CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF- FEEDING FURNACES, ADAPTED BOTH FOR LAND AND MARINE PURPOSES, FOR THE BETTER PREVENTION OF SMOKE ARISING FROM FIRES USED IN SUCH FURNACES
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WILLS WAYTE, of Leeds, in the County of York, Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, by Her Letters Patent under
the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-seven, in the tenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Wills
Wayte, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege, and authority, that I, the said James Wills Wayte, my exors,
admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said James Wills Wayte,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times hereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, and Her Majesty's Dominion of
Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and also within the Islands
of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, Man, and all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-
FEEDING FURNACES, ADAPTED BOTH FOR LAND AND MARINE PURPOSES, FOR THE
BETTER PREVENTION OF SMOKE ARISING FROM FIRES USED IN SUCH FURNACES;" in
which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso requiring that I, the said
James Wills Wayte, shall particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be

page_text: inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the now reciting Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Wills Wayte, do hereby declare
that the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, are fully described in and by the present Specification thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The improvements which constitute my. said Invention have relation to that
class of self-feeding furnaces in which, for the better prevention of smoke, a
progressive motion is imparted to the burning fuel by means of moving
(instead of fixed) fire-bars, and they have for their object to simplify the mode
of producing such progressive motion, and to prevent more effectually the
escape of any of the products of combustion in an unconsumed and offensive
state, and the manner in which these improvements are carried into effect is
represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed and in the following descrip-
tion thereof. I construct furnaces of the class aforesaid either in the manner
shewn in the Drawings, Figures 1, 1, 2, 2, 8, 3º; 4, 4, 5, 5º, 5º, 5º, or in
that shewn in Figure 6 and Figure 6º.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the first form of furnace; Figure 2, a longi-
tudinal section of the same; Figure 8, a front view; Figure 4, a back view;
and Figure 5, a top plan. A, A, represent the framework of the furnace,
and a, a, wheels on which it is mounted in order that it may be drawn readily
out of its place when required to be repaired or cleaned. B, B, are the fire-
bars, which are placed in rows lengthwise, each row consisting of two bars laid
end to end. In the furnace represented in the Drawings there are eleven
rows of bars, but they may be of any other odd number, as nine or thirteen or
fifteen. A side view and cross section of two of these bars detached from the
furnace are given separately in Figure 1 and Figure 2*; they are of a narrow
oblong shape and hollow from top to bottom, that is, through and through,
except at the two ends, which are closed. In their cross section they are
exteriorly rectangular, but on the inside of (nearly) an inverted V form. C¹,
C³, are two sets of carriages, which support the bars and give motion to them
in manner herein-after explained. Side views of one of each of these sets of
carriages are given separately in Figure 3* and Figure 4. Each carriage
supports two fire-bars laid lengthwise end to end, and dropped down upon
uprights a, a, which prevent them from shifting either sideways or endways.
The set of carriages C' includes the two outermost ones at each side, and
every other of the intermediate carriages, namely, the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th,
while the set C² comprehends the second outermost carriages on each side and
such of the intermediate carriages as alternate with the intermediate ones of

page_text: the other set, namely, the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th. The carriages C are attached
in front to a cross bar D¹, but the two outermost of the set have prolongations
of a crutch form, as shewn at 6, in Figure 3*, which rests on two excentrics
F, F, attached to a revolving shaft E2. The other carriages C³, are attached
in front to a second cross bar D³, which is placed higher than D¹, and a little
in advance of it, and the two outermost of this series have also prolongations
(c, c,) somewhat similar.. to b, 6, (see Figure 4*,) which rest on two other
excentrics F, F, attached to the same shaft E. Between each of the front
uprights a, and the end of the carriage there is a stud h, through which a
cross pin i is passed, for a purpose to be herein-after explained. The carriages
of both sets rest at the back and on revolving friction pullies h', h¹, which are
attached to a fixed shaft G, placed at a lower level than the shaft E³, so that
the carriages and fire-bars may have a slight inclination from front to back.
H, H, are a series of vertical feeding bars equal in number to the carriages
C, C, which are placed in front of the horizontal fire bars B, B, and at right
angles with them, and are also connected with and acted on by the carriages
C, C, in manner to be presently explained. A side view of one of these
feeding bars is given separately in Figure 5*, a front view of it in Figure 5b,
and a back view of it in Figure 5°. The bar it will be seen is hollow and
formed of two side pieces d, d, a solid top piece e, and a front piece f, per-
forated with air holes g, g, which last piece however extends but a short way
down, leaving the two side pieces separated throughout the rest of their length
like the two prongs of a fork. Each bar rests by its front piecef on one of
the carriages (sitting astride of it, as it were) in the space between the front
upright a and the stud h, (see Figure 3ª and Figure 4º,) and is connected at
bottom by the two side pieces d, d, to a cross shaft X, which passes underneath
the furnace, and on which it is free to turn to the extent permitted by the
carriage projections a and h. I is a cog wheel keyed on one end of the shaft
E; and K an endless screw which gives motion to I, and is itself driven by
any convenient first mover. L is the hopper, and o, a sliding bottom, which
is actuated by a crank P, (see Figure 3,) which is driven by a cog wheel Q,
which derives its motion from the endless screw K, and r is the dead plate.
The back of the hopper turns on hinges at k, so that it may be thrown up
occasionally into the position indicated by the dotted lines, in order to admit
of the coals being thrown in by hand. M is a water cistern, which is inter-
posed between the hopper and the fire to prevent the fresh fuel in the former
from becoming ignited, and swings on hollow journals m, m, through one of
which cold water is kept constantly flowing from some convenient source, and
through the other, the water after being partially heated, is as constantly

