1846.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



383 



other ImnJ, should the furnace be woikin? sliis!;ishly, the quantity of air 

 over the fire should be increased ; by the application of the Kyraer and 

 Leighton's water grate, the fire bars of the furnace are preserred. 



Fig. 6 represents a blast furnace, with a double hopper, a, the slides of 

 vriiich, b, are worked by gear from the handles c, on tlie top of the furnace ; 

 the furnace is charged by the furnace man opening the top slide and tilling 

 the hopper, which, when closed, and the lower one being opened, the 

 diari'e descends into the furnace. (/, suction pipe from furnace connected 

 to the exhausting engine, by which is worked the furnace, instead of blow- 

 ing or forcing air into furnaces at a greater pressure than the atninsphere, 

 by which means is obtained a more perfect distribution and circulation of 

 Bir through the red hot mass of materials in the body of the furnace with 

 a smaller exertion of power ; the uncousumed gases drawn otT from the 

 furnace may be profitably applied to various purposes connected with the 

 manufacture of iron ; either hot or cold blast may be used with this as well 

 as the system at present adcipted ; if the former, the air may be heated by 

 the plan already described, ur otherwise. It is well known iron is fre- 

 quently much injured by the presence of sulphur in the materials in the 

 blast furnace (of which the fuel contains the largest portion), at the point 

 of fusion this enters into combination with the iron. The object tl'.erefore 

 for that purpose, is to apply an injection of steam and distribute it through 

 the mass of materials in the furnace, above the point where any fusion 

 takes place, at the upper part or above the boshes of the furnace. 



Fig. 7 represents a puddling furnace, with one of Kymer and Leighton's 

 patent water grates (tig. 2 is one of the water troughs and a bar, in 

 large section) ; a hearth of furnace ; b patent water furnace ; c double fire 

 door; d air pipe through which the air it blown from a blowing machine 

 between the plates of the tire door, and distributed over the furnace com- 

 bining with the gases of the furnace, more particularly produced from 

 the decomposition of the water, and producing an intensely hot flame ; 

 e ash pit, with closed door g, and air valve/, for regulating the supply of 

 air from the blast pipe through the fire. In commencing the operation of 

 puddling, it is preferred to introduce a portion of some carbonaceous sub- 

 stance mixed with the iron. 



The sixth part of the improvementjs has for its object the preparation of 

 what the patentee calls a cinder, to be used in the puddling furnace, when 

 puddling iron and also when piling iron, or iron and steel, in order to facili- 

 tate and improve the welding of these matters. In preparing this cinder, 

 take Cumberland ore, or oxide of iron, such as hammer scale from the 

 iron forge, and charge the same into a cupola or other blast furnace, with 

 the slack of anthracite coal er other suitable fuel, and cause the same to 

 be melted by the blast, and tap the furnace from time to time, and allow 

 the melted cinder to run out and become cold, or it may be used by being 

 conveyed at once to the puddling furnace. In charging the furuace, the 

 Cumberland ore or other rich oxide of iron is first mixed with a like 

 quanlity of the slack or culm of anthracite coal, and the charge is con- 

 tinued as it descends into the furnace. The cinder for puddling is to be 

 broken into small lumps ; and when the iron has been brought to the me- 

 tallic state iu the puddling furnace, is to be stirred in about 21' per cent, by 

 weight of the cinder to the iron in the furnace, and then the bailing process 

 is to be completed as usual. In using the cinder when piling iron, or iron 

 and steel, the cinder is reduced to powder, and dusted over and amongst 

 the surfaces to be welded, by whicli the process will be facilitated and im- 

 pioved. 



The seventh part of the invention consists of a mode of calcining iron 

 ore, by combining the use of furnaces with heaps of ore, in place of 

 combining the ore and fuel in heaps and igniting the whole mass. Fig. 8 

 shows a section of a furnace and a heap of ore ; and fig. 9 a front view 

 thereof. The furnace is so arranged that a blast of air may be applied 

 below the fire bars as well as over the ignited fuel above, the ashpit being 

 closed. The flame and products of combustion are thus forced through 

 the heap of ore, and the same becomes calcined by the passage of the pro- 

 ducts from the furnace. 



The eighth part of the invention relates to a mode of constructing fur- 

 naces for heating or re-heating iron, and the improvements consist of so 

 forming a reverberatory furnace, Ihit, in place of the flame and heat pass- 

 ing off at the end of the furnace, it is caused to descend through the bed 

 of the furnace, which is made open for that purpose. Fig. 10 represents 

 a section of the furnace. The general construction is similar to an ordinary 

 reverberatory furnace, and is provided with a passage at the end into the 

 ctininey, for the purpose, when first lighting the fire, to get up the heat to 

 allow the working to take place in the same way as if it were an ordinary 

 reverberatory furuace ; but on the slide being closed, the bottom of the 

 furuace is so openly formed, that the heat and flame pass through the bed 

 into the chimney. The bottom of the furnace is preferred to be constructed 

 of a series of brick arches, «, leaving a space of about two inches between 

 the neighbouring arches, or, instead of the brick arches, a water grate may 

 be used as the hearth ; and to facilitate the draft of the chimney, a steam 

 jet is applied at b, or other convenient means may be used. In working 

 with this furnace, the bottom is covered with coal or coke of such size, 

 that it will not pass through, and on such bed is placed the iron to be 

 heated. By such construction of furuace it will be found that the reheat- 

 ing of iron will be facilitated and the cost reduced. 



