(iii.) The convenience and simplicity in operation of the water-jacketed furnace are very marked, whilst the permanence in the shape tends to greater uniformity of working and to ease of management.
(iv.) Accretions and the general difficulties of working are readily dealt with and controlled, barring and other operations being more conveniently conducted.
(v.) The repairing of water-jacketed furnaces is rendered very simple, cheap, and rapid in operation, the principle of sectionising, allowing of the ready removal or replacement of the jackets for repairs; the saving in time, labour, and general expense being particularly marked.
(vi.) The elasticity of the furnace, both as regards size and management, has been enormously increased, and the successful extension and working of the large modern furnaces have only become possible with the adoption of this feature.
(vii.) Water-jacketing has allowed of the rapid driving of furnaces, leading to an enormous increase in the output per square foot of hearth area, by permitting intense heating inside the furnace, and rapid withdrawal of the molten products.
The chief consideration affecting the adoption of water-jacketing in any locality might be the scarcity or unsuitability of the water supply, which may necessitate a choice between the employment of brick furnaces, or the crushing, roasting and reverberatory treatment of the ore. In cases where the water supply is not well suited for jacketing purposes, settling or other preliminary treatment of the water might be required.
The former objection to water-jacketing on the assumption of valuable heat being carried away by the jacket water, thus involving a waste of fuel, has proved to be groundless in practice; with good management such heat losses are smaller in amount and less damaging in effect than those due to radiation from highly heated brick walls, quite apart from the actual necessity for such jacketing in modern furnace construction, even had such losses been marked.
B. The Development in Furnace Size.—The blast furnace increased but slowly in size during the nineteenth century up to 1850, and the dimensions of the most advanced type did not exceed 4 feet by about 2 feet 6 incites internally at the tuyere level, the capacity being about 4 tons per day. Furnaces at this period were usually square or circular in section.
