IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES, IN PYROMETERS, AND IN THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Robertson, of Neilston, in the County of
Renfrew, and Alexander Ritchie, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER AND OTHER
FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES, IN PYROMETERS, AND IN THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE."
Sealed the 18th January 1861, and dated the 24th July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Robertson and
Alexander Ritchie at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 24th July 1860.
We, ANDREW ROBERTSON, of Neilston, in the County of Renfrew, and
ALEXANDER RITCHIE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER
AND OTHER FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES, IN PYROMETERS, AND IN THE PREVENTION
OF SHOKE," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention comprises a further development of or additions to the
Invention for which Letters Patent were applied for by the present
applicants, on or about the 17th day of May last, (No. 121S), and relates
to improved means for preventing smoke, and for increasing the calorific
effect in furnaces or fire-places of various kinds; to improved arrange-
ments in connection with steam boilers, for the better application
thereto of the heat evolved; and to improvements in pyrometers specially
designed to facilitate their use in connection with the other improve-
ments, and in the economical obtainment and application of heat
generally, being applicable wherever it is required to measure or indicate
high ranges of temperature.
According to a portion of the Invention to which the present improve-
ments are supplementary, as stated, air is admitted from the ash-pit

page_text: through and between the front ends of the fire-bars, these being
uncovered for the purpose. In combination with that arrangement it
is now proposed to place a deflector above the aperture or apertures
for the air, for the purpose of directing the air upon the fuel, by pre-
ference in a slightly downward direction. This deflector may also be
used with air apertures in front of and beyond the ends of the ordinary
longitudinal fire-bars, the aperture or apertures being formed, for
example, by leaving a space between the front bearer of the fire-bars
and the dead plate, or being formed in the fire-bar bearer or dead plate.
The deflector may be adjustable and arranged to be easily lowered and
re-erected on introducing the fuel. A valve may be provided for adjust-
ing the extent of air passage, and a plate may be applied to the under
sides of the fire-bars extending backwards from their front ends to con-
fine the air between the bars, so that it may be drawn from the interior
of the ash-pit, and become heated in passing in contact with the bars,
or the air may be otherwise heated. The deflector may also be applied
to dwelling-house and other fire-places.
The air may be forced in
instead of entering by the draught only, such forcing being more
particularly desirable in applying the heat to a boiler in a reverberatory
chamber according to the plan forming part of the previous Invention,
herein-before referred to.
In the construction of furnaces, it is by the present Invention pro-
posed to substitute for the ordinary grate surface on which the fuel
lies, a surface of fire-brick, or other suitable material, entirely or
partially unperforated. This surface is by preference inclined, or it
may be made adjustable as to its inclination, and it may be formed with
ridges or other projections to retard the descent of the fuel towards the
lower end.
In connection with the improvements already indicated, it is further
proposed to provide for the feeding in of the fuel in a convenient
direction by appliances contrived not to interfere with the supply of air
Also for the using for fuel of peat, or wood sawdust, or of other solid or
more or less liquid or liquifiable matter, such as pitch or tar, either
alone or in combination with each other, or with coal. It is also pre-
ferred to arrange a number of fires in a series, the products from one
passing through the combustion chambers or passages of the others.
In order to carry out the improvements so as to obtain the most
efficient and economical results it is necessary to provide for observing
the condition of the products of combustion in suitable parts of the flues

