US286110A - bissell - Google Patents

Description

(N0 Model.) 2 Sheets--SheetA 1.

S. BISSBLL. METALLURGIOAL FURNAGB.

No. 286,110. Patented Oct. 2, 18.83.

N. PETERS. Phew-L wn "gwn, D. C.

(No Model.) u 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

S. BISSELL.

METALLURGIGAL FURNACE.

Patented Oot. '2, 1883.

No. 286,110l

Fife?.

@fr-'Ji NITED STATES PATENT Oiuucno SIMEON BISSELL, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THOMAS BAKEWELL, TRUSTEE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 286,110, dated October 2, 1883. Application filed December l5, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, SIMEON BissELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved llfetallurgical Furnace, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a superior means whereby crude iron may be rapidly melted, purified, andl converted into various grades of steel or brous wroughtiron; and for the accomplishment of my purpose it is better that the furnace should be so constructed as to obtain the greatest amount of heat from a given quantity of fuel, and that such heat should be as free as possible from matter that may act in j nriously upon the iron. To this end I prefer a furnace that is constructed to make and consume gaseous fuel, and is )rovided with one or more regenerators77 applied to receive the waste heat and subsequently communicate the same to the air supporting combustion.

My invention relates, among other things, to a furnace provided with a suitable chamber for producing gaseous fuel by a slow combustion or dry distillation of carbonaceous matter, which gaseous fuel, on being eliminated, is conducted directly into a melting or metal working chamber, mingled with a requisite quantity of air heated to a degree of temperature necessary for bringing about a perfect combustion and generating an intense flame, the

superfluous heat or unused products of combustion passing from thence into and through a regenerator or third chamber filled with openly-arranged fire-brick or other refractory material, eventually escaping by way of the chimney. Heretofore all such regenerators have been constructed rigidly immovable, requiring an intricate system of fines, dampers, valves, and valve-chests to bring about a change in the current of air from a cool regenerator to one containing greater heat, which transfer reverses the direction of the current of air, so that it enters first at one end ofthe furnace and then at the other, which for many purdouble-chambered regenerator, so constructed as to admit of being rotated the requisite distance to bring one of its chambers into that position whereby the air for supporting combustion shall pass through it on its way to the furnace, and the other chamber in such position that the flame and heated products of combustion escaping from the furnace shall go through" it before entering the chimney, and when such chamber becomes intensely hot the regenerator may be turned or rotated till its chambers reciprocally change places with relation to the furnace and the chimney, so that the current of ingoing air is caused to traverse the heated chamber, and the flame through the one which the air previously passed through, and thus the chambers are alternately heated and impart their heat to the air without requiring an alteration in the direction of the current.

The second part of my invention consists in a combination, with the melting or Working chamber 'of a gas-burning regenerative metallurgical furnace, of one or more tuyeres so arranged with respect thereto that a powerful blast of air, either by itself or mingled with other matter, may be forced upon and into a body of molten metal contained within such chamber, which blast, by means of suitable valves, may be regulated, controlled, and adapted to the requirements of making steel, or admitted with a force sufficient to disturb and agitate the molten iron enough for reduc ing it to a condition known as puddle-ball,

thus avoiding physical labor incident to the making of fibrous wrought-iron by the ordinary puddling process.

To enable others to fully understand my invention, l will proceed to describe it by reference to the accompanying drawings, where-` ll1 Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my improved metallurgical furnace; Fig. 2, a central longitudinal vertical section thereof; Fig. 3, a top view, partly in horizontal section, Fi 0. 4, a transverse verticalsection taken through the melting or working chamber and one of its tuyeres, Fig. 5, an end view ofthe regenerator, its shell partly broken away to exhibit the interior.

i Myinvention is applicable to a furnace burn- IOO ing solid fuel but l prefer to apply it to one wherein a gaseous fuel is used, and to'that communicating with the gas-inlet d.

end I erect a gas-producer, c, of suitable size and form, and connect therewith a furnace, b, having..a circular basin, c, and provide the same with the usual port or passage-way, d,

for the gas and outlet e forthewaste products v of combustion, and in addition thereto with a horizontal airway, f, extending from the rear' end of the furnace underneath the basin of the combustion-chamber b into a vertical fine, g,

Back of this furnace, between it and the'chimney h, is

arranged my improved regenerator, the shell of which is constructed of strong iron plates riveted together to form a large dru 11i-shaped vessel, k, througheaeh head of which are two oblong holes, m m. This shell is lined with highly refractory material, and is provided with a strong wall, n, extending from side to side across its axis to form two semicircular chambers, p, each being lled withfire-brick, arranged in open order to leave small interstices between them, arranged in such va manner as to constitute a number of sinuous andv l tation may be brought about by suitable gearing or any means found in practice more effective or expeditious by which a partial or complete rotation may be given. This regenerator is to be arranged with relation to the furnace, so that when working one of the'holes m nearest its axis shall coincide with the exitfiuc c of the combustion-chamber c and the other hole m with the air-passage f underneath. One of the holes m in the opposite end of the regenerator, when brought to that point, will correspond to the flue of the chimney h, while the other hole will be open to the atmosphere. L

