Improvements in Means and Apparatus for Consuming Smoke and Waste Gases in Furnaces.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Mar., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 8th Dec., 1893-Accepted, 28th Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means and Apparatus for Consuming Smoke and
Waste Gases in Furnaces.
I EDWIN SMITH 10 Brougham Street Lozells Birmingham Tool Maker and
Machinist do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to provide means whereby the smoke and waste
gases in furnaces of steam boilers locomotives or any other kind of furnaces may be
consumed and thereby increase the generating power of the furnace.
One part of my invention consists of an air chamber A placed in the ashpit of the
furnace for the purpose of heating the air it is placed at or near to the back end of
the ashpit or at any other part that is most suitable. The chamber is made any
size or any shape to suit the requirements of the furnace.
To supply the air chamber with air one or more inlet pipes or channels B are placed
along each side of the ashpit to convey the ashpit air into the air chamber or the
inlet pipes or channels may be continued right through to the outside of the boiler
or brick work whichever is the most suitable.
The inside of the air chamber may be provided with baffle plates or sinuous
passages or the inside may be quite plain so that the air passing through
the air chamber may become intensely hot before reaching the outlets. The hot
air from the chamber is conveyed from the outlets by one or more pipes or
channels C through the ashpit to the dead plate D. The outlet pipes or channels
may be placed over each other on each side of the ashpit or they may be fixed close
up to the underside of the fire bars or they may be used as fire bars whichever way
is most desirable. The inlet and outlet pipes or channels may be made any size or
any shape according to the requirements of the furnace. The air chamber is
provided with suitable doors for the purpose of cleaning out any ashes or dust that
may be drawn therein.
The dead plate is provided with an air receiver E fixed on the underside of the
dead plate or the dead plate and the air receiver may be made all in one piece.
The outlet pipes or channels C leading from the hot air chamber A at the back of
the ashpit are connected to the air receiver E in the dead plate D they may
be connected either at the side or the ends of the receiver whichever is most
suitable. The air receiver is made any size or any shape according to the
requirements of the furnace.
The top face of the dead plate is provided with one or more slots or holes F
connected with the air receiver underneath the plate to admit the hot air from the
receiver into the furnace above the fuel. These slots or holes are made any shape
or any size according to the quantity of air required to be admitted into the
furnace each slot or hole is fitted with a valve or flap door G. The valves or doors
are fitted to levers H so that they can be automatically opened or closed by the
opening and closing of the furnace door or any other way that is most suitable.
The bottom of the air receiver is provided with a door I for the purpose of
cleaning out any ashes or dust that may accumulate therein or it may be
used to admit a little air occasionally into the furnace when the fire is freshly
nade up.
Another part of my invention consists of a hollow fire door J. The front
part or outside of the door is made with one or more holes or slots K placed either
ertically or horizontally or vertical and horizontally combined at or near to the outer
dge on both sides of the door and extending inwards towards the centre as far as
equired for the purpose of admitting air into an air chamber L fixed on the back

page_text: or inside of the fire door J for the purpose of making the air intensely hot before
being admitted into the furnace. The holes or slots are made any size or any shape
to suit the furnace.
