Specification of William Richmond Alexander : manufacture of sugar furnaces, and consumption of smoke.

  • Alexander, William Richmond.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of William Richmond Alexander : manufacture of sugar furnaces, and consumption of smoke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Alexander s Impts. in Furnaces and Apparatus for Manufacturing Sugar, $c. “ teaches” or evaporating pans at the front. The air thus takes up heat as it passes along until it is finally discharged into the hollow furnace bridge, whence it passes partly into the furnace directly amongst the burning fuel, and partly through the bars, into the space of the false bottom of the drying chamber; the latter portion dries the deposited megass, and then finds its way 5 from the chamber through the perforated division door into the furnace also; in this way the full and efficient supply of highly heated air, subdivided into numerous minute jets, effects the perfect combustion of the fuel, and prevents all or nearly all discharge of smoke. The same arrangement or modifications of it will answer for burning coal and other fuel. 10 And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall now proceed to describe the several illustrative Figures on the explanatory Sheets of Drawings, which 1 have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing certain modifications under which my improvements may be judiciously carried out in practice. 15 In Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of one modification or arrangement of my improvements in furnaces and apparatus for the manufacture of sugar and the consumption or prevention of smoke; Figure 2 is a plan of the arrangement corresponding to Figure 1 ; and Figure 3 is a transverse section of the drying chambers 20 in which the matters used as fuel are primarily placed. According to the arrangement shown in Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings, the apparatus is built in a structure of brickwork A, in which is constructed a flue B, that extends from end to end of the apparatus. Above the flue a series of evaporating pans or “ teaches ” are placed, which in the accompanying 25 Drawing are numbered 1 to 5. At the front end of the apparatus the flue B opens into a furnace C, the fire-bars D of which are made hollow throughout, the upper surface being finely perforated. The ash-pit E below the bars D is closely shut by means of a door to prevent the admission of air thereto ; the chimney F in this Drawing is of the usual construction. The 30 supply of air for the combustion of the fuel in the furnace is forced by means of a blowing fan or air-pump or other mechanical means through the pipe G, into a compartment of the cylindrical heating chamber H, placed in the flue leading to the chimney. In this Drawing the heating chamber is shown as consisting of two cylinders arranged concentrically, the inner one being open 35 from end to end, and the space I between the inner and outer cylinders, which serves as an air-heating chamber, being enclosed at each end with metal plates. The surfaces of the cylinders are studded with spikes or flanges or bosses of metal, which project in a radial direction from both sides of the