preserved full of water, is sustained at the boiling temperature by the radiation of heat and the hot ashes which fall into it.
From the back part of the fire-place, and 2 inches above the level of the fire-bars, the brickwork is carried on horizontally until close to the stack. The sides of this part are perpendicular, and 12 inches apart: they are continued upwards to the top of the brickwork 14 inches unbroken, except that at 5 inches from the bottom they are thrown back ⅓rd of an inch so as to form a ledge there. This ledge is for the purpose of receiving the edges of certain fire-tiles, which, when put in, form the top of the Hue and at the same time the bottom of the glass chamber; but the whole is so constructed, that the tiles can be put in and taken out at pleasure without disturbing the rest of the work. The side, or rather end of the chamber nearest the fire, is constructed of a fire-tile, which terminates and faces the brick arch over the fire-place, and extends from the surface of the brickwork downwards 9 inches to the side ledges before described: the further end of the chamber is finished in a similar way, and beyond that the flue is carried in the most convenient and direct manner, but without any unnecessary contraction, into the stack or chimney. The length of this upper aperture, afterwards constituting the chamber, is 25 inches, its breadth 12¾ inches. When the bottom tiles are in their places, they leave a depth of 5 inches for that part of the furnace or flue beneath the chamber, which is also 38 inches from the fire to the end, and, with the exception of certain supports in it, is 12 inches wide.
These supports are built in with the bottom of the Hue. They are essential to the permanency and regularity of the bottom of the glass chamber, and require considerable nicety in their arrangement. They consist of tire-bricks placed up on end, so that their narrowest surfaces are towards the ends of the furnace, their sides or broadest exposed surfaces parallel with the sides of the furnace itself They rise to the same height above the bottom of the flue as the ledges on the sides of the brickwork, or 5 inches; and with them form the support for the bottom tiles. There are three of them in the furnace, placed in a line equidistant from the two sides of the flue; and being 2½ inches thick, they leave spaces for the passage of flame and the reception of coke, which are 4⅝ inches in width. The
