The Flow Of Gases In Furnaces

PREFACE BY TRANSLATOR INTO ENGLISH

MOKE or less mystery has enveloped the designing and con-
struction of metallurgical furnaces. Blue-prints with the titles
removed and tables of supposedly important features have been
carefully treasured. When new furnaces were to be designed
an extensive analysis was frequently made of what was known
of the work of others, and an endeavor was made to "improve"
upon them. During construction other plants were visited and
further improvements were frequently made, with the result that
the finished furnace departed widely from the drawings. Not
infrequently the starting up of a new furnace was signalized by an
acrid meeting of the lodge of sorrow and by expensive reconstruc-
tion and loss of product. During the campaign of the furnace the
question, "What can be done to change it?" was a live issue.
Certain parts of the furnace had to be rebuilt from time to time,
and this afforded a certain amount of opportunity to correct
early errors, provided they had been rightly diagnosed.
Some years ago, the writer became convinced that the flow
of gases in a furnace was entirely devoid of mystery, being gov-
erned by the laws of elementary physics. Several furnace design-
ers were asked, as the occasion offered, whether they based their
design upon experience and upon the proportions of working
furnaces or used formulas for the flow of the gases. The replies
received were interestingly noncommittal. The physical laws of
flowing fluids, however, were found to agree very closely with
practical observations. They explained, with remarkable clarity,
some mysterious troubles.
Later, the writer got in touch with the work of Professors
Grourne-Grjimailo and Yesmann. Professor Groume-Grjimailo
had gone over the ground very thoroughly several years before the
writer became interested in furnace work, and had conducted
numerous experiments with model furnaces. He had simulated
the flow of the gases and the effects of the atmosphere by immers-