THE FLOW OF GASES IN FURNACES
Based upon the Laws of Hydraulics

PART I

THE APPLICATION OF THE LAWS OF HYDRAULICS
TO THE COMPUTATIONSF OR A REVERBERATORY

FURNACE

I. THE FUNDAMENTAL VIEWPOINT
HERETOFORE reverberatory furnaces have been constructed
with very little, or without any, computation; and the designer has
always met with more or less difficulty in establishing the lines
for a new furnace or in improving an old furnace which was
defective, and forcing it to work in the right manner. This was
due to the fact that the technical considerations governing the
design of these furnaces had not advanced sufficiently to give
any very exact point of view regarding the mechanism of the
circulation of the gases within the furnace. If the viewpoint
which is proposed below is accepted, the working processes of
these furnaces will become completely clear:
We are surrounded, as is everything else amidst which we live,
by a liquid w ocean, the air; the reverberatory furnace, which is
under consideration, is also immersed in this ocean of air. As
the density of this liquid, the air, is 770 times less than that pf
water, its presence is hardly noticeable and is very rarely con-
sidered. At the same time, it must be admitted that we do not
(1)ATo£e by the French translators.—While the word " fluid " would be more
appropriate, the word " liquid " has been retained as conveying more exactly
the thoughts of the author.