AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF TANK' FOR SMELTING GLASS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Tom Kilner, of Thornhill Lees, near Dewsbury, in the
County of York, Glass Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF TANK' FOR SMELTING GLASS."
i
Scaled the 4th October 1878, and dated the 6th April 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Tom Kilner at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th April 1878.
TOM KILNER, of Thornhill Lees, near Dewsbury, in the County of York, Glass
Manufacturer. "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF TANK' FOR SMELTING GLASS."
The objects of this Invention are threefold:-
Firstly. To make tank furnaces for smelting glass more durable.
Secondly. To construct such tanks so that more air passages or flues can be
formed in a given space than can be made by the present construction of tank.
And, Thirdly. To construct these tanks so that the air passages or flues can be
more readily cleaned out if required.
Hitherto the bottom or bed of tank furnaces has been built flat and made from
large slabs or blocks of fire-clay, and in practice it is found that they not only soon
crack and break in pieces but they shrink or contract, leaving open spaces between
cach joint, allowing melted glass to escape and fall into the air passages, which has
afterwards to be cleaned out, or the said passages get made up and consequently
the tank is destroyed.
My improvements consist in building or making a number of arches, the top or
upper part of which form the bottom or bed of the furnace, the arches forming the
air passages or flues. By this means I dispense with the large slabs or blocks at
present in use, and consequently the evils attending them.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Tom Kilner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th October
1878.
TOM KILNER, of Thornhill Lees, near Dewsbury, in the County of York, Glass
Manufacturer. "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF 'TANK' FOR SMELTING GLASS."
The objects of this Invention are threefold:-
Firstly. To make tank furnaces for smelting glass more durable.
Secondly. To construct such tanks so that more air passages or flues can be
formed in a given space than can be made by the present construction of tauk.
And, Thirdly. To construct these tanks so that the air passages or flues can be 1
more readily cleaned out if required.
Hitherto the bottom or bed of such tank furnaces has been flat, having been
composed of a number of large slabs or blocks of fire-clay, and in practice it is
found that they not only soon crack and break in pieces but they shrink or contract,
leaving open spaces between each joint, allowing melted glass to escape and fall
into the air passages, which have to be cleaned out frequently to prevent their
getting stopped up, and this process of cleaning out is both costly and injurious to
the tank.
My improvements consist in building or making a number of arches, the tops of
which form the bottom or bed of the furnace, the arches forming the air passages
or flues. By this means I dispense with the large slabs or blocks at present in use,
and consequently the evils attending them. The upright supports or sides of the
arches may be narrower than the supports for flat slabs, and thus the air space
underneath the tank is increased, and by forming them of a solid block of fire-clay
they are much better to clean when fire-bricks are used for the purpose.
The accompanying Drawing of a glass tank or furnace will serve to illustrate my
Invention.
A are a series of arches, composed of fire-bricks, supported upon the division
walls B, which consist of a block of fire-brick, tapered or wedged shaped at the upper
edge to suit the radius of the arch. The pressure of the material placed over the
arches which form the bed of the furnace presses the bricks more closely together
and compensates for the variation caused by expansion and contraction during
changes of temperature.
The flues being straight are readily cleaned out, and more air spaces can be
obtained, as the walls B do not require to be very thick.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and shewn by Drawings
how the same may be carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that 1.
claim as my Invention, the construction of glass smelting furnaces, in the manner
substantially as herein shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Tom Kilner, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.