THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE FROM FURNACES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Biden, of Gosport, in the County of Hants,
England, for an Invention for "THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE FROM FURNACES."
Sealed the 8th May 1855, and dated the 2nd December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Biden at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd December
1854.
I, JAMES BIDEN, of Gosport, Hants, England, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE FROM FURNACES" to be as
follows:-
The furuace to be long in proportion to the amount of fire needed. The
red-hot coals to be pushed on towards the end of furnace. The fresh coals
supplied & kept at the mouth of furnace. In addition to an ample supply
of air in front, an opening or openings to be made at sides of ash-pit, to admit
a sufficiency of air to pass through the red-hot fire, or through a narrow
opening made at the end of fire bars, so that when heated it shall consume
the smoke evolved at the mouth of furnace. The openings made at the sides
of ash-pit to be straight or otherwise, so as to admit cold air-from-sides or
front, or back of furnace, as may be most convenient.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Biden in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BIDEN, of Gosport, in the County of Hants, England, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing 'date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Biden, Her special licence that I, the said James Biden,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Biden, my executors, administrators, 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 "THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE FROM
FURNACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Biden,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said 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 thie
date of the said Letters Patent.
2
4.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Biden, do hereby declare the
nature of my said "Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:
:
My Invention consists in admitting a supply of air at the sides,-at-bottom,
Land-in-front-of-the ash-pit of furnaces, in addition to the ordinary supply of
air. My Invention is applicable to furnaces generally, the arrangements
being modified to suit any particular construction of furnace. The manner of
carrying out my Invention is as follows:-
The furnace is made sufficiently. long from the front to the back to admit
of the red-hot-fuel occupying the back half of the fire bars,, and the fresh
or unburnt fuel the front half of the-fire-bars: The ash-pit. is supplied with
a sufficient quantity of air to produce complete-combustion-by-free admission
in front, and by an opening or openings in the sides or the bottom of the ash-
pit, which opening or openings is or are supplied with air from the front, or the

page_text: sides, or the back of the furnace by an air flue or flues. The air supplied by
the aforesaid opening or openings is directed onwards from the part at which
it enters towards the end of the ash-pit, either by arranging or constructing
the opening or openings so as to direct the air to the required point, or by a
metal tube or tubes, or a deflecting plate or plates. Provision is made for
causing the air thus supplied to pass onward from the end of the ash-pit into
the ascending flue to the chimney, either through the fire bars, or through or
behind-the bridge, or through an opening beyond the fire-bars and between
them and the bridge. It will be generally advisable to. adapt a tube or tubes
or a deflecting plate or plates to the opening or openings through which air is
'supplied to the ash-pit, as before mentioned, in order to prevent any dust or
ashes from entering into the air flue or flues; and thereby obstructing the
admission of air.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn the several methods I
adopt for carrying my Invention into effect, and also its application to steam
boiler furnaces: Figure. 1 represents an-ordinary cylindrical boiler, with my
arrangement for admitting the air to the furnace applied thereto. A, A, is
the boiler, set in the brickwork B'; C is the furnace; and D, the fire bars; E
is the ash-pit, which is open at front for the admission of air to the furnace;
F is an air pipe, which is open to the external atmosphere, and conveys the air
into the furnace below the fire bars. The position of this air pipe, is, before
the back half of the fire bars, and it is so placed as to direct the air towards
the fire bridge, in order to cause a current of air to mix with the gases and
products of combustion at that part, so as to insure a more perfect and free
consumption of them. A space G is left between the end of the fire bars and
the bridge, to admit of a free passage of the air. Figure 2 represents a
section in plan of a Cornish boiler, in which the air to the furnace is
admitted through the sides of the boiler.. A, A, is the boiler; B, the furnace;
C, the flue; D, D, are the air passages, which are inclined at the angle
shewn, in order to deflect the air towards the back end of the furnace.
Figure 3 represents a longitudinal section, and Figure 4 a cross section, of
a similar Cornish boiler, in which the air is admitted from the bottom and
through the air tubes D, D. Figure 5 is a section in plan of a furnace
with the air passages formed-through the sides of the brickwork. A, A, is
the furnace; B, the fire bars; and C, the brickwork; D, D, are the air passages
which are inclined inwards, so that the air as it passes to the furnace becomes
deflected towards the back end, where it commingles with the gases and pro-
ducts of combustion. Figure 6 is a section of a marine boiler, in which the
air is caused to pass through the openings D, D, and by means of the deflect-

page_text: ing plate D¹ the air is caused to impinge upon the back of the furnace, and
there to unite with the products of combustion. Figure 7 represents a cross
section of a set of furnaces for marine boilers. A, A, is the ash-pit; B, B,
are the fire bars; C, C, air tubes or passages; D, D, deflecting plates, to
keep the air passages free from ashes. The side air passages do not require
any protecting plates. E, E, are water spaces. I supply the air tubes or
passages with air through a channel or channels made between the bottom
of the furnaces and the stoker's floor, the air being introduced into such
channels through some source or sources other than that which is usually
employed for supplying the ash-pit.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare, that what I claim as my In-
vention for the prevention of smoke in furnaces is, the admission of air by
means of an opening or openings in the side or sides or bottom of the ash-
pit, which opening or openings is or are supplied with air derived from some
source outside of the ash-pit, the air thus supplied being directed onwards from
the part at which it enters towards the end of the ash-pit either by the form
of such opening or openings, or by means of a tube or tubes, or a deflecting
plate or plates, all as herein-before described and represented in the Drawings
liereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Biden, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.