to be used in the manu-
facture of glass or some other articles. The operation will be understood
without further description by observing the two different colored arrows,
which indicate the manner in which the gaseous products of combustion
are divided (a portion being caused to pass in a backward direction as
before described, and the remainder passing by the heater or pre-heater g, h,
into the chimney flue C), and the manner in which the new gases of
combustion flow into the oven by means of the opening o, as before
described. It may, however, be remarked that crucibles or other vessels
may be placed in the circulating flue b, c. In some cases where an
operation is to be effected that will require a lower temperature this
circulating flue may be used to contain the vessels employed for that
purpose. Or it may be used as a cooling oven, or as a pre-heater of
the material to be acted upon in the main furnace or proper working
space.
Fig. 5 represents the application of this system of circulation of
combustible gases to a vertical or upright oven or furnace, such as is
employed in the manufacture of porcelain or carthenware. The new
products of combustion flow from the hearth into the space i, k, l, m,
situated underneath the proper burning room n, p, q, and pass through
its perforated floor into the same. The entire oven is covered with a
cap or hood, leaving a space between it and the oven, by which means
a wide flue T is formed which surrounds the entire oven. By means of
two radial partition walls, one of which is represented by s, s, another
flue is formed within the flue T. As the heated gases of combustion
now escape from the oven through openings t, u, in the cupola they are
divided, and one portion flows in the direction of the black arrow into

page_text: the pre-heating oven g, h, and from hence into the chimney flue C; the
'other portion takes the direction of the red arrow, and thus (attracted by
the current of the products of combustion flowing off at o) again return
to the oven, and consequently circulate over again. A number of flues
may in some cases be preferred to the hood or dome.
It will be observed from the Drawings that the position and form of
the furnace proper or mixing chamber and the method of introducing
the air or gas for the support of combustion is susceptible of considerable
modification.
In place of the fire-grate r, as illustrated in the Figures, a flue may
supply the generator gases to be burnt in the combustion chamber, or
whilst issuing out of the blowing tuyere or flue O. The pipes of the
pre-heater in this case would be filled by the new gases, and heated
externally by the retiring products of combustion. The air for the
support of combustion instead of being blown in may be simply caused
to be drawn in by exhaustion by means of a chimney. Any well known
construction of heater may be adopted according to the construction
and peculiarity of the furnace to which this system of circulation of
gases is to be applied. The heater may be formed of cast-iron pipes of
any sectional shape inclosed in a chamber, or of fire-clay pipes, or the
heating vessels may be filled with stones, and through these vessels
the air for the support of combustion be caused to pass. In some cases
the construction of the heater may be similar to Siemens' regenerator.
If several furnaces or ovens of a similar kind are to be erected at the
same works they may be arranged and operated as shewn and described
with reference to Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
In Sheet I. Figures 6, 7, and 8 are longitudinal sections of puddling
or other reverberatory furnaces made on the sectional Hines C, D, A, B,
of Figs. 9 and 10; Figures 9 and 10 are also sectional views of
puddling furnaces; Fig. 9 being a cross section of a puddling furnace
on the line G, H, J, K, of Fig. 6, and Fig. 10 a cross section of a
puddling furnace on the line E, F, of Fig. 6. A common flue or canal
of circulation x, y, situated parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ovens
or furnaces serves for all of them. The products of combustion or oven
gases which are separated at the back end of the furnace flue are
divided and pass partly in the direction of the black arrows through
the pre-heater either on the side of or behind the furnace or oven into
the chimney flue, and partly in the direction of the red arrows back

