IMPROVEMENTS IN KILNS OR OVENS FOR BURNING OR BAKING BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER EARTHEN OR CERAMIC MATTERS
Year: 1857

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Ernest Auguste Bourry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
June 1857.
I, ERNEST AUGUSTE BOURRY, of St. Gall, in the Canton of St. Gall,
Switzerland, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KILNS OR OVENS FOR BURNING OR BAKING BRICKS, TILES,
AND OTHER EARTHEN OR CERAMIC MATTERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention, which relates to ovens or kilns for baking or burning earthen
or ceramic matters consists in so arranging an oven or kiln in compartments,
that while the matters are contained in the kiln or oven they shall first be
gradually warmed or heated, and subsequently completely burned or baked,
and afterwards gradually cooled before being removed from the oven.
For this purpose, I arranged the kiln in a circular form, placing the furnace
on one side exterior of the kiln, and forming the opening for the introduction
and removal of the matters to be operated upon diametrically opposite to the
furnace. I form the interior of the kiln into compartments, say, six, separated
by radial partitions, which at the extremity fit somewhat closely to the inner
diameter of the kiln, but so that the whole may move round therein. The
lower part or bottom consists of a perforated plate supporting the partitions
and the whole is mounted on a central axis, on which it rotates. It is further

page_text: supported by rollers or wheels and rails underneath; spaces are formed above
and below the compartments of the kiln or oven, which are furnished with
suitable partitions, in order to control the direction of the beat and air in the
compartments of the oven; as, for instance, the heat passes from the furnace
up through the compartment immediately next it over the top of partition
and down the next compartment in succession, and thence up through a third
to the chimney or escape, while at the same time the air to supply the furnace
is conducted up through a compartment on the opposite side of the kiln or
oven in which it is partially heated, and then down the next, being that
adjoining the one nearest the furnace, and thence into the furnace. The
operation is 'conducted thus:-Supposing five of the six compartments of the
oven to be charged, the one nearest the opening of access is then charged, and
at the proper time the kiln is turned round one-sixth of a turn, by which the
newly charged compartment is placed so that the escape of products and air
to the chimney passes through it, and so warming the contents. Having
remained a sufficient time for the purposes of the oven, it is moved another sixth,
of a revolution, when the contents are subjected to a greater heat, and again
another stage, in which the complete baking or burning is effected, at which
time the compartment is next the furnace; the further rotation of the kiln
or oven brings the compartment so as to form the hot-air passage, and at a
subsequent movement converts it into the cold or entrance passage of the air,
and, lastly, it comes round to the opening to be discharged.
The same gradual heating and baking or burning and subsequent cooling
takes place in all the other compartments, all of which are at one stage of the
operation at the same time.