IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CHARGING BLAST AND OTHER FURNACES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Barningham, of the Pendleton Ironworks,
the City of Manchester, and of the Albert Hill Ironworks,
Darlington, in the County of Durham, Engineer and Iron Manufacturer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR
CHARGING BLAST AND OTHER FURNACES."
Sealed the 26th June 1866, and dated the 1st January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Barningham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st January 1866.
I, WILLIAM BARNINGHAM, of the Pendleton Ironworks, near the City of
Manchester, and of the Albert Hill Ironworks, Darlington, in the County
of Durham, Engineer and Iron Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR
CHARGING BLAST AND OTHER FURNACES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in placing two or more blast or other furnaces in
single line or in lines parallel with each other, and in constructing a tram
or railway at a suitable elevation above them; this tram or railway is
approached by inclines from one or both sides, and on it are brought in the
ordinary railway wagons the ore, fuel, and other materials required for

page_text: charging the furnaces. The wagons are moved by a locomotive or stationary
steam engine, or by hand; or instead of the inclines above referred to the
wagons with the ore, fuel, and other materials may be raised by a hoist of
the ordinary construction or otherwise, and brought on to the rails running as
before described over the mouths of the furnaces. By this means an unbroken
railway connection is established between the mines and the furnaces, and
any number of furnaces may be charged with the greatest ease and the least
possible amount of labour.
Another part of my Invention consists in actuating the inverted dish or
bearer by which the mouth of the blast furnace is usually closed, by steam, air,
or water, acting on a piston in a cylinder, by which means the dish or bearer
is rapidly opened to admit the charge and instantly closed again, thus
obviating the necessity of the attendant being near the mouth of the
furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Barningham in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BARNINGHAM, of the Pendleton Ironworks, near the City of Manchester,
and of the Albert Hill Ironworks, Darlington, in the County. of Durham,
Engineer and Iron Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Barningham, Her special license that I, the said
William Barningham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Barningham, 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 In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CHARGING BLAST
AND OTHER FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Barningham, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-

page_text: ticularly 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 Barningham, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in placing two or more blast or other furnaces in
single line or in lines parallel with each other, and in constructing a tram or
railway at a suitable elevation above them. This tram or railway is
approached by inclines from one or both sides, and on it are brought in the
ordinary railway wagons the ore, fuel, and other materials required for charging
the furnaces. The wagons are moved up and down the inclines by a
locomotive or stationary steam engine or by hand, or instead of the inclines
above referred to the wagons with the ore, fuel, and other materials may be
raised by a hoist of the ordinary construction or otherwise, and brought on
to the rails running as before described over the mouths of the furnaces.
By this means an unbroken railway connection is established between the
mines and the furnaces, and any number of furnaces may be charged with
the greatest ease and the least possible amount of labour.
Another part of my Invention consists in actuating the inverted dish or
bell, by which the mouth of the blast furnace is usually closed by steam, air,
or water, acting on a piston in a cylinder, by which means the dish or bell
is rapidly opened to admit the charge, and instantly closed again, thus
obviating the necessity of the attendant being near the mouth of tho
furnace.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of a row of blast furnaces
with a tram or railway above, them, constructed and arranged according to
my Invention.
a, a, are the blast furnaces placed in a single line. I have shewn five
furnaces in the Drawing, but a greater or less number may be connected in
the same way.
Above the furnaces and supported by them is the tram or
railway b, resting upon beams or girders reaching across and from one furnace
to the other, suitable footways and side rails are placed on each
whole is covered by a corrugated iron or other suitable roof c.
side, and the
The ordinary

page_text: railway wagons or trucks d; d, with the ore, fuel, and other materials, are run
up the inclines e to the level of the rails b, by a locomotive engine of the
ordinary construction, if the gradient of the inclines can be made sufficiently
moderate, or the wagons can be drawn up by the balance weight f, connected
to a cord or chain passing over pulleys g, supported in brackets between the
rails e and b, and fixed to the last furnace of the row. The accumulating
pulleys may be dispensed with by allowing the balance weight to descend
and ascend in a shaft or mine, should there be one in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the furnaces, or the balance weight may be used to assist the
locomotive engine. In the above cases only one line of rails are required for
the incline, but when the descending wagons, shewn at d, are employed to
assist in drawing up the full ones, two lines of rails are required, as shewn.
in Figure 2. In this arrangement the two lines of rails on the incline are
connected to the single line over the furnaces by crossings, and the cord or
chain connected to the ascending wagons, after passing around the guide
pulleys i, i, and j, is attached to the descending empty wagons; when the
furnaces are built at the foot of a hill, the inclines can be made along the
foot of the bill, and the rails connected by a short girder to the rails. over
the furnaces. The wagons may also be raised and lowered by a stationary
steam engine, or by hand; or instead of the inclines above referred to, the
wagons may be raised and lowered by a hoist of the ordinary construction or
otherwise, and thus brought to the level of the rails b.
Figure 3 represents a single or double row of twelve blast furnaces, with
inclined rails at each side for supplying the ore, fuel, and other materials to
the furnaces. In this arrangement the full wagons ean ascend at one side and
the empty ones descend at the other; or by employing two pairs of rails at
each incline the full and empty wagons can ascend or descend from each
sidė. By this means an unbroken railway connection is established between
the mines and the furnaces, however distant they may be from each other,
and any number of furnaces may be charged with the greatest ease and the
least possible amount of manual labor. In blast furnaces of the usual
construction a crane or other equivalent is employed to raise and lower the
inverted dish or bell at the mouth of the furnace, and this crane is worked by
a man stationed on a platform above the furnace. This operation is attended
with considerable risk, as the fumes from the mouth of the furnace are some-
times blown against the man when he lowers the bell to admit a charge.
Now my Invention consists in conveying the rope or chain to which the
bell is suspended over suitable guide pulleys, and connecting it to the piston
rod of a piston working in a cylinder placed at or near the foot of the furnace;

page_text: steam, compressed air, or water is admitted to this cylinder by suitable
valves to open rapidly the mouth of the furnace for admitting a charge, and
to close it again instantly when the charge is in. By this arrangement the
workman who actuates the valves is removed entirely from the influence of the
pernicious gases or fumes of the furnace.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described several
modes of carrying it into operation, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to any particular mode of constructing the improvements
described, but that I claim,-
First, the application of a tram or railway placed above and supported by
blast or other furnaces for the purpose of supplying them with the ore, fuel,
and other materials in ordinary railway wagons, in the manner described and
shewn, or by any other equivalent means.
Secondly, the application of inclined rails for elevating the ordinary railway
wagons loaded with ore, fuel, and other materials from the level of a line of
railway to the level of the rails over the furnaces and for the descent of the
empty wagons, as shewn and described.
And, lastly, I claim actuating the inverted dish or bell for closing the mouth
of blast furnaces by steam, air, or water, acting on a piston in a cylinder, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Barningham, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.
VILLIAM BARNINGHAM. (L.S.)