John Martin Stanley
John Martin Stanley (c1826- )
c.1826 Born in Ecclesfield, Yorkshire[1], son of John Stanley, who later became manager of an iron works[2]
1848 Married Grace Blakemore[3]
1851 John Martin Stanley 25, ironfounder, employed 4 men, lived in Ecclesfield with Grace Stanley 26[4]
1857 Ironfounder, of 10 Andover Street, Sheffield[5]
Partner in Stanley, Bellamy and Co
1859 The business became John M Stanley and Co
1862 An ironfounder, of Brightside, Sheffield, married Sarah Ann Wild in Chapel-en-le-Frith[6]
1862 Patent to John Martin Stanley and Jabez Stanley, ironfounders, for "improvements in stoves or apparatus for diffusing heat."[7]
1864 Patent to John Martin Stanley and Jabez Stanley of Midland Works, Sheffield for an invention of "improvements in propelling."[8]
1869 Patented the "Stanley Patent Furnace."
1871 John M. Stanley 45, ironfounder and patentee, lived in Rhyl, with Sarah A Stanley 36, John Stanley 21, Glara A. Stanley 18, Ellen B. Stanley 16, Martha L. Stanley 14, Anne Stanley 11, Thomas B. Stanley 9, Albert E. Stanley 8[9]
1881 John Martin Stanley 55, civil engineer, lived in St Asaph with Sarah Ann Stanley 46, Ellen Blakemore Stanley 26, Martha Lydia Stanley 23, Annie Stanley 21, Thomas Blakemore Stanley 19[10]
1881 Exhibition of Smoke-Abating Appliances at South Kensington: '.....Messrs. W. Green and Company, Sheffield (who are manufacturing a down draught, hopper fed, closed furnace appliance, invented and patented by Mr. J. M. Stanley, late of this town).'[11]
1869 'IMPORTANT INVENTION BY A SHEFFIELD MAN.[12]
An invention, which seems likely to prove of great importance in the Sheffield trade, has just been patented by a townsman — Mr. J. M. Stanley, who names his discovery "The Stanley Patent Furnace."
The primary advantage which the inventor claims for his furnace over those now in use is that a great economy can be effected in fuel, as it is so constructed as to burn coal instead of coke ; and coal, too, of the very cheapest kind.
Its inventor claims that it does its work quite as well as the old smelting furnaces, and when it is taken into consideration that the coal it consumes costs 4s. 2d. per ton, whilst the coke formerly consumed in furnaces costs 21s. per ton, it will at once be seen what an immense saving is effected. In addition to this, it smelts the iron in considerably less time than was required for the process under the old system, has the advantage that whole "pigs" can be thrown into the cupola without first requiring to be broken, as is the case under the present system, and that it consumes its own smoke efficiently.
The inventor bases his theory, now brought into very successful practice, upon the principle that there is more heat and less ashes in coal than coke, weight for weight. His furnace possesses the conditions for evolving all the heat that the raw fuel is capable of giving out, and utilising the same before it can escape from the furnace.
The principle of the furnace is a combination of the cupola and reverbatory systems. The heat is generated in a separate fireplace or chamber formed of brickwork; this fireplace has lateral openings or "tuyers " for the admission of a blast supplied from a common fan and conveyed through flues formed in the brickwork under and along the side of the furnace. The effect is that the bricks are cooled and the air heated at the same time. The fuel is supplied through two "hoppers," placed over the fire in the roof. These "hoppers" have each a slide for regulating the supply of fuel. A blast of air is passed immediately under the slide, which keeps it cool and supplies the gases with oxygen for combustion, keeping down the flame whilst it is being charged with fuel. At the opposite end of the furnace is a stack similar to a common cupola, and the iron for melting is charged in this stack, in large or small pieces, unmixed with fuel. The heat generated in the fireplace is forced by the blast through the iron in the stack, and spends itself in its passage through. Between the fire places and the stack a well, or receptacle, is provided for the iron to run into as it melts, and is tapped out when required, as in an ordinary cupola.
The inventor claims that his furnace can smelt iron at a cost per ton for fuel of 8d., whilst under the present system the cost is 4s. per ton. Mr. Wm. Charles, of the Millsands, has had erected upon his premises one of the patent furnaces, and yesterday this was tested. Under the present system both the iron and the fuel have to be placed in the furnace at once, in alternate layers, but the new furnace is fed with fuel from a totally distinct source, whilst the iron is thrown in at the cupola as usual. The furnace having been duly "charged" with iron and fuel, the fire was left to do its work, and in sixteen minutes the "heat" was ready. This is a clear gain of eight or ten minutes on the time occupied under the present system, and upon the well being tapped the workmen found the "heat" a very good one, and several chill rolls, box, and open sand castings were executed.
The experiments were conducted in the presence of Mr. Charles and several other local gentlemen, who expressed themselves highly pleased and gratified by the result arrived at. The furnace has fulfilled all that its inventor claims for it, and it is highly probable that it will very soon come into general use in the Sheffield trade.'