Improvements in Regenerative Gas Furnaces.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Apr., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 25th Oct., 1898-Accepted, 23rd Dec., 1898
Improvements in Regenerative Gas Furnaces.
I, JOHN IMRAY, of Birkbeck Bank Chambers, Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the County of London, Consulting Engineer and Chartered Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (as communicated to me
from abroad by Frederick Siemens, of 43, Freibergerstrasse, Dresden, Germany,)
to be as follows;-
In the Specifications of Patents to my foreign correspondent Frederick Siemens,
namely No. 4644 of 1889, No. 20083 of 1889, No. 16207 of 1890 and No. 11433
of 1896 are described regenerative gas furnaces having the gas producers arranged
close to the beds with reversing valves both for gas and air, and provided with
means for working with hot or cold air alone, or when desired with air more
or less mixed with hot products of combustion. In the Specification No. 11433
of 1896 is described an arrangement of two separate gas producers and their
valves in such a way that one of them can be worked alone while the other is
being cleaned or repaired. It is found however that unless these producers are
made considerably larger than is necessary for ordinary working, the stoppage
of one of them makes a difference in the working of the furnace which is
practically objectionable. Again, furnaces of the kind described when applied
for heating piles of iron or steel are conveniently worked in such a manner
that while the heated metal is being removed from part of the bed near the one
end, metal is being heated near the other end.
As, however, when the metal has attained its full heat before its removal
from the bed the air supply has to be very much lessened in order to avoid
over-heating and oxidation of the heated metal, the flame at the other end is
lowered in temperature owing to the deficient supply of air.
The present invention relates to certain modifications of producers and furnaces
of the kind referred to so as to provide for maintaining sufficient heat when it
is necessary to clean or repair the producers or to lessen the air supply at the
end of the furnace bed.
For this purpose, three or more separate producers are arranged in a row behind
the furnace chamber and parallel to its length.
Between this row and the rear wall of the furnace chamber there are two
flues, a lower flue communicating with the spaces under the fire grates of the
producers by openings provided with valves or dampers, and an upper flue com-
municating with the upper parts of the producers by openings also provided with
valves or dampers. The lower flue being supplied with cold or hot air either
alone or mixed with products of combustion, supplies such of the producers
as have their upper valves open and delivers it to the furnace chamber in the
usual way.
When only air without products of combustion is supplied to the
producers, the lower flue may be dispensed with, the space under the grate of each
producer having its own separate air supply. When any one of the producers
requires to be cleaned or repaired, its valves or dampers are closed, and the rest

page_text: of the producers continue in action and may be urged somewhat more strongly
than usual, so that the absence of one out of three or more producers does not
materially affect the working of the furnace.
In order to provide for a better combustion of the gas in one part of the furnace
chamber when the supply of air to the other part is considerably reduced, openings
are provided in the roof or in the back and front walls or in both the roof and
these walls at a point about midway in the length of the chamber, and by these
openings air is supplied which may be cold or heated by passing along pipes
flues under the furnace bed or up the furnace walls or both ways. This air meet-
ing the current of gas imperfectly supplied with air, as it flows along the chamber,
effects its combustion producing a flame which maintains the heat of that part
of the chamber extending from the middle to the exit.
Dated this 7th day of April 1898.
or
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
Ашрабуешению перелеганте Gas furnaces.
I, JOHN IMRAY, of Birkbeck Bank Chambers, Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the County of London, Consulting Engineer and Chartered Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been communi-
cated to me from abroad by Frederick Siemens, of 43, Freibergerstrasse, Dresden,
Germany), and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
In the Specifications to Patents of my foreign correspondent Frederick Siemens,
namely No. 4644 of 1889, No. 20083 of 1889, No. 16207 of 1890 and No. 11433
of 1896 are described regenerative gas furnaces having the gas producers arranged
close to the beds with reversing valves both for gas and air, and provided with
means for working the gas producer with hot or cold air alone, or when desired
with air more or less mixed with hot products of combustion. In the Specification
No. 11433 of 1896, is described an arrangement of two separate gas producers and
their valves or dampers in such a way that one of them can be worked alone while
the other is being cleaned or repaired. It is found however that unless these
producers are made considerably larger than is necessary for ordinary working,
the stoppage of one of them makes a difference in the working of the furnace
which is practically objectionable. Again, furnaces of the kind described when
applied for heating piles of iron or steel are conveniently worked in such a manner
that while the heated metal is being removed from part of the bed near the one
end, metal is being heated near the other end.
As, however, when the metal has attained its full heat before its removal
from the bed the air supply has to be very much lessened in order to avoid
over-heating and oxidation of the heated metal, the flame at the other end is
lowered in temperature owing to the deficient supply of air.
The present invention relates to certain modifications of gas producers and
furnaces of the kind referred to so as to provide for maintaining sufficient heat
when it is necessary to clean or repair the producers or to lessen the air supply
at the end of the furnace bed.
For this purpose I construct the furnace and producers as I shall describe
referring to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a longitudinal section on
the line 1-1 of Figure 2 which is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1
and Figure 3 is a transverse section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 of a furnace

