IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR BURNING SULPHUROUS. ORES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR
BURNING SULPHUROUS. ORES." -A communication from abroad by
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd October 1872.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
FOR BURNING SULPHUROUS ORES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the burning of sulphur
ores, whether for the purpose of preparing the ore for smelting, or for
converting the evalved sulphur into sulphuric acid.

page_text: The grate of the furnace on which the iron or copper pyrites (reduced
to a suitable size) is laid, is formed of bars which are capable of rocking
in their bearings.
These bars are made of such a section that when
it their normal position the spaces between them will be sufficently
narrow to ensure the retention of the ore in the grate, but when rocked
will open spaces for the discharge of the ore that lies next the bars.
The rocking of all the grate bars, or of those composing one division
of the grate, is made simultaneous by connecting them through a
pendent arm or otherwise with a horizontal reciprocating bar under
the command of the attendant. The space below the grate, representing
the ash-pit in ordinary furnaces, is closed to form a compressed air
chamber. It is brought into connection by means of a pipe with a
force pump or fan blower, the object of which is to maintain a supply
of air at pressure below the grate. This will serve to keep the grate
from clogging, and also greatly facilitate the evolution of the sulphurous
gas from the ore. At suitable intervals of time the attendant by
rocking the fire-bars will be enabled to discharge the roasted ore from
the grate into the air chamber below, from which it may be removed
from time to time through an opening provided for the purpose.
The ore may be charged on to the grate through an opening in the
crown of the furnace, or through side, doors, and the sulphur fumes will
be led away as heretofore to suitable receptacles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED.
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
my executors, administrators, and 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 FURNACES FOR BURNING SULPHUROUS ORES," being a com-
munication to me from abroad by Konrad Walter, of Augsburg, Bavaria,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
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 Alfred Vincent 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 Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the burning of pyrites or
sulphur ores, whether for the purpose of preparing the ore for smelting
or for converting the evolved sulphur into sulphuric acid.
The grates of the furnaces on which the iron or copper pyrites
· (reduced to a. suitable size) is laid, is formed of bars which are capable
of rocking in their bearings. These bars are made of such a section
that when in their normal position the spaces between them will be
sufficiently narrow to ensure the retention of the ore on the grate,
but when rocked will open spaces for the discharge of the ore that
lies next the bars. The rocking of the grate bars is made simultaneous
by connecting them through a pendent arm or otherwise with a hori-
zontal reciprocating bar under the command of the attendant. The
space below the grate, representing the ash-pit in ordinary furnaces,
is closed to form a compressed air chamber; it is brought into con-
nection by means of a pipe with a force pump or fan blower, the object
of which is to maintain a supply of air at pressure below the grate.

page_text: This will serve to keep the grate from clogging, and also greatly
facilitate the evolution of the sulphurous gas from the ore. At suitable
intervals of time the attendant by rocking the fire-bars will be enabled
to discharge the roasted ore from the grate into the air chamber below,
from which it may be removed from time to time through an opening
provided for the purpose.
The ore may be charged on to the grate through an opening in the
crown of the furnace, or through side doors, and the sulphur fumes will
be led away as heretofore to suitable receptacles.
In the accompanying Drawing the improved construction of furnace
is shewn in several views.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section taken through the middle
of one of a series of furnaces; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan taken at the
line 1, 2, of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the furnace
taken in the line 3, 4, of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a back view of the
same..
a, a, are the fire-bars, the ends of which are rounded and rest upon
side bars 6 which are built into the furnace walls. The fire-bars a are
by preference made square in cross section, so that when in their normal
position, as shewn at Fig. 1, there will be a minimum space between
them, that space being sufficiently small to allow of the retention on
the grate of the sulphurous ore supplied. to the furnace. Pendent from
each fire-bar is an arm c; these arms are slotted to receive a bar d which
extends from the back to the front of the furnace, and is furnished with
a handle at its front end. This bar is fitted with cross pins d¹, Fig. 3,
which stand out between the pendent arms c, and act as tappets to rock
the fire-bars a in their bearings when a longitudinal motion is imparted
to the bar d.
The sulphur ore is laid upon the grate, as shewn at e, and the furnace
is charged as usual either through a central opening i in the arch of the
furnace, or through the door ways k, k, at the front and back thereof,
which latter serve also for the spreading of the charge evenly over the
surface of the grate.
1, Fig. 1, is an opening in the side of the furnace for leading off the
sulphurous gases obtained from the burning of the ore. Below the
grate is an air chamber f to which compressed air is introduced by a

page_text: pipe g for keeping up the combustion in the furnace; as the burning
of the ore proceeds the grate bars a are rocked from time to time by
means of the bar d, and an increased space is thereby opened up between
them. By this means that portion of the ore which lies in contact with
the grate, and which consequently is the first to yield up its sulphur, will
be discharged into the air chamber below.
h is a closed passage through which the burnt ore, as it accumulates
in the air chamber, is withdrawn from the furnace.
I would remark that various plans may be adopted for giving the
rocking motion to the fire-bars, but the plan above described is preferred
for its simplicity.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Furnaces for Burning Sulphurous Ores," as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The grate for burning sulphurous ores constructed and operating
as above described.
Secondly. In combination with such grate the compressed air chamber
above described for supplying air to the burning pyrites.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.