Improvements in and relating to Furnace Fronts and Doors.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Mar., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 16th Dec.. 1896-Accepted, 6th Mar., 1897
Improvements in and relating to Furnace Fronts and Doors.
I, ARTHUR CYRUS WHITTOME, trading as A. C. Whittome & Co., of Vectis
Tron Works, Newport, Isle of Wight, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to furnace fronts and doors especially such as are subjected
to very intense heat as in gas retort furnaces and the like. These parts have
heretofore been constructed of simple solid castings, and the furnace fronts
owing to rapid and intense heating, sudden cooling, and so forth, buckle, crack,
and deteriorate very rapidly. The doors are subject also to the same defect
though not in the same degree owing to their being lined usually with refractory
material and being to some extent kept cool by the constant passage through them
of cold air.
The object of my invention is to increase the durability and longevity of such
fronts and doors, more especially the former.
For this purpose according to my invention I use for the furnace front, and
generally but not necessarily always for the furnace door or doors, hollow castings
of appropriate forms through the interior of which cold water is circulated from a
supply tank above. For fronts only I may make all the interior water spaces
communicate, or I may separate same and use more than one circulating system,
internal directing plates and stops being provided. When cold water is circulated
through both the front and the door or doors I may arrange and connect one set of
circulating pipes to the interior of part of the furnace front so as to circulate
water therethrough, and another set to a separated part of the same front, which
part is placed in communication through the door hinges or externally arranged
Hexible tubes with the interior of the hollow door or doors. When I use the hinges
for circulation to the doors I separate the water space between them by an internal
stop and form a passage through each or otherwise arrange the parts in such
manner that the water will enter the door through the lower hinge and escape at
the upper hinge. Such passages are preferably coned and fitted with coned plugs
provided with suitable ports and packing glands and secured by nuts in convenient
manner. The water inlet pipe or pipes is or are connected to the lower part or
parts of the hollow castings and the upward return pipe or pipes to the upper part
or parts thereof, and suitable cocks or non-return valves may with advantage be
fitted to the pipes where desirable to control the circulation and stop same when
required.
Dated this 17th don of March 1906.
J. C. CHAPMAN, C.P.A.,
Agent.

page_text: Improvements in and relating to Furnace Fronts and Doors.
I, ARTHUR CYRUS WHITTоME, trading as A. C. Whittome & Co., of Vectis
Iron Works, Newport, Isle of Wight, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to furnace fronts and doors, especially such as are subjected
to very intense heat as in gas retort furnaces and the like. These parts have
heretofore been constructed of simple solid castings, and the furnace fronts
owing to rapid and intense heating, sudden cooling, and so forth, buckle, crack,
and deteriorate very rapidly. The doors are subject also to the same defect,
though not in the same degree, owing to their being lined usually with refractory
material, and being to some extent kept cool by the constant passage through them
of cold air.
The object of my invention is to increase the durability and longevity of such
fronts and doors, more especially the former.
For this purpose according to my invention I use for the furnace front,
and generally but not necessarily always for the furnace door or doors, hollow
castings of appropriate forms through the interior of which cold water is
circulated.
In fully describing my invention I will refer to the accompanying drawings in
which Fig. 1 is a front sectional elevation, and Fig. 2 a central transverse section of
a simple form of my improved furnace front constructed for water circulation there-
through. It consists of a hollow casting A of any convenient or required shape and
width, substantially such as is illustrated, and in it all the internal water spaces a a a a
communicate and but one circulating system is used, the cold supply entering at bb
following the direction of the arrows and escaping at c to the tank or receiver; or
to obtain a better circulation I may separate the internal water spaces from one
another as shown in the same views, Figs. 3 and 4, at a a¹ by stop pieces ss with or
without internal guiding plates g g, and use two circulating systems, the cold
supplies entering at bb following the direction of the arrows and escaping at c cl
respectively.
In these cases lugs are cast on the fronts for the hinge pins of any usual kind of
furnace and ash-pit doors, through which no water circulation takes place. In
Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown respectively in front and end elevation an arrangement
wherein cold water is circulated through both the furnace front and the furnace
door or similarly through both furnace and ash-pit doors. In this arrangement
I connect one set of circulating pipes b to the interior of the part a of the
hollow casting forming the furnace front A so as to circulate water therethrough in
the direction of the arrows as above described, and I connect another set b
of cold supply pipes to a separated part a' of the same front A, which part a' is
placed in communication through the door hinges ', or equivalently by
externally arranged flexible tubes, with the interior d d of the hollow door or
doors d. I prefer the hollow hinge arrangement to the flexible tubes and have
therefore illustrated same.
In this case I separate the water spaces a¹ a' between the hinges h h' by an
internal stops, and I form passages p p' through each hinge and arrange the
parts substantially as shown enlarged in Figs. 7 and 8 so that the water will enter
the door d through the lower hinge h, and after circulating through same escape
therefrom back into the upper water space a' above the stop s' through the upper
hinge h¹.
Figs. 7 and 8 are sections through the hinges looking respectively from the back

page_text: or hinge end of the door and from the front thereof. The lower lug of each hinge
formed on the main casting has a passage p extending into same from the
interior a' and enlarged so as to form a water space s³. The door lug of each
hinge respectively has a similar water space s communicating by a passage with
the interior d¹ of the door d. Accurately fitting into a preferably coned hole
through both lugs of each hinge h h are plugs provided with suitable ports
fitting respectively into the water spaces s s and having a cavity or water con-
nection between said ports. To prevent leakage suitable packing rings such
as qq are inserted where required, or alternatively glands could be used, and the
whole is secured by a nut such as or otherwise.
I do not confine myself to this particular means for circulating water through
the hinges of the fire door, as various modified constructions can be substituted, for
example the hinge pins or plugs may be double coned so that the door could be
lifted off and removed without taking the plugs out. By such means as described
circulation through the door continues whether it be open or closed.
As will be seen the water inlet pipe or pipes 66' is or are connected to the lower
part or parts of the fronts, and suitable cocks or non-return valves may with
advantage be fitted to the pipes where desirable to control the circulation and stop
same when required, and a relief valve may with advantage be fitted to the top of
the front.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. Furnace fronts consisting of hollow castings connected to a circulating
water system so that cold water can circulate freely therethrough substantially
as described in reference respectively to Figs. 1 and 2 and to Figs. 3 and 4 of
the drawings.
2. Furnace fronts and doors consisting of hollow castings connected to a
circulating water system so that cold water can circulate through both front and
door or doors substantially as set forth in reference to Figs. 5 and 6 of the
drawings.
3. In bollow furnace fronts and doors such as above referred to, the construction
and use of door hinges substantially as shown and for the purpose specified.
4. The several arrangements of hollow fronts and of hollow fronts and hollow
doors for furnaces through which cold water can circulate, substantially as
described in reference to and shown respectively in the drawings hereto
annexed.
151 .
1000
J. C. CHAPMAN,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.