IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR METALLURGICAL AND OTHER PROCESSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Howard, of Bedford, in the County of
Bedford, Agricultural Engineer, and Edward Tenney Bousfield, of
the same Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES FOR METALLURGICAL AND OTHER PROCESSES."
Sealed the 10th August 1875, and dated the 30th April 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Howard and
Edward Tenney Bousfield at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 30th April 1875.
We, JAMES HOWARD, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Agri-
cultural Engineer, and EDWARD TENNEY BOUSFIELD, of the same Place,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES FOR METALLURGICAL AND OTHER PROCESSES," to be
as follows:-
In the manufacture and melting of iron and steel as well as in some

page_text: other processes in the arts it is important to submit the materials under
treatment to the action of heat for a lengthened period without
subjecting the same to direct contact with the products of combustion.
Hitherto this result has been obtained at a comparatively great cost by
enclosing the material to be heated or melted (say steel for example), in
crucibles or muffles, and allowing the flame and gases of combustion to
play around and over the same.
Now the object of the present Invention is (taking the melting of steel
for the purpose of illustration) to operate upon a large quantity at once,
and to bring it to a molten state so that it may be run off like iron from
a reverberatory furnace. We accomplish this object by the use of a
circular furnace which we divide into two compartments by a transverse
wall forming in the lower part of the wall, when desired, an opening
which will allow of the material under treatment being passed from the
hearth of one compartment to that of the other. The crown of the
furnace we so construct as to allow of its receiving a slow rotary motion,
and we may, if thought desirable, separate the circular wall of the furnace
from the bed, and give it also rotary motion.
One of the compartments of the furnace will constitute the com-
bustion chamber, and the other the radiating or melting chamber. We
prefer to supply the combustion chamber with gas fuel, and to use in
connection therewith the well known Siemens' system of heat regenerator.
By giving the crown of the furnace a slow rotary motion every portion
of its reflecting surface will be presented in turn to the gas flame of the
combustion chamber, and thus a highly heated radiating surface will be
presented to the metal contained in the melting chamber. The effect of
this will be to reduce the metal to a molten state without exposing it to
the direct action either of the flame or heated gases. When the metal
is thus reduced it may be run off into moulds as desired. The mechanism
for rotating the crown of the furnace or the crown and outer wall as the
case may be will consist of a circular rack and suitable spur and worm
gearing.
Antifriction balls or rollers may advantageously be used for carrying
the weight of the moving mass. When changing the direction of flow
of the gases of combustion from the furnace to the regenerators, it may
be desirable to reverse the direction of rotation of the crown of the

page_text: furnace, and for this purpose we propose to connect the gas and air
supply valves with the driving gear, and thereby to effect the desired
changes automatically. It will be obvious that this arrangement of
furnace may be advantageously used for a variety of purposes, such as for
instance, the reheating of metals for forging and the roasting of ores.