The back part of the fire door is furnished with an air chamber or jacket L made
any size or any shape with one or more passages and is made with one or more
baffle plates M fixed in the air chamber L or it may be made with sinuous passages
or left plain the passages convey the air from the slots or holes in the front part of
the fire door to a slot or slots or holes N in the air chamber at or near to the centre
of the fire door at the back or inside of the front part of the door. The slots or
holes N in the air chamber may be made any size or any shape vertically or
horizontally or vertically and horizontally combined from the top to the bottom of
the chamber or it may be made with one vertical slot from the top to the bottom or
any shorter distance which may be more suitable and provided with one or more
baffle plates to deflect or elevate the air as may be required. In the case of furnaces
with two fire doors the slots or holes K may be placed in the outer side of each fire
door at the front and the air chamber L or jacket at the back may be made in two
halves so that when the doors are closed they will form the air chamber at the
back the same as a single door. The outlets Ň of the air chamber in each kind of
door may be bent round or deflected or elevated in such a way as to carry the hot
air from the air chamber in such a way as will be best for the combustion of the
fuel and the prevention of smoke. When the fire door is closed the hot air from
the air chamber L may be directed in such a way as to mingle with the hot air
passing from the air receiver E in the dead plate or it may pass straight into the
furnace as required. On the front side of the fire door a stud O or plate is fixed
for the purpose of engaging the stud on the lever H attached to the flap door or
valve G, in the face of the dead plate D for the purpose of opening or closing the
flap door G each time there is fresh fuel put on the fire. When the fire door is
opened the stud on the door acts against the front stud P on the lever of the flap door or
valve and draws out the lever and causes the flap door or valve in the dead plate to
close and prevent the fuel or clinkers from falling into the air receiver in the dead
plate. When the fire door is closed again the same stud on the fire door acts
against the inside stud R on the lever and raises the flap door or valve to the
height required.
In carrying out the foregoing invention I use the air heating apparatus connected
with the ashpit and the hollow fire door either separately or combined whichever
way is found most suitable.
Dated this Twenty-seventh day of March 1893.
EDWIN SMITH,
10, Brougham Street, Lozells, Birmingham.
Improvements in Means and Apparatus for Consuming Smoke and
Waste Gases in Furnaces.
I, EDWIN SMITH, of 10 Brougham Street, Lozells, near the City of Birmingham,
Machinist, 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 to improvements in means for effecting the complete
combustion of fuel in steam boilers, muffles and other heating furnaces, and consists
in combining and arranging the parts of the same, with added auxiliary adjuncts,
in such a manner that the whole of the redundant and other gaseous products
evolved during working, are wholly or virtually consumed.
The said improvements in the one part relate to the ash-pit parts of furnaces and

page_text: to adjuncts in connection with fire places; in another part in the construction of
the furnace door; and in a still further part in means for the automatic working
of a certain part or of certain parts for the admission of highly heated air to the
furnace over the dead-plate, or in front of the burning fuel, on the opening and
closing of the furnace door.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in longitudinal vertical
section, a steam boiler furnace with its cognate parts constructed, arranged, and
provided with improvements, according to my invention.
Figure 2 represents a horizontal section of the same, upon the dotted lines A B
Figure 1, but with some of the parts at the door end of the furnace removed.
Figure 3 represents an elevation of front of the furnace, showing the disposition
and arrangement of the parts of the said furnace, at the said door end.
Figure 4 represents a front end elevation of a Cornish boiler, (upon a reduced
scale) showing the dispositions of the furnaces relative to the shell of the boiler.
Figure 5 shows a horizontal section of the furnace door, separately.
Figure 6 shows a front elevation, of another form of furnace door separately.
Figure 7 represents a cross section of the same, on the dotted lines CD Figure 6,
while Figure 8 shows a longitudinal horizontal section on the dotted lines E F of
the said Figure 6.
Figure 9 represents a front elevation of a modification of the said door, while
Figure 10 represents a longitudinal horizontal section on the dotted lines G H
Figure 9.
Figure 11 shows a cross section, on the dotted lines I J, of the said modified
form of door Figure 9.
The same letters of reference, indicate corresponding parts in the several figures
of the drawings.
Located, and running longitudinally and horizontally within the interior of the
shell of the boiler t, are furnace flues, or chambers x, each fitted with furnace
fittings, consisting of fire bars 'y', y², resting respectively upon end
bearers y³, y', d'.
w is the ash pit of the furnace confined between the back bearer y³, the bottom
of the flue or chamber a, and the frout t', of the shell of the boiler; and located or
disposed within the rear end of the said ash pit and preferably adjacent to bearer y³,
is an enclosed and cross directed air-heating chamber or box a, coming under the
end parts of the back fire bars and contiguous to the fire, and which becomes heated
by heat radiation and conduction.
