US1112236A

US1112236A - Annealing-furnace.

Info

Publication number: US1112236A
Application number: US80622413A
Authority: US
Inventors: John Albert Swindell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1913-12-12
Filing date: 1913-12-12
Publication date: 1914-09-29
Anticipated expiration: 1931-09-29

Description

J. A. SWINDELL.

ANNBALING FURNACE.

APPLIGAMON FILED 1920.12, 1913.

1 1 1 2,236, Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

' 4 SHBETS-SHEET 1.

2 I l. lz

INVENTOR @1... @tm MMU RS Ca.. PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHINGTON, D. C.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

J. A. SWINDELL.

ANNBALING PURNAGE.

APPLIGATION FILED DBO. 12, 1913.

J. A. SWINDELL..

ANNEALING FURNAGB.

APPLICATION FILED DE0.12,1913.

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET a.

WITNESSES Patented Sept. 29, 1914. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

THE MORRIS PETERS Co., PHOTOYLITHO.. WASHING rON. D. C

eiirrnn sra'riis PATENT oFFicE.

JUHN .ALBERT SWNDELL, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

ANNEALING-FURNACE.

To all 1071.07.17, tt may concern Be it known that l, JoHN ALBERT SWIN- DiiLL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful lmprovement in jinnealingl'lurnaces, of Which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,'reference be*- ing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of tliisspeciiicationdn Which-- Figure l is a transverse vertical section of one form of annealing` furnace embodying my invention. 2 is a section on the irregular line H-ll of lig. 1. Figs. and 4 are vertical sections showing two other forms of the invention. Fig. 4aL is a detail sectional vieiv showing another form. 5 is a sectional perspective view showing still another forni. Fig. 6 is a vertical section showing a fifth form of my invention. Fig. 7 is a section on the `irregular line vllt-Vfl' of Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 is a vieiv similar to Fig. 7 showing a still further modification.

My invention has relation to annealing` furnaces and more particularly to furnaces of the class which are designed to receive and impart heat to annealing boxes contain-v ing sheets, plates or other to be annealed.

The invention is especially designed as an improvement upon the furnace described and claimed in the patent to iVVillia i A.

mi J. o. smeden, ive. estasi @i May 2,1

1899. he furnaces of that patent have been highly successful in practical operation and have gone into Wide use, particularly in the art of annealing` sheets and plates.

The present invention is designed to still further increase the efficiency of the furnaces of the said patent. l

With this object in view the invention consists mainly in the rearrangement ofthe gas, air and ivaste port-s of the furnace in suoli a manner that the produ cts of combustion enter the annealing chamber of the furnace at its central portion (or in the case of a divided furnace, adjacent to the inner wall of each annealing compartment) and thence pass upwardly in parallel over the annealing boxes and thence' downwardly` through escape ports adjacent to the outer side Walls of the annealing chamber or comH pertinent. These outer side ivallsbeing'di rectly exposed to the atmosphere are subject to loss of heat and there is, therefore, a tend- Speciiicatoii. of Letters Patent.

Application. filed December 12, 1913.

articles which are w furnace is provided With the `doors 6 at one end.4

Patented sept. 29, 1914.

Serial No. 806,224.

ency for the outer portions of the boxes to be at a somewhat lower temperature than the inner portions.

By my invention, the products of combustion, which are still at a high temperature, are continually impinged directly against these outer Walls, thereby maintaining them at a high temperature.

rlhe invention further consists in so arranging the air, gas and Waste iues as to retain the advantages possessed by the furnaces of the saidpatent.

I also provide simple and efficient means for regulating the temperature of different portions of the furnace by the admission of relatively cold air from the outside, but in such a manner as to avoid `undue cooling doivn of the annealing chamber or compartment.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated several different `constructions of furnaces embodying my invention.

Referring first to that form shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the numeral 2 designates the side Walls of thefurnace, 3 the roof and 4 the base. 5 designatesthe `annealing chamber, Which is of double forni, being designed to support aroW of annealing boxes placed end to end at each side of the center. The usual charging The numeral 7 designates tWo gas inlet flues, one at each sideof the central dividing Wall 8 and these flues enter the "furnace at one end and extend in a parallel. longitudinal direction. upper portion a series of ports 9 leading. Iupvvardly at opposite sides of the central Wall 8. This Wall 8 is preferablyextended upivardly somewhat above the level of thebox supporting portionsilO of the floor ofthe chamber 5, and may, if desired, be extended to any distance even entirely to the roof; thus dividing said chamber into tivo com* partments, as indicated in full lines in Fig. o. The outer Walls 11 of the ports 9 are also preferably extended upwardly so as to direct the products of combustion upwardly into the annealing chamber.

12 designatesthe air inlet iues, one at each side of the furnace,` and each of them f having a plurality of ports 13 leading from their upper Vportion and communicating with the gas ports 9. The waste {iues of the furnace each have tWo passes 14 and 14a.

Each of theseiues has at its cate with the annealing chamber 5 by means of a plurality of vertical ports 15 through which the waste gases descend at opposite sides of the said chamber. .lhe passes 1e of these waste iiues are located at each side intermediate the adjacent air and gas iues, the two passes being connected at 141.

16 designates damper briclrs which are adapted to extend through openings in the side walls 2 of the furnace a short distance below the upper ends of the ports 15. rthese damper bricks are arranged to fit somewhat looselyin these openings and can be adjusted therein so as to regulate the draft. They provide means by their eect upon the draft whereby the heat at different portions along the length of the annealing chamber can be regulated as may be desired. any cold air admitted to these points does not directly enter the annealing chamber, but passes down into the waste ues, and therefore does not chill the temperature in said chamber.

It will be noted that all the flues extend in parallel longitudinal relation, being similar in this respect to the furnace of the Swindell patent above referred to. This is a feature of very great importance in practice, since the dividing walls between the several flues are also longitudinally arranged and are thus much less liable to injury in the operation of the furnace. rlhat is tosay, these walls extend in the same direction as the movement of the boxes into and out of the furnace. These boxes and their contents are of great weight and the total load on the furnace floor is frequently very large. ThisY parallel longitudinal arrangement: of these dividing walls provides a supporting base of maximum strength. ln these figures have shown the inlets 12a for the longitudinal air lines 12 as communicating with said fiues centrally of their length, the air spreading and flowing longitudinally in both directions and thence through the ports 13. It will also be noted that by the arrangement of flues described7 l obtain the advantages of preheating the air, which is a feature of the said Swindell patent. These furnaces are kept in a highly heated condition for relatively long periods. The entire base of the furnace, therefore, becomes very highly heated, not only by conduction through the floor of the annealing chamber, but also by conduction through the walls separating the waste fines from the air and gas flues.r The resultis that both the air and Vgas are preheated to a very considerable degreebefore reaching the points of combustion. This e'ects a considerable saving in fuel vandutilizes heat which would otherwise be losteither by conduction through the base of the furnace into the foundation or b v passing ofi through the stack. l have found that .this preheating, through the walls of the waste fines, will take place to a beneficial extent even where these walls are of very considerable thickness owing to the high degree to which the furnace becomes heated in operation.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3, the construction is substantially the same as that just described, but the waste `llues 1T are single pass fines instead of double pass.

ln the modification shown in Fig. 4f, the construction is the same us that shown in Fig. 3, .xcept that instead of a single pass air flue at each side, Yi provide cach air flue with double passes 18 and 15). llhis effects a further preheating of the air. 'lhis forni also differs from Fig. 3 in having a single central gas fine 20 which eonnminicates with the air ports 21 from the air fines 19 by means of the vertical ports 22. ln this form he central wall 8 is not present.

The construction illustrated in Fig. la is similar to that shown in F 4f, but diliiers therefrom in that the ports 2Q are staggered, or alternate, with relation to the ports 21.

ln the construction shown in F ig. 5, Q3 and E23a designate the double pass waste fines similar to those shown in Fig. 1. E24 designates the air fiues and 25 the single central gas flue. Each air flue Q4 has a series of oblique transverse ports ZG leading from its upper portion into a chamber 27 formed by the hollow central wall 9.3. The gas flue 25 has two sets of

vertical ports

29 and 30. rilhe ports lead upwardly at one portion of the wall 28, while the ports 30 lead upwardly at the opposite side of said wall, being shown in dotted liucs in this ligure. The gas and air ports are staggered so that at each side the gas and air ports alternate. rllhe gas escapes from the ports Q9 at the upper edges of the balile walls 31, while the air escapes adjacent to these points through openings 32 in the upper portion of the hollow wall 28.

ln the form shown in Figs. (S and 7, the waste flues 33 are single pass iiues, while the air flues 34 and 3i are double pass flues. 35 is a central gas fiue. ln this form the chamber 36 within the central hollow wall 37 forms an initial combustion chamber with which the passes 34ea of the air flucs communicate by means of the ports 3S and with which the gas fine communicates by vertical ports 39. The products of combustion escape through the side openings L l-O in said central wall. The construction shown in Fig. 3 is similar to that shown in Figs. (i and i', but instead of the air fiues each malring two complete passes. each air flue consists of an inlet portion l-l which extends to about the center of the furnace where it communicates with the main air flue 42 from which the air flows in beth directions.

The specific construction shown in Figs. 5,

rlhe constructions

6 and 7, are the joint invention `of John C. Swindell and myself and form the subject matter of a co-pending joint application. These figures are illustrated and described herein, however, as showing specific embodi-4 ments which the broader invention herein claimed may take.

1t will be noted that all the forms of the invention described possess the advantages of the longitudinal iiue arrangement before described and also to a greater or less extent the advantages of air or air and gas preheating. In all the forms, the combus tion originates at or near the central portion of the furnace, and the products of combustion pass in opposite directions over the annealing boxes toward the outer side walls.

provide for a high degree of uniformity in heating, not onlyas to all the boxes, but as to different `portions of the same box. The waste outlets being at the outer sides of the furnace not only maintain these side walls at a high temperature, but in chilling, action which `thc Walls would exert upon the gases is exerted upon outgoing Waste gases after they have passed the boxes. It will also be noted that either side of the furnace can be worked to a large extent independently of the other side. It frequently happens that a different charac` ter of material is being treated in one side of the furnace than in the other, and requiring either a different temperature, or treatment for a different length of time. In furnaces constructed in accordance with my invention this can be readily done since the heat conditions at the two sides can be sep` arately regulated. v

The invention is subject to other modiiications than those herein described without departing from the spirit and scope' of the appended claims.

While my invention has been more specifically designed for use in annealing furnaces, it is obvious that it is applicable to other heating furnaces.

What l. claim is:

l. A furnace of the character described, comprising a heating chamber or compartment for the articles to be heated, having an inlet port for the heating medium opening into the inner side of said chamber or compartment, and an outlet port for the waste gases leading from the outer side of said chamber or compartment, the base of the furnace below said chamber or compartment having` longitudinally arranged air, gas and waste flues, the waste iiues having portions which are below the outer side portion of the said chamber or compartment, and the gas iue being below the inner side of said chamber or compartment, the air and gas flues having ports which connect the iiues with said inlet port, and the said being connected to the outlet-port being connected to the said was flue; substantially as described.' i

2. A furnace of the. character described, having a `heating :chamber or compartment for the articles havinginlets extending along and opening into its `inner side portion, and also `having outlets extending along 'andopening .from its outer sidey portion, f with a supporting floor for the articles to be heated between the said `inlets and` outlets, the base of the `furnace having longitudinallyarranged air,

gas and waste flues therein, with ports leading from the air and gas flues and communito `be heated, said chamber eating` with said inlets, and other ports comf municating with said outlets and leading to the waste flue; substantially as described.

3'. A furnace of comprising a heating chamber or compartment for the articles tobe heated, having an inlet port for the heating medium opening into the inner side of said chamber or compartment, and an outlet port for the waste gases leading from the outer side of said chamber or compartment, the base of the furnace below said chamber or compartment having longitudinally arranged air, gas and waste lues, the waste lues having portions which are below the outer side portion of the said chamber or col'npa'rtment, and the gas Hue beingbelow the inner side of said chamber or compartment, the air and gas lues having ports which connect the flues with said inlet port, and the said outlet port being connected to the said waste flue, some of said iiues having double passes; substantially as described.

4. `A furnace of the character described, comprising a heating chamber or compartment for the articles inlet port for the heating medium opening intothe inner side of said chamber or compartment, `and anioutlet port for the `waste gases leading from the outer side of said the'character described,

to be heated, having an chamber or compartment, the base of the lfurnace below said chamber or compartment `having longitudinally arranged air, gas and waste iiues, the waste flues having portions which are below the outer side portion of the said chamber or compartment, andthe gas flue being below the inner side of said chamber or compartment, the air and gas iues having ports which connect `the fiues with said inlet port, and the said outlet port said waste flue, some of said lues havingdouble passes in substantially the same horizontal plane; sub-` stantially as described.` i

5. A furnace of the character described, comprising aheating chamber or compartment for the articles to be heated, having an inlet port for "the heating medium `opening into the inner side? of said chamber or compartment, and an outlet port for the Wastegases leading. from the outer side of said chamber or compartment, the base of ,the furnace below said chamber or compartnient having longitudinally arranged air, gas and waste flues, the waste` fines having portions which` are below the outer side portion of the said chamber or compartment, and the gas flue being below the inner side ofsaidA chamber or compartment, the air and gas fines having ports which connect the flues with said inlet port, and the said outlet port being connected to theI said waste flue, together with damper means for the ports which connect the outlet with the waste fines; substantially as-described.

6.*A furnace of` the character described having an annealing chamber provided with waste-port connections adjacent to its outer side walls, andwith twosets of inlet port connections adjacent its center, and also havingmeans for supporting articles to be annealed at each side of the center between the inlet and outlet connections, the base of the furnace below said chamber having longitudinally arranged air and gas flues therein with which the said inlet port connections communicate, and also having a longitudinally arranged waste flue underneath each outer side portion of said chamber with which the waste port connections communicate; substantially as described.

7. A. furnace of the character described 'having its base provided with a longitudinally extending waste flue adjacent each of its opposite sides, said iiues having ports leading into the side portions of the annealing gas flue, air supply and preheating ingy chamber of the' furnace, and said furnace also having means whereby hot products of combustion are caused to pass from the central portion of its annealing chainber toward the opposite side walls thereof,

the base of the furnace having underneath its central portion. a longitudinally extendfines between the gas flue and each of the side Waste fines, and port connections from said lines for bringing air and gas together at the central portion of the furnace; substantially as described.

8. A furnace of the character described having its base formed with a longitudinal waste port adjacent each side thereof, said fines having ports leading upwardly at the side portions of the annealing chamber of the furnace, and said ports having damper means, together with means for the introduction of the heating medium at the central portion of the furnace, the dampers providingmeans for independent regulation of the draft at the two sidesof the furnace; substantially as described.

9. A furnace of the character described having longitudinally extendingv substanigrraase tially parallel gas, air and waste iiues Within its base, the waste flues having portions adjacent the side walls of the furnace and communicating with the side portions of the annealing chamber of the furnace, and the air fines having portions which are adjacent to the waste flues, the said gas and ai r lues having port connections for bringing air and gas together at the central portion of the furnace and said chamber being arranged to` permit of a transverse passage of the products of combustion across said chamber from its central portion to the sides thereof throughout the major portion of its length; substantially.7 as described.

10. A furnace of the character described, having a chamber to receive the material to be heated, said chamber having inlet n'ieans for the heating medium at its central portion and opening directly into said cliamber, outlet means for the products of coinbustion at each side portion of said chainber, said chamber having a supporting surface for the material to be heated between the outlet means at each. side and the central inlet means, and being arranged to permit the products of combustion to flow transversely across it from the center toward the side in both directions throughout the major portion of its length, and thel base of the furnace below the chaml'ier having longitudinally arranged gas and air ilues which are connected to the said inlet means. said base also having longitudinally arranged waste flues which are connected to the said outlets and which has portions which are adjacent to the side walls of the furnace; substantially as described.

1l, A furnace of the character described, having a chamber to receive the material to be heated, said chaml'ier having inlet means for the heating medium at its central portion and opening directly into said chamber, outlet means for the products of combustion at each side portion of said chamber, said chamber having a supporting surface for the material to be heated between the outlet means at each side and the central inlet means` and being arranged to permit the products of combustion to flow transversely across it from the center toward the side in both directions throughout the major portion. of its length. the furnace also having means for supplying preheated air and gas to said inlet means., and having waste flues communicating with the said outlet means; substantiallv as described.

ln testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN ALBERT SVINDLL. Witnesses Guo. H. PAnMnLiin, H. M'. CoRwiN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.