AMERICAN INDUSTRIES SINCE COLUMBUS. 45 7 



in America was put in operation June 18, 1875, at Rising Fawn 

 Furnace, in Dade County, Ga. The particular construction there 

 used was that invented in England by Thomas Whitwell. Its 

 general idea involved a cylindrical air-tight chamber of boiler 

 iron lined with fire-brick ; this chamber was traversed by a num- 

 ber of vertical parallel walls or dia- 

 phragms, also of fire-brick. The 

 operation of this stove was as fol- 

 lows, viz. : The whole interior was 

 heated to a very high temperature 

 by means of the waste gas of the 

 furnace which passed through the 

 stove in the spaces between the fire- 

 brick diaphragms. As soon as the 

 stove was sufficiently heated the gas 

 was turned off, and the blast was 

 forced through the stove ; and, as it 

 traversed the spaces between the fire- 

 brick walls on its way to the fur- 

 nace, it absorbed heat from them 

 and consequently reduced their tem- 

 perature. This alternate heating and 

 cooling of the stove, by the passage 

 for a certain time, first of ignited 

 gas, and then by the air to be heated, 

 could be so regulated by suitable 

 valves that a temperature of blast 

 could be attained much higher than 

 was possible in an iron-pipe stove. 

 In order to insure regularity of work- 

 ing and uniformity of heat, it is usu- 

 al to have at least three (some fur- 

 naces have four, and in Europe five 

 have been used) such stoves to each 

 furnace. 



Besides the Whitwell stove, there are at present a number of 

 others of the second type in use, whose details differ somewhat, 

 but they all have an air-tight chamber lined with fire-brick, as 

 a common constructive feature ; this chamber is filled with par- 

 titions, blocks, tubes, and perforated or loose brick, in a great 

 variety of ways, for each of which is claimed peculiar merit by 

 its inventor ; but it is quite evident that the design of some of 

 these stoves was inspired by the desire to avoid the consequences 

 of infringing existing patents on tweedle-dum by constructing 

 tweedle-dee. 



A good idea of the internal arrangement of a Siemens-Cow- 



Fig. 36.- 



Transverse Section of the 

 Player Stove. 