Located under and attached to the underside of the dead-plate d, which has
openings through it at any part, covered by flaps or lids 9, is an air-receiving
chamber or box e, directed and suspended across the fore part of the ash pit alike
unto the chamber a at the back of the ash pit.
These said chambers or boxes a, and e, are connected together by a series of
open-ended air conducting or conveying channels or pipes c, coming immediately
below the fire bars and directed preferably through nearly the whole length of the
ash pit and also with one, two or more open-ended cold air channels or pipes b
preferably running at a lower plane than the channels or pipes c, and with the back
end or ends of it or them taking into the hot air chamber or box e, and with the
fire door end being open at b, to the atmosphere.
Now as the said channels or pipes c and b are in close proximity to the fire bars,
and are consequently heated by the heat of the fire place, the same become mediums
with the chambers or boxes a and e, for the heating of cold air prior to the same
being allowed to enter the furnace proper.
The bottoms of the air receiving chambers e, and a, have openings i covered by
lids, so that dust or carbonaceous deposits can from time to time be removed.
Now the flap g, which is worked by a slide 1, connected at its end at h², to a
bearer ³, which slides upon the top side of a bracket, is worked through the
medium of the jointed link or lever h. The strap ³, is bolted to the air receiving
chamber e, to support the cold air pipes or channels.

page_text: The slide h¹, has a snug 6, before which comes a depending plate or rod 1,
bolted to the fire door j, so that as the fire door is opened for feeding with fuel, so
the slide h', is moved outwards and closes the lid, and when the fire door is closed
again, the said slide h', is moved backwards and the flap is opened.
OPERATION.
Assuming that the parts are in their normal positions which they take as in
Figure 1, with the furnace or apparatus in operation, then air gains access to the
fire bars through the ash-pit front w¹, whilst air gains access to the burning fuel
above the fire bars partly through the channels c and b, and partly through the
furnace door and that part of the air entering through the channels b, and c, first
enters through the open ends 6', passes up the channels b, becomes heated in its
passage, and then is conveyed to the hot air chamber or box a, when the said air
becomes further heated, and is from thence conveyed back again through the
channels or pipes c, which still further heats the said air, which then passes into the
hot air chamber e, and from it rises through an opening or openings or piercings
made through the dead plate d, and is from thence conveyed to the top of the
burning fuel, and instantly the same comes into contact with the gaseous products
evolved, the whole bursts into flame.
3
By thus making a part of the air fed to the burning fuel pass circuitously
through channels or passages, and in contact with the walls of them the said air
becomes highly heated with the result that when fed to the fire place the whole of
the gaseous products are consumed, hence an economy of fuel.
When the door is opened for firing or feeding, the depending bar or plate ',
comes against the bearer ³, slides the same forward, and with it the slide h¹, which,
through the link closes the flap or flaps or door or doors over the openings d², so
that fuel thrown into the furnace is prevented from getting into the heated air
chamber e.
It will be understood that the slide ', is only operated at the first opening of
the door, whilst the closing of the door moves the said slide inwards and the flap
door to the extent required.
In the hollow fire door part, Figures 6 to 8, j is a hollow fire door, consisting of
a chambered back part m, m with back outlet passages n, n, and with a front
piercing or aperture k leading to inlet passages k', separated by a web or
diaphragm plate k². In use, the door becomes highly heated by being in contact
with the burning fuel in the grate. Air enters the opening or piercing k, and
the current is divided off and conveyed through the passages k', into the
chambers m, and then after becoming highly heated is delivered to the inside
of the furnace above the burning fuel through the outlets, trunks or passages n.
I wish it to be understood that the said passages leading to the chambered
interior may be directed obliquely, horizontally or otherwise, and that the outlet
passages n, instead of being directed vertically may be directed horizontally or
otherwise but this of course, will be in accordance with the positions of the
openings k k¹.