page_text: and producers according to this invention. Figure 4 is a section on the line 44
of Figure
which is a plan on the line 5-5 of Figure 4 shewing the arrange-
ment somewhat modified and suited for a glass tank. Figure 6 is a section on the
line 6-6 of Figure 7 the upper half of which is a plan on the lines 7-7 and
the lower half a plan on the line 7--7" of Figure 6, shewing another modification.
Referring first to Figures 1, 2 and 3 three or more, as shewn in these figures
five gas producers P are arranged in a row behind the furnace chamber F¹ Fa
parallel to its length. Between the row of producers and the structure forming
the back of the furnace chamber there are two flues A and B. The lower flue A
communicates with the spaces below the fire grates of all the producers P by
openings provided with valves or dampers a, and the upper flue 1 communicates
with the upper parts of all the producers P by openings provided with valves
or dampers b. In Figure 3 the lower and upper openings to one of the producers,
that on the left, are shewn closed, those to the others being open.
Near the ends of the lower flue A there are passages 12 from the regenerative
chambers R¹ R2, injectors being arranged for impelling through these
passages portions of the products of combustion and of hot air when desired.
Injectors are also provided for impelling air when desired into the lower
spaces of the producers in the usual way.
The
From the upper flue B two openings each provided with a valve lead into
the two gas flues G G2 which open into the furnace chamber Fi F2.
regenerators R¹ R2 communicate with the furnace chambers F1 F2 by the flues H¹ H³
and they communicate in the usual way with the outer air and with a chimney
by passages governed by valves at V. At about the middle of the length of the
furnace chamber there is formed in the roof a flue D having openings C
down into the chamber. This. flue communicates with an inlet provided with a
valve through a set of pipes E which extend through the regenerators K' R².
The apparatus works as follows.
The producers P having their lower spaces supplied with air only or with the
addition of some of the products of combustion from the one regenerator R²
mixed or not with hot air from the other regenerator R as determined by the
injectors, produce gas which passes to the flue B and thence by one of the
openings from it as determined by opening one of the valves g to the flue G¹
and into the furnace chamber, at the same time air entering one of the regenera-
tors R' as determined by the valve at V becomes heated in passing through the re-
generator and enters the furnace chamber by the flue H¹ over the entering gas,
mingling with it and producing flame and hot combustion gases which sweep
through the furnace chamber and pass by the flue H2 through the regenerator R²
and thence to the chimney. When the one regenerator becomes cooled and the
other heated, the valves at V and y are changed so as to send air to the regenera-
tor R and flue H2 and gas to the flue G2 while the products of combustion from the
fumace chamber pass through the regenerator R¹. Some of the products of com-
bustion and hot air may then be sent into the flue A and the producers by putting
the injectors 3 and 4 in action.
So far the operation is the same as that of the regenerative gas furnaces described
in the previous Specifications of Patents already referred to. When it happens
that any one of the gas producers requires to be cleaned or repaired, its valves a
and are closed and the rest of the producers continue in action and may be
urged somewhat more than usual, so that the absence of one out of three or more
producers does not materially affect the good working of the furnace.
When the furnace is employed for heating piles, ingots, or other pieces of metal,
it is often necessary to reduce or shut off the air supply, when the pieces at the
one end, say in the part F1, are sufficiently heated, otherwise if the air were
supplied in full measure, the metal would be over-heated and more or less oxidised.
In consequence of deficiency of air, the other part 2 of the furnace which may
have just been charged with pieces to be heated would receive only a dull flame
incapable of heating the pieces as quickly as desired. In that case the valve d

page_text: is opened so that air becoming heated in passing along the pipes E enters the
furnace chamber by the openings in the roof from the flue 1) and supplies with
additional air the imperfectly burned gas or dull flame as it passes along the
chamber, so that the Hame becomes more intense, thus the part 2 is effectuaily
heated and its charge more quickly prepared for drawing out or following, without
loss of time, the withdrawal of the charge from the other part F.
When none of the hot products of combustion are to be supplied to the pro-
ducers, the furnace may be constructed as shewn in Figures 4 and 5 in which
the lower flue A is dispensed with and the producers P are placed at a lower
level delivering gas into the flue B whence it passes to G or G according as the
damper gorg is open. The air enters and the products of combustion_pass
away at the end of the structure at V opposite to that where the producers Pare
situated. The furnace chamber F is shewn as a glass tank, but it is to be under-
stood that it might be of another form suitable for heating or melting metals.
As shewn in Figures 6 and 7 the producers P may be three in number separate
from each other and the supply of hot air to the roof flue 1) may be obtained
directly from either regenerator R or R2 supplying a transverse flue d provided
with valves or dampers worked in conjunction with the air supply dampers S1 S2
When the air is reduced, or shut off by either of the dampers S or S2 in the air
passages H¹ or H², the corresponding damper 1 or 2 is opened admitting hot
air from the regenerator R¹ or R2. Thus in Figure 7 the damper S¹ being closed,
the damper k¹ is open admitting air to the flue D from the regenerator R¹.
Instead of supplying the Hue D with air from the regenerators as in Figures 6
and 7 or from pipes passing through the regenerator as in Figures 1 and 2, air
may be supplied to it directly from outside or from pipes or channels provided
under the furnace bed or in the walls of the furnace chamber.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. A regenerative gas furnace consisting of a furnace chamber in combination
with three or more gas producers arranged in a row parallel to the length of the
chamber each producer having its lower part communicating by a valved opening
with a lower flue, and its upper part communicating by a valved opening
with an upper flue, the said lower flue communicating by passages provided with
injectors with the two air regenerators, and the said upper flue communicating
by a valved opening with each of the gas flues leading to the respective ends of
the furnace chamber, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2. The modified arrangement described with reference to Figures 4 and 5.
3. The modified arrangement of furnace substantially as described with reference
to Figures 6 and 7.
4. In combination with a regenerative gas furnace a flue about the middle
of the chamber arranged to supply air when the air supply to either end of the
chamber is reduced or cut off, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 25th day of October 1898.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.