US349755A - simpson - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

L. SIMPSON.

, KI-LN.

, No. 349,755. Patented Sept. 2 8, 1886.

l 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. L. SIMPSON.

(No Model.)

KILNr Patented sept. 28, 1886.

WWK-masas:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LENOX SIMPSON, OF BELLEVUE, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

KILN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Lettr Patent NO. 349,755, dated September 28, 1885.`

Application filed January 27, 1886. Serial No. 189,980. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, LENoX SIMPSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bellevue, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Kilns, of which the following is a clear, full, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to obtain a uniform heat in all portions of the body operated upon.

The particular application of the invention i is to the burning of brick, tile, and other analogous articles, and the result aimed at is a kiln of brick or tile equally burned, and consequently of uniform color throughout. I attain this object by constructing a kiln or furnace provided with a heating-chamber protected from all drafts and air-currents, and having a superposed combustion-chamber, all arranged and operated substantially in the manner hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings, Figurel represents afront elevation of the furnace or kiln; Fig. 2, a longitudinal' section of same, and Fig. 3 a transverse sect-ion.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre-l jected to an excessive heat, (far more than that required for burning) while the brick, &c., at and near the top of the kiln, fromf lack of heat are never properly hardened. Furthermore, the flame and products of combustion in passing upward seek to move in straight lines, and, notwithstanding the means taken for deileciing and diffusing the heat, those portions of the brick which lie between the arches must necessarily receive less heat than those immediately above lthe same. Even where the flames and products of combustion are conducted from external fire-places under the whole of a perforated kiln-floor, the result must in a lesser degree remain the same, for the heat must be greatest at those points nearest the source of supply, and gradually lessen as the distance from same increases.

In the downdraftkiln the flames and produc-ts of combustion, after leavingrthevtops of the supply-fines, move in as nearly as possible straight lines toward the openings in the loor connecting with the stack. f The top brick nearest the tlues will therefore receive the greatest amount of heat, while those brick which lie near the center of the kiln and those near the door will receive less.

In a kiln heated by convection-i. e., a close kiln heated at the bottom-the heated air traverses the kiln in 4curvilinear currents, starting at those points where there is direct application of the tire,proceeding upward, and returning where thedirect application of the heat is least perceptible. The brick therefore will be burned. hardest and darkest immediately above the fire arches, less toward thetop, and least near the bottom between the arches. Finally, it is obvious that whether a draft or current be up or down or circuitous, the heat must always be greatest near those points from which the drafts begin and least at those points where the drafts fail to penetrate. In view of these facts, the desirability of dispensing altogether with drafts or currents suggested itself. The only means of accomplishing this isto apply the heat from above and confine the brick, tile, or analogous material Within a chamber having closed sides and bottom, and protected from the currents necessarily formed in the combustionchamber.

A is the furnace or kiln, whose heating or working chamber a is cut-off from all ingress of air from the sides and bottom. A door or arched opening. Ais provided through which the chamber is filled. This door is hermetically sealed rbefore the fires are lighted.

B is an arched chamber raised a sufficient distance above the level of the top of chamber ato allow ample-room for combustion. The object of this construction is to allow room for the passage of the flames and products of combustion, without said llames, Sto., impinging upon the contents of chamber a.

C are the bridge-walls, from which extend vinwardly the deilectors c. Instead of the de- IOO iiectors c a floor, covering the space between and that occupied by the deflectors, may be used. This iioor would be provided with oblique openings, which, while not preventing the downward transmission of heat through the air, would cut oft' all radiated and reflected heat. The object of the deflectors is to deflect the centrifugal currents toward the center of the arch.

D are two fire-places situated at either end of the kiln, and connected by throats or ues d with the combustion-chamber B.

In the bridge-walls C zigzag air-passages c are formed, which open, on the one hand, into the external air, and, on the other, into the combustion-ch amber B at the top of the bridgewalls. f By the foregoing means a current of hot air is induced and the products of combustion and smoke consumed in chamber B.

E is the flue connecting with the stack.

Dampersf y 71, situated in flues d E, and airpassages cf regulate the heat within the combustionchamber. One or more peep -holes are left in the walls of chamber a, near its top and above the tops of the bricks to be burned,

r as shown at a.

It will be understood that the construction described is susceptible Lof great variation. Thus if gas or oil be used as fuel, the fire-places and air-fines would be dispensed with, and a square combustion-chamber might be substituted for the arched one described.

The essential feature of the invention is a heating or working chamber devoid of drafts or currents and a superposed source of heatsupply.

The operation of the invention is as follows: The brick, tile, or other material to be operated upon having been placed in position within the chamber a, the door of the chamber is closed and sealed and the fires lighted. The fires are kept low until the brick have had time to become thoroughly dry. Afterward the res are increased until the top bricks are of a bright-red heat. It is obvious now that the heated air, being lightest, will remain at t-he top, and that all the air in chamber a will be graduated in temperature from the top to the bottom. A portion of the heat from the top stratum of air will be transmitted to the stratum immediately beneath,and from that to the next lower stratum, and so on until the bottoni is reached. During this transmission the only change which takes place in the air within chamber a is its rarefaction, and this, being from above, cannot create a current. The bridge-walls are of considerable thickness, and, in connection with-the constant flow of air through same p the damper g opened.

prevent any perceptible heat from being trans mitted from the iiues to the heating-chamber. If the fire tends to become too hot, the dampers f 7L are partially closed and, if necessary,

The effect of this is to.

reduce the heat in the combustion-chamber. If the combustionchamber appears to be cooling, "the dampers may be opened wide and the combustion thereby increased. By observing the top brick through the peep-hole and regulating the dampers in the foregoing manner the upper tier of brick may be kept at the desired bright-red heat for an indefinite period. Meanwhile the heat has been slowly transmitted downward from one stratum of air to another, until finally the bottom tier of brick will also attain a bright-red heat. Vhen this point is reached, the whole body of brick will be of a uniform temperature. The fires are now drawn and the brick allowed to cool. As the' cooling begins at the top and proceeds downward, by properly regulating the dampers the process of heating may be exactly reversed. In this' way every brick may be made to hold its heat for an equal time, the top heat ing and cooling first, and the bottom heating and cooling last.

I do not broadly claim the use of an arched combustion-chamber, nor the use of ahotcur* rent of air to complete the combustion, as these features are common to various kinds of furnaces. Nor do I claim, broadly, the application of the heat to the brick from the top of the furnace downward, as this mode of applying the heat is common to all downdraft-kilns; but

What I claim isl. The within-described method of burning brick, tile, or analogous articles, which consist in conning same in a close chamber free from drafts or currents, and heating from the top downward, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a brick-kiln, the air-dues c', arranged inthe side walls, C, between the chamber aand fire-flues d, as and for the purpose described.

3. In a furnace for burning brick, tile, and analogous articles, the combination, with the chambers a and B, of the deflectors c, as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a furnace for burning brick, tile, and analogous articles, the combination, with the chamber a, of the arched com busticuchamber B, the top of said arch being raised above the top of chamber a a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the circle of which the arch forms apart, substantially as and for the purposes described.

5. In a furnace for burning brick, tile, and analogous articles, the combination of the heating-chamber a, the combustion-chamber B, deflectors c, fire-places D, flues d E, and air-passages c. substantially as and for the purposes described.

6. In a brick-kiln, the chamber a, provided with one or more peep-holes at the top, and combined with dampers f g h, arranged as shown, whereby the heat may be regulated by observing the top bricks and operating the dampers, as set forth.

LENOX SIMPSON.

Witnesses;

W. l). THOMAS, JNO. A. KURTZ.

IOC'

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