86 THE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF 



reversal of currents through the regenerators. The new plan of a 

 separate gas producer has now been successfully earned out in 

 practice, and there are already a considerable number of the 

 regenerative gas furnaces in satisfactory operation in this country 

 and on the continent, applied to glasshouses, iron furnaces, &c. 

 In the neighbourhood of Birmingham, at Messrs. Lloyd and 

 Summerfield's Glass Works, a flint glass furnace constructed upon 

 this plan has now been in continuous operation for nearly twelve 

 months, and affords a good opportunity for ascertaining the con- 

 sumption of fuel of the regenerative furnace as compared with the 

 previous furnace performing the same work. At the Glass Works 

 of Messrs. Chance Brothers and Co. near Birmingham, the regene- 

 rative gas furnace has been under trial for the same length of 

 time, and has latterly been adopted for the various purposes in 

 crown and sheet glass making upon a very large scale. Messrs. 

 James Russell and Sons, Crown Tube Works, Wednesbury, are also 

 applying the furnace to the delicate operation of welding iron 

 tubes, and in a short time will probably employ no solid fuel for 

 any furnaces at their works. Another flint glass furnace erected 

 by Messrs. Osier in Birmingham, and several puddling furnaces 

 erected by Messrs. Gibbs Brothers at Deepfields, and by Mr. 

 Richard Smith at the Round Oak Iron Works, are amongst the 

 latest applications of the regenerative gas furnace, the designs 

 having in all cases been furnished by the writer and carried out 

 under his brother's immediate superintendence. 



The gas producer is shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, Plates 7 and 8 : 

 Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, Fig. 2 a front elevation and 

 transverse section at the front, and Fig. 3 a transverse section at 

 the back. The producers are entirely separate from the furnace 

 where the heat is required, and are made sufficient in number and 

 capacity to supply several furnaces. The fuel, which may be of 

 the poorest description, such as slack, coke dust, lignite, or peat, 

 is supplied at intervals of from 6 to 8 hours through the covered 

 holes A, Figs. 1 and 2, and descends gradually on the inclined 

 plane B, which is set at an inclination of from 45 to 60 accord- 

 ing to the nature of the fuel used. The upper portion of the 

 incline B is made solid, being formed of iron plates covered with 

 firebrick ; but the lower portion C is an open grate formed of 

 horizontal flat steps. At the foot of the grate C is a covered 