page_text: to the fore part of the furnace or oven, as described with reference.to
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. But in addition provision is made to pass the
gases of combustion from one furnace or oven to the other. In this
case the flue or canal x, y, serves as a reservoir for the gases which are
emitted from the different furnaces or ovens, and (as need may require)
by a proportional setting of the dampers a greater or less quantity
of hot gases is taken from the same and brought into circulation.
Ovens erected in this manner if of like construction and nature will
have the temperatures in their working spaces correspond exactly. This
is attained by the relatively cold gases flowing out of the first into
the second oven being reheated by means of the fire in the second oven,
which fire receives & comparatively high temperature in consequence
of the addition of the pre-heated air of combustion. It will be seen
that this method of so mixing the gases returning from an oven as
generator or furnace gases with new products of combustion is such
that they will repeat the heating or melting as performed in the first
oven in a second and third oven.
In some circumstances several furnaces or ovens may be arranged one
over the other similar to the so-called Mansfeld roasting furnace. This
system of the circulation of combustible gases is applicable to all
descriptions of steam generator furnaces, whether of horizontal, vertical,
or diagonal construction.
In some cases I feed coals or other fuel into the return flue, so that
when the circulating gases contain plenty of carbonic acid by feeding
coals or other fuel into the circulation canal or return flue, which for
this purpose may be divided into several divisions by horizontal vaults,
the circulating gases will be caused to convert their contents of carbonic
acid into carbonic oxide, and this process will increase the combustibility
of the return gases. I sometimes feed other substances into the cir-
culation flue or canal in order to purify by chemical action the circulating
gases of any substances which have been evaporated in the working
space or hearth from the material under treatment, which if repeatedly
brought in contact with the material under operation would injure the
process the latter is undergoing.
In Sheet II. of the Drawings, Fig. 11 shews a vertical cross section of
a similar construction of furnace as the so-called Mansfeld roasting
furnace. This Figure may be best compared with Fig. 1 of Sheet I.,
the difference being that in this Figure a second fire-place r¹ and a

page_text: This construction will admit of the
second tongue v¹, w¹, is employed.
employment of the space b, c, (which in Figure 1 serves as a part of the
circulation canal or return flue only) as a working space or hearth. For
this purpose a scaffolding will have to be erected for the working men,
the height of which is shewn in the Drawing.
Or the ovens or furnaces may be placed side by side of each other, as
shown in vertical section in Fig. 12, and in plan view in Fig. 13. The
circulation of gases in this oven is. indicated by the red arrows, while
the exit flue is indicated by the black arrows, and. the entrance of the
blast or of the heated air by the dotted arrow.
In some furnaces or ovens the gases will escape at such a degree of
temperature that the air heater g, h, (inasmuch as the same is made
of cast iron) will soon be destroyed. In order to avoid this the hot
gases may be mixed before they enter into the air heater with cold air;
two brick bridges k, l, and m, n, are placed intermediate between the
working hearth and the heater (as shewn in Figure 12). There are
apertures p, p, by which cold air enters into the space between the
bridges k, l, and m, n, and rectangular shaped perforations q and u for
the passage of the heated gases, as shewn in Fig. 13. By this arrange-
ment cold air will be drawn in, and thereby the mixture of the same
with the heated gases and the cooling of the latter will be accomplished.
This system of circulation of the combustible gases may be employed
with steam boilers and boiling pans.
One arrangement is represented in Fig. 14, Sheet II. A, B, C, D, is
a steam boiler, which of course may be of any construction. The cir-
culating canal or return flue is formed by the bridges or walls v, w, s, t,
and x, y.
The circulation of the gases takes the course a, b, c, d, (as
indicated by the arrows), the exit flue is indicated by the black arrow,
and the admission of atmospheric air is (as indicated by the dotted
arrow) simply from the open air, or as in the other constructions before
described under pressure from a blasting apparatus of any description.
Having now described the Invention of "Improvements in Furnaces
and Ovens or Kilns," which has been communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters
Patent as aforesaid, the construction of apparatus and mode
forth of working the same for the purpose of making part of the heated
gases in ovens or furnaces of any description to circulate or to return to
herein set

page_text: the fire-place in order to increase the original degree of heat, and at the
same time to save in the consumption of fuel.
I further claim the mode of working, as above specified, consisting in
feeding or bringing such materials into the return flue, so as to serve
either to increase the combustibility of the returning gases, or to purify
these gases of any substances with which they might have been mixed
whilst passing through the working space.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)