US741494A - Annealing glass sheets or plates. - Google Patents

Description

No. 741,494. PATENTED 00T. 13, 1903.

` H. K. HITCHCOCK. l ANNEALING GLASS SHEETS 0R PLATES.`

APPLICATION 'FILED JULY 30. 1.902. y im MbDEL. z SHEETS-SHEET l1.

INVENTOR v mL/KJ WITNESSES.: 56M @au No. 741,494.- PATBNTED UGT. 13, 190s.

H.K.H1TGHG00K,

ANNEALING .GLASS SHEETS 0R PLATES. APPLICATION FILED JULY so. 1902.

UNITED STATES Patented October 13, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

AANNEALING GLASSSHEETS OR PLATES.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 741,494, dated October 13, 1903.

' Application filed .Tuly 30, 1902. Serial No. 117,639. (No specimens.) Y

{Il} all whom t may concern: i

Be it known that I, HA'LBERT K. HITGH-, COOK, a citizen of the United States, residingf at Walton, in the county of Allegheny and? State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Im provements l in Annealing Glass Sheets or Plates, of which improvements the following is a specitication.

It has been found in annealing sheets or plates of glass that the edges cool more rapidly than other parts and that the contraction of the edges will-produce wave-like surfaces, thereby necessitating long-continued grinding to produce even plane surfaces.

The object of the invention described herein is to provide for a substantially uniformv cooling and contraction.

` erators.

The invention is hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan View of affurnace adapted to the practice of my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional elevations on planes indicated by the lines II II and III III, Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a View in the nature of a diagram illustrative of my invention.

In the practice of my invention the-annealing lear or kiln is provided with suitable means whereby the loss of heat byradiation from dierent portions of the sheet or plate in the kiln can be controlled. A convenient manner for effecting such controlV is shown in the drawings and consists in providing suitablemeans for applying a regulated heat to dierent portions of the compartments 1 of the leer or kiln. This application of heat can be effected by providing heating-chambers 2, 3, and 4. outside of the walls proper of the compartments. The chambers are provided with suitable outlets, so thatthere may be a 'circulation of the heat through such chambers, and it is preferred that each heatingchamber should have independent heat-genehambers 2 under the floors of the annealing-compartments are connected by lfines 5 5o with a stack 6, and burners 7 from the supplypipes 8 extend up into said chambers. These burners are preferably arranged in or approxi- As shown in the drawings, the.

with the top chambers-4, which are provided with outlet-dues 9. Burners 10 extend fromthe supply-pipes 8 into the side chambers 3- near their lower portions,and the heat therefrom flows up into the top chambers. As the initial or charging compartment has heatingchambers on three sides only and the other compartments on only two sides, (said heating-chambers being arranged in the outer walls of said compartments,) portions of the upper chambers might not be sufficiently heated from ythe side chambers. Uniform heating of the top chambers is attained by means of burners 11, extending into the portions of .the top chambers not in the line of flow of heat from the side chambers.

The curtain-walls 13, separating the compartments, are made hollow, as shown, and connect at thev ends with the side chambers 3, so that said walls will receive some heat from the side chambers.

It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that other means ymay b e employed for maintaining any desired heat in any portion of each compartment, and hence the broader claims are not limited to any specific means for applying heat to the sheetsor plates in the leer or kiln.

It is characteristic of my improvement that by the proper regulation of the heating devices the cooling down, and consequent con-v traction, of the sheets or plates can be made uniform throughout, thus avoiding any distortion' of parts by the prior cooling and contraction of other parts. It will be understood that each compartment is maintained at a lower temperature than the preceding compartment. If the edges of the sheet or plate are too cool when charged into the leer, such edges may be heated up by increasing the heat in the bottom and side chambers.

In Fig. 4 is shown a portion of a plate of glass. As the portion of the plate outside of the line a c, having a radiating-surface represented by the line a b c, will contain less heat units than the portion between the lines a c and d c, the radiating-surface of such por- IOO tion being represented by the line a d and equal to the surface ct b c, it follows that the latter portion Will cool more slowly than the edge portion ct I) c. Hence to prevent the more rapid cooling of the edge portion the radiation therefrom is reduced or checked by the propel' regulation of the heat-generators, as described. In case the edges have become comparatively cool before the sheet or plate is stowed in the kiln or leer, by increasing the heat at the edges of the sheet or plate they may be rendered sufiiciently plastic to allow the Wrinkles or Waves in the body portion to fiatten out.

While I have shown and described with some particularity an apparatus adapted to the practice of my invention, the claims herein are not limited to the employment of suc-h specific forni of apparatus, which forms no part of the subject-matter of this application.

I claim herein as my invention- I. An improvement in the art of annealing sheets or plates of glass, which consists in bringing all portions of the sheet or plate to a uniform or approximately uniform temperature and then so regulating the radiation of heat units that the cooling of the sheet or plate shall be equal in all parts, substantially as set forth.

2. As an improvement in the art of annealing sheets or plates of glass, the method herein described which consists in so regulating the radiation and consequent cooling of the edges of the sheets of glass that the contraction along such edges will be approximately simultaneous and uniform with the con traction of other portions, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

HALBERF K. HITCHCOCK.

Witnesses:

.DARWIN S. WoLooT'r, F. E. GAITHER.

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