US41788A - Improved regenerator-furnace - Google Patents

Description

. iINITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IIVIPROVED REGENERATOR-FURNACE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4l ,788, dated March 1,1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES WILLIAM SIEMENS and FREDERICK SIEMENS, residents of Great George Street, Westminster, in or near the city of London, of the Kingdom of Great Britain, have made a new and useful inyention having reference to furnaces of various kinds; and we do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l is a top view, Fig. 2 a longitudinal section, Fig. 3 a transverse section, Fig. 4 a rear elevation, and Fig. 5 a front elevation, of a puddling-furnace with our said invention applied to it. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section taken through the air-valves and passages of the two outermost or air regenerators, to be hereinafter described. Fig. 7 is a transverse section taken through one of the outermost regenerators.

The object of our invention is not only to economise heat or to save and utilize much of it that is generally wasted by being allowed to escape into and through the chimney of a furnace, but to produce heat by the combustion of gases and atmospheric air in mixture, the gases being derived from coal 0r other fuel by a furnace such as we shall hereinafter eX- plain, or by any other Suitable means or appa-L ratus.

In carrying out our invention in its application to a furnace for puddling iron or for any other purpose where the furnace is to be heated to a highdegree, we arrange four of what we term the regenerators below the level of the bed of the furnace, and when all or any of them may be placed immediately underneath the furnace, we form underneath the latter a space for the circulation of cold air, the top of the regenerator or regenerators,

y which may be immediately underneath such space,being duly covered. Passages lead from the upper part of two of these regenerators into the furnace or into a channel or passage communicating with one end thereof. Similar passages lead from the two remaining regenerators and in a similar manner communicate with the opposite end ofthe furnace. The lower parts of the four regenerators have passages leading into them respectively.

To one of they regenerators of each pair, at either end o f the furnace, the passage leading into its lower part is to open into the atmosphere, so as to supply the regenerator with atmospheric air. The passage leading into the lower part of the other regenerator of the pair is a gas-conduit for supplying its regenerator with gas. The several passages communicate with a ue or chimney, and have valves and reversing-y dampers, by means of which currents of air and combustible gas or gases may be directed through the furnace and the whole system of regenerators, in the following Inanner: A current of air is to be caused to flow into the lower part and up through o ne of the regenerators of one of the two pairs of them. At the same time a current of gas is to be made to flow into the lower part of the other regenerator of Such pair. After ascending through their regenerators or between the bricks of the mass of loosely-piled brick-work or other refractory material making part of Such regenerator, the said aerial and gaseous currents unite and ilow into the furnace where they are to be red. The heated volatile products or spent gases resulting from the combustion of the said currents of air and gas will ow out of the furnace and into and down through the two remaining generators, and after circulating through the masses of brick-work or refractory material of which such regenerators are composed in part the said spent products will be directed into and will escape by the chimney. Vhen the last two regenerators may have been sufficiently heated, the direction of the aerial and gaseous currents is to be reversed-that is to say, the currents of air and gas are to be caused to enter thetwo lastmentioned regenerators separately-that is to say, air is to pass into one and gas into the other. In ascending through the regenerators, the air and gas will be heated or will absorb from the masses of brick-work much of the heat previouslyimparted to them, after which the two currents will unite and flow into the furnace, and there will be inflamed and will produce a flame of very great intensity or heat. -The spent products of combustion will flow out of the furnace and thence down through the remaining two regenerators, and, after imparting their heat to them or having gas to the regenerators.

it more or less abstracted by them, will be directed into and caused to escape by the chimney. The s'upplying aerial and gaseous currents are thus to be thrown through the pairs of regenerators alternately, their combustible products escaping through .the dischargingpair and servingto heat them, while they in turn serve to heat the aerial and gaseous currents when caused to flow through them. V

