IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GAS GENERATING FURNACES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Edward Vaughan at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st January 1880. A communication
from abroad by Friedrich Witting, of Osnabruck, in the Empire of Germany,
Engineer.
GEORGE EDWARD VAUGHAN, of 67, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GAS GENERATING
FURNACES." A communication from abroad by Friedrich Witting, of Osnabruck,
in the Empire of Germany, Engineer.
This Invention consists in improvements in the construction of gas generating
furnaces whereby the combustion of the gases produced is effected in a more
efficient and expeditious manner by reason of the said gases being caused to mix
more quickly and intimately with the requisite amount of atmospheric air than is
the case with such furnaces as ordinarily constructed.
Hitherto the combustion of the gases has been effected by various means; for
example, first, by causing the gas and air to issue forth through horizontal slits or
apertures arranged one above the other, or secondly, by allowing the same to issue
forth through horizontal or vertical slits or apertures arranged side by side or
opposite each other, or thirdly, by permitting the gas to issue forth in a horizontal
or vertical current, and admitting the air through a number of openings in a
stream at right angles to the gas current. However it has been found that the
process of combustion as effected by the said means is too slow and is frequently
very imperfect, for the reason that the extent of the contact surfaces of the gas and
air, as in the first and third examples above referred to, is insufficient, and the gas
and air issuing forth with great velocity the mixing of the same is hindered, or as
is the case in the second example above given, because the gas being of lighter
specific gravity ascends to the under portion of the vaulted crown of the chamber,
whilst the air which is of greater specific gravity descends to the hearth of the
furnace. In both cases the proper mixture of gas and air for effecting the com-
bustion is so difficult to obtain that the combustion frequently takes place behind
the combustion chamber only.
A quick and intimate mixing can only be obtained if gas and air be introduced
in currents presenting the greatest possible joint surface, and in such a way that
the ascending gas penitrates the descending air, the consequent result being that
a rapid and complete mixing and combustion takes place.

page_text: These requirements are obtained in a simple and efficacious manner by the
improvements forming the subject of the present Invention of which the following
is a description:-
The said improvements in the construction of gas generating furnaces consists in
arranging a series of gas burners side by side at the end of the channel leading
from the furnace for conducting the gases from the latter to the combustion
chamber. Each of the said burners is constructed of two plates formed of any
suitable fire proof material, which have their longitudinal lower edges arranged a
short distance apart at the end of the said channel, and have their corresponding
upper edge secured together, thus enclosing a space of a triangular section which
forms the burner, by means of which the gas is conducted in a triangular current,
and more or less in a horizontal direction through one end of the burner, which is
open, into the combustion chamber; the opposite end of the burner is closed, but
is provided with an opening for the purpose of cleansing the burner.
The lower portions of the sides of each burner are connected respectively to or
with the same parts of the burners on either side.
In some cases instead of constructing the burners of two plates, as hereinbefore
described, the same are formed of similar shape in one piece. Above the said
burners, and formed by the inclined sides thereof, are a series of V shaped recesses,
through which the air which is conducted to the same by any suitable channel or
channels, as will be well understood, is guided or led in a series of triangular currents
into contact with the currents of gases as they issue from the open ends of the
burners, and in some cases an additional quantity of air is also admitted to the
combustion chamber through a space left for that purpose between the upper part
of the burners and the top of the chamber.
By the above described arrangement the air as it enters is brought in contact
with all the surfaces, with the exception of the lower one of the currents of gas
and overlaps the same. The gas being of less specific gravity has a tendency to
ascend, by which means the gas and air in consequence of the greatly increased
contact surfaces thereof are quickly and completely mixed.
The generators are provided with dampers to regulate the inlet of the air and
of the gases in order to obtain an oxidizing or deoxidizing flame as desired with
perfect certainty in the furnace.
For the production of a very high temperature by the combustion of the air and
gas. The plates forming the sides of each burner must be very thin, the base narrow,
and the height considerably greater than the width of the base.
The space behind the burners is filled with sand or sandy loam, which closes
the before mentioned openings which are provided for the purpose of cleaning.
Apertures, which are generally closed, are provided in the wall of the apparatus
opposite the ends of the burners in order to give access to the cleaning openings
of the latter. In some cases plates of fire proof material are laid across the top
of the burners above the open ends in order to guide the air into the V shaped
recesses, which object in most other cases is facilitated by the arching of the roof of
the chamber.