CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-PLACES, FLUES, AND CHINNIES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DENLEY, of Hans Place, Sloane Street, in the County of Middlesex, Brick-
layer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of September, in the seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Denley, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Denley, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others, as I, the said William Denley, my executors, administra-
tors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and in the
Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE-PLACES, FLUES, AND CHINNIES;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Denley, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Denley, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say) -
My Invention of improvements in the construction of fire-places, flues,
and chimnics, consists, firstly, in an improved method or improved methods
of supplying air to the fire-place to support combustion and draft, and also in
forming or constructing a hollow breast plate for the fire-place, which hollow
breast plate is placed above or at the upper part of the fire-place, and being
supplied with cold air the air becomes warmed therein, and is there allowed to
issue into the flue, and thereby assist or increase the draft up the chimney and
prevent it from smoking..
My Invention consists, secondly, in constructing flues or chimnies of a series
of earthenware tubes or pipes, either round, ovular, or of any other convenient
form, and set in brick work in a peculiar manner. These earthen tubes or
pipes I prefer to make of Stourbridge clay or other fire-proof material, and
glazed inside to prevent as much as possible the adhesion of soot or dust.
Thirdly, in the peculiar construction of downward flues leading from each
chimney and fire-place to the basement story of the house, whereby the chimnies
can be swept or cleansed, and the dust and ashes from the fire-place removed
without the necessity of entering the room; and in order that my Invention
may be more clearly understood, I have shewn in the accompanying Drawing
the plans I adopt, and have found to be the most effective. Fig. 1 represents
a vertical section taken through the middle of a stack of chimnies constructed
upon my improved plan. A, B, C, D, are the four fire-places, and a, b, c, d, are
the chimnies or soot flues appertaining thereto, and the peculiar contruction of
which will be hereafter more particularly described. E is the main air flue,
whereby air is brought from the external atmosphere at the basement story,
and supplied in a cold or warm state by branch pipes to the fire to support
combustion and to the chimney to increase the draft. Every fire-place is also
furnished with a downward flue, as seen at a, b, c, whereby the soot from
the chimney and the dust and ashes from the fire-place are removed. These
downward flues merge in their descent into one, and at the l'asement story of
the house ultimately empty themselves by one aperture into a fire-proof soot
receiver or chamber f. By this means it will be seen that the chimnies com-
municating with the soot receiver f may be swept from the top of the house
without entering any of the rooms, except for the purpose of closing the

page_text: registers so as to prevent the soot from entering the room. Figures 2 and 3
represent horizontal sections of Fig. 1 taken in the lines 1, 2, and 3, 4. My
improvements upon fire-places will be seen best in the enlarged views, Figures
4, 5, and 6; Fig. 4 being a vertical section taken through the centre of the
fire-place; Fig. 5, a partial front elevation, some of the parts being seen in
section the better to explain its construction; and Fig. 6, a plan or top view.
The air to support combustion is supplied to the fire partly from the room
between the front bars in the ordinary manner, but principally from the base-
ment story, through the main air flue E by means of the horizontal branch pipe
e, Fig. 5, which enters the fire-place immediately below the fire bars, and is
furnished with a regulator g. The air from the pipe e enters the fire between
the fire bars below, and also through holes i, i, made at the back of the grate,
as seen in Fig. 4; it is also allowed to issue through the holes j, j, immediately
before the front bars, as seen in all three Figures. The register plate n of each
fire grate is constructed in such a manner as to exactly fit and close the down-
ward flue, and prevent it from communicating with the chimney flue, as seen in
Fig. 4.
In order to increase the draft in the chimney and supply it with warm
air, air is conducted from the main air flue E and horizontal branch pipe e up
the vertical pipe e into the hollow breast plate k, k, as seen in Fig. 5, and de-
tached in elevation and section at Fig. 7. This breast plate is made of metal and
of a peculiar form, being bevilled off to an edge at its lower part; and I find
that by constructing it in this manner, the draft is very much improved, as
when the breasts of the chimnies are built of bricks in the ordinary manner
they are made square, and unless the grate is set far back the smoke is some-
times prevented from ascending the chimney and drives into the room. My
improved hollow breast plate is situated above the fire and is heated thereby,
and as cold air is admitted into the hollow it quickly becomes heated, and
passes out through the grating v into the chimney, as shewn by the arrows in
Fig. 4. The upper part of fire-places or the commencement of the flues is
generally made very wide; but I propose to contract this space as much as
possible, in order to prevent an accumulation of cold air, which often causes
chimneys to smoke when a fire is first lighted, and before this body of cold air
becomes sufficiently heated to cause it to ascend. The commencement of the
flue is, according to my improved plan, formed by a funnel-shaped tube, sup-
ported by an iron plate m, which is stepped into the wall or brickwork, as seen
in Figures 4 and 5. This plate forms the foundation upon which the chimney
tubes rest; and in order to prevent the tubes from shifting a shoulder is formed
on the plate into which they are cemented, as shown in Fig 4, 5, 8, and 9,
of the Drawing. The method of constructing the remaining portion of the

page_text: chimney flucs will be better understood by referring to Figures 8 and 9, which
represent a partial vertical section and plan view of part of a chimney flue on
an enlarged scale. The different lengths of tubing are jointed together by
means of metal bands, and at convenient distances metal plates similar to
the foundation plate m are stepped into the wall to assist in supporting the
superincumbent weight. I have not found that chimnies constructed upon my
plan require chimney pots, and therefore I have shewn the flues in Fig. 1 as
terminating flush with the brickwork; but if thought necessary or desirable,
chimney pots or tubes may be employed, and in such case the upper part of the
chimney shaft may, if required, be made ornamental, so as to partially conceal
the termination of the pots or tubes from view, as seen in Figures 10 and 11, the
ornamental railing seen in Fig. 10 being also useful to baffle the wind and
prevent it from beating down the chimnies. Upon referring to the plan view,
Fig. 11, and also the smaller plan view, Fig. 2, it will be seen that at the
upper part of the chimnies spaces are left round the tubes for the free circula-
tion of air; moreover, the air fluo E terminates in those spaces within a few
feet of the top of the houses, as seen in Figures 1 and 2. The spaces round
the several tubes communicate with one another by openings made in the
brickwork, as seen at Fig. 2, and by the air playing freely round the tubes
and ultimately ascending into the atmosphere, it has a tendency to carry off
the smoke from the chimnies and prevent them from smoking. In making or
constructing downward flues for the purpose of carrying off the dust and ashes
from the fire, and also the soot from the chimney flues when the latter are
swept, I construct these downward flues of the same description of materials
and put them together in exactly the same manner as described in reference to
the chimney flues; they may, however, be joined in any other convenient
The only point to be noticed is, that that part of the flue which is
placed immediately behind the grate I prefer to be made ovular, (as seen best
in Figures 1 and 3,) for the purpose of obtaining a greater width than could
be conveniently obtained if cylindrical tubes were employed. The soot and
dust receiver is made fire-proof and kept close in order to prevent any live
coals from any of the fires from igniting the soot or other substances that
may be therein.
manner.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that I am aware that downward flues
have been heretofore employed, whereby chimnies may be swept, and the soot,
dust, and other similar products of combustion carried off without entering the
apartments. I do not therefore intend to claim the employment of downward
flues for this purpose, nor do I intend to claim supplying fire-places with air

page_text: Inrolled the Twenty-first day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-four.