IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR BURNING COMBUSTIBLE GASES UNDER PRESSURE IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF GLASS, IRON, AND OTHER METALS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jacob Green, of the City of Philadelphia, State of
Pennsylvania, United States, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES FOR BURNING COMBUSTIBLE GASES UNDER PRESSURE IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF GLASS, IRON, AND OTHER METALS."
Sealed the 7th August 1857, and dated the 18th February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacob Green at the Offico
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th February
1857.
I, JACOB GREEN, of the City of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania,
United States, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR BURNING COMBUSTIBLE GASES UNDER PRESSURE
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS, IRON, AND OTHER METALS," to be as follows:-
The improvement consists in constructing furnaces wherein the ordinary
stack or chimney is dispensed with (no draft being required), the air to
support the combustion being forced into the ash-pit, and that necessary to
complete the combustion of the gases is forced into the furnace by means of
a conveniently arranged blower.
The furnace is provided with an opening or openings, regulated by stoppers
or dampers to allow the spent gases to escape, and at the same time producing
a pressure within the body of the furnace, causing the oxygen of the air to
commingle more thoroughly with the combustible gases, thus producing a
more complete combustion and greater intensity of heat, the requisite supply
of air being regulated by an arrangement of dampers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jacob Green in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th August 1857.
TO ALL TO-WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, JACOB
GREEN, of the City of Philadelphia, State of Pensylvania, United States,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Jacob Green, Her special licence that I, the said Jacob Green,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Jacob Green, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FURNACES FOR BURNING COMBUSTIBLE GASES UNDER PRESSURE IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF GLASS, IRON, AND OTHER METALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I,. the said Jacob Green, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
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 Jacob Green, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The improvement consists in constructing furnaces, so as to dispense with
the usual stack or chimney, the air to support combustion being forced into
the ash-pit, and that to complete the combustion of the gases is forced into
the furnace from a conveniently arranged blower.
The furnace is provided with one or more dampers, for the purpose of
allowing the spent gases to escape, and at the same time producing a pressure
in the interior of the furnace, causing the oxygen of the air to commingle
with the combustible gases, thereby producing a complete combustion, and
greatly economising the consumption of fuel.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents the ground plan of the
furnace; Figure 2, a longitudinal section; Figures 3 and 4 vertical sections,
through the dotted lines X and W; Figure 5, a longitudinal section of a
furnace for melting iron for heavy castings; Figure 6, a longitudinal section
of an ordinary pudling furnace, with my improvements attached. Like letters
of reference refer to similar parts throughout these views.
(a, a,) openings into the furnace, called the stoper hole, through which the
charge is put into and removed from the furnace; (c, c,) the flue or open-
ings, for the purpose of allowing the spent and incombustible gases to escape;
(f) section of the main pipe, connecting the blower with the furnace; (g, g,)
grates or fire chamber;) (i, i,) nozzle or small tubes, through which the blast
of air passes when entering the furnace; (k, k,) the ash-pit; (m) the ash-pit
door; (n, n;)'small openings in the stopper for the workmen to operate upon
the iron in the furnace; (o, o,) the fire hole, through which the fuel is fed
into the fire chamber; (r, r,) branch pipes into the ash-pit, for the purpose of
supplying air to support the combustion of the fuel; (s, &,) branch pipes to
supply air to the nozzle (i, i); (u, u,) a pipe across the furnace, into which
the nozzle pipes are secured; (v, v,) valves to regulate the amount of blast to
support combustion.
In employing my improvement in furnaces of the ordinary construction, I
attach the pipe (r), see (Figure 6), with its valve to the ash-pit, and the pipe s
with its valve to the pipe w, provided with a series of small tubes or jets; after
which I make an opening into the chimney draft, placing a damper over the
opening between the furnace flue and chimney, this being so regulated as to
provent the escape of heat, and thereby causing the desired pressure of or the
commingling of the oxygen with the combustible gases; the same arrangement
is applicable to any other description of furnace, either for iron, glass, or
chemical manipulations.
I recommend a thick strata of fuel to be kept upon the grate bars. The
jet pipes to supply air to the combustible gases may be placed either at the
rear of the fire or against the bridge.
The operation of the furnace is as follows:-The fire being made in the
usual manner, the ash-pit is closed in front by a door; then air is then forced
through the pipes (r, r,) regulated by the valve (v) producing the gases.
The dampers j, j, being partially closed so as to prevent an undue escape
of heat, and at the same time allowing the incombustible gases to escape from
the furnace, and also creating a draft in the body of the furnace, thereby
causing the oxygen of the air to thoroughly commingle with the combustible
gases, causing a perfect combustion, the temperature can be regulated at the

page_text: will of the operator by opening or closing the valves (v, v,) in pipes (", ",)
and (s, s,).
What I claim as my Invention is the consumption of combustible gases
under pressure, substantially in the manner and for the purposes, as set forth
in the foregoing Specification and accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jacob Green, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.