IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGE FIRES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Conway, of Stone Stairs, Broad Street, in
the Hamlet of Ratcliffe, in the Parish of Saint Dunstan, Stepney,
in the County of Middlesex, Edge Tool Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGE FIRES."
Sealed the 29th October 1869, and dated the 1st May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Conway at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st May 1869.
I, JOHN CONWAY, of Stone Stairs, Broad Street, in the Hamlet of
Ratcliffe, in the Parish of Saint Dunstan, Stepney, in the County of
Middlesex, Edge Tool Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGE FIRES."
1. My Invention consists in introducing into ordinary forges, first, a
cast-iron inner frame and grating placed at the bottom of the forge; 2nd,
the introduction of the fire-brick bound together with common loam;
3rd, the introduction of a draft at the side of the forge on the right or
left, which passes through a funnel under the frame, and also from the

page_text: bottom of the fire into the funnel again at the top of the forge, the effect
of which is that the clinkers run through and leave the fire quite clean
and free from dust and sulphur.
2. In making up an ordinary hollow fire it requires a great quantity of
coal and hours of men's time. By the means I introduce it can be done
with the fire-brick cemented with common loam at a great saving of
time and of coal, and will produce a heat much cleaner, and a softer and
better fire than can be got with the ordinary coal fire, and which will
last for days, whereas the ordinary coal fire only lasts a few hours and is
applicable to the common smith's bellows or blast which is used in
many factories at the present time, and is better adapted for the manu-
facture of edge tools and for the working of steel, whether sheer or.cast,
welding or chemical process. The frame when once fixed, and also the
funnel, will last for years; it is the grating that will be required to be
replaced when burnt out, but which will last a long time and which can
be replaced at a trifling cost; also the fire-bricks will have to be replaced
when they are thoroughly burnt out, which will be (where the fire is
constantly in use) every 3 or 4 days, whereas the ordinary coal fire has
to be made up every 3 or 4 hours.
3. The advantages of my Invention are, first, the production of a
better fire cleaner and free from clinker, dust, and sulphur, and a greater
heat than by the ordinary forge fire now in use; 2nd, a great saving
of time and labour; 3rd a saving of coal to the amount of at least 70
per cent.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 25
filed by the said John Conway in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CONWAY, Edge Tool Manufacturer, of Stone Stairs, Broad Street, in the
Hamlet of Ratcliff, in the Parish of St. Dunstan, Stepney, in the County 30
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-

page_text: first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Conway, Her special licence
that I, the said John Conway, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Conway, 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 "THE IMPROVEMENT
IN FORGE FIRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Conway, 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 John Conway, 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 :---
Tlfis Invention relates to smiths' forges and other like furnaces, and
consists of certain improvements in their construction and in the mode
of applying the blast thereto, whether by bellows or otherwise.
The objects of the said improvements are to increase the heat gene-
rating power of the blast, extend the area of its action, obtain a larger,
purer, and cleaner fire, economise the consumption of fuel, and save time
in getting up the required heat.
In carrying out the said Invention in practice, instead of forming the
tuyre pit or well hole of the hearth of the forge with a close bottom in
the usual way I form it with an open bottom, or make an opening
therein when the hearth has been already formed in the usual way, in
which opening, as the case may be, I fit a cast-iron grate and frame of a
rectangular or other shape, the said grate being removable from the said
frame at pleasure and reversible therein, so that when one end thereof
has been burned away the opposite end can be turned to the tuyre. I so
fix the frame of this grate that the upper surface of the latter is a little
below the end of the tuyre or nozzle of the bellows or "vena contracta"