page_text: For this purpose apertures should be provided for inspection, and the
degree of heat should be ascertained by means of a pyrometer. The
heat may be most conveniently ascertained by means of a pyrometer
constructed with improvements forming part of the present Invention.
Such improvements consist in employing a liquid to show upon a suffi-
ciently enlarged scale the variations in length of a bar exposed to the
heat to be observed. The liquid is, according to one modification, con-
tained in a vessel contrived so that the elongation of the bar may
cause a pressure to be applied to the liquid upon a comparatively
enlarged area, whilst the liquid has egress from the vessol by a glass
tube with a comparatively small bore; the extent to which the liquid
reaches up or along the tube marking the expansion of the bar on a
scale enlarged in the inverse ratio of the pressure area to the area of the
tube's bore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andrew Robertson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I. ANDREW
ROBERTSON, of Neilston, in the County of Renfrew, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Andrew Robertson, and unto Alexander Ritchie, then
of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, but lately deceased, Her special
licence that we, the said Andrew Robertson and Alexander Ritchie,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Andrew Robertson and Alexander Ritchie, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain, and Ireland, the Channel
Islands. and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILER
AND OTHER FURNACES OR FIRE-PLACES. IN PYROMETERS. AND IN THE PREVENTION OF
SMOKE," npon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Andrew Robert-
son and Alexander Ritchie, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Andrew Robertson, on behalf of
myself and of the said Alexander Ritchie, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Draw-
ings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention comprises a further development of or additions to
the Invention for which Letters Patent were obtained by the present
Patentees, bearing date on or about the 17th day of May 1860 (No. 1218),
and relates to improved means for preventing smoke and for increasing
the calorific effect in furnaces or fire-places of various kinds; to improved
arrangements in connection with steam boilers, for the better applica-
tion thereto of the heat evolved; and to improvements in pyrometers,
specially designed to facilitate their use in connection with the other
improvements, and in the economical obtainment and application of heat
generally being applicable wherever it is required to measure or
indicate high ranges of temperature.
And in order that the said Invention may be properly understood and
carried into effect there is hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory
Drawings to which I shall refer in particularly describing the appli-
cation of the improvements.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, are longitudinal vertical sections through
steam boiler furnaces showing various modifications of the improved
arrangements, and Figure 5, is a vertical section of a pyrometer con-
structed according to the said Invention and which is also shown in
clevation and in position in Figures 3.
According to a portion of the Invention, to which the present
improvements are supplementary, as stated, air is admitted from the
ash-pit through and between the front ends of the fire bars, these being
uncovered for the purpose. In combination with that arrangement it is
now proposed to place a deflector above the aperture or apertures fo
the air, for the purpose of directing the air upon the fuel, by preference
in a slightly downward direction. A convenient form of this deflector
is shown at A, in Figures 2 and 3; the deflector A may also be used with
air apertures C, as shown in Figure 1, in front of and beyond the ends

page_text: of the ordinary longitudinal fire bars B, the aperture or apertures being
formed, for example, by leaving a space between the front bearer of
the fire-bars and the dead plate, or being formed in the fire-bar bearer
or dead plate. The deflector may be adjustable and arranged to be
easily lowered and re-erected on introducing the fuel. The deflector as
represented in the Drawings (Figures 1, 2 and 3), is constructed to rest
with its front edge a, in notches in two or more sleepers b, the inner
ends of which sleepers are shaped to carry a defining bar d, to retain
the fuel and two or more hinged supports e, for the inner overhanging
part of the deflector A. When the fireman is about to supply fresh fuel,
he raises the front edge of the deflector out of the notches, and allows it
to slide forward along the sleepers b, inclined for the purpose when it
becomes lowered so as to admit of the free introduction of the fuel; the
fireman afterwards pushes the deflector back, which causes it to be
raised and readjusted as before. As in the arrangement of furnace
represented in Figure 4, the deflector A, does not require to be moved
during ordinary working, it is made of fire-clay, and in a piece with the
fire-clay lining of that part of the furnace. A valve D, Figures 1 and 4,
may be provided for adjusting the extent of air passage, whilst in some
cases a plate E, (Figures 2 and 3) may be applied to the under sides of
the fire-bars B, extending backward from their front ends to confine
the air between the bars so that it may be drawn from the interior of the
ash-pit and become heated in passing in contact with the bars, or the
air may be otherwise heated. The deflector may also be applied to
dwelling-house and other fire-places; the air may be forced in instead
of entering by the draught, only such forcing being more particularly
desirable in applying the heat to a boiler in a reverberatory chamber
according to the plan forming part of the previous Invention herein-
before referred to. In arranging to force in the air according to one
plan, the plate E already referred to (Figure 2) as used to cause the air
to pass along the under sides of the fire-bars B, may be extended back
as shown in Figure 3. to the brickwork at the inner end of the ash-pit H,
and the air may be introduced by a conduit I, formed in this brickwork,
and opening above the plate E; or the ash-pit may be closed at the front
as shown in Figure 4, the air conduit I, being made to open into it at any
convenient part.
In the construction of furnaces it is by the present Invention proposed,
in some cases, to substitute for the ordinary grate surface on which the
fuel lies a surface F, Figure 4, of fire-brick or other suitable material
entirely or partially unperforated. This surface is by preference inclined,

page_text: or it may be made adjustable as to its inclination, and it may be formed
with ridges or other projections, to retard the descent of the fuel
towards the lower end.
In connection with the improvements already indicated, it is further
proposed to provide for the feeding in of the fuel in a convenient direc-
tion by appliances contrived not to interfere with the supply of air.
Thus the roof of the furnace represented in Figure 4 is formed with an
opening G directly above the inner and upper end of the fuel bed F, to
receive a hopper or other appliance for introducing the fuel.
In order to carry out the improvements so as to obtain the most
efficient and economical results, it is necessary to provide for observing
the condition of the products of combustion in suitable parts of the flues.
For this purpose apertures should be provided for inspection, and the
degree of heat should be ascertained by means of a pyrometer. The heat
may be most conveniently ascertained by means of a pyrometer con-
structed with improvements forming part of the present Invention.
Such improvements consist in employing a liquid to show, upon a suffi-
ciently enlarged scale, the variations in length of a bar exposed to the
heat to be observed. The liquid is, according to one modification, con-
tained in a vessel contrived so that the elongation of the bar may cause
a pressure to be applied to the liquid upon a comparatively large area,
whilst the liquid has egress from the vessel by a glass tube with a com-
paratively small bore; the extent to which the liquid reaches up or along
the tube, marking the expansion of the bar on a scale enlarged in the
inverse ratio of the pressure area to the area of the tube's bore.
A modification of this improved pyrometer is represented in elevation
in Figure 3 of the accompanying Drawings, as applied to the flue of a
steam boiler; in Figure 5 it is shown in vertical section upon an enlarged
scale. The iron rod K, by measuring the expansion and contraction of
which the heat of the flue is ascertained, is inserted through a vertical
passage in the roof of the flue, so as to rest on the bottom of the flue.
The upper end of this rod K is attached by an adjustable screw at L to
a disc M bearing against the under side of a diaphragm N of a flexible
material, such as caoutchouc, which closes on the under side a shallow
cylindrical vessel O containing water or other convenient liquid. In the
top of the vessel O there is inserted and securely fixed the lower end of
the glass indicating tube P, which is protected by an outer metal tube
or column formed with slots, through which the height of the liquid
in the tube P can be observed. As the heat of the flue increases the
consequent elongation of the rod K presses up the disc M and diaphragm
N, and the liquid rises up the tube P as many times further than the

page_text: disc M as the cross sectional area of the vessel O is greater than that
of the tube P. These areas may be so proportioned to cach other as to
obtain the scale of heat degrees, which is marked upon or applied to
the outer tube or column Q, of a convenient and suitable size. Whilst
this pyrometer is susceptible of adjustment or arrangement to give
minutely accurate indications, it also possesses features of great utility
not requiring great accuracy of adjustment for their realization. An
important application of the instrument will be to ordinary steam boiler
furnaces, where it will show in a manner unmistakeable by a fireman
of ordinary intelligence any variations in the heat developed in the
furnace, these variations being indicated on a scale insuring their being.
noticed. Indeed, in such applications the instrument may be used with-
out any graduated scale attached, as it is simply necessary for the firc-
man to know that a descent of the liquid shows a diminution of heat,
and an ascent the opposite, and that his aim must be to keep the liquid
as steady as possible by modifying his treatment of the furnace according
to the indications.
Having thus particularly described the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to
state without restricting myself to the precise details herein described or
delineated, that what is considered to be novel and original, and is
claimed as the Invention protected by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, is,-
First, the generally arranging and combining of the parts of and
appliances in connection with steam boiler and other furnaces or fire-
places for the prevention of smoke, substantially as herein-before
described.
Second, the constructing of pyrometers to be used in regulating the
action of steam boiler and other furnaces, and generally for indicating
high degrees of temperature, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Robertson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
5 Witness,
ANDREW ROBERTSON. (L.S.)
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.