Before proceeding to more fully describe our invention,we will explain a gasfgenerator such as may be employed in connection there with, the said generator being shown in vertical section in Fig. S. One or more of these generators may be used in connection with a conduit or conduits for the conveyance of the ln this gas-generator O is a hopper or induct, into and through which the coal and fuel are to be introduced, the said hopper being closed by means of a cover, a, after it may have received a supply of fuel. From the hopper the fuel descends .an inclined plane, I), composed of fire-brick 'or other proper refractory or heating-resist ing material, it being inclined at an angle of about forty-five degrees to the horizon. From thence the fuel passes upon a firegrate, Q, having a less inclination. Over this grate, but at a su'liicient height from the same to allow a deep layer of fuel to intervene, there is an arch, lt, of firebrick.` This arch, after having been heated to a considerable degree by the fire on the grate, will radiate heat on the fresh fuel while it may be passing down the plane l, and thus will aid in causing the decomposition and volatilization of the fuel, which will be afterward completed by the fire in the furnace and by the atmospheric air which may enter through the grate Q. The air, on passing through the highly-heated fuel lying upon the grate, will be decomposed into carbonicacid gas with a certain proportion of nitrogen. Afterward, on passing up through the thick layer of fuel in a less state of combustion or incandcscence, it will become transformed into carbonio oxide, and in this state will pass over. the surface ofthe fuel resting on the plane l?, where itwill mix with the gases evolved from the same, and finally escape by the passage S and into the vertical pipe T, leading into the conduit U, by which it will be conveyed to the regenerators.

The aperture V atthe top of the generator is to enable a person to introduce a poker into the fuel for the purpose of stirring it from time to time. A valve,w,in the pipe T answers to close the latter as occasion may require.V By means of a pipe, k, leading into a conductor, @',watermay be led into the generator in asmall stream. This small current of water, falling on the fuel, becomes vaporized. i The vapor, acting on any hot particles of carbon rising up with the gases, will combine with the same and form two combustible gases-viz., carbonic `oxide and hydrogen.

Te do not confine our invention to the einployment of this specific form or kind of gasgenerator, as there may be others which may be employed to good advantage, the whole depending on circumstances. Bymeans of the gas-generator, or, in other words, by decomposing the solid fuel-such as coal, lignite, peat, &c.by means of a separate apparatus, we not only avoid the introduction of such fuel into thefurnace, but we are enabled to heat the gas to a high degree, and to mix it with heated air preparatory to its being conducted into the furnace er place designed for it-s eo1ubustion and to be heated thereby. absence of any solid carbon or ashes in the working-chamber of the furnace operations may be carried on in an open furnace, which hitherto it has only been possible to conduct in covered vessels or pots. Thus we can melt flint, extra white, and other superior qualities of glass in open pots, fire-pottery without inclosing the same in saggers, or melt steel and other substances upon an open bed or hearth without injury.

It is also important in many operations that the state of pressure of the gases in the furnace should be under entire control,and should sometimes exceed and at other times exactly balance that of the atmosphere, in order to prevent the egress of flame from or the ingress of air into the furnace on opening apertures for the approach of the workmen attending the operation to be carried on, such as blowing glass or puddling iron. For this purpose we arrange with the furnace four regenerators, as hereinafter described, and to operate as before specified. In some cases, however, where no great heat may be required, or where the gas may be very rich in combustible matter, the two regenerators intended for heating the combustible gases may be suppressed, and mere passages substituted; but we generally prefer the employment of the four regenerators.

In applying our improvements to glass-fu rnaces we find it sometimes advantageous to melt the materials composing the glass in open pots, and to cover the latter with movable lids while working the metal out in the usual way. Vhen it is required to accomplish secondary operations in separate furnaces-for instance, to heat annealing-furnaces or lears in the manufacture of glass-we' accomplish this without providing separate regenerators, but by arranging branch channels leading from the upper portion of the four regenerators to the lear or furnace to be heated where they ljoin in combustion. Dampers of fire-clay or other refractory material are to be provided in that case to these channels to regulate the flow of the gases according to the direction in which the main furnace may be working; or we draw off the mixed gases in a state of combustion from the principal furnace. In ring" potteryware, in calcining ores, and other operations it is required that the furnace charged with these material, after having been heated to the de sired degree, should cool gradually and completely before it is charged again. In such cases we propose to provide similar furnaces By the side by side and only one set of four regenerators, which, by means of slides or valves of fire-clay or other proper refractory material, can be made to communicate at intervals with one heated furnace or the other. During the time that one furnace is fired the other is to be allowed to cool to be discharged and charged again with fresh material, and vice versa. The

regenerators may thus always be kept in Working condition; or we arrange four or more chambers in such way that they themselves may contain the materials to be fred,and serve alternately as regenerators and as kilns to be red or discharged.

In the drawings, Figs. l, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, A is the furnace, of which a is the bed, and b the crown or arch, and c the mouth. Beneath the bed of the furnace are the four regenerators B B2 B3 B4, each consisting in part of a chamber erected of f1re-brick or other suitable material, and having a grating, c, extending across its lower part and constituting part of the upper portion of an arched pas sage, H, I, K, or L, arranged underneath such chamber. Upon this grating is a pile, d, of fire-bricks or other heat-absorbing and indestructible materials, the same being arranged or stacked in such manner as to leave interstices or spaces between them, so as to enable the air or gas, while passing through the pile, to come in contact with the surfaces of the several parts or bricks thereof. Each of the said regenerators is arched or closed over at its top, and opens into the furnace by a passage, e, leading out of it and into a common passage, f or f, as shown in `the drawings. The two passages fflead out of the furnaceA in opposite directions and from opposite ends thereof.

Directly underneath the bed of the furnace A, and between it and the tops of the two inner regenerators B2 and B3, there is an air chamber or space, C, which should communicate freely at its opposite sides or ends vwith the at; mosphere, in order that a current of cool air may be caused to continually pass through it for the purpose of maintaining the b ed of the furnace, as well as thearches of the regenerators B2 B3, at a low temperature, and thus protect them from being destroyed by the intense heat within the furnace and regenerators while they may be in operation.

In rear of the upper parts of the regenerators, and below the furnace, there is an air space or chamber, D, which at intervals is bridged, as shown at g g g. There is also below the space D a sunken space or chamber, E, in which are situated the levers for working the dampers of the apparatus. of the space E there is a passage, F, (see Fig. 6,) which continues horizontally in opposite directions, and thence drops downward, and at its two extremities opens respectively into the two passages I-I and L, which extend underneath the two outermost regenerators. Each of these passages H I K L is to be closed at both of its ends, but the two middle passages, I K, are shown in Fig. 4 as open at their In front rear ends. These middle passages, however, with vertical continuations of them leading into a horizontal passage, N, are, as well as the'said passage N, to be walled up or covered in rear. The same may be said with respect to a gas tube or passage, O', which is to lead from the generator and into the passage N, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Between the two passages I K there is a smoke-flue, P, into the rear part of which there is an opening, Q, leading from the passage F, or a damper-case, B, arranged vertically therein, and having a damper, S, arranged within it, and so as to be capable of being turned by a lever, h. There is vanother such damper-case, T', applied in the passage N and opening at its opposite sides into such passage, and also at its top into the generater-conduit or gas-flue O. Within the case F there is a damper, U, capable of being turned by a lever, z'. Situated over each of the damper-cases there is a valveopen' ing, V `or W', provided with a valve, X or Y, the whole being arranged as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

By means of the damper U gas from the passage O may be led into either of the passages I K, it being cut off from passing into one while it may bepassing into the other. So, by means of the damper S, air may be caused to iiow, ad Zibitum, into either of the passages H L, it being cut off from one while it may be passing into the other. The valve Y will serve to arrest the flowage of air into the passage F. So with the valve K, it will answer to close off the passage of gas into the damper-case immediately underneath it. Y

The operation of the said apparatus having been hereinbefore substantially` described, we now proceed to point out what we claim as our invention-that is to say:

l. In combination with a furnace, A, and

its chimney or smoke-discharge flue'P, a system or series of air and gas regenerators, B

B2 B3 B4, constructed substantially as specifled, and having conduits and dampers arranged so that air and gas may be led into .and through such regenerators and furnace and out of the chimney, in manner and s0 as to be operated as and for the purpose or purposes hereinbefore described.

2. The arrangement and combination of the air-space or open chamber C with the furnace and its system of regenerators, arranged and applied together substantially in manner and so as to operate as described.

8. The arrangement and combination of the air chamber or space D, or the same and the space E, with the furnace, regenerators, conduits, and damper-chests applied thereto, the whole being substantially as ,specied CHARLES WILLIAM 'SIEMELv S. FREDERICK SIEMENS. Witnesses:

Roer. LrNKsoN, G. A. BRYANT, .Y

Both of No. 2 Papes Head Aller, London, gentlemcn.

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