STEAM ENGINE CONDENSERS. 



Thomas Howard, of King and Queen Iron Works, Rotherhithe, Surrey, 

 engineer, for " Imprnrcments in stmm enzi'ie cmilenserH." — Grauteil March 

 25 ; Enrolled September 25, 1846. (With Engranings, Plate XIX.) 



This invention applies to such condensing steam-engines as have their 

 boilers supplied with water of condensation, and wherein the steam is 

 condensed by iiijeciing water properly cooled down. .V tank o, is placed 

 in any cimvenient situation, and supplied with cold water by pumps or 

 otherwise at 6, and which having its course governed by plates c, c, within 

 the tank, escapes at (/, as further shown by the arrows. The ends of the 

 tank are closed by plates which are recommended to be of brass, c, e, 

 pierced with holes, in »\hich are secured, water tight, the ends of tubes of 

 copper or oth'r appropriate metal, /, /, /, a section of one row iu height 

 only being shown in the drawing, but which extend ihrough the breadth 

 of the tank. Bonnets i,', g, are fixed over the plates and open ends of the 

 tubes, (and so as to be removeable if access tie required to the tubes,) and 

 are divitled into compartments, whicli in either bonnet alternate in position 

 with those in the opposite one at the other end of the tubes, as shown in 

 the drawing. A nozzle, A, on one bonnet is connected by a pipe or other- 

 wise with the hot cistern, and a nozzle i, on the other is connected with the 

 injection cock of the steam-engine. Within the nozzle A, is a plate h', 

 perforated with small holes. A quantity of water being introduced into 

 the hot cistern (by first starting the engine with the ordinary injection, 

 which it is recommended to be attached or o'herwise) sulHcient to till the 

 tubes, and properly effect the circulation, the injection cock connected with 

 the nozzle, at i, is opened, when the warm water iu the hot cistern will 

 pass by the atmospheric pressure through the opposite nozzle at k, and to 

 and fro along each series of tubes determined by the divisions in each bon- 

 net (and as shown by small arrows), and will be reduced to nearly the 

 same temperature as the external water, supplied at b, and wUI, afier pass- 

 ing through the nozzle i. and eflecting the condensation by its injection, be 

 withdrawn by the air-pump of the engine in the ordinary way into the hot 

 cistern, from whence it will again circulate, through the tubes, being cooled 

 and reinjected continually, as before described. Any waste which takes 

 place is made good by the ordinary injection, wiiich the inventor prefers to 

 the use of stills; but the latter maybe employed upon any ordinary plaa 

 if required. He does not confine himself to the precise arrangements here- 

 inbefore described. 



The injeciion water and the external refrigerating water may be made to 

 change positions, the former to pass without and the latter within the tubes, 

 'i'he cold water may be supplied by any known means. It is recom- 

 mended that the refrigerating surface be about ten square feet per nominal 

 horse power, when the steam is so employed as to leave the cylinder of the 

 engines at 10 lb. per square inch pressure, irrespective of tlie atmosphere, 

 and be more or less accordingly, and that the supply of external or cold 

 water be not less than twice the quantity of the injection water. 



The inventor states that patents were granted to him, dated 13th October 

 1825, and 30th November, 1S32, in both of which was included a process 

 of condensation by the reinjection of the same water or other liquid, which 

 he does not hereby claim. 



But he claims the so arranging apparatus, that the water for condensa- 

 tion shall be subdivided into many streams in its progress to be cooled and 

 used as injection water, as herein described. 



RAILWAY LIFTING APPARATUS. 



Thomas Pope, of Kidbroke, Kent, gentleman, for " Improvements in 

 apparatus for moving railicaij carriages on to railways, and in machinery for 

 lifting and moving heavy bodies." — Granted March 25 ; Enrolled Septem- 

 ber 25, 1840. With Engravings, Plate XIX. 



The invention relates firstly, to an apparatus for moving railway carriages 

 on to or from a line of railway in case of accidents or otherwise ; and, 

 secondly, to apparatus for lifting and moving heavy bodies. Fig. 1, Plate 

 XIX. shows a side view of the apparatus for moving railway carriages ; 

 a is a frame with a screw shaft b, turning in bearings at each end ; on one 

 end of the shaft is fixed a pinion e, which takes into another pinion d, with 

 a winch handle e, and on the shaft is a female screw with a travelling nut 

 /, with a piu that passes through the groove or opening in the top of the 

 frame a, and secured in a hole to the plate g ; the two plates g, g', carry 

 portions of two rails h h, and the plates are connected together by the rod 

 i and rest on friction rollers _;', which run on the frame a. When the ap- 

 paratus is to be used, the carriage, supposing it to be oH' the rails, is raised 

 at one end by a screw-jack or lever, then the apparatus is placed under 

 the carriage with the rails k h under the wheels, and if the carriage be not 

 far off the rails, one end of the frame a is placed on the line, and then by 

 turning the handle, the end of the carriage is gradually brought over the 

 line or part of the way, then it is either lowered on the rails or allowed to 

 rest, and the apparatus applied to the otherend of the carriage and shifted, 

 and so on shifting the apparatus from end to end until the carriage is cor- 

 rectly over the line, or in place of one apparatus two may be used to shift 

 both ends at once. 



The rod i is made moveable so as to adopt the apparatus to diflTerent 

 gauges of railway, and instead of the pinions on the shaft b, the shaft may 

 be made to revolve by a screw wheel taking into a screw wheel b. The 