page_text: of the blast; and I make the level of the floor or top of the hearth level
or even with the top of this grate, or a little higher or lower as circum-
stances may require. From one side of the frame, in which a suitablo
opening is formed below the level of the said grate, I carry a horizontal
or inclined pipe, duct, or flue into a vertical shaft or chimney for carry-
ing off the sulphuretic, phosphoric, or other impurities precipitated upon
and, driven through the apertures of the grate by the force of the blast.
Under the said grate and frame I leave an open space or ash-pit, and in
some cases fit this opening with a door or slide, which may be opened
and closed more or less when required. In addition to the frame, grate,
side flue or duct, and vertical shaft or chimney, tho whole of which may
be of cast iron, I introduce above the grate a fire-brick tuyre bridge or
brick formed with a dipping flange at each end, and one or two more
fire-brick fly bridges or bricks formed with a dipping flange at one end.
The dipping or under flanges of the tuyre bridge rest upon the tuyre end
of the grate or frame herein-before described, and supports the unflanged
ends of the fly bridges, the flanges of which rest upon the hearth or fuel.
The space between the back wall of the forge above the hearth and the
tuyre bridge I make good by à cement of common loam.
The fly
bridges are used loose, and can be removed and placed in position instan-
taneously, and serve the purpose, in connection with the tuyre bridge,
of instantaneously converting an open forge fire into a close furnace.
These bricks may also be made in sections and be fitted together, instead
of being each made in one piece.
The accompanying Drawing will further illustrate my said Invention.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 is a plan of a forge shewing the position of the cast-iron grate,
frame, sulphur flue, and side chimney; Fig. 2 is a front elevation
shewing the position of the same parts with reference to the tuyre, and
also shewing the tuyre bridge as fixed but without the flyer bridges;
Fig. 3 is a section of the improved forge taken at the line A, B, Fig. 1,
and shews the position of the flyer bridges when in use; Fig. 4 is an
isometrical view of the whole. The following reference applies to each
Fig. where the index letter appears.
a is the back wall of the forge; b, the tuyre; c, the hearth; d, the
opening formed or afterwards made in the hearth or bed of the forge;
e, the grate frame, open at the bottom, and also having an opening e' in

page_text: the side; f, the grate; g, the sulphur chimney or side shaft; h, a rectan-
gular pipe or sulphur duct or flue connecting the open space under
the grate with the interior of the said chimney or side shaft; i, the
tuyre bridge fire-brick formed with an opening i. I so fix this bridge
and grate frame that the "vena contracta" of the blast shall be as
nearly in line with the centre of the opening as may be. k, k, the
flyer bridges or angle fire-bricks. The parts f, g, h, and k, k, are all fitted
loose, so that they can be adjusted as required, removed, cleared, and
replaced when necessary. is the open ash-pit under the grate frame.
In practice this ash-pit may be left open from top to bottom, or it may
be closed by a thin wall, as shewn at 1, Figs. 1 and 2, leaving only a
smaller opening at the bottom. The space or air-way to the under side
of the grate may thus be closed when required by a rising and falling or
sliding damper; by the latter plan the sulphur driven through the grate
would all escape by the sulphur duct or fluc and side shaft away from
the workman instead of passing out under the hearth immediately under
him. When the main opening, however, is formed under the hearth,
according to the plan shewn at Fig. 3, P, this portion of the sulphur
would escape at the front of the forge, as shewn by the arrow, where it
would be less obnoxious to the workman. m, a supplementary shaft for
raising the shaft g when necessary.
The objects and uses of the grate frame and open hearth are, first, to
provide a means for separating the sulphur from the fire, which is
effected by directing the blast from the tuyre through the opening in the
tuyre bridge in the manner herein described; thus a purer and softer
heat is obtained. Secondly, to provide a means for supplying air to the
fire and keep it alive when the workmen cease work, and thus save the
time now lost in making up a new fire and in getting up the required
heat. Thirdly, to provide a means for separating the ashes, dust, and
refuse matter which passes out through the grate into the open space or
ash-pit, and also to prevent the formation or lessen the quantity of
clinker, thus obtaining more perfect combustion and a cleaner as well
as a purer, softer, and greater heat.
The objects and uses of the tuyre bridge and flyer bridges are, first,
to convert an open fire into a furnace, to concentrate the power of the
blast directly, and extend its operation over a larger area laterally. By
converting an open fire into a close furnace the power of the blast is
increased, the time and labour of the workmen are economised, and

page_text: the required heat more readily got up and maintained with less con-
sumption of fuel. When the forge is required for ordinary purposes
only the grate and tuyre bridge, or the grate alone, may be used.
Having thus described and illustrated my said Invention, and ex-
plained its nature and objects, and the means for effecting the same in
practice, I hereby further declare that what I claim and desire to secure
by the before-mentioned in part recited Letters Patent is as follows, that
is to say :-
First. The formation of the hearths of smiths' forges and other similar
furnaces with an air opening through the same into the ash-pit or open
space underneath.
Secondly. The fitting a frame and grate in such openings, and the
use and application thereof.
Thirdly. The use and application of a sulphur duct, flue, or channel
from under the said grate, or from the bottom or lower part of the fire
or furnace of smiths' and other similar furnaces.
Fourthly. The formation, use, and application of a "tuyrc bridge,"
fire-brick, or "lump," as herein described, or when made in sections.
Fifthly. The formation, use, and application of the "flyer bridge,"
or angle bricks, or "lumps," as herein described, or when made in
sections.
Lastly. The formation, use, and application of the said grate frame
and other parts of the said improved forge singly or with two or more of
the said parts combined.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Conway, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-seventh day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.