In a further form of fire door Figures 9, 10, and 11 the entrances to the
chambered interior are situated preferably near the two opposite sides of the front
of the fire door.
jis the chambered or boxed fire door, with front inlets or passages k, k', leading
to the chambered or hollow interior m, having a common outlet n, through which
highly heated air made hot by coming into intimate contact with the door, passes
in a stream to the burning fuel.
I wish it to be understood that the furnace may be fitted with an ordinary door,
or it may be fitted with either of the forms of hollow fire door as herein before
described.
Instead of the channels or pipes c and b, being made to take a direct course
from chamber to chamber, they may be made to take a serpentine or zig-zag
course.

page_text: The air channels or passages may be used alone as the air heaters, instead of
employing in connection with them air heating and air receiving chambers.
In such a case, the inner or outer ends of the said channels or passages are
provided with openings which lead to outlets wherethrough air is admitted to the
fire place.
In some cases, the jointed flap or flaps g, instead of being made to open upwards,
may be arranged to open inwards and downwards.
In muffle and other like heating furnaces (as represented in front elevation in
Figure 12) fitted with one or more apparatus according to my invention, I may
dispense with air heating and air receiving chambers or boxes, and dead-plate or
like adjuncts, and employ only the air channels or passages in conjunction with
supplementary unopening doors, that is, I employ a middle opening door a, and
upon either side supplementary fixed and chambered doors b, 6, and in connection
with each of the said fixed doors are air passages c, through them as described, with
the outlet d', of the hot air pipe d, directed at or near the back of the door, and
with the cold air pipe e, coming below or adjacent to the hot air pipe and either
made continuous with the hot air pipe, or made to empty itself into a box arranged
(as in Figure 1) at the rear of the ash pit with which the hot air pipe is in com-
munication. These said channels or passages may be disposed in any part or in
any position or direction as may be desired, according to the requirements of the
furnace.
I may add that the current of heated air, when entering the furnace through
the openings in the dead plate are met by the air entering the furnace through
the fire door and in consequence of the currents being at right angles to each
other, thereby causing the air to spread itself over the burning fuel, hence complete
combustion.
The types and shapes of the fire doors are immaterial, so long as the chambered
or cellular character remains.
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 a steam boiler or other heating furnace, fitting or providing the
furnace, or the ash-pit of the furnace, with air chambers or air-heating chambers,
boxes or air receptacles connected together by channels, pipes or passages, or
connected together by channels, pipes or passages some of which lead from chamber
to chamber, and the others of which lead from the atmosphere or the ash-pit to an
end chamber or box, whereby the air fed to the burning fuel in the furnace through
the said passage or passages becomes highly heated, substantially as and for the
purpose as described and set forth.
Secondly. In steam boiler and other heating furnaces, the combination with the
ash-pit of a furnace, of air-heating channels, pipes or passages, having an air
heating chamber at the inner ends of them, and an air receiving chamber at the
fire door ends of a part of them substantially as described and set forth.
Thirdly. In a steam boiler and other heating furnaces having air-heating
channels or passages, the combination with the hot air-receiving chamber e, of
a flap or a jointed flap or cover g, substantially as described and set forth.
Fourthly. In steam boiler and other furnaces, working the flap or cover g, by
the fire door through the medium of the plate or rod h, slide h', h, h³, and link h,
mounted fitted and working substantially as described and set forth.
Fifthly. The improvements in steam boiler and other heating furnaces, and the
general construction, arrangement and combination of the parts, substantially as
described and set forth.
Sixthly. In the fire doors of furnaces, making or forming the same of a chambered
or boxed construction, and having inlet and outlet passages, substantially as and for
the purpose as described and set forth.
Seventhly. In the fire doors of furnaces having an interior air-heating chamber m,

page_text: with inlet passages k, k, separated by a diaphragm k³, and with outlet passages n..
substantially as described and set forth in Figures 6, 7 and 8.
Eighthly. In the fire doors of furnaces having an interior air-heating chamber m,
and inlet and outlet passages k¹ and n, substantially as described and set forth in
Figures 9, 10 and 11.
1
D
1
1000
EDWIN SMITH,,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.