US64353A - Eugene william nohl - Google Patents

Description

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EUGENE WILLIAM NOHL, OF RIPON, WISCONSIN.

Letters Patent No. 64,353, dated April 30, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT INMANUFAGTURING METALS, GLASS, AND POTTERY.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, EUGENE WILLIAM NOHL, of Ripon, in the county of Fond du Lac, and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the h/Iannfaeture of Metals, Glass, and Pottery; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. Y

My invention relates to the employment of gas as fuel, instead of coal or other solid fuel, for manufacturing iron and other metals from ore.

The chief objects of my improvement are the economy of fuel, the complete control of the heat and the amount of fuel consumed, and of the amount of ore fed into the furnace, in order to speedily fuse successive portions of ore, and remove the metal without burning the same, thus producing a greater amount and a better quality of iron or other metal.

My invention consists in the conversion of the coal or other sol'd fuel into combustible gas by the aid of a blast in the gas generator, and then bringing the hot gas directly into the furnace, and burning the same, connection with a blast of air, the flame being directed upon the ore in the manner of a compound blow-pipe on a large scale.

In the application of my invention, it may be necessary to modify, in some degree, the apparatus hitherto employed in the manufacture of metals from their o'res'; but I do not limit my improvement to any particular construction of apparatus, so long as the operation is substantially thesame. Thegas generator and the furn-ace proper should be in close proximity, yet separated by a due, andeach should be provided with a separate air-blast, to enable the operator to control the amount of gas generated in a given time, and also to control the rapidity of the combustion of the gas in the furnace. Arrangements should also be made to feed the ore regularly into the furnace, at a rate corresponding to the heat and the progress of the reduction of the ore already under fire. And the bed or floor of the furnace should be inclined, so that the fused metal may readily flow away from the hottest part of the tire, and then be drawn from the furnace without interrupting the blast or checking the heat upon the central mass of ore already glowing, yet not sufficiently heated for fusion. I also prefer to introduce the blast upon opposite sides of the gas generator and of the furnace. The apparatus for accomplishing these different purposes may be arranged in any well-known or suitable manner without depart-g ing from my invention.

The operation is as-follows: At the commencement of the blast a portion of ore is placed in the furnace without the usual admixture with coal or other solid fuel. Then a current of gas from the gas generator is brought into the furnace and burned, in connection with a blastof air, the flames being directed upon the mass of ore, in the manner of a compound bl0w-pipe,'on a large scale. Under this concentrated heat the ore is quickly fused, and the metal immediately flows away before the same is burned or overheated. As the pile of ore under fire sinks away, a continuous supply of fresh ore is fed steadily into the furnace in such manner as not to materially interrupt the glowing heat of the central mass of ore where fusion has taken place or is about to commence. The metal is drawn 013' from the furnace and cooled without being kept long in a fused state, thus preventing injury from overheating, and also preventing loss by oxidation. I prefer introducing the currents of gas and of air on opposite sides of the furnace, and not at the bottom or under the pile of ore, and to have the escape tines pass under the bed of the furnace instead of rising directly from the top of the furnace.

My new method of reducing ores, above described, has been put into practice upon a large scale, and thus thoroughly tested. The chief advantages are:

1. Economy of fuel, the ordinary waste from the chimney-top being avoided by the use of gas and the complete consumption of the same, and the fusion of the ore and-production of the metal being sooner accomplished.

2. The metal produced is larger in quantity and better in quality than that obtained in the old methods. 3. There is little liability of chilling the blast or burning the'metal, and the furnace can be cleaned, or the blast suspended on the Sabbath, with little trouble or expense.

This process is very important in the manufacture of iron, and it is also applicable to other ores an metals, and to glass and pottery.

I am aware that the waste heat and accompanying gases have been conducted into furnaces, and such combustible gases therein burned, in connection with solid fuel and a blast of air; and also that coal has been converted into gas, and the latter brought into a furnace and burned without a blast of air; but I believe my method of manufacturing metals, glass, pottery, and other articles, is new and an improvement.

Having thus fully described my invention- I claim the manufacture of metals from the ore, without the usual mixture with the latter, of coal or other solid fuel, by means of the combustion of gas generated for the purpose, and brought directly into the furnace, and burned, in combination with ablast of air, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

EUGENE WILLIAM NOHL.

Witnesses:

WALTER S. SANDS, N. H. STEVENSON.