Improvements in Steam Generators and Water Heaters, and in their Furnaces.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 23rd May, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Steam Generators and Water Heaters, and in
their Furnaces.
I, CALEB CHRISTMAS, of High Street, Warwick, in the County of Warwick,
Grocer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention relates, in one part, to steam generators, and in another part, to
water heaters, and in a third part, to additions to steam boilers, which additions
both increase the steam production of the boiler and also consume the smoke from
the furnace.
Thus the object of my said invention is the consumption and prevention of smoke
in the furnace and incidentally (when my invention is applied to steam boiler
furnaces) increasing the generation of steam.
According to one form of my improvements in connection with a steam boiler
furnace, I dispense with the usual firebrick bridge or arch at the back of the
furnace and substitute in lieu thereof, a suspended water bridge or bosh. The said
bridge is suspended by water tubes directed into the underside of the boiler, in the
case of an egg-ended boiler, or into the crown of the flue of a Cornish boiler, or
into the crown of the fire box of an egg-ended boiler.
In addition to the aforesaid hollow and suspended water bridge, transversely
directed baffle water-arches, coming up to the underside of the boiler or flue, are
employed, by means of which the flame is directed or deflected down upon, and to
intermingle with, the unconsumed products of combustion at the bridge end of the
furnace.
By employing such adjuncts, the formation of smoke is prevented hence perfect
combustion with enhanced heating power from a given quantity of fuel, and further,
by making these smoke preventing adjuncts to contain water, all the heat generated
in the furnace is utilized.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing represents a Cornish boiler provided
with my new suspended water bridge and hanging baffling arches coming immediately
above the back of the furnace and adapted to deflect the flame downwards upon
the products of combustion at the back of the furnace and so prevent smoke.
Figure 2 represents a vertical section of Figure 1 upon the dotted line .c, looking
from front to rear of the furnace.
Figure 3 represents a vertical section upon the dotted lines, Figure 1.
Figure 4 represents a vertical section upon the dotted lines ³, Figure 1, showing
the water bridge and its suspension tubes in section.
Figure 5 is another vertical section of Figure 1, taken upon the dotted line a.
In Figures 1 to 5, a is the shell of the boiler, a¹ the furnace flue, a the ash pit,
at the fire door as the dead plate, a is the end of the fire grate and a' is a door for
gaining access to the second ashpit and dividing the front set of fire bars as, from
the back set a, ao are depending water tubes and a" a horizontal flue plate.
b is a water bridge suspended from the crown of the flue a', by water tubes b³,
and consisting of a transversely directed hollow box located immediately at the
back of the fire place and extending preferably from side to side of the flue. cis
a baffle water arch consisting of a hollow box transversely intersecting the inside
crown of the flue and depending from the said crown and disposed at some distance
from the suspended water arch. d is a second and smaller baffle water arch,

page_text: alike in construction to the first described, and which both do duty for increasing
the steam generating power of the boiler and for deflecting the flame downwards
upon the unconsumed products of combustion lying at the back of the furnace.
The water bridge b, also deflects the flame and products of combustion upon the
inside crown of the flue.
Figure 6 represents my invention applied to the fire box of a marine boiler.
a is the shell of the boiler, a' the fire box, a² the ash pit. b is the suspended
water bridge and the suspension tubes, whilst c is the depending water baffle-
arch.
Figure 7 represents an egg-ended steam boiler provided with an alternating
series of suspended water bridges and water baffle arches constructed according to
my invention.
Figure 8 is a vertical section of Figure 7 upon the dotted line ..
a is the boiler, a³ the ash pit, a' the flue, and c, c', c2 are water baffle arches,
alternating with suspended water bridges b, b.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. In steam boiler and other water-heating furnaces, employing at the back
end of the furnace, a suspended and transversely directed water bridge or flame
deflector, substantially as and for the purpose described and set forth in
Figures 1 to 6.
Secondly. In steam boiler and other water-heating furnaces, employing in front
of the bridge and in the general plane of the opening above the bridge, a water.
baffle-arch or arches, substantially as and for the purpose as described and set forth
in Figures 1 to 6.
Thirdly. In steam boiler and other water heating furnaces, the combination with
a transversely directed bridge or suspended water bridge at the rear of the fire
place, of a baffle arch or water baffle arch or arches arranged in the general plane
of the opening above the bridge, whereby smoke is prevented and complete
combustion is accomplished, substantially as described and set forth.
Dated this 6th day of March 1896
CALEB CHRISTMAS,
By Henry Skerrett,
24 Temple Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.