page_text: discharged. N is a lever attached to one of the journals m, by pressing down
which the cistern may be more or less elevated according to the thickness
desired to be given to the feed. The mode in which the apparatus which has
been just described operates is as follows:-The fresh fuel is pushed forward
by the action of the wheel Q and crank P from off the dead plate r on to the
vertical feeding bars H, H. The rotation of the shaft E' and of the eccentrics
attached to it F¹, F, F, F, causes the carriage bars D¹ and D² to rise and
advance and fall and recede alternately, while they the carriage bars impart
a like alternating motion to the carriages C¹, C2, and to the rows of fire bars
resting upon them; that is to say, the rows of the bars are so acted upon that
six of them (reckoning them in alternate order) are always on the rise and
advance, and the remaining five always falling and receding, or vice versa.
At every rise and advance again of either of the sets of carriages the cross
pins of the studs h catch against the back of the feeding bars, and carry
them forward with the carriages, while at every return and fall of either set
the front upright a catches against the front of the bars and carries them
backwards. The general result is that by the alternately rising and advancing
and falling and receding motion given to the fire bars the fuel in the course
of combustion is made to advance gradually towards the back of the furnace,
while the to and fro motion of the feeding bars H, H, causes the fresh fuel
as it drops upon them to be projected or thrust forward into the burning mass.
The air again which rushes through the holes in the feeding bars H, H, and
up through the apertures in the hollow fire bars B, B, as well as between the
fire bars themselves, contributes greatly to keep up an intensity of combustion
within the furnace. The rate of progression to be given to the fuel must of
course depend on the velosity given to the endless screw and the parts which
derive their motion from it, and that may be diminished or increased at
pleasure by many well-known means. In the Drawings, Figure 3 and 5, the
velocity is represented as determined by means of a ratchet wheel Z, which is
keyed upon the screw spindle, which is again acted upon by the lever Z³, to
the outer end of which the power from the prime mover is applied..
In the second form of furnace represented in Figure 6, the fire bars are placed
crosswise instead of longitudinally, and have simply a to and fro motion given
to them, in manner following:-A, A, is the framework, which is mounted on
wheels, as in the first form of furnace. B is an oscillating shaft, to which
motion is given by a lever C and rod D, which last is connected to any con-
venient first mover. N, N, are the fire bars, which are nine in number, or
may be of any other convenient number, and centred on pins i, i, projecting
from the sides of the framework; a top view of one of these bars is given

page_text: separately in Figure 6°; they are made hollow, and of a wedge-like form, with
the broad end uppermost. At top they have narrow slits in them for the
passage of air, and at bottom are wholly open. In their longitudinal profile,
that is, from front to back, they are of the form of a segment of a circle
struck from the pin i as a centre, and from the top they taper gradually
towards the bottom. Of these bars, every alternate one, except the last, (say
the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth, marked N, g.) is prolonged downwards,
and pinned to a horizontal rod f, which is connected at the near end to a
short arme keyed on the main shaft, so that as that shaft oscillates it imparts
a to and fro' motion to the rod f, and the like motion to the prolonged
bars N, g, which in their turn cause the short bars N, h, against which they
abut, to move also forwards and backwards, whereby a continuously pro-
gressive motion is given to the whole mass of ignited fuel. The ninth or last
of the fire bars N, 8, is worked separately from the others by a hand rod w,
which rests at t, on a pin u, which is supported by a stud v, raised on one of
the end bearings of the shaft B, and when it is worked to and fro' by this
hand rod, (which it is the office of the stoker to do occasionally,) it carries
forward the exhausted fuel under the fire bridge a, whence it falls into the
ash-pit beneath. L is the hopper, the back of which is jointed at k, like that
first before described. is the sliding bottom, which is worked by two arms k,
projected from the oscillating shaft B. m is the dead plate, from which the
fuel is first projected on to the fire bars N, N. o is a water cistern, with
hollow journals, as before, and p a lever by which it is raised or lowered.
And having now described my said Invention or the several parts thereof,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that
I lay no claim to the employment in self-feeding furnaces of moving bars or
of hollow bars or of bars with air apertures through them, or of wheel-work
to actuate such bars, and that neither do I claim any of the parts of the
hoppers before described, but that the improvements which I claim as con-
stituting my said Invention are as follows:-
First, I claim the employment of fire bars made to rise and advance, and
fall and recede, alternately, by means of under carriages acted on by excentrics
attached to a revolving shaft or other equivalent means, as exemplified in the
furnace first herein-before described.
Second, I claim the employment of vibrating feeding bars, placed at right
angles to the fire bars, as before described, and whether made to vibrate by
the means before described or by any other suitable means.
Third, I claim the employment of fire bars placed crosswise of the furnace,
and made (all but the last) to move to and fro' by means of an oscillating

page_text: shaft and connecting arms and rods, as exemplified in the second form of
furnace before described.
Fourth, I claim the employment of a rod to work the last of a series of fire
bars placed crosswise as aforesaid, separately from and independently of the
others, as before described.
Fifth, I claim the connecting of the sliding plate of the hopper to the same
oscillating shaft by which the fire bars are actuated, as exemplified in the
second form of furnace before described, so that by one movement not only
the burning fuel is moved forward but a supply of fresh fuel is furnished.
Sixth, I claim the employment of an overflowing water cistern interposed
between the hopper and furnace, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Wills Wayte, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven