IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES APPLICABLE FOR REDUCING IRON ORES PREPARATORY TO WORKING THE SAME INTO MANUFACTURED IRON
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Kyte, of 3, East India Avenue, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
APPLICABLE FOR REDUCING IRON ORES PREPARATORY TO WORKING THE SAME
INTO MANUFACTURED IRON."-A communication from abroad by Joel
Wilson, of Dover, New Jersey, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 17th April 1874, and dated the 27th January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Kyte at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th January 1874.
I, CHARLES KYTE, of 3, East India Avenue, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FURNACES APPLICABLE FOR REDUCING IRON ORES PREPARATORY TO WORKING THE
SAME INTO MANUFACTURED IRON," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in furnaces applicable
for reducing iron ores preparatory to working the same into manu-
factured iron.
The furnace is composed of a central vertical cylindrical flue, pro-
vided at the top with a coyer, and opening at the bottom into a well

page_text: hole into which the heated products of combustion arc received from a
balling or other furnace through a horizontal flue which is below the
surface of the ground. Surrounding the cylindrical flue are a number
of vertical retorts and flues ranged alternately. From the upper part
of the cylindrical flue a number of radial conduits are formed which
come above the tops of the vertical flues and open into them, so that
the heated gases rising up the central cylindrical flue pass horizontally
through the conduits into the vertical flues surrounding it and descend
through these flues. From the bottom of the descending flues the gases
are conducted by short pipes into an annular collecting chamber sur-
rounding the well hole into which the heated gases are first conducted,
and from the annular chamber they are conducted off to a chimney.
At the top of each retort is an opening through which it may be charged,
and through which any carbonic acid evolved during the process of
cementation of iron ore may escape. At the bottom of each retort is
also a discharge hole by which the ore, after it has been sufficiently
deoxidized, may be withdrawn and removed through the spaces between
the pipes which form the continuations of the vertical descending flues.
By carrying the flue which leads from the balling or other furnace
below the annular collecting flue as above described, and discharging
the retorts in the spaces between the descending flues, the central
cylindrical flue may be entirely surrounded by retorts and descending
flues, which could not be the case if the flue from the balling or other
furnace were passed over the annular collecting flue. The assemblage
of descending flues and retorts above mentioned is surrounded by an
outer casing, and an annular space is left between this casing and the
flues and retorts. A portion of the heated gases are conducted into this
space from the central cylindrical flue by narrow flues formed below the
bottom of the retorts; thus the outer sides and bottom of the retorts are
thoroughly heated.
The retorts are built with fire-brick or tile. The bricks for the sides
of the retorts have dovetails at each end and on both sides, and the
bricks forming the ends of the retorts are made to slide in and fit these
dovetails. In the same manner the bricks forming the descending flues
between the retorts are made to fit into the dovetails on the outer sides
of the bricks forming the sides of the retorts. The several flues and
retorts are thus tied together and cannot be separated except by
fracturing the brick.

page_text: The operation of the furnace is as follows:-The ore to be reduced is
pulverised or crushed and intimately mixed with a sufficient quantity
of coal dust or other deoxidizing material to remove the oxygen from
the ore to be treated, and the retorts are filled with this mixture. The
waste heat from the balling or other furnace is then admitted to the
central cylindrical flue and allowed to pass through the furnace in the
manner already described, and sufficient in quantity and intensity to
keep the material in the retorts at a red heat, or thereabouts, and as the
ore becomes sufficiently deoxidized to be worked it is drawn from the
bottom of the retorts and taken to the balling furnace where it is worked
into balls. As the retorts become emptied they should be filled up with
an additional supply of the mixture of ore and deoxidizing material, and
thus the process may be carried on continuously.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Kyte in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
KYTE, of 3, East India Avenue, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Kyte, Her special
license that I, the said Charles Kyte, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Kyte, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES
APPLICABLE FOR REDUCING IRON ORES PREPARATORY TO WORKING THE SAME INTO
MANUFACTURED IRON," a communication to me from abroad by Joel
Wilson, of Dover, New Jersey, in the United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Kyte,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Charles Kyte, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The improvements relate,-
1st. To a mode of conducting the heated products of combustion
directly from a balling, or puddling, or other furnace into a chamber
of my reducing furnace.
2nd. To a mode of conducting part of the products of combustion
escaping from a balling or other furnace under retorts which are on
opposite sides of discharge openings therefor, and into an annular flue
space which is outside of the said retorts.
3rd. To a mode of increasing the draft spaces at the tops of the flucs
between the retorts without in any manner weakening the retorts by
such increase of draft.
In order to fully explain the nature of the improvements, I shall
refer to two practical modes of carrying the same into effect, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, in which Figure 1 is an
elevation of one side of the furnace.
Figure 2 is a section taken vertically and diametrically through the
furnace from front to rear in the plane indicated by dotted line x¹
Figure 4.
Figure 3 is a section taken in the vertical plane indicated by the
dotted line, Figure 4.
Figure 4 is a section taken in the horizontal plane indicated by dotted
line x; Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a bottom view of the flues surrounding the internal
chamber, and also of the retorts, with transverse flue passages at their
bases.
Figure 6 is a bottom view shewing the collecting chamber which
surrounds the well hole.

page_text: A represents the outer casing surrounding that portion of the furnace
in which are the retorts and flues, and A' represents the outer wall.
of that portion of the furnace through which the spent products of
combustion pass off to the chimney. The furnace walls A and A' are
cylindrical, and between the wall A and an interior circular arrange-
ment of flucs and retorts is an annular space & into which heat enters
from an internal chamber E through passages n, n, at the bottoms of
the retorts B. The retorts B and flues C are arranged alternately
around the central fluc chamber E, represented in Figures 4 and 5,
which central chamber is provided on top with a cover D, and at its
lower termination it opens into a well hole G into which the heated
products of combustion are received from a balling or other furnace
through a horizontal fluo F which is below the surface of the ground.
Surrounding the well hole G above the flue F, and enclosed by the
wall A', is an annular collecting chamber I having an outlet J leading
to a chimney, and also a number of inlets à corresponding to each
descending flue C, which inlets are at the bottoms of pipes H that
communicate with the lower ends of said flues C, as shewn in Figure 3.
The pipes H surround the upper portion of the wall of the well hole G,
and form lower continuations of the flues C below the bottoms of the
retorts B, so that the descending products of combustion can be carried
from the upper to the lower portions of the furnace between spaces
which are left for the removal of the ore after it has been subjected
to the process of cementation. In other words, the flue pipes H afford
access between them to the discharge holes d at the bottoms of the
retorts, which holes are provided with gates or doors & applied in any
suitable manner. The products of combustion rise through the well
hole G into the internal chamber E, and a part of these products enter
the annular space 6 through openings e and passages n. Most of the
products rise to the top of the chamber E, and thence pass horizontally
outward through short conduits c, and enter the upper ends of the
flues C through apertures c¹, shewn in Figure 3. The products thence
descend through flues C and pipes H, and enter the annular chamber I
from which they are conducted off through pipe J into a chimney, as
above stated. The upper ends of the retorts are provided with openings a
which allow the carbonic acid gas formed in the process of cementation

page_text: to escape, and also allow additional material to be supplied to the retorts
as occasion requires.
By locating the flue F which leads from a balling or other furnace
below the annular collecting flue I the intensity of heat in said chamber
I is greatly reduced, and the flue F can be passed under the surface of
the ground, which gives room to discharge the retorts directly opposite
the balling or puddling furnace, thereby giving the use of two retorts,
which could not be discharged if flue F passed over the annular
chamber I on a horizontal line with it. By means of the flues n, n,
directly under the bottoms of the retorts B a large quantity of heat is
carried to the space b surrounding the retorts which thoroughly heats
the ore at the bottoms and outer sides of the retorts.
By having the horizontal external conduits c on top of the furnace,
as described, for establishing communication between the internal
chamber E and the descending flues C a good draft is obtained, and
plenty of flue space afforded without weakening the retorts by leaving
openings between them.
The retorts are built with fire-brick or tile of a peculiar device, and
which is new. The bricks A', Figure 7, for sides of retorts B have
dovetails at each end and on both sides, and the bricks, Figures B* and
C*, forming the two ends of retorts are made to slide in and fit these
dovetails. In the same manner the smaller brick, Figures D' and E*,
forming the intermediate flues C are made to fit the dovetails on the
fluo side of brick A*, thus forming a continuous polygon circle both
back and front of retorts, the parts of which are held in place by the
dovetails on brick A*; these cannot be broken except by fracturing the
brick
This furnace having been constructed as described the ore to be
reduced should be pulverised or crushed and intimately mixed with
a sufficient quantity of coal dust or other deoxidising material to remove
the oxygen from the ore to be treated, and the retorts B, B, filled
with this mixture. The waste heat from the balling or other furnace
should then be turned into the pipe F and allowed to pass continually
through this furnace in the manner already described, and sufficient
in quantity and intensity to keep the material in the retorts B, B,
at a red heat, or at a sufficient heat to cause the carbon in the coal