The regenerator having been constructed and combined with the furnace, as shown and set forth, and a fire built in the producer or gasretort a, and its walls brought' to a proper heat, fresh coal is to be introduced through the hopper w, and sufficient air admitted to lsustain a slow combustion of the coal, and

thereby generate rich combustible gases, which pass through the gas-channel d and enter the combustion-chamber c at a low heat, mingling with the air entering by way of the vertical passage g, producing a flame that, vafter traversing the combustion-chamber, passes out by the exit-flue into that portion of the regenerator in a position` to receive it, and, after coursing through the sinuous interstices between the bricks, escapes by way of the chimney. As soon as these bricks become highly heated, the regenerator may be revolved to change the relative position of its chambers,

ling air.

melting and working chamber to becomehighly heated. Upon the superfluous products of this violent combustion entering the regenerator, the second pile of bricks are in turn heated, but to agreater degree and sooner than the first, so that by the time those' through which the air is passi ng have somewhat cooled, the second chambermayvbe brought into action and made to do duty in imparting their increased temperature to the ingo- This furnace is provided with a door, ai, that leads into its melting and working chalnber, the basinc of which is circular and preferably saucer-shaped, and through each side thereof is arranged at a downward inclination a water-tuyere, y, located above the molten metal and at right angles to a line drawn through the center of the basin and lengthwise of the furnace, and otherwise so placed that the blast issuing therefrom will take a forced circula-1l direction around the sides of the basin. These tuyeres g/ are provided with the usual inlet, fi, and outlet pipes for supplying them with a running stream of water-and in that respect, outside of the use I make of them, are nowise different from those of ordinary construction. Inserted in each tuyere is the noz- Zle j of a blast-pipe, Z, that is furnished with avalve, q, for admitting and controlling the quantity and force of blast. And, in addition to the air-pipe Z, the nozzles are severally provided with a slnall steam-supply pipe, e, and

valve c, for purposes hereinafter set forth. To lessen or stop the current of heated air passing into the furnace, a sliding damper, o,

is arrangcdin the air-passagef at any conven-v ient-point between the regenerator and the combustion-chamber.

Theseveral parts of my improved metallurgical furnace having been constructed, combined, and arranged with respect to each other as shown and set forth, and the melting or lworking chamber having attained the necessary degree of heat, pig-iron or other character of ferruginous metal to be operated on is to be introduced within the melting-chamber in a quantity sufficient tofmake a charge consistent with the size of the furnace, which meta-l will soon be brought to a molten condition so fluidl as to be readily penetrated by a concentrated strong blast of air directed upon its surface. Vhen the metal is in this condi- I TO.

tion, if a sufficiently strong blast of air be forced through the tuyeres, it will not only penetrate the molten mass, but, owing to their peculiar arrangement thereto, will cause such ticle of the ironwill in a short time be brought under the influence of the flame; and such is the affinity of oxygen for highly-heated carbon that the fullforce of the blast cannot be continued very long before most of the carbon and foreign matter contained within the iron is either dissipated or converted into gaseous oxide that passes away. As this takes place the metal becomes finer by degrees, reduced, as it were, to a state of incoherent sand. Vhen in this condition, if the blast be shut off or lessened and the heat augmented, the particles of metal will begin to agglutinate, and nothing remains but to gather the iron into balls,which are subsequently removed and taken away to undergo the usual operation of squeezing and rolling necessary to condense, shape, and fit it for the market as fibrous wrought-iron.. Vhen low-grade steel is to be the product, the fluid mass of molten metal may be gently or viol cntly stirred by means of either a hot or cold blast, and a small jet of steam may be momentarily admitted, either by itself or withy the blast, which, on coming in contact with the molten iron, will combine with `the sulphur contained therein and form sulphureted-hydrogen gas that escapes on being disengaged, and when at any period ofthe process a smoky or carbonizing flame is desirable, the same maybe had by closing the hot-air passage leading from the regenerator to the combustionchamber. As crude iron contains much more carbon than is found in steel, the blast is principally employed to combine with and eliminate the excess; but asno rule has been established or plan laid down for determining the precise period when the amount of carbon has been removed. from the molten iron to leave it with the exact quantity suitable for steel, it becomes wholly a matter of test and experience, varying greatly with the charac` ter and quality of iron, and for that reason cannot be described or set down with any degree of certainty in this spccication.

It is apparent that when natural gas or gas previously produced and stored in a reservoir y I prefer the construction shown, I claim,

broadly, the combination by which this result may be obtained.

Having thus described my improved metallurgical furnace and the mode of treating iron therein, I claiml. rIhe combination, with a gas-producer and the working-chamber of a furnace, of a revoluble regeiicrator and means of rotating the same, substantially as described.

2. rllhe combination, Vin ametallurgie furnace, of a gas-producer, a metal-working chamber provided with side tuyeres, and a rcvoluble regenerator connected with the producer and working-chamber, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a gas-producer, a metal-working chamber provided with side tuyeres, a regeneratcr and means for rotating it, and connections, as described.

a. rllhe combination ofthe worki ug-chaml'icr of a furnace with a movable regeilerator capa blc of having its chambers shifted to afford. passage for the inflowing air and outflowing products ol.' combustion alternately, substaii` tiallyr as and for the purposes described.

Slt/[EON BISSELL. lVitnesses:

JosIAHi XV. lGLLs, l. C. Pensi-UNG.

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