Abstract:
Electricity generating apparatus with an outside wood-burning furnace having a water jacket to produce steam driving a steam engine. The steam engine drives an electric generator. A heated water supply for a house or other structure may also be obtained by utilizing the spent steam from the steam engine.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to the supply of services such as electricity and heat, to a building such as a house, or other structure. This is meant to be an alternate source of energy to get away from the escalating cost of purchasing electricity from the power company and the rising price of heating oil and natural gas.  
         OBJECT OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    It is an object of this invention to provide apparatus capable of providing electricity to a house or building even though connected to said main supply line to offer an alternate source of electricity and heat.  
           [0003]    Accordingly, there is provided electricity generating apparatus comprising an outdoor furnace, a water jacket on said furnace and containing water to be heated by the burning of fuel in said furnace to produce steam, a steam outlet pipe from said water jacket to the inlet of a steam engine to drive the steam engine, one end of a drive shaft connected to said steam engine to be driven thereby, and the other end of said drive shaft being connected to drive an electric generator to produce electricity. 
       
    
    
     THE DRAWINGS  
       [0004]    An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of generating apparatus according to the invention;  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 2 shows a part of FIG. 1 in greater detail; and  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 3 shows a battery storage arrangement associated with the generating apparatus 
     
    
       [0008]    The same reference numerals are used for like parts throughout the specification.  
       DESCRIPTION  
       [0009]    An outdoor wood-burning furnace  2  is shown having support legs  4  and a stainless steel chimney  6 . The opening  8  through which fuel enters the furnace is provided with a water-cooled door  10  including a built in damper unit. Another door  12  is shown and behind this lies the instrumentation panel and adjustment means.  
         [0010]    In the furnace a heavy gauge stainless steel water jacket  13  is provided within the furnace having a water inlet means and a steam outlet means. In use, a fan or blower blowing on the burning coals is adjusted to blow with the damper in unit  10  open, until the water in the water jacket  13  reaches 212° F. to produce steam. The damper then closes and the fan stops until the temperature falls below 212° F. when the operation resumes. The fan is on the rear side of the door  10 .  
         [0011]    The steam outlet means feeds the steam to a steam engine  14  having a drive wheel  16  with one end of a drive shaft  18  connected to it and driven by it. The other end of the drive shaft  18  is connected to an electric generator  20  to produce electricity. This electricity is then available at the electrical output  21  of the generator  20  for a house, building or other structure. An electric generator of 30 kilowatts capacity would normally be sufficient for most houses.  
         [0012]    If a utility company starts to provide service in the area, the generator system  20  could also include a connection  23  into the main power supply of the local utility company.  
         [0013]    Any surplus electricity produced by the system could be sold to the utility company and any time incoming power is needed, power would be purchased from the utility company. This would be done using two hydro meters, one to measure the outbound power and one to measure the inbound power.  
         [0014]    Spent steam from the steam engine  14  passes through a steam pipe or conduit  22  to heat water in a water holding tank  24  to a temperature between 160° F. and 180° F. This water is removed through a hot water pipe  26  for use in the house or other building (not shown). Return water from the building returns to the water holding tank  24  by water of a return pipe  28 .  
         [0015]    The spent steam after heating the water in the holding tank  24  passes along a pipe portion  30  as water through a check valve  32  and junction  34  to return along pipe portion  36  to the water jacket within furnace  2 . Water from a well or other external water source flows along pipe  38  to the junction portion  34 , as required, to ensure that there is always sufficient water in the water jacket.  
         [0016]    The furnace can, of course, be designed to burn wood, oil or gas but often in rural areas wood may be the fuel used and this has substantial environmental advantages. By using a furnace outside the building one avoids the task of hauling wood into the building and the constant mess of having wood in the building. An outdoor furnace will, in my opinion, reduce the fire hazard for the building.  
         [0017]    Whilst wood is the main source of fuel, there is provided an oil or propane heating system  40  as a back-up to ensure the water temperature never falls below 212 degrees F.  
         [0018]    In FIG. 2 there is shown the rear side of the fuel loading door  10  with a damper and fan assembly  42 .  
         [0019]    It will be understood that whilst the furnace  2  is identified as a furnace, it can also be regarded as a furnace/boiler since water is boiled in order to produce steam.  
         [0020]    In the above description the output of generator  20  is supplied directly to a house or other building. It will be appreciated that a storage battery arrangement  50  (FIG. 3) could be interposed between the generator  20  and the building  52  whereby energy could be stored for use when the generator  20  is not functioning, for example during servicing of the furnaces.  
         [0021]    It will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art that a number of variations and modifications can be made without departing from the true spirit of the invention which will now be pointed out in